Construction Tour: 53 West 53rd Street
West facade of the tower on the Midtown skyline.
Construction is nearing completion at Jean Nouvel's 53 West 53 tower in Midtown. Planning for the tower, from developers Hines and Pontiac Land Group with financing from Goldman Sachs, began in 2006 and was unveiled to the public in November of 2007. Work on the 1050' tower should wrap up later this year, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s expansion of MoMA that is set to open in October at the base.
The tower's signature identity comes from its diagrid structure, the diagonally criss-crossing of normally vertical concrete columns at the tower's perimeter. Solid metal panels break up the glass of the curtain wall, expressing the diagrid on the tower's façade.
North facade from Central Park.
Views
The 82-story tower will include 145 residential condo units ranging from one- to five-bedrooms, the largest of which will be a 7,892-square-foot duplex penthouse. The tower's unique shape impacts the design of each unit, ensuring that each has a unique floor plan. Interiors for the apartments and amenites are designed by Thierry Despont.
View north towards 111 W 57 and Central Park from an upper floor apartment.
View northwest towards the West 57th Street towers and Central Park from an upper floor apartment.
View east towards Midtown and Queens from an upper floor apartment.
View southeast towards 30 Rockefeller Center and One Vanderbilt.
View southwest towards Hudson Yards.
View west towards Hell’s Kitchen and the New Jersey waterfront.
Architects: Ateliers Jean Nouvel (Design Architect), AAI Architects, P.C. (Executive Architect); Interiors: Office of Thierry Despont; Developers: Hines, Pontiac Land Group, and Goldman Sachs; Program: Residential, Retail, Musuem; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2021.
Tour: 56 Leonard Street
One of the standout projects of New York’s recent construction boom is Alexico Group and Hines’ 56 Leonard, the 145-unit, 830 foot tall residential tower in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. Designed by Herzog & deMeuron, the tower is often affectionately referred to as the Jenga tower for its massing of stacked floor plates with a multitude of alternating balconies that resembles the stacked block game.
While the majority of the tower's floor plates alternate the balcony locations on every other floor in an A/B pattern, the upper floors of the tower are designed with a less homogeneous variation. Each of the final 11 floor plates are unique, creating variations in how each floor overhangs or recedes from the other.
Penthouse
The penthouses on the top 11 floors feature 14 foot floor-to-floor ceilings, a kitchen with a Herzog & de Meuron custom-designed grand piano-shaped island and a custom-sculpted range hood, a sculptural white enameled steel wood burning fireplace, a five-fixture master bathroom of travertine and Thassoss marble with radiant heated floors, and multiple terraces with panoramic views of the city.
Model Residence
Amentiy Floor
Residents have access to numerous amenities including a 75 foot lap pool with sundeck, gym, screening room, lounge, private dining room and playroom.
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron with Hill West Architects; Structural Engineers: WSP; Developers: Alexico Group, Hines; Program: Residential; Location: Tribeca, New York, NY; Completion: 2017.
7 Bryant Park
Installation of curtain wall is almost complete at Pei Cobb Freed's 7 Bryant Park, a 450-foot-tall, 30-story office building on the fringes of Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. The tower joins other recent additions to the area, like COOKFOX's angular One Bryant Park. Overall, the tower's form is a simple rectangular extrusion with requisite zoning setback on the tenth floor and a conical subtraction at the northeast corner. This rather odd massing gestures faces the park and provides the building's signature element. The design of the curtain wall is a basic glass and linen finish stainless steel spandrel panel that gives the building a heavily striped appearance, bucking the recent trend of suppressing the solid spandrels in other new office buildings throughout the city. When completed later this year, the tower will bring 471,000 rentable square feet to the area, including 6,200 square feet of ground floor retail.
Northeast corner from Bryant Park.
Looking west from Bryant Park with One Bryant Park (far right) and 7 Bryant Park (far left).
Frozen fountain in Bryant Park.
Northeast corner from Sixth Avenue.
Detail of canopy and conical incision at the northeast corner.
North façade from West 40th Street.
Northwest corner from West 40th Street.
East façade from Sixth Avenue.
Southeast corner from Sixth Avenue.
Architects: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects LLP; Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti; MEP Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles; Developer: Hines with Pacolet Milliken Enterprises; Program: Office, Retail; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion:2015.
