740 Eighth Avenue - The Torch
ODA · Midtown · 2028
Southwest corner from Eighth Avenue.
Superstructure is ongoing at Extell’s 52-story mixed-use supertall tower in Midtown Manhattan. Designed by ODA Architecture, the tower will feature ground floor retail and an 825-key hotel that wraps around three existing low-rise structures at the base and tapers skyward into a columnar structure that will be capped by a multi-tier public observation deck. The superstructure has surpassed the 20th floor in its rise towards 1,067 feet.
Looking up at the south facade from West 45th Street.
Looking up at the south facade from West 45th Street.
Looking up at the west facade from Eighth Avenue.
Northwest corner from Eighth Avenue.
Looking up at the north facade from West 46th Street.
Architect: ODA Architecture (Design Architect), SLCE Architects (Executive Architect); Developer: Extell Development; Program: Retail, Hotel, Observation Decks; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2027.
520 Fifth Avenue
KPF · Midtown · 2026
Southeast corner from Fifth Avenue.
Superstructure has topped out at Rabina’s 1,002-foot tall mixed-use tower 520 Fifth Avenue in Midtown. Designed by KPF, the 88-story tower’s massing features five tiers that contain 25 floors of boutique luxury office space with private residences above. Office floors range in size from 6,500 to 12,000 square feet and feature 12 foot tall ceilings, private terraces and loggias, and arched operable windows. The 100 residences in the floors above the office space will range in size from one- to four-bedrooms with ceilings up to 14 feet tall.
Looking up at the east facade.
The tower’s facade features a curtain wall with textured beige metal and arched windows. At the base of the tower, the facade elements are made of terra-cotta elements instead of the metal curtain wall. Installation of the facade has surpassed the two-thirds mark. Some additional height will be added with the tower’s crown element, serving as a screen wall for the mechanical equipment at the roof.
Looking up at the east facade.
Close-up of the curtain wall installed at the east facade.
Looking up at the south facade.
Close-up of the facade at the southwest corner.
Close-up of the terra-cotta facade at the lower floors.
Looking up at the north facade.
Close-up of the north facade.
Looking up at the east facade.
Looking up at the east facade.
Looking up at the east facade.
Looking up at the east facade.
Looking up at the southeast corner of the facade.
Close-up of the curtain wall facade.
Close-up of the curtain wall facade.
Looking north through a typical window.
Looking south towards Midtown and Lower Manhattan from the top floor.
Looking west towards Hudson Yards from the top floor.
Looking southeast towards Downtown Brooklyn from the top floor.
North facade of the tower.
Close-up of the top of the tower.
Close-up of the north facade of the tower.
Close-up of the facade at the southwest corner.
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Interiors: Charles & Co.; Facade Consultant: Desimone Consulting Engineers; Structural Engineer: WSP; Construction Manager: Suffolk; Developer: Rabina; Program: Residential, Office, Retail; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2026.
Tour: 7 West 57th Street
Looking up at the south facade from West 57th Street.
Construction has wrapped up at The Soloviev Group’s 20-story residential condo tower 7W57 in Midtown. Designed by Hill West Architects, the mid-block tower features a mid height setback and is clad in a minimalist glass curtain wall.
Residential entry.
White Calcutta marble from the Apuan Mountains in Italy clads the walls of the residential entry lobby.
Residential entry lobby.
Model Residences
Tsao & McKown led the design of the interiors for the 15 full floor residences, which offer automatic lighting, shade, and temperature control. Kitchens feature custom Bulthaup cabinets, white marble countertops, and appliances by Gaggenau. Bathrooms feature Statuario Venatino marble, heated floors, double frameless glass mirrors, and Duravit fixtures.
Architect: Hill West Architects; Interiors: Tsao & McKown; Developer: The Soloviev Group; Program: Residential Condo; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2022.
Construction Update: 727 5th Avenue - Tiffany & Co. Flagship Expansion
Facade installation is underway at LVMH’s renovation and expansion of the Tiffany & Co. flagship retail building on Fifth Avenue in Midtown. Designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA’s New York office, the project includes a renovation of the 1940 Cross & Cross designed structure at 727 Fifth Avenue and a new three-story pavilion at the top that will include exhibition, event and clienteling space. The new structure will be clad in two types of glass: flat low-e glass at floors 8 and 9 and an undulating slumped glass facade at floor 10 that resembles a soft curtain.
Architect: OMA New York; Client: LVMH; Program: Office, Retail; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: Spring 2022.
Construction Update: 111 West 57th Street
111 W 57 (right) on the Midtown skyline.
Facade installation is wrapping up on the crown at supertall Midtown residential tower 111 West 57th Street by JDS Development Group, Property Markets Group, and Spruce Capital Partners. Designed by SHoP Architects, the 1,428-foot tower will offer 60 residential condos when it wraps up construction some time in 2020. Installation of the terra-cotta, bronze, and glass curtain wall at the east and west facades is mostly complete. Only the top floors of the metal and glass facade at the north and south portions of the crown remain to be installed.
South facade of 111 W 57 (left) and 53 W 53 (right).
Close-up of the south facade.
Northwest corner of the tower and crown.
South facade of the tower and crown.
West facade of the tower and crown.
West facade of the tower and crown.
Southeast corner of the tower and crown.
South facade of the tower and crown.
Looking up at the west facade of 111 W 57 (left) and One57 (right).
West facade of 111 W 57 (center) and One57 (right).
Architect: SHoP Architects; Interiors: Studio Sofield; Developer: JDS Development Group, Property Markets Group, Spruce Capital Partners; Program: Residential Condo; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2022.
Construction Tour: Central Park Tower
Southeast corner of the tower.
Facade installation is wrapping up at Extell’s Central Park Tower, a 1,550 foot residential tower on Billionaire’s Row in Midtown. The 131-story tower is designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, architects of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. With the topping out, Central Park Tower now stands as the second tallest tower in the United States, topped only by One World Trade Center’s spire. The tower is clad in a glass curtain wall with stainless steel fins that will reflect the sunlight to give the facade a sense of depth.
Nordstrom’s occupies the 7-story podium, while 179 condo units are on offer in the tower above.
Central Park Tower on the Midtown skyline.
Central Park Tower on the Midtown skyline.
Close-up of the southeast corner of the tower crown.
Close-up of the southeast corner of the tower.
South facade.
Close-up of the cantilever’s northeast corner.
South facade from Broadway.
Close-up of the tower’s crown.
Close-up of the south facade.
Close-up of the northwest corner of the tower.
Close-up of the stainless steel fins on the north facade.
Close-up of the southeast corner of the tower’s crown.
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects (Design Architect), Adamson Associates Architects (Architect of Record); Interiors: Rottet Studio; Structural Engineers: WSP; Construction Management: Lendlease; Developer: Extell Development Company; Equity Partners: Shanghai Municipal Investment; Program: Residential Condo, Retail; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2021.
Tour: Museum of Modern Art Renovation and Expansion
The Museum of Modern Art is ready for it’s reopening later this month, with expanded gallery space, renovations to existing entry and gallery spaces, and a new museum store.
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler, the MoMA’s expansion occupies two sites to the west of the existing museum. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects‘ Folk Art Museum occupied the first site from its completion in 2001 until demolition in 2014. The rest of the expansion is located in the base of the adjacent Jean Nouvel tower 53 West 53.
The museum’s main entrance is now marked by a large cantilevered metal canopy at West 53rd Street. Inside, the lobby ceiling height has been raised and the museum store has been relocated one floor below to open up views outward from the lobby. Ticketing desks have also been installed in new locations in the ground floor lobby.
A new blade stair serves as the circulation spine of the new gallery spaces in the west expansion. A solid six inch divider hangs from the roof structure to support the bead blast stainless steel panels and solid northern oak treads and risers. Glass balustrades are cantilevered off of the stair and held in place by pins. The walls of the stairway are clad in bird’s eye maple with acoustic micro-perforations. A separate blackened stainless steel stair at the sixth floor leads to the cafe.
The museum’s expansion includes 47,000 square feet of new and renovated gallery space. Along with the five floors of new gallery space in the west building, some of the galleries added in the Taniguchi expansion of 2004 have also been renovated and reconfigured.
Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler; Client: The Museum of Modern Art; Program: Museum; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: October 2019.
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.
Construction Tour: 12 West 48th Street
North facade from West 48th Street.
Exterior facade installation is wrapping up at DNA Development’s 12 West 48th Street, a new stand-alone white box property with flexibility to accommodate office and retail. Designed by Ennead Architects, the project is adjacent to Rockefeller Center and includes 30,939 square feet of space across four floors, with a basement and fifth floor rooftop terrace for tenants. Ceiling heights range from 15’-8” at the upper floors to 20’ at the ground floor. An angled glass façade clads the 48th Street frontage and opens up the views along the street.
North facade from West 48th Street.
Looking up at the north facade.
Future ground floor entry.
North facing views from the fourth floor.
North facing views from the third floor.
North facing views from the third floor.
Third floor facing south towards rear terrace.
Future rooftop terrace at the fifth floor.
Future rooftop terrace at the fifth floor.
Architect: Ennead Architects; Developer: DNA Development; Program: Office, Retail; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2019.
Tour: 650 Fifth Avenue - Nike Flagship Store
Nike’s new six-story flagship store, House of Innovation 000, has opened at the corner of 5th Avenue and East 52nd Street in Midtown. The façade is clad in slumped glass with a strong diagonal pattern that matches the angle of the brand’s famous swoosh logo. Retail concepts inside the flagship store include a Sneaker Bar, two maker’s studios, a Sneaker Lab, a Nike Expert Studio, and a Speed Shop at the below grade floor that will use local data to stock and restock shelves based on what is popular with buyers at this particular location.
Architects: Nike Global Retail Design and CallisonRTKL; Facade Consultant: Heintges Consulting Architects & Engineers, Mode Lab; Client: Nike; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2018.
