“Future homeowners ask questions about where they’re going to live,” says Koster. Simon Koster from JDS Development Group says that while office occupiers rarely concern themselves about the structural systems of their workplaces, these are exactly the sorts of thing that prospective residents want to know. But as people are living greater distances above the ground, there is an increasing awareness of the systems and the strategies that make high- rise living possible.
The ultimate success for engineers is when their art goes unnoticed: the goal is for building occupants to live in total comfort, unperturbed by any movement.
Steinway tower windows#
“We don’t want to see cracks on plaster, or glass, or leaky windows because the building is moving too much.” “The structure itself will be able to flex, but other elements are not as flexible unless we coordinate their design and engineering,” says Cynthia Liu, senior vice president at WSP in New York and project manager for 111 West 57th Street. Engineering to Ensure ComfortĮnormous care has been taken over the appearance of 111 West 57th Street, and the whole design team has a role to play in ensuring the integrity of these finishes over the life of the building. The bronze has also been left unfinished so that it will age gracefully with the building. “We’ve been working hard to find that balance between the ‘handedness’ that you find in the old buildings – so the terracotta has five different glazes to give it a bit more texture – but at the same time, it’s developed using state of-the- art technology to track the pattern across the façade,” says Getman. The filigree adds a level of detail that only will be revealed as you get closer, as a homage to the rich façades of New York’s classic Art Deco buildings. The pilasters are made from 23 unique shapes repeating across the façade in an undulating pattern, which will create a pattern of shadows from a distance. Each of these small steps is marked by a solid terracotta pilaster, with a curving bronze filigree stretching between the pilasters to climb the building. The building is very finely tapered – Getman describes is as “feathered” rather than stepped back – which gives it a human scale despite its giant size. “These amazing shear walls gave us some solidity to play with, so we had the opportunity to do another style that wasn’t just glass,” she explains. This is what they have tried to recreate with the material palette of 111 West 57th Street.
When SHoP looked around at the city’s best-loved buildings, a common theme was “their shadow, their depth, their solidity”, says Getman.
Above, there will be 77 floors of luxurious apartments. It’s really set back so you don’t really perceive it from the street, and instead we’re creating a very open atrium that frees the landmark building to be read in its historic context.” This lower section of the scheme will offer shared recreation spaces, a lobby and high-end retail. “So we worked with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to relocate the tower further back on the site. “We could have built a tower directly adjacent to the Steinway building without city approval, but it wasn’t what was right for the landmark and it wasn’t right for the tower,” explains Getman. The tower has been carefully located in deference to its historic neighbour. As well as the construction of the tower, the scheme involves the complete restoration of the 1923 Steinway building, an Art Deco landmark for the city. In fact, while the building’s super-slender form may look startlingly new, it is itself a heritage project. With this in mind, SHoP has approached 111 West 57th Street with the ambition of creating a classic Manhattan skyscraper.
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