42+5 Tower in New York

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Location
New York City, USA
Project
2003
Scope of Services
Project Architect
Structural Engineer
Robert Silman Associates
MEP Engineer
Ove Arup & Partners, New York
Gross Floor Area
Ove Arup & Partners, New York
Construction Cost
Confidential
Program
Office and Commercial Space, Restaurant and Sky Space
Client and Architect
Steven Holl Architects
General Contractor
Pavarini McGovern
Bibliography
Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street Tower, in “Tall Buildings”, The Museum of Modern Art, 2004

Mr Giostra was chosen in 2002 to be the Project Architect of this ambitious project because of his experience in high-rise buildings, work with advanced curtain wall technology and a history of innovative, environmentally sensitive design.

This tower is located in one of the most prominent corner lots in mid-town Manhattan, just across from the Public Library and Bryant Park. Although construction of the building was put on hold due to the economy, this project was part of the exhibition entitled “Tall Building” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

This mixed-use development consists of a vertical stacking of cellular offices and meeting spaces, with intermediate floors that contain retail, commercial and leisure space, culminating in the grand “sky space”, an art piece by James Turrell, and a two-story restaurant. At ground level, the entrance extends into a triple-height commercial space, while the curving curtain wall defines a generous outside seating area.

This tower introduces an entirely new kind of vertical core; housing all the building’s services and vertical circulation along the north and east enclosed facades. The result is an “open book” core that leaves a large, column-free floor plate for office accommodations. Columns have been pushed to the perimeter and broken down into a concrete “filigree” that acts as building structure and curtain wall support. Additionally, the core’s glazed lifts provide dramatic views of midtown Manhattan and Central Park.

The firm takes the issues of energy and pollution extremely seriously and the practice has demonstrated the financial case for going above and beyond the standards set by legislation. The design for the 42+5 Tower demonstrates that sensible energy systems can, in some cases, help to reduce the first cost of a building.

The 46-story building generates and harvests its own energy by a continuous layer of photovoltaic “thin film” laminated within the glass-insulated unit. The special film is scored by laser-cut technology, achieving a variable density and transparency depending on sun exposure through the entire building envelope. This responds to a criteria of maximum efficiency combined with the visibility requirements of specific workplaces. Each one of the building elevations, therefore, has a different degree of transparency, based on the amount of direct sunlight falling on each portion of the façade.