OMA has shared with us their proposal for the 425 Park Avenue competition, organized by New York City developer L&L Holding Co to replace the existing, ageing tower with a new state-of-the-art, LEED-certified skyscraper. The competition was awarded to Foster + Partners, as reported earlier.
The competition also included Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Meuron, KPF, Maki and Associates, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Richard Meier, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects; and all the projects will be presented today at the MAS NY Summit.
OMA’s project was led by partners Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. Shohei is in charge of the NY office, where he has been researching strategies for towers in NY and other areas, including a skyscraper in Madison Park, a mixed-use project in Jersey and the Bicentennial Tower in Mexico.
More information after the break:
For commercial buildings, Manhattan’s zoning laws prescribe a silhouette from which there is no escape (yet): a stretched pyramid. Our current aesthetics oscillate between nearly exhausted orthogonality and a still immature curvaceousness.
Our building is an intersection of these two observations: it proposes a stack of three cubes—the lower one a full solid block on Park Avenue, the smallest on top, rotated 45 degrees vis a vis the Manhattan grid, oriented beyond its mere location in a sweep from midtown to Central Park.
The three cubes are connected by curved planes to create a subtle alternation of flat and three dimensional planes, each reflecting sky and city in their own way.
The shape is at the same time highly artistic and highly efficient, a diagram of maximum beauty and maximum rentability, combined in a single, Brancusi-like shape. Its geometry at the same time reinforces and escapes the existing city. It resonates with each of its famous neighbors—Seagram, Lever, AT&T, Racquet Club—yet is emphatically futuristic.
Its conceptual model accommodates both the design competition’s request to maintain 25% of the existing building and the entirely-from-scratch scenario with equal ease.
Status: Competition June 2012
Client: L&L Holdings
Location: New York, NY, USA
Site: 425 Park Avenue, between 55th and 56th St.
Program: 564,040 gsf / 52,401 m2 office tower, incorporating 25% of the existing building Tower Height: 634 ft, 37 floors (36 above grade)
Site Area: 27,941 ft2
Office Areas: Base (F1-F5):22,100sf/ Mid volume (F13-F21):14,025sf/ Top volume (F29-F36): 10,070sf
Partners-in-Charge: Shohei Shigematsu, Rem Koolhaas
Associate-in-Charge: Jason Long
Project Architect: Jake Forster
Team: Ted Lin, Sandy Yum, Ahmadreza Schricker, Patrick Hobgood, Daniel Quesada Lombo, Andy Westner, Rob Daurio, Clarisa Garcia Fresco, Carla Hani, Suzan Ibrahim, Christina Argyrou, Cass Nakashima, Lisa Hollywood, Denis Bondar
Structure, MEP / Services, Facade: ARUP
Vertical Transportation: Edgett Williams Consulting Group Cost Estimating: Faithful & Gould
Models: OMA/ Vincent de Rijk
Graphic Design: MTWTF
All images © OMA
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- View from Pepsi Cola Building © Courtesy of OMA
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- View from Park Avenue © Courtesy OMA
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- View from Executive Office © Courtesy OMA
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- View Down Park Avenue © Courtesy OMA
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- Urban Context © Courtesy OMA
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- Street View © Courtesy OMA
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- Section © Courtesy OMA
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- Public Realm © Courtesy OMA
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- Park Avenue Elevation © Courtesy OMA
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- Context: Lever House, SeagramBuilding © Courtesy OMA
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- Ground Floor Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- Form © Courtesy OMA
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- Facade © Courtesy OMA
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- F29-F35 Top Office Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- F25 Mid Torque Office Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- F20 Mid Office Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- F6 Amenity Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- F2m-F5m Base Office Mezzanine Plan © Courtesy OMA
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- F2-F5 Base Office Plan © Courtesy OMA
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I wld like to jump from that executive suite
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kind of strange that the best view of that building is the suicide view shown in that rendering….
Of all the entries I certainly like this one the least. I understand their concept, but I see a poorly executed, indeterminate structure. Sure it turns 45 degrees but I can’t imagine it doing it with less grace. To personify it, I see a timid soldier, looking down the line for approval from a superior. I’d rather see a soldier who says, screw this, I’m facing this direction.