IFF Creative Center HQ / Konyk Architecture
Konyk Architecture has created a renewed identity for the International Flavors and Fragrances Headquarters in New York. To uplift the corporation’s appearance, Konyk proposed a new laboratory addition entitled “Floating Gardens.” These gardens are composed of a series of overlapping roofs with a variety of flowering plants.
The building appears to float above West 57th Street because the gardens begin on the 7th floor. A garden at street-level public is planted with multi-hued flowers and plants. Rendered in chrome, the undersides of the floating laboratories mirror the floral patterns on the ground creating the illusion of a reflected garden in the sky.
Inside the 200,000 sqft building, the main workspaces are comprised of a flexible modular office system. The system allows spaces to be configured into various sized conference rooms as well as personal offices optimized for all the different administrative and laboratory environments needed.
Title: IFF Creative Center HQ NYC
Location: West 57th Street, Manhattan NYC
Client: IFF
Area: 2,000m2
Design Architects: konyk (www.konyk.net)
Principal in Charge: Craig Konyk
Project Manager: Mary Ellen Devers
Project Team: E. Sean Bailey, David Iseri, Moniera Buck
Associate Architect/Planner: Gruzen Samton LLC, Susan Drew, Principal-in-Charge
MEP/Structural Engineering: ARUP NYC
Laboratory Design: Samuel Anderson Architects
Project Cost/Construction Management: F.J. Sciame
Year of Design: 2008.
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13 comments »
I love the design and how it actually does look like it’s floating in mid-air in between two other buildings. It’s almost like a modern interpretation of the hanging gardens.
I would love to see some more specific renders as to what materials would be used. From these images it looks like a bunch of glass and concrete thrown in a blender. I think this could be made more interesting. Especially with the architects looking for a natural theme and scenery…
very nice.
go on
This will cost somebody loads of moneyz :) I mean, what is that cantilever??? Is it like 20m, 30m?
someone showed me a 3d visual of the skywalk over the grandcanyon a few years back and i thought it was crazy, but not impossible. It takes a smart engineer to push the impossible. I like the concepts and i would love them to prove those who say it cant be done wrong.
Btw, u will never be able to get the floor slab that thin in there :)
^hey an engineer!^
lo interesante de este edificio es la originalidad de la propuesta, lamentablemente muchas buenas ideas solo se quedan en papel.
Come on, really? Are they serious? I mean the idea of large cantilevers makes most of us giddy, but this is just plain and simple render physics – or lack there of. There is nothing wrong with masturbatory imagery per se, but this wouldn’t fly, literally and financially.
oh well.
More photos and plans would help. At the moment, it looks like a reverse podium which is rarely successful at the steet level.
Uhmmm 40′+ cantilever supported by a what a 2″ concrete slab?!#%$^@#&
Hello? Arup is the engineer. I find it amusing how everyone here says what can and can’t be done re the cantilever. I wonder how many of you said “can’t be done” when CCTV was proposed.
you cant judge the structure of the project until you see a section of it. the fact that the cantilever finishes thin doesnt mean the whole structure is thin, maybe it is only reduced at the end where less structural strength is needed.
Yeah, but those are cantilevers upon cantilevers – I don’t believe that things are impossible, but this is a little ridiculous! Arup can Arup-it-up if they want, but let’s see what really happens…Besides it falling down on someone.