100 Eleventh Avenue / Jean Nouvel

Sep 2010

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Architecture News ,Building Technology and Materials ,Skyscrapers , 100 Eleventh Avenue, Jean Nouvel, New York, USA

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Peaking above some contemporary New York favorites – such as Gehry’s IAC Building and Field Operations + DS+R’s High Line – Jean Nouvel’s 100 Eleventh Avenue adds yet another touch of character to Manhattan’s West Side. ArchRecord‘s great pieces on curtains walls gave us a better look at Nouvel’s textured glass curtain wall.

More about the curtain wall after the break.

Working with façade consultants, Front, Nouvel’s approach emphasizes the window mullions to the point that they become scattered frames. To simplify the construction process as the façade’s fragmented surface has quite varied window dimensions, megapanels that contain about 20 smaller individual windows can be used when there is a continuous vertical mullion.

“The wall was really designed from the inside out. A typical floor features seven megapanels, and each megapanel corresponds to a room. In the largest rooms, you have a 37-foot-wide panorama that eradicates all evidence of traditional curtain-wall construction,” Front’s Marc Simmons told Record.

Things get a little tricky when trying to support the façade, as the fragmented pattern creates non-continuous load paths. Steel was selected for the exterior structure, as its strength allows it to remains a mere 3-inch-wide. The exterior layer is silver anodized aluminum, which is non structural, yet still holds the low-E glass panels. Different glass coatings add another layer of depth as the light plays across the façade.

With such a dynamic façade facing the water, it is almost shocking to view the tower’s east facing façade. This surface is treated as a solid wall with specific punched openings. Yet, as Ateliers Jean Nouvel’s project manager, François Leininger, told Record, the different facades relate to the building’s drastically different contextual surroundings, “There is the contrast of wide open views to the river from the transparent steel-and-glass facade, and the specific views to Midtown — like paintings on a wall — from the punched windows of the brick facade.”

Cite:
Cilento , Karen . "100 Eleventh Avenue / Jean Nouvel" 02 Sep 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 09 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/76113>

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i2h says:

what, no photos of it’s terribly under-designed backside?

# September 2, 2010 at 09:39

Alvaro says:

i don’t think it can be as bad as it’s over-designed front

# September 2, 2010 at 11:38

hbchbc says:

lol

# September 2, 2010 at 11:45

Gorgos says:

When walking from the side, you can see the aluminum system of 10cm thick just bolted somewhat clumsy to the building. There it appears to be nothing more then a screen.

# September 2, 2010 at 11:46

Albert says:

Nouvel always had a passion for facade effects. The Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris is a great example of how to create real imaginative architecture based on the elevation solutions.
What happened in NY, Mr. Nouvel? No love for America?

# September 2, 2010 at 21:13

atlas says:

Those interested in viewing a more comprehensive documentation of the buildings construction should log onto the Wired New York Forum’s architecture blog. There are now 30 pages of images that depict this amazing building from its initial stages of parking lot to finished tower.

You may also view the adjoining IAC tower in similar detail by searching for the Gehry building in the search field. My sincere congratulatons to all involved.

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13300&page=30

# September 2, 2010 at 22:56

ayan13 says: