![]() ![]() #THE SUPERTALL TOWER CREAKS BREAKS FULL#The tower is stepped back and heavily ornamented on the east and west sides (concealing two structural shear walls), while the north and south sides boast floor-to-ceiling windows with full views toward Central Park and Downtown, respectively. But there is one exception: 111 West 57th Street, also known as Steinway Tower, designed by SHoP Architects and expected to be completed this year. I live in Midtown, and I see these buildings every day. 1 See documentation of the exhibition “ New York’s Super-Slenders” at the New York Skyscraper Museum (2016). Over the last decade, New York City has seen an increase in condominium development in pencil towers that cater to the super-rich, especially along the stretch of 57th Street that has come to be known as Billionaires’ Row. Because like the myth of Iccarus, if you build too close to the sun, you might get burned.Carlos Balza Gerardino December 2021 The Equitable Building (1915), The New Yorker Hotel (1929), and 111 West 57th Street (2021). Let’s stop developers from dictating the height of our skyscrapers and build something with longevity. Slender objects tend to sway in the wind, and swaying buildings tend to creak and break. ![]() While unfortunate for the residents, the real question is: “Is this a surprise to anyone?” The answer should be a firm “no.”Īt height to width ratios approaching 15:1, these towers are much more slender than most supertall skyscrapers. Reports of water damage, walls that creak, and frequent elevator malfunctions are just a few of the problems that residents have faced. Unfortunately for their bottom line, they may have pushed the numbers too far this time.Īccording to a recent New York Times article, living in a multi-million dollar supertall condo is not without its problems. The design is the product of a proforma meant to maximize rentable square feet on the minimum area of land. ![]() But at the end of the day, the real accomplishment is getting these things to stand up, not their gilded interior designs.īut despite the structural accomplishment, these buildings are a developer fantasy gone bad. Granted they do deserve their due for solving the unique challenge posed by fitting the maximum amount of rentable floor space on a small floor plate. Note, I say engineers not architects deserve the credit, even though architects tend to flaunt these designs as their own creation. The fact that they don’t speaks to the ingenuity of the engineers. Anything that tall and slender looks like it’s begging to topple over. The proportions just don’t pass the sniff test. ![]() These gravity-defying structures emerged due to the combined forces of smaller building plots in dense cities and demand for multi-million dollar luxury condos.Īt first glance, these buildings are simply marvels of engineering. New York) and architectural designers has been the Pencil Tower - a super-tall, super-slender skyscraper. In the past decade, the hottest visual fetish amongst premier addresses (e.g. ![]()
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