Day 04 (Monday): MIDTOWN EAST / (Towers)
am going to start visiting the site of the United Nations , located very close to our department. One of the largest projects both real and symbolic importance in the history of modern architecture. Its location is not the best to admire the buildings, as they are behind the heavy traffic of 1st Ave and are impregnable for obvious security reasons.
Anyway, it is inconvenient to appreciate the quality of the project, which took the match proposed by Le Corbusier and attracted to the great architects of the era, the young man who excelled Oscar Niemeyer . The game of volumes between the glass tower of the Secretariat and the low volume of the building of the General Assembly is of great effect. Especially in this last stand the superb resolution of ramps and stairs for access and serve the hemispherical dome of the room.
In the center of the plaza that links the two buildings is a fountain with a sculpture suggestive of the English artist Barbara Hepworth entitled Single Form and a splendid woman reclining in Henry Moore. The complex is worth a tour, the quality of its architecture and the presence of works of art, but stay for the next opportunity
Northwards are two small twin towers that frame the horizon and have a nice proportion copyright to me unknown and around several buildings that serve as assistants to the UN, among which are distinguished by their size the UN Plaza of Kevin Roche. Flaunts its volume cuts to 45 degrees, very typical solution of the '80s, and has a courtin wall that once must have seemed the latest technology, but now appears antiquated.
This is a day we decided to dedicate most of the towers that populate this part of the city. For this and following a very strict program started by one of its icons, the Met Life building , formerly known as "Pan Am" name change would for a reflection on the progress of the tertiary sector in the economy.
The building stands in first place for its location as it is planted in the center of Park Avenue and rises above the restored Grand Terminal, where we entered. It notes the enormous effort that has been done to restore the entire complex of buildings, a work that seems to have been successful.
There brands business, dining and living cultural spaces intertwined with one of the major transfer centers in the city.
The stakes were high because in general these major transport nodes, particularly those involving trains, usually generate around depressed areas. In this case it seems that the situation was reversed.
Returning to Met Life building, one of those who were born to be seen from afar, and acts as a powerful backdrop to the prospect of Park Avenue. Its convex shape, which reminds me of Montecitorio Bernini, softening its impact on the landscape. The building, designed by one of the studies with a greater presence in the city, Emery Roth & Sons leads for posterity the signing of an exceptional partner, Walter Gropius , but really do not know very well in what was his contribution.
Up close, however, it appears that the building vanished on the ground floor and disappears into the station complex. The understated lobby bears no relation to the building is up and there are lost every grid reference. This is a huge triple-height space, clad in a travertine almost no grain, which sings along with the Central Station area. On the walls hang huge canvases, works from Julian Schnabel discussed , some really very suggestive that relate correctly to the site.
also visited the hall on the side which is accessed from Vanderbilt Ave, where the sculpture of Flight Richard Lippold, made with fine strands of wire that travels diagonally across the space, a reminder of the dreams of the Pan Am building
born
We see then from outside the very classic building JP Morgan in 1962, Skidmore, Owens & Merrill (SOM) . A classic product of the time, model repeated countless times through the vertical "mullons" columns in impeccable black granite and glass.
The hall resolved in "U" has a good scale, reduced to a mezzanine at the entrance to lessen the impact, the wall is covered with a "comb" thick, white painted wood. It was not time to waste. A few yards away, on 47th St. are the new offices of the company, also designed by SOM in 2001, with its distinctive octagonal shape, which turns into a shot glass, very effective, especially at night.
Continuing along Park Avenue, leaving behind other buildings of interest, we finally encounter the builiding Seagram, one of the most anticipated for me. The perfect skyscraper designed by Mies Van der Rohe , which put into practice the dreams of glass and steel many times postponed Despite high expectations, I was not at all disappointed.
the perfect symmetry is emphasized, carried to its ultimate consequences and details, and overall sobriety. The building is very removed from the line of the avenue and precedes a dry parade square decorated with two sources, dug in the granite floor. The only thing that breaks the symmetry is severe with the flag pole, turned to the right, which shows that, in certain environments, the center is not always the most prominent position.
The materials used are very limited: the stone floor remains unchanged inside the building, devoid of details travertine placement coats the walls of the nuclei, and the ceiling is, surprisingly, venetian gray. The woodwork of the hall is so subtle that it tends to disappear, the boundary between inside and outside, as if it were a necessity that could have been avoided. There is only one change in the columns, which are coated in bronze on the inside, while outside remain black like the rest of the building.
there on both sides of the square kind of bank green alps marking the boundaries of space and serves as an element to cover the difference of level with down side streets. The same green alps is used in the blind panels of the facade. On the side, at the end of the canyon floor and about six feet, two access to the building, which has a single carport and the resulting glass staircase. Both approaches, because there is one on each side, are used as service entrance, even though after all democratically attend the same hall.
The building plan is a "T", which I did not expect, as always appears in the photos taken from the front, like a prism prefect. This is perhaps the only thing that adds a bit of imperfection but cleverly hidden. To pretend perfection must also be smart. The building, entirely in black steel and glass, comes to the floor with an extremely natural, with nothing to announce its final. There is only one marquee completely devoid of details, a simple black aluminum plate also seems to work to go unnoticed.
The building has much relevance for their outstanding retracted position, mentioned above, which gives it a monumental air, as is easily appreciated as a unique urban phenomenon. The vacuum is also what makes the stainless reputation of this work, which also concurs frugality means used for shaping. It would seem that nothing can be removed and, even less, it added.
diagonally with Seagram, which appears in some sense be regarded as an American answer to the skyscrapers of Mies. The Lever House , who designed Gordon Bunshaft for the Study SOM. A building that stands out for its "friendly" against the city, in contrast to the severe German neighbor available.
Here is a plate that sits perpendicular to the street and then connected with a low volume, parallel to it. Both are solved in the same courtin wall of steel and tinted glass, in a vivid green. Behind the lower body, which bends into the corner, it opens a urban courtyard, accessed naturally to pass beneath the colonnade that supports it. High quality urban space and sculpture garden where some samples have been made famous.
There are currently showing a giant sculptures of cartoon characters, the way Murakami.
The hall, low and elongated, somewhat in contrast to the typically found in towers, is fully lined with giant typography words.
The multi Lever House is in some ways a critical project that is opposed to the classical typology of the tower emerging isolated in space. From the aesthetic comes into play as a motive and the horizontal, from the urban, actually shown engaged with the surrounding space, providing a mediated approach to the building. Until his cheerful green is somehow a manifesto of a less serious proposal. In short, how valuable is your critique from within, because there is no doubt that is a tower, but to reformulate some of the topics of this type.
We left for a moment Park Avenue, to Lexington, to see a giant of the eighties, well studied in my university years, the Citycorp . To carry out its project met several important studies led by Emery Roth & Sons , with whom he collaborated Hugh Stubbins and Edward Larrabee Barnes .
is one of the first buildings that disappear "mullions " of the facade to be this completely smooth. In its closing triangular shaped houses a huge weight, which moves to balance the structure when applied to lateral forces of wind. A real structural eccentricity, which was reported in those years as a student with mythological air.
However, the greatest merit of the building are not so much in their development in height and its elaborate structure concentrated in huge piles, but the work done when it comes into contact with the floor.
there is generated a kind of well that descends several levels below the sidewalk, as if the building had fallen from the sky like a meteor, leaving their mark. Effectively work out there a public space that achieves a level surprisingly pleasant, with a source that goes down with enough momentum.
Inside there are spaces for multiple heights, which are dumped on offices, a bar and someone who plays the complete piano contrast. There is also a good access of glass that seems resolved in recent times.
front of this building is another very interesting also known by its address, 599 Lexington . The same is developed from the triangle shape, which turns on mighty hinges are located on the edges of the volume. The presence of the triangle insists throughout the building, and displays a simple and powerful idea, shown especially effective in resolving the access and entrance hall. The prolific architect Edward Larrabee Barnes , originally from Chicago, but established in Manhattan since 1949, who died recently.
We resumed our route up Park Avenue to meet with one of the jewels of the architecture of small-scale offices.
The elegant and very balanced Pepsi Cola Building of SOM that, despite its size, just a dozen floors, when compared with its giant neighbors have the greatness that only one set can grant proportion.
The key to this building seems to expect to get the elegance of the square, set high on the facade, which is manifested in large glass panels and serene.
Done in 1959, is one of the buildings where the International Style seems to have come to greater mastery of the purest Renaissance style. Someone called it the "Capella Pazzi" international style and I think a very accurate description.
already arriving at noon, we decided to stop for lunch and to that end we return to Central Park to walk the party had not been seen on Sunday, that is the southeast corner, perhaps the busiest. We went through the side of the small zoo and below its famous clock in animals.
After the gourmet meal, we walked under the vaults of Mall, star of many movies, to finish later in the picturesque terrace Bethesda, dominated by the romantic Angel Fountain. The real heart of the park.
Answers forces, began the journey of the evening in the 57St., Starting with the famous Apple Store , wonder of what appears to be the material of the moment: the glass. It was made by the very versatile Bohlin, & Jackson Cywinsky , and can say it is one of the new icons of the city. The building has a very clear intention and seek significant reference architecture with the product being sold inside. His aesthetic is an extreme minimalism, as their intentions figure appears to have disappeared. Enéel Everything is transparent, everything except, of course, the fleet mysteriously illuminated logo inside the box.
looking glass the highest level of expression and demonstrates its ability to allow you to be a material at once formal and structural. All is resolved with glass, from the stunning spiral staircase, softly patterned to prevent slipping, to the ethereal lift. The building is always crowded and eloquently presented as a temple of new technologies in regard to communication. Inside the museum has more than department store and is a good example also of the monumental is not always linked to the scale.
As background to this little glass case is the building of another giant U.S. economy, General Motors . The comparison between the two would lead to reflections on the economy, which I dare not. A new piece of Emery Roth & Sons , this time based on the vertical. The building, completed in 1968, alternating narrow lines equal its facade of glass and a rich white marble without added another reason in all its sparse development.
That plea is strongly reinforced in the entrance hall, also consist of a number of vertical slices of white marble, apparently monolithic parts that make up their walls. Shares the ground floor with the well known toy store FAO Schwarz , which we also visited.
continue the tour of 57th St. to the east, where he first found the building Christian Portzamparc made for Dior . It seems to be too ambitious, in which wanted to deploy more resources to language that allowed the project size. This is, again, the volume of glass cut at impossible angles, leading to extreme possibilities, in this case geometrical this material.
In the street, and in the corner of Madison Avenue, a new work Edward Larrabee Barnes & , the IBM building, which incorporates the geometry of the triangle, but in a most convincing aspect that applied to the of 599 Lexington. In this case the mass of dark brown granite, dominates the proposal, which is especially dramatic in the corner, where volume flies squarely on the diagonal cut that produces income. Below this area is a Calder sculpture, red steel, which precedes access to the hall also triangular in shape. Perhaps the position of the structure is not entirely happy because he has a place uncomfortably close.
The triangle complete the remaining land, which is square, a square is occupied by multi-level deck height, roofed with a strong steel frame and glass panels. The space also contains large trees and a fountain, which entertains a series of tables in a bar. In fact, the space is impressive, although somewhat desolate.
From this interior there is a link to the Nike Store , which contains several floors devoted to the brand, and through him to the hall can also be accessed from the Trump Tower on 5th Ave This is without doubt one of the ugliest interiors of the city. However, the possibility of moving from one building to another without going outside is always to highlight the benefits of this city, which always deals with the coexistence of private intelligence and its relationship with the public.
front of the building of the IBM Building, across 56th St., we find one of the most emblematic buildings of postmodernism, a true icon of that era, in which he attempted a difficult marriage between the skyscrapers and the classical language. Scandalous not only because of their shapes, but also because the architect who signed it was one of the great figures of modernism, Philipp Johnson, Mies collaborator who was nothing less than the Seagram Building. The building in question was originally owned by AT & T and now known as Sony Building .
seems incredible now seeing that the architecture has ever tried this road, which now seems completely dead. And yet, the '80s, when raging hard ruthless criticism to the modern movement, led to a proposal of this kind, which today seems not just old but old. Perhaps it was the natural reaction to years of absolute rule, and in a dictatorial fashion, the modern movement imposed on the architecture. The reaction was materialized, as so often in history, finished with a betrayal.
can not deny that the bet was made in depth, not only in the famous shot of a title match, emblem of postmodernism and the movement that was to rescue the classical forms. Perhaps the biggest decision in favor of the classical language is in the lobby, which mimics a kind of Italian Renaissance cortile, but in a mournful key that is nowhere near its cheerful Florentine predecessors. Here, small columns of a simplified order hold weak arches and above them the only granite walls pierced with giant oculus. Closing the espacion a kind of golden vault. The effect can not suppress a certain air funeral.
The use of a single material, a cold gray tinged with pink granite and unpolished, save the work, which otherwise would have been completely derailed. The stone covers the entire surface and is repeated inside. Is placed in large uniform blocks, a locked board, which by far gives the surface a certain aspect of being out scale. Constructively with a problem in detail and the facade, in its eagerness monolithic look drippings that the demotion. In the back is a covered patio with half dome, which is assembled wrong with the building to the point that seems to be an afterthought. A giant spider man climbing the walls complete the picture postmodern.
57th St. resumed again in the opposite direction to the west. Passed 5th Ave, on the left appears in the village of the giant number 9, which indicates the access Solow Building, fifty-story tower, the tireless Gordon Bunshaft. Held for maintaining the principles of international style, when it was already declining, in my opinion reveals its shortcomings, especially in regard to urban integration. It seems incredible that it is the same architect who in the previous decade was a lesson in urban planning with the Lever House.
The curved vertical plane of the facade, black glass materialized in the mid-70s, is a technical act that does not add too much, beyond the effect it produces. Like the vast St. Andrew's crosses on its sides, which also appear as a conspicuous structural gesture and as such, unnecessary. It highlights the designated access number, separated from the building, is actually a sculpture is the work of graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff .
Pursuing the same 57th St., but across the street, we find another iconic towers that somehow try to develop a language that moves away from the mandates of the international style. The attempt this time it was a shit of Cesar Pelli, who had to undertake a project to harmonize with neighboring Carnegie Hall, built in stone and brick in a style similar to the renaissance in the late nineteenth century.
The new Carnegie Hall Tower grows practically attached to the old structure of the concert hall and rises in its extreme thinness, struggling to live with its prestigious neighbor. The result is quite uncertain and proposes a reflection on this type of operations that strongly favor the context, but do not perform in practice. Anyway, the rich brickwork and trim dematerialized linear elements show a quality beyond doubt.
Following the "pieces" architecture along this avenue, we reached the newest of all and one of the most astonishing, located at the intersection of 8th Avenue is the building winning Hearst, English Norman Foster, a of the leading figures of contemporary architecture. This, unlike the above named, seeking to live with what exists, not through mimesis, but rather the opposite, seeking the opposition.
The tower, which is expressed in a highly technological aesthetics arises from the middle of the structure of the old Hearst building, built in 1928. The violence that occurs in the opposition of both styles is enormous, since the new structure seems to arise without the slightest regard to the previous building that now serves as the foundation. The tower grows as faceted, but regular place value on the power of your new muscle diagonal.
This first impression was negative, I confess, totally changes when you enter the hall, where we find a totally puzzling over what could promise abroad. In a display of technical and formal solutions, solve the space and harmonious coexistence of both structures, through the government of certain biases that reflect the structure of the tower. The interior is bright and clear in its conception, and allows some way to rescue the logic of the operation performed.
The building was specially recognized for their environmental benefits and it proclaims the extensive information that is provided to visitors. The use of recycled materials, supplies processing rainwater, the mural made from earth entitled "RiverLine" the prestigious Bristol artist Richard Long and the virtues of a reduced cost structure, are among the most publicized . Anyway, something makes me so widespread distrust merits, which seem made with an intention advertising rather than a genuine concern for the fate of the resources available on the planet. After all, we must not forget that the building owner, the Hearst company, is a giant in the media.
The day ends exactly like the previous one, at Columbus Circle, where this time we did visit the Time Warner Center complex which integrates shopping with two huge office towers. The same was designed by SOM and inaugurated in 2003. In the space of shopping the first thing that stands out is the very subtle front joinery, which seems devoid of structure and simulate virtually disappear. There are two huge income and decorative statues of Botero and a striking simplicity in the resolution of details and materials. Sobriety stands out especially for a mall.
twin towers, entirely in blue glass, have an attractive shape and extends the solution of identical shots, made with subtle shifts in the flat glass, which are very effective. Between the basement and the volume of the towers themselves is a confusing passage, but still well resolved, without leaving the glass as a material unique proposal.
The day ends and at night, we return. We took a collective retraces 57th St., to 3rd Ave and walked down the south. On the way we passed the famous of Lipstick Building (once again) Phillip Johnson. Already at night reached only see the hall and hope to see light in the coming days.
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