Archinect - News

Sustainable design trends are already outpacing One Vanderbilt's once-lofty green goals

2023-02-16T17:07:00-05:00

It is also the rare skyscraper designed with climate change in mind. It holds a self-contained, catastrophe-resilient power plant capable of generating as much energy as six football fields of solar panels. The building captures every drop of rain that falls on it, and reuses that runoff to heat or cool its 9,000 daily visitors. But One Vanderbilt is also something else. It is already out of date.

New York City’s recent ban on fossil fuels is making the green technology built into the merely two-year-old KPF-designed tower obsolete in terms of energy sources, the NYT's Ben Ryder Howe writes. Foster + Partners’ nearby 270 Park project is cited as an example of the forthcoming delineation triggered by the new mandate.

Speaking to the Times, SL Green’s director of engineering Jonathan Wilcox said it remains “to be determined” which elements, including a set of powerful natural gas-burning turbines, will be replaced in unison with city and state guidelines in the future.

Inside Snøhetta’s choreographed observatory at One Vanderbilt

2021-11-03T17:09:00-04:00

Snøhetta has completed a four-story observation complex at One Vanderbilt, New York City. Titled SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, the architects describe the scheme as one which “calms the observatory experience with a choreographed procession of connective social spaces.”

Hallway. Image: Snøhetta

The opening of the observatory comes fourteen months after One Vanderbilt tower itself opened to the public, with a distinct terracotta detailed façade and angular crown. The tower was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), who earlier this year was also selected to design 5 World Trade Center, one of the area’s last developable sites.

Hall of Light. Image: Michael Grimm Photography

Snøhetta’s observatory sits more than 1000 feet above Midtown Manhattan. The attraction is accessed at Grand Central Station, with visitors passing through a wood-paneled waiting area and mirrored elevators on their way to the observatory’s entrance on the 91st floor. On arrival, an illuminated walkway named the Hall of Light...

Summit One Vanderbilt announces opening date. See the latest pictures here.

2021-09-20T15:59:00-04:00

A dramatic new feature is close to opening atop one recent addition to New York’s skyline.

Summit One Vanderbilt offers visitors of the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed tower a multisensory experience as well as an attractive nordic-themed café and lounge in addition to stunning views of the surrounding city that can be taken in from New York’s highest exterior viewing platform.

Image courtesy SL Green

Snøhetta is behind the design of Summit One Vanderbilt’s 65,000-square-foot interior space and lounge called Après. Kenzo Digital’s Air gives visitors an option of two Matrix-like experiential spaces courtesy of Levitation boxes and an all-glass elevator called Ascent that extends to a height of 1,200 feet.

Image courtesy SL Green

“We can’t wait to welcome New Yorkers and visitors to New York to experience this truly unique destination right in the heart of Manhattan connected to Grand Central Terminal. People are going to want to come back to SUMMIT One Vanderbilt again and again.”

Image c...

KPF's One Vanderbilt, Midtown Manhattan's tallest office tower, finally opens

2020-09-15T14:27:00-04:00

Kohn Pedersen Fox's (KPF) infamous One Vanderbilt tower has finally opened. A project extensively covered on Archinect, the 77-story building now stands completed and open to the public. According to the firm's press team, the tower "transforms the civic experience of the Grand Central district, layering its architectural language and skillfully meeting market demands for cutting-edge, contemporary office space."

One Vanderbilt. Image © Raimund Koch.

“The materials of the building reinforce a Manhattan DNA,” says Jeffrey Kenoff, KPF Design Principal. “The authenticity and quality of these details are not only critical to their relationship within the tower itself, but also to the neighboring buildings including Grand Central and the Chrysler Building. This includes the custom glazed terra-cotta facade and soffits and the bronze podium framing, as well as the main lobby’s bronze “art wall” installation and hammered desk marking the arrival.”

One Vanderbilt. Image © Raimund Koch.

One Va...

Construction on NYC’s One Vanderbilt supertall tower continues

2020-04-15T13:36:00-04:00

Despite the state-wide shutdown of all non-essential construction projects, work on the 77-story One Vanderbilt tower in New York City designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is marching forward.

New York YIMBY reports that construction crews are currently hard at work installing the finishing touches on the 1,401-foot tower’s angled crown. The project, developed by SL Green, features sheer blue-glass walls and is topped by a stepped cap marked by angled roof lines. The building will include a 100-foot spire at the very top that has yet to be lifted into place. Additionally, a three-story observation deck, dubbed “The Summit,” designed by Snøhetta, is also included in the project. Gensler is providing interior architecture services for the development.

A rendering for One Vanderbilt. Image courtesy of SL Green.

When the tower is completed, it will rise as the fourth tallest in the city, behind the SOM-designed One World Trade Center, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill’s Central Park Tower, and...

Construction on KPF's One Vanderbilt reaches top of supertall crown

2019-09-16T16:00:00-04:00

Workers will soon begin assembly of the 100-foot-tall architectural spire, which will bring the project’s total height to 1,401 feet...the 77-story Midtown East tower will have a three-story indoor and outdoor public observatory situated at 1,020 feet above street level. Construction of the spire could conceivably finish before the end of the week...

Due to be the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan, the tower is expected to be completed next year.

One Vanderbilt rises to supertall status in Midtown Manhattan

2019-02-06T15:30:00-05:00

One Vanderbilt is officially the latest skyscraper in New York City to claim supertall status. Located at 41 East 42nd Street in Midtown East, the imminently 1,401-foot tall office building already soars above Grand Central Station, and new steel columns continue to sprout along the perimeter and core, having now punctured the 1,000-foot mark.

By passing the 300 m/984.3 ft mark, KPF-designed One Vanderbilt is now officially recognized as a supertall structure.

Rendering of the completed 58-story tower. Image: KPF.

The tower in Manhattan's Midtown East—vis-à-vis Grand Central Terminal and the Metlife Building it recently surpassed in height—is expected to top out later this year, likely in mid summer, and be completed in 2020.

Amazing aerial photos show One Vanderbilt’s ascent

2018-06-07T00:47:00-04:00

Construction of SL Green’s supertall One Vanderbilt continues to push forward, with the steel erection on the 16th floor now complete. By the end of the year, the developer expects to reach the 30th floor of the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed, 1,401-foot skyscraper, which will become the city’s second tallest skyscraper when completed in 2020. A fresh set of aerial photos of the tower provide a new perspective of the surrounding buildings, including neighboring Grand Central Terminal. And with even more sky-high news, SL Green reportedly announced that tickets to One Vanderbilt’s 1,000-foot observatory will cost about $39, or $5 more than that of One WTC.

Photo by Max Touhey

KPF has designed an outdoor observation deck for One Vanderbilt that will reach 1,100 feet, which would tie its height with the observation deck at 30 Hudson Yards, as 6sqft reported last fall. Designs show that the glass of the deck appears to be different in color than the rest of the tower because of possible usage...

Construction on One Vanderbilt to move forward after lawsuit settled

2016-08-15T15:14:00-04:00

Visitors to Manhattan will soon be greeted by a gleaming new 1,401-foot tower as they exit Grand Central Terminal, now that a lawsuit between two major real estate companies has been settled. Midtown TDR Ventures, the owners of historic Grand Central, withdrew their $1.1 billion lawsuit against SL Green Realty Corp, the City Council, and the de Blasio administration on Wednesday.

A few years back, SL Green attempted to buy the air rights above Grand Central from TDR Ventures in order to build the tower higher than zoning allowed. But then the de Blasio administration rezoned the area in exchange for $200 million in transportation funds. This didn’t go over well with TDR, who felt cheated out of their compensation for air rights.

The lawsuit was withdrawn after a leadership change at TDR Ventures, which will allow SL Green to move forward with the project, which will be designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. The firm describes the tower as a "21st century successor to Rockefeller Center".

h/t ...

New Renderings & Video of One Vanderbilt, Midtown NY’s Future Tallest Office Tower

2015-12-03T18:43:00-05:00

The digital production studio Visualhouse has released film and renderings of how SL Green’s One Vanderbilt will meet the street, and also remind us just how gargantuan the tower will be. According to the tower’s architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the tower will rise 1,501 feet to its spire, making it the third tallest building in the city upon completion.