Archinect - News

Australian architects propose improbably narrow 'skyscratcher'

2021-02-01T15:07:00-05:00

With a street frontage of just six metres, the Pencil Tower Hotel is barely wider than a terraced house. [...] Planning documents for the $35.6 million hotel, which are on exhibition until February 2, describe the “improbably narrow” tower as a “skyscratcher” because it is too thin to be regarded as a skyscraper [...].

The proposal for a 33-story new hotel tower in Sydney's Central Business District is catching attention for its ambitiously skinny proportions: designed by Sydney-based Durbach Block Jaggers Architects to stand 110 meters (361 feet) tall, the structure will occupy a narrow site that is only six meters (less than 20 feet) wide.

"Our proposal embraces this extraordinary attenuated quality, proposing a ‘column’ tower on a low scale podium," states the architects' project description. "The tower simulates the compression and extension of a column, through a continuous abstraction of the elements of a column: base, shaft and capital."

Form follows finance: NYC's pencil towers for the ultrawealthy

2019-02-07T14:28:00-05:00

Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have witnessed this curious new breed of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense. They stand like naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds.

In his latest long-form piece, The Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright shows how the advent of the new 'pencil tower' building type is rapidly transforming New York City's skyline, digs in the history of zoning laws, and explains how "air rights" allow (an abundance of) cash to buy a piece of the Manhattan sky.

Photo: Maciek Lulko/Flickr

"Like leggy plants given too much fertiliser, these buildings are a symptom of a city irrigated with too much money," writes Wainwright. "The world’s population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, a super-elite with assets of at least $30m, has now mushroomed beyond 250,000 people, all in need of somewhere to store their wealth. More than a third of them are based in North America, while those from riskier economic climes favour New York real estate as one of the safest places to park their cash."

NYC's super skinny skyscraper is fat with cost overruns, prompting a lawsuit

2017-07-27T17:09:00-04:00

The best things in life are free, but construction cranes still cost money, which has prompted an investor to sue the developers behind SHoP's 111 West 57th Street for failing to budget appropriately for the cost of cranes (among other things) for the super skinny tower, which is already way over budget and only approximately 25% assembled. According to Curbed NY:

One of the investors on the project is suing the developers and the lender over alleged construction cost overruns.

The lawsuit, filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that the project is already $50 million over budget when it hasn’t even reached 20-stories yet. Eventually the building is proposed to rise to 1,421 feet with 82 stories.

Moscow-based Meganom reveals designs for 1,001-foot skinny supertall in Nomad

2017-05-31T16:15:00-04:00

According to the architects, “The form of the skyscraper is inspired by a unique structural system that separates the building’s functioning core from its living spaces, creating expansive, unobstructed, column-free and [customizable] full-floor residences – an inventive design solution unprecedented in a New York high-rise.”

For their first U.S. project, Moscow-based architecture firm Meganom has designed a 1,001-foot-tall skinny supertall at 262 Fifth Avenue in Nomad.

When complete, the residential tower will be the tallest building between the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center, and it will boast a striking top-floor observation deck and a slew of sustainable elements.

First rendering revealed for Brooklyn's first skyscraper

2015-11-10T12:57:00-05:00

[The tower proposed for 340 Flatbush Ave Ext.] will rise 1,000 feet tall, claiming the title of New York City’s tallest building outside of Manhattan, and giving Brooklyn its first legitimate supertall skyscraper...The residential component will span 466,000 square feet, and be divided amongst 550 units, with approximately 90 floors in total. There will also be 140,000 square feet of commercial development...

According to New York Yimby, "SHoP’s tower will be a dramatic improvement for both the cityscape and the skyline. With slender proportions capped in pointed, Deco-tinged accents, the building will have a notable presence without overwhelming its surrounds..."

Thoughts?

More about towers on Archinect:

As hammers clang and views vanish

Proposed Seattle Tower, designed by LMN Architects, could become the West Coast's tallest

Construction stalled on 'world's tallest building', so locals made its foundation into a fish farm

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill selected to design Burj 2020, the world's tallest commercial tower

Work finally resumes at Brooklyn's modular prefab tower

The new skinny kid on the block: 303 E. 44th St promises floating gardens in the Manhattan skies

2015-04-24T19:16:00-04:00

There's another project coming to Manhattan that's even thinner: 303–305 E. 44th Street, designed by Eran Chen of ODA Architecture. At 47 feet wide, this one's the narrowest of the bunch. Developed by Triangle Assets, the tower will rise about 600 feet high, creating 115,000 square feet of residential space. [...] The design for 305 E. 44th is predicated on a stack of volumes; nested between them are the project's signature amenities, private gardens.

111 West 57th Street: The World’s Skinniest Tower Will Also Be the Hemisphere’s Tallest Residential Building

2015-01-15T14:19:00-05:00

That’s a lot of accolades for one building, but the SHoP Architects-designed tower at 111 West 57th Street is looking to sweep the supertall competition. Originally planned to rise 1,397 feet, the tower will now soar to 1,421 feet, surpassing 432 Park Avenue (the current tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere) by 24 feet, according to city records uncovered by Crain’s. It will also retain its title as the world’s slenderest tower.

New Condo Towers Are Racing Skyward in Midtown Manhattan

2014-04-09T17:39:00-04:00

Ever taller, ever thinner, the new condo towers racing skyward in Midtown Manhattan are breaking records for everything, including price. Sold for $95 million, the 96th floor of 432 Park Avenue will be the highest residence in the Western world. As shadows creep across Central Park, Paul Goldberger looks at the construction, architecture, and marketing of these super-luxury aeries, gauging their effect on the city’s future.

Seeing a Need for Oversight of New York’s Lordly Towers

2013-12-23T12:58:00-05:00

A forthcoming report from the Municipal Art Society, called “The Accidental Skyline,” bemoans what’s happening on 57th Street, absent New Yorkers’ input. It suggests any new tower casting a shadow over Central Park should require the approval of the City Planning Commission. That’s a plausible trigger for public oversight, dependent on city commissioners with backbone who understand design.

Skinny SHoP-designed tower, higher than Empire State Building, wins city approval

2013-10-16T15:44:00-04:00

The tower would have only been 697 feet until the developers bought Steinway Hall — a deal that allowed for the building’s height to double, but also gave the Landmarks Preservation Commission the final say. The approval was a no brainer, members said. “It represents the best of both worlds of new construction and design and historic preservation,” Commission Chairman Robert Tierney said Tuesday. Fellow commissioner Fred Bland called the combo “daring and smart.”

Polish architect building world's narrowest house between Warsaw tower blocks

2011-07-06T12:20:00-04:00

An alley between an old tenement block and a tower block in Warsaw, Poland, will be the location for the skinniest house in the world. The four-storey home will have a bedroom, lounge, bathroom and kitchen, stretching back nearly 40ft, but instead of the traditional staircase, each floor will be accessed by a ladder. It will take over from the world's current official narrowest house, The Wedge, on the island of Great Cumbrae.