Archinect - News

Snøhetta tops out Manhattan residential tower with ‘striking geometry’

2024-02-23T12:03:00-05:00

A Snøhetta-designed residential tower in Manhattan’s Upper West Side has topped out. Named 50 West 66th Street, the scheme is described by Snøhetta as having a “striking geometry” with a “natural palette of refined materials.”

Archinect first reported on the development in 2017 upon the release of the design proposal, detailing the tower’s palette of textured limestone, glass storefronts, and bronze details. Externally, the facade is defined by what the designers call a “series of sculptural excavations, evocative of the chiseled stone of Manhattan’s geologic legacy.”

Image credit: Extell

As the tower rises, its profile gradually narrows, including a distinctive splitting of the volume at the 16th level, creating a shared amenity terrace. Above the terrace, the opposing corners of the tower are sliced away to create residential balconies. “Angled facets evoke this chiseled vocabulary, revealing the same gleaming bronze found at the building’s base,” the designers add.

Image credit: L...

The developer behind some of New York City’s tallest buildings is hiring in-house designers

2023-01-25T18:31:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an Architect at Doctors Without Borders, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Designer at Extell Development Company.

The role, based out of Extell’s New York City office, calls for applicants with degrees in architecture or interior design, and a minimum of five years of relevant experience in the industry. The successful candidate will “contribute to a variety of projects that change the city skyline” by engaging with the design process and interior design process at all stages of projects, reviewing design drawings and submissions, and participating in the procurement, construction, and administration process.

Why the role interests us

The position at Extell offers an insight into the role of architects in client-side businesses such as developers a...

Central Park Tower penthouse lists for a record $250 million in Manhattan

2022-09-20T14:31:00-04:00

High rollers in the most expensive residential market in the country now have the chance to own its highest-elevated piece of real estate as the penthouse apartment in Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill's record-breaking Central Park Tower is now up for sale in Manhattan.

The asking price for the triplex unit occupying the 129th–131st floors is reportedly $250 million, easily doubling the $169 million listing price that the 96th floor unit in Rafael Viñoly’s troubled 432 Park Avenue tower commanded when it hit the market a year ago and surmounting the $238 million figure hedge funder Ken Griffin paid for his 220 Central Park South penthouse in 2019.

Previously on Archinect: Recent sales at Central Park Tower close below their asking prices reflecting falling values at Billionaires' Row residences

At 1,416 feet, the apartment is the world’s highest private residence and comes complete with 27-foot ceilings, a ballroom, grand salon, and two kitchens. It’s high enough that the curvature of the...

World's tallest residential building tops out in New York City

2019-09-17T13:15:00-04:00

The Central Park Tower, Adrain Smith + Gordon Gill's 1,550-foot supertall tower in New York City, has topped out.

The 131-floor, 179-unit complex, created for developer Extell, now reigns as the tallest residential building in the world, New York Yimby reports. Wrapped in rippled floor-to-ceiling blue-glass curtain walls, the tower is one of several new supertall structures currently under construction at the southern end of Central Park.

Ground-level view of 217 West 57th Street. Image courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.

Neighbors include KPF's 1,401-foot One Vanderbilt tower, the SHoP Architects-designed 1,066-foot 111 West 57th tower, and Jean Nouvel's 1,050-foot 53W53 tower.

When completed, the Central Park Tower will include a triplex penthouse totaling more than 17,000-square-feet in size. The base of the building will be occupied by a 320,000-square-foot Nordstrom flagship store that will occupy seven levels. Floors eight through eighteen of the tower will house the bui...

Cable-supported cylindrical supertall tower may come to Midtown Manhattan site

2019-09-03T14:30:00-04:00

Plans for a site located at 265 West 45th Street in New York City's Midtown district are beginning to take shape as developer Extell moves forward with a potential project there. New York YIMBY reports that the developer recently filed demolition permits for a series of four-story masonry structures at the address that will be cleared to make way for the development.

Diagram showing the tower's steel cable structural system. Image courtesy of RB Systems.

According to New York YIMBY, architects RB Systems have proposed a 101-story, 1,312-foot-tall cylindrical tower for the site. The speculative tower proposal came to light in 2018 and is one of several potential buildings that has been proposed for the site.

Image courtesy of RB Systems.

The slender tower is remarkable in that its structural system is made up of steel cables, rather than columns, that tie into the building's foundations and core. At the top of the structure, a computer-controlled, ring-shaped damper will continuously...

Central Park Tower breaks Willis Tower's record 45-year claim to highest roof in the Western Hemisphere

2019-08-05T07:00:00-04:00

Central Park Tower, aka 217 West 57th Street, has surpassed the 1,450-foot-tall Willis Tower (née Sears Tower) to claim the title of highest roof in the Western Hemisphere. The Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed supertall is being developed by Extell and will soon top-out at 1,550 feet tall over Billionaires’ Row.

Once the world's tallest building from 1974 to 1996, the 1,450-foot-tall Willis Tower in Chicago is, little by little, kicked out from top placements in various height-record categories by the new kids on blocks all over the world.

After losing the overall height crown to the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in the mid-90s (when it was still the Sears Tower), the 110-story Modernist structure was ejected from the elusive Top 10 Tallest Buildings club when the 2,073-foot-tall Shanghai Tower was completed, and now, Willis Tower had to pass on also the title of highest roof in the Western Hemisphere to a young, skinny New Yorker on Billionaires' Row, the soon-to-be-completed (and tallest residential building on the planet) Central Park Tower.

View this post on Instagram @CentralParkTower and @One57–– two NYC landmarks gracing the skyline and providing residents with unparalleled views of #billionairesrow
A post shared by Central Park Tower (@centralparktower) o...

Central Park Tower rises above 432 Park, officially becomes tallest residential building in the world

2019-03-27T10:59:00-04:00

Extell Development’s supertall on Billionaires’ Row is officially the tallest residential tower in the world. Central Park Tower, at 225 West 57th Street, has reached its 92nd floor, surpassing the 1,396-foot-tall tower at 432 Park Avenue. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Central Park Tower will top out at 95 stories, or 1,550 feet tall, making it stand out significantly among neighboring skyscrapers when construction wraps up next year.

Snøhetta reveals ‘excavated’ bronze tower that will be the Upper West Side’s tallest

2017-11-27T15:19:00-05:00

Snøhetta's design for a 775-foot tall condominium tower at 50 West 66th Street calls for a series of sculptural excavations, with several slices up the structure and narrowing upward from its base.

According to Wallpaper, the Upper West Side tower developed by Extell Development will feature textured limestone, glass storefronts and bronze details. As the building tightens in size, the tall windows with bronzed frames will be set into the stone facades. On the tower’s 16th floor, the firm is planning a stepped outdoor terrace to serve as a shared amenity space, as well as sweeping views of the Hudson River and Central Park.

Upon its completion, the 127-unit tower on 66th Street will be the tallest on the Upper West Side, passing by the 668-foot tall tower proposed for 200 Amsterdam Avenue.

In February, Extell unveiled renderings of a new condo near Central Park West at 36 West 66th Street, for which they acquired for $45 million in 2015. Three office buildings were razed for the pro...