New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission declared the Citicorp complex a protected landmark on December 6, 2016, but between that designation and its earlier “calendaring” (the scheduling of a public hearing and the first formal step in the designation process) in May of last year, approvals for demolition and new construction were secured. — The New Yorker
Despite being named a city landmark in 2016, the brutalist sunken plaza of 601 Lexington Avenue, formally known as the Citicorp Center, was demolished over the summer.
"The finest part of the new urban composition was a sunken plaza, a dozen feet below sidewalk level. Entered from the block’s southwest corner and uncannily sheltered by the underbelly of the elevated skyscraper ten stories overhead, it was a consequence of the city’s “plaza bonus” zoning, which allowed developers to build higher in exchange for incorporating public space into their property. It was the work of Hideo Sasaki, one of a great generation of landscape architects—Dan Kiley, Lawrence Halprin and Harriet Pattison prominent among them—who worked alongside such familiar heroes of mid-century modern design as Eero Saarinen and Louis Kahn. "
Gensler will lead the 200,000-square-foot renovation of the plaza.
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The photo is actually of the interior atrium.
Exterior can be seen here:
https://www.docomomo-nytri.org...
I'm beginning to think Gensler should be banned from designing anything exterior. Ever.
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