A three-dimensional puzzle

The silhouette is completely covered with a transparent skin of glass and aluminum tightly stretched over the curves and volumes of the tower. Two different types of glass, one clear and the other dark, create a striped effect on the south face and accentuate the verticality of the structure. While the north face overlooking Central Park presents a rectilinear and square-shaped profile that creates an impression of engineered rigidity, the south face seems to sweep downwards with a cascading effect that draws attention to how the staggered and curved volumes undulate and overlap with each section below. The sense of sinuous movement becomes even more pronounced closer to the ground thanks to the artful deployment of teardrop-shaped glass panels that seem to bulge inwards and outwards from the façade and terminate on the canopy covering the front entrance, where the vertical lines of the façade intersect with the horizontal trajectory of the street, over which the building rises like a frozen wave.

The skin of One57 constitutes one of the fundamental design elements of the building. It embodies both the architect’s vision and the developer’s concept of how the skyscraper should fit into the Manhattan’ skyline. The design and engineering of the components took more than two years to complete as the development team sought to strike a perfect balance between the technical requirements of the project and the high performance expected of the materials in terms of environmental comfort, noise abatement, and protection from solar radiation coupled with the exploitation of solar energy. At the same time, the team had to consider not only the aesthetics of the building, but also its setting and its extraordinary capacity to mingle light, shape and color.

The multiple and complex geometries that are such a defining characteristic of the building’s exterior are the result of a cladding composed of diverse materials and finishes. The skin is made up of around 8,200 unitized units of more than 2,200 distinct types covering an area of 47,300 sqm (509,100 sq ft). Many of the elements are unique. Indeed, the most ‘typical’ façade module is repeated approximately 300 times. Every stage of the project, from original design to installation, was replete with complexities and challenges.
The complex geometry of the façade is achieved by a vast array of diverse units of varying shapes and configurations, like puzzle pieces combined to form a variegated three-dimensional composition.