A revised design by Norman Foster for a planned addition to 980 Madison Avenue was published today in an article by Nicolai Ouroussoff in The New York Times.

A previous design was not accepted by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in January, 2007. That design would have added a reflective-glass, curbed tower at the north end of the roof of the low-rise, limestone-clad building that occupies the avenue blockfront on the west side between 76th and 77th Streets across from the Carlyle Hotel and directly south of the former Mark Hotel that is being renovated and partially converted to condominium apartments.

The new design is substantially shorter than the prior design's tower and it fully covers the roof of the existing building. The prior design would have created a large sculpture garden on most of the low-rise building's roof.

The new design is clad in bronze-colored glass and has a slight indentation just above the existing structure that makes it appear, to a certain extent, to be floating, a design effect used to great affect at the former C.I.T. Building at 650 Madison Avenue.

Mr. Ouroussoff, who is "he architecture critic of The New York Times, wrote that "You have to pity any architect who appears before the landmarks committee of the Upper East Side's community board. Packed with amateur preservationists, it is notoriously adverse to anything new." "The group," he added, "seems as open to the notion that cities can change as some biblical fundamentalists are to evolution."

Describing the new design, he noted that "Clad in elegant bronze bands, its low blocky form would rest directly on the existing structure, echoing its exact proportions." "The new design," he continued, "is more polite and less original, hewing to the reactionary view that most contemporary architecture is best when it is invisible. Little wonder that this neighborhood has not gained a significant new work of architecture in more than a quarter-century."

According to Mr. Ouroussoff, "The bands, modeled on an earlier Foster design for an apartment complex in an Alpine resort, are conceived as delicate movable screens, reflecting the good taste of the inhabitants while protecting them from the unwanted gaze of outsiders." The new design, he continued is "a calculated response to the bottom-line politics of building on the Upper East Side. The building's low profile and bronzed exterior, while no more contextual than a glass tower, seem well mannered if complacent."

Aby Rosen is the developer of the project and is the owner of such major landmarks as the Seagram Building and Lever House, both on Park Avenue.

The previous design proposed a 22-story addition with only 18 condominium apartments atop the former Parke-Bernet Gallery Building that was erected in 1950 and altered substantially about two decades ago. Parke-Bernet was the auction house that was subsequently acquired by Sotheby's.

Foster's former design for the apartment tower would have been a joined bundle of two glass-clad towers of unequal height and with curved facades occupying only 23 percent of the roof. It would have blocked numerous view to the south from the Mark Hotel but would have preserved a lot of "light and air" for the Carlyle Hotel and Madison Avenue.

Mr. Foster had argued previously that a vertical addition was more appropriate than "heavy layering" of a horizontal addition.

The plan has to be resubmitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission because the property falls within an historic district.

On May 12, 2008, the Department of Buildings assigned an alteration application about the building by Ambrosino Depinto & Schmieder to a plan examiner and the application described was for a 14-story "business" building with no dwelling units.