The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today released renderings of the three finalists in a design competition held by 20 X Square Associates, LLC, a joint venture of Vornado Realty LP and affliates of the Lawrence Rubin Company for a 1.3-million-square-foot office tower it plans to erect over the authority's bus terminal on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street.
The terminal's North Wing, a low-rise structure with diagonal bracing designed by the authority's own architecture and design team, was erected to support such a structure when it was built in 1980.
The designs, shown at the right, are, from left to right, by Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Kohn Pedersen Fox.
The most striking and unusual design is by Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners, of which Richard Rogers, who designed the Lloyd's of London building in London, is a principal. The notched tower has several angled exterior bracing supports as opposed to an exoskeleton and the bracing is thematically related a bit to the bracing around the base. The rendering also indicates that the development would have two glass-enclosed escalators from the street to the top of the base and the escalators are a bit reminiscent of the great large glass-enclosed escalators at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, one of the world's most important high-tech buildings of the 20th Century that was originally known as the Centre Beaubourg and was designed by Mr. Rogers and Renzo Piano. Mr. Piano was the architect with Fox & Fowle of the recently completed tower for The New York Times on the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and 41st Street,
The design, shown in the center in the illustration at the right, by Pelli Clarke Pelli, of which Cesar Pelli, who designed the Wintergarden at the World Financial Center at Battery Park City and One Beacon Court, is a principal, is highlighted by the dramatic basket-weave design of its north and south glass facades.
The design, shown at the right in the illustration, by Kohn Pedersen Fox calls for a rectilinear, setback, glass-clad tower rising from a setback base in two distinctly different segments, the lower one narrower. The tower also has a smaller vertical component at the rear of the site where it is next to the famous former McGraw-Hill Building, designed by Raymond Hood and known as the "Green Giant," a landmark of Art Deco skyscraper design. Major works by Kohn Pedersen Fox include One Jackson Place and Park Avenue Place, residential buildings here, and spectacular office buildings at 333 Wacker Drive in Chicago, the Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Kuwait Business Center and The Pinnacle in London.
The authority also announced today that it has given the joint venture up to two six-month extensions to finalize a 99-year lease for the redevelopment of the North Wing and the extensions allow it to negotiate a transaction to lease, renovate and manage retail venues in the South Wing.
In addition to the office space, the lease is expected to generate about $500 million for the authority over the course of the lease and allow for increased bus capacity at the terminal and the renovation of about 60,000 square feet of space in the North Wing for retail use. It will enable an additional 70 buses containing about 3,000 passengers to be accommodated during each peak hour, increasing capacity by 18 percent.
The air-rights development deal originated in 2000 when it was valued at more than $100 million but it was abandoned a few years later because of office market conditions.
The terminal's North Wing, a low-rise structure with diagonal bracing designed by the authority's own architecture and design team, was erected to support such a structure when it was built in 1980.
The designs, shown at the right, are, from left to right, by Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Kohn Pedersen Fox.
The most striking and unusual design is by Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners, of which Richard Rogers, who designed the Lloyd's of London building in London, is a principal. The notched tower has several angled exterior bracing supports as opposed to an exoskeleton and the bracing is thematically related a bit to the bracing around the base. The rendering also indicates that the development would have two glass-enclosed escalators from the street to the top of the base and the escalators are a bit reminiscent of the great large glass-enclosed escalators at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, one of the world's most important high-tech buildings of the 20th Century that was originally known as the Centre Beaubourg and was designed by Mr. Rogers and Renzo Piano. Mr. Piano was the architect with Fox & Fowle of the recently completed tower for The New York Times on the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and 41st Street,
The design, shown in the center in the illustration at the right, by Pelli Clarke Pelli, of which Cesar Pelli, who designed the Wintergarden at the World Financial Center at Battery Park City and One Beacon Court, is a principal, is highlighted by the dramatic basket-weave design of its north and south glass facades.
The design, shown at the right in the illustration, by Kohn Pedersen Fox calls for a rectilinear, setback, glass-clad tower rising from a setback base in two distinctly different segments, the lower one narrower. The tower also has a smaller vertical component at the rear of the site where it is next to the famous former McGraw-Hill Building, designed by Raymond Hood and known as the "Green Giant," a landmark of Art Deco skyscraper design. Major works by Kohn Pedersen Fox include One Jackson Place and Park Avenue Place, residential buildings here, and spectacular office buildings at 333 Wacker Drive in Chicago, the Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Kuwait Business Center and The Pinnacle in London.
The authority also announced today that it has given the joint venture up to two six-month extensions to finalize a 99-year lease for the redevelopment of the North Wing and the extensions allow it to negotiate a transaction to lease, renovate and manage retail venues in the South Wing.
In addition to the office space, the lease is expected to generate about $500 million for the authority over the course of the lease and allow for increased bus capacity at the terminal and the renovation of about 60,000 square feet of space in the North Wing for retail use. It will enable an additional 70 buses containing about 3,000 passengers to be accommodated during each peak hour, increasing capacity by 18 percent.
The air-rights development deal originated in 2000 when it was valued at more than $100 million but it was abandoned a few years later because of office market conditions.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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