Hudson Yards

[londonlawyer]

I agree. I feared that Ross would scar the skyline with those tumours, and instead, he's giving NYC its greatest gift in many years. I'm know rooting for the Dolphins in homage to Ross!

[BPC]

Nice designs. It will be interesting to see how they integrate the complex with the High Line. There is a big fight by developers to get direct access -- so far, I believe only 1 or 2 buildings have won that right. The Park's designers have said don't want it to be a private front yard of select lucky condos. Has anyone heard anything on this subject? I know the third section was only secured through a tentative deal with CSX just a few weeks ago, so probably it is way too premature a question.

[BigMac]

New York Observer
November 21, 2011

How Hudson Yards Danced Its Way to Design Glory

By Matt Chaban


Dance, dance evolution... of a building.

Despite the anticipation surrounding Hudson Yards—a new neighborhood cut from whole cloth, full of open space and affordable housing and not a few shiny new offices, and the jobs that come with it all—the truth was, it wasn’t much to look at. Even the decade-old and not-much-to-look-at-unless-you’re-in-on-the-architectural-joke Time Warner Center was flashy by compare. Then, Related’s Steve Ross decided he could do better. It is rare for a developer to have such a change of heart, but it appears the city is better off for it.

According to The Journal, not long after Related revealed new renderings for the site, head honcho Steve Ross decided he wanted something more, to attract tenants looking for a bit of panache (but not too much!), and maybe even make a nicer contribution to the skyline.

The design wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t the sort of arresting, statement-making architecture that one would expect a next-big-thing type of project. KPF’s early designs for the buildings were like Buckingham Palace bobbies: standing straight and erect, faces constant, but not saying much of anything at all.

The new plan for phase one, recently unveiled, describes a much different composition. The 30-story middle building is gone. New renderings show two jagged towers—the more northerly one 67 stories and sloping diagonally toward the city, the other, 51 stories and angled towards the Hudson—that slash through the skyline. Connecting the two buildings will be eight stories of retail and trading-floor space.

For The Journal‘s Robbie Whelan, even if the buildings alone are not remarkable, together they create a ballet on the skyline.

The mirror-image slopes of the two buildings, which would regard one another differently from nearly every angle of viewing, give viewers the sensation of two dancers in the midst of a paso doble. The southern building, which would house Coach, is, sensibly, the female of the pair —slightly shorter, with the atrium manifested as a slit in the dancer’s ball gown, giving a glimpse of a flash of leg underneath.

Vavavoom! The Observer hasn’t been this attracted to a new project the Lipstick Building rose on Third Avenue 25 years ago.

[oquatanginwan]

If two skyscrapers are scissoring, shouldn't that make them both female?

[lofter1]

Nice designs. It will be interesting to see how they integrate the complex with the High Line. There is a big fight by developers to get direct access -- so far, I believe only 1 or 2 buildings have won that right. The Park's designers have said don't want it to be a private front yard of select lucky condos. Has anyone heard anything on this subject? I know the third section was only secured through a tentative deal with CSX just a few weeks ago, so probably it is way too premature a question.

So far no building along the High Line has actual direct access for park visitors, and that's been the design theory since the High Line was initiated (the Caledonia comes closest, but there are no access points from within that building to the HL, although it does house HL restrooms and an elevator). The FOTHL is holding out to maintain "no direct access" because to allow such easy access alters the relationship of the park to the city. As it is now, people have to make an actual effort to get up on the elevated park space, rather than wander out onto it from some bar or cut across it from one shop to another.

One reason the negotiations for Section 3 around the rail yards was so protracted was because of specifications from Related and its tower tenant. There's no way that deal closed, which it did as you say just a few weeks ago, without the finalization of details regarding High Line access, funding, support, etc. Related had previously announced that the HY project required dismantling the section of the elevated rails just west of Tenth Avenue, and they seem to have held that card right up until the end of the negotiations.

The renders show that the south tower will straddle the High Line, but I haven't seen any details. I'd be willing to bet that there is an arrangement with Coach that the stretch of the High Line next to the tower is available for corporate functions. And wouldn't be surprised to find that there are access points on the High Line level that can be used at specific times and controlled by Coach in agreement with NYC Dept. of Parks (rather than as full time points of egress).

[londonlawyer]

If two skyscrapers are scissoring, shouldn't that make them both female?

Hilarious! They're both hot so they're lipstick lesbians!

[TallGuy]

One thing I find very appealing about this design is that it looks very organic, as if someone dropped a few 'skyscraper seeds' around town and this is how these particular ones grew; at differing angles just like real trees do. It makes the skyline look dynamic and alive.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Anyone else notice how offensive the street level along 10th Ave is designed here? I mean, I know it's across from the back of the AP which isn't too pedestrian friendly, but come on. We don't need an aggressive canyon along this block.

[lofter1]

That stretch of Tenth between 30th <> 32nd indeed looks like it will be a brutal canyon. Most likely it will be lined with loading docks for some length. But it's definitely the back door to Hudson Yards. Folks will be coming at this site from the west once the new 7 Line station opens on Eleventh.

[TREPYE]

If two skyscrapers are scissoring, shouldn't that make them both female?

ROLMAO...

One thing I find very appealing about this design is that it looks very organic,

This design is wonderful archtiecture and is a nod to progress in the human imagination as it relates its surroundings to that of nature...



Cueva de los Cristales




:-)

[HoveringCheesecake]

One thing I find very appealing about this design is that it looks very organic, as if someone dropped a few 'skyscraper seeds' around town and this is how these particular ones grew; at differing angles just like real trees do. It makes the skyline look dynamic and alive.

Indeed. I really hope these go all the way. It really looks like a combination modern-day Rockefeller Center/WTC.

[lofter1]

It will be interesting to see how they integrate the complex with the High Line ...

I looked again at the Related HY brochure and blew up the image on Page 27 showing how the South Tower meets the High Line. That image clearly shows that the plaza to the west of the South Tower will be open to the High Line for a broad length. It also seems to indicate an entrance onto the HL from the SE corner of the tower, at the NW corner of W 30th + Tenth. That openness raises the question as to how they will secure the park, so that it's not accessible 24/7 (I'd be surprised if non-stop unimpeded access would be allowed).

But the Related rendering doesn't accurately depict the curve of the HL over W 30th, where there's now the big Cut-Out feature situated just south of where the rails meet the east <> west section passing along the southern edge of HY. So that brings into question the veracity of the openness that's shown in the brochure.

[Fimiak]

I hope this new "courtyard" area isn't another nyc stripmall like winter garden. We need some original stores here! We can already bet on a duane reade and coach being here.

Is it possible that the first NYC nordstroms could go into this spot? Or are they looking elsewhere?

There is a future of High Line at Hudson Yards public input session on December 6th if anyone is interested.
http://www.thehighline.org/news/2011...-input-meeting

[oquatanginwan]

A terrace connected to the High Line would be an amazing place to have a world class restaurant. Imagine walking up the High Line, having cocktails as the sun sets over the Hudson, having dinner, and then a postprandial walk to the Standard for some good old fashioned exhibitionism.

[GordonGecko]