55 West 46th St - International Gem Tower - by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

[stache]

I'm pretty sure it's already been asked, but what's the history on that mansard roofed "Hotel at Times Square" next door at 59W 46th?

I can answer that question on general terms. 100 or so years ago, this entire area east of Times Square and even up to 58th. St. was full of buildings similar to this. For the most part they were residential hotels for established middle class types. Ruth Gordon's autobiography makes for interesting reading as she grew up in this area and describes what it was like to live there.

[ZippyTheChimp]

[DKNY617]

March 4th, 2012

[infoshare]

Is that glass curtain wall 'flat' or do some of the sections actually 'bump out' as if they were bay windows: great photos, but not sure if the 'bump out' part is an optical illusion.

BTW, in terms of cut/clarity that glass is flawless - thats diamond district lingo. hehe

[DKNY617]

Is that glass curtain wall 'flat' or do some of the sections actually 'bump out' as if they were bay windows: great photos, but not sure if the 'bump out' part is an optical illusion.

BTW, in terms of cut/clarity that glass is flawless - thats diamond district lingo. hehe

The glass does jump out a little bit but not really enough to be a full bay window.

[Snackbar21]

this is looking great!

[RoldanTTLB]

So the pattern they are using to do this can only be described as intensely clever. I think I tried to draw it out a few pages ago, but it's sorta like this:

_______/
_______/

But tilt them so the end points are flat. This creates the gemstone pattern. I'll just draw out a diagram eventually, because I'm just really taken by how it was thought out.

[Music Man]

I see something like this, with the top and bottom bands alternating between concave and convex with respect to the relief of the large middle pane. (Blue = concave, red = convex)


__________________________
\\\\\\\\\\//////////\\\\\\\\\\/
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
|_____________| |___________
//////////\\\\\\\\\\//////////\

[infoshare]

Thanks for the graphics: but, this is something that obviously needs to be viewed in person.

[Snackbar21]

this morning:

[LeCom]

Epic facade effects.

[londonlawyer]

This tower is amazing. I hope that someone develops the two pieces of s on the northeast and southeast corners of 47th and 6th (and not with shi.tty Poon/Kaufman specials).

[Derek2k3]

[londonlawyer]

Very nice.

[infoshare]

Thanks for all the great pics Derek ......

That photo catches the rise of the curtain wall just as it comes into view above some of the surround ing buildings. That is a 'fine lookin' facade: it is always good to see when developers/architects put some 'artistry' into these new buildings. Very Nice.......