British Powerhouse, Foster + Partners, has completed the first-full block office building on New York’s Park Avenue in over 50 years. It is a timeless architectural marvel set to add to the grandeur of one of New York City‘s most famous streets. The new building 425 Park Avenue, is located alongside Modernist icons such as the Lever House by Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe’s Seagram Building. The tapering 47-story tower was designed closely with L&L Holding’s project team. The tower includes:
- World-class office accommodation.
- A triple-height lobby.
- An expansive social amenity level.
- Exterior green spaces.
- A 38-foot-tall penthouse floor.
In October 2012,
Design | 425 Park Avenue
425 Park Avenue tower is built to LEED Gold standard; it also recently earned a Well Core certificate at the gold level in recognition of its features which improve the health and well-being of occupants. This magnificent tower is divided vertically into three distinct volumes, which gradually step back from the street edge, creating a staggered form. A seven-story base, merging into the urban grain at street level; a recessed central section; and a final volume of slender formation of premium floors at the top. Foster + Partners established this design through a detailed analysis that involved modeling views of Central Park from the site and finding the ideal distribution of areas to gain a balanced composition.
The first setback, a characteristic feature of high-rise buildings in New York, corresponds with the datum of the street. The second setback further develops this theme, symbolically and physically setting the upper levels apart from the rest of the city’s office towers. To maximize the Park Avenue frontage, the core is placed to the rear, where glazed elevator lobbies bring life to the eastern elevations and reveal long views of the East River. The double-height spaces between the three volumes create a prized amenity of open area in the heart of Manhattan.
The second setback featuring The Diagrid Club, which is open to all the tower’s tenants, offers stunning views, outdoor areas, a beautiful art installation by the Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, private rooms for transcendental meditation by the David Lynch Foundation, and various curated amenities designed to connect the mind and body. The award-winning chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, operates the café and lounge on this level. The triple-height diagrid floors form the tower’s geometry, culminating in a crown of three ornamental fins that pierce the skyline.
Expressing the tower succinctly, the tapered steel and concrete framed tower rises to meet three shear walls extending from the top. These three blades provide a marker on the cityscape. The structural expression of the building allows for genuinely flexible, column-free floorplates on the upper levels, which can accommodate several tenants. Foster + Partners explains that the social focus of the tower continues at street level, where the tower entrance is highlighted by a triple-height lobby flanked by Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new restaurant. The incredible 14,000 square-foot restaurant houses the main mezzanine dining level, a cocktail lounge with a 45-foot-high ceiling, and a 24-foot painting by the famous artist Larry Poons.
Interior office spaces in the tower rely on flexible floorplates that allow for a column-free and highly-collaborative space, which on the other hand, allows for an influx of natural light to create the ultimate office environment in both form and function. The open and highly flexible interiors were aided by offsetting the tower’s core. By offering tenants a flexible interior space, the building accommodates the changing requirements of contemporary workspaces and helps to futureproof the building.
‘Built for the Bold’
Pritzker Prize winner Sir Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, says that “425 Park Avenue celebrates its historic context and the restrained elegance of its landmark neighbors while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of workplace design and reflecting the contemporary spirit of the city. The building’s architectural form and structural expression are inextricably linked, providing it with a distinctive identity. The floors with external terraces are the first of their kind on Park Avenue, creating a permeable and healthy working environment.” He adds that 425 Park Avenue will set new standards for workplace design and provide an enduring landmark that is both of its time and timeless.
It significantly contributes to the ground-level public realm with its lobby, showroom space, and world-class restaurant. This majestic tower has been a labor of love for nearly two decades. The total building area is 64,193-meter square, and the full height is 260 meters. As the first full-block development to embrace Midtown’s historic Plaza District in over 50 years, the project comes with an added significance, an element Sir Norman Foster noted when delineating his latest $1 billion-plus design. 425 Park Avenue tower by Foster + Partners has created a landmark building that emphasizes comfort, natural light, and fresh air in a particularly dense urban environment.
Citations:
- 425parkave (2022). Built for the Bold. [online]. Available at: https://425parkave.com/ [Accessed 31 October 2022]
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- Fosterandpartners (2022). Foster + Partners completes Park Avenue’s first full-block building in over 50 years. [online]. (Last updated 27 October 2022). Available at: https://www.fosterandpartners.com/news/archive/2022/10/foster-partners-completes-park-avenue-s-first-full-block-building-in-over-50-years/ [Accessed 31 October 2022]
- Josh Niland (2022). Foster + Partners’ new 425 Park Avenue tower opens in Manhattan. [online]. (Last updated 26 October 2022). Available at: https://archinect.com/news/article/150328111/foster-partners-new-425-park-avenue-tower-opens-in-manhattan [Accessed 1 November 2022]
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- Adela Bonas (2022). Foster + Partners Completes Park Avenue’s First Full-Block Building In Over 50 Years. [online]. (Last updated 28 October 2022). Available at: https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/foster-partners-completes-park-avenues-first-full-block-building-over-50-years [Accessed 1 November 2022]
- WorldArchitecture (2022). Foster + Partners Completes “First Full-Block Building” In New York’s Park Avenue. [online]. (Last updated 1 November 2022). Available at: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/enfcg/foster-partners-completes-first-full-block-building-in-new-york-s-park-avenue.html [Accessed 1 November 2022]
- REWonline (2022). L&L Holding Company Celebrates the Completion of 425 Park Avenue. [online]. (Last updated 29 October 2022). Available at: https://rew-online.com/ll-holding-company-celebrates-the-completion-of-425-park-avenue/ [Accessed 1 November 2022]
- Paula Pintos (2022). 425 Park Avenue / Foster + Partners. [online]. (Last updated 28 October 2022). Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/991290/425-park-avenue-foster-plus-partners?ad_source=search&ad_medium=projects_tab [Accessed 1 November 2022].
