Influential firm the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has revealed plans for an ambitious new four-skyscraper project in New York City. Named Freedom Plaza, two of the towers will meet at the top with a dramatically cantilevering skybridge and one of the biggest infinity pools America has ever seen.
Freedom Plaza is being developed by Soloviev Group and Mohegan, and also involves OJB Landscape Architecture. It will be located on what BIG says is currently the largest plot of undeveloped land in Manhattan, a 6.7 acre (2.7 hectare) site south of the United Nations headquarters, in the Midtown East neighborhood.
Two of the four towers will host residential space and consist of 50 and 60 floors, respectively. These will pay homage to modernist New York City buildings of the 1950s and 1960s with striped glass and aluminum facades connected at the base by a podium. The other pair, meanwhile, will be clad in a metallic finish and each contain 51 floors of hotel space. As mentioned, they will also connect at the roof with a cantilevering skybridge.
The skybridge will be substantial, with a lobby featuring a multistory viewing platform boasting a glass floor and ceiling, plus an art gallery, while a 150,000-gallon (roughly 576,900 liter) infinity pool – one of the largest rooftop pools in North America – will be installed on the roof. Hotel amenities, such as a spa and wellness center, plus restaurants and bars, will be located in the bridge's interior.
The four towers will be arranged so as to not spoil the view from Midtown Manhattan, creating space for landscaped gardens between them, with a children's play area, dog run and event lawn planned. Climate-adaptive species will be planted, as well as food and habitats for pollinators.
Additionally, at the heart of Freedom Plaza's green space will be a new museum named the Museum of Freedom and Democracy. This is conceived as a Möbius strip and will take a spiraling form over an amphitheater and allow visitors to walk on its exterior.
According to BIG, Freedom Plaza is slated to be a net-zero development. Early details on this include that it will use the East River as both a heat sink and heat source to supplement the buildings' heating, cooling and domestic hot water systems, reducing potable water demand considerably. There will also be stormwater capture and retention systems.
We've no word yet on when Freedom Plaza is expected to be completed. The project is the latest in a long line of prominent NYC projects by BIG, including the Spiral and Via 57 West.
Source: BIG
