Architecture giant Perkins+Will recently shared plans for a skinny 65-story skyscraper intended for Midtown Manhattan's East 37th Street. Comprising a total floorspace of 13,935 sq m (150,000 sq ft), the as-yet unnamed luxury condominium tower includes five open-air gardens and an outdoor cinema.
Developed by Nef of Turkey, the concept tower sports a steel and glass facade and will rise to a height of 213 m (700 ft) tall, the same height as NYC's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (once the tallest building in the world, between 1909 to 1913). It's still a minnow compared to the city's tallest buildings though, like the One World Trade Center, for example.
As of writing, all Perkins+Will has shared about the tower's proposed physical footprint is that it will be very slim. The firm reports that it will employ a hybrid steel structure with concrete core to reduce the overall thickness of the elevator core by around half, while also removing the need for corner columns, and thus increasing available space further.
The tower's interior layout promotes shared living spaces. These include a total of five large open-air garden areas, which are always within a maximum distance of four floors for any given residence, in addition to a yoga studio, jacuzzi, fitness room, outdoor cinema, and an infinity pool. Wind in the outdoor areas is kept under control with screening, and another garden space is installed on the rooftop.
"The idea is to create a new kind of communal ecosystem of social relationships within a thin tower design," says associate architect Scott Allen. "Rather than giving residents small, almost unusable balconies as seen in many towers, they will enjoy big community terraces that are the kind of social and interactive spaces in high demand today."
The tower isn't even under construction yet (Arch Daily reports it's slated for completion in 2017), but has already bagged an award – the MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Award.
Not everyone's a fan though, and Treehugger's Lloyd Alter questions the wisdom of a slim tower from a firm known for its sustainable designs, writing "super-slenders are hugely expensive to build, requiring the same stairs, elevators and emergency systems as buildings with floor plates ten times the size."
Source: Perkins+Will