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MANHATTAN WEST, NEW YORK CITY
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© SOM
To give the building a unified, monolithic expression, the practice used a tinted outer glass substrate
continued however, before SOM picked the masterplan design back up again in 2010. The $5bn development occupies seven million square feet of space and comprises six buildings including One and Two Manhattan West, twin glazed towers both housing offices and 303 metres and 67 stories/285 metres and 69 stories respectively). There’s also the Pendry, a 164-room hotel; The Eugene, an 844-unit residential tower; and Five Manhattan West and The Lofts, two former industrial buildings repurposed as offices. As well as the masterplan, SOM designed three of the buildings, and engineered four of them. The buildings are located around a central plaza lined with 225,000 ft² of retail space. Creating an overall vision for the site was the first hurdle to overcome, explains SOM principal Kim Van Holsbeke. “The first challenge was creating a holistic vision for a new neighbourhood where none really existed before,” he says. “The area was mostly empty parking lots, approach roads to the Lincoln Tunnel, and some isolated industrial buildings, all in the midst of railroad infrastructure. We had to envision what its new identity would be.” Not only is the development crucial for the revitalisation of the Far West
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Side, it’s described as a “gateway” by SOM, connecting the district to Hudson Yards to the west and Penn Station to the east.
Structural considerations The second major challenge was to solve the complex engineering challenges that came with building over active railroad tracks. This wouldn’t have been possible, says Van Holsbeke, without the firms’ collective experience, it being one of the most complex projects undertaken in New York City in recent memory.” The practice’s designers, engineers, and planners had to collaborate closely to come up with the best solution for the site.
This solution had to allow the buildings and public space to exist – and be constructed – over the live railroad tracks without disrupting their operation. They designed a 2.6 acre building platform to sit over the tracks, and planned various construction phases. Van Holsbeke illustrates the tolerances they were working within: “One Manhattan West, for example, had only about 130 feet between the northernmost track and 33rd Street – an office tower generally requires about 150 feet to have appropriate lease spans, so we had to design the building on
ADF MARCH 2022
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