MANHATTAN WEST, NEW YORK CITY 17
© SOM
© Jakob Dahlin
a foundation that was considerably smaller than its footprint.” The building’s central core was anchored on the city’s bedrock, but perimeter columns on the south side couldn’t be, so the building was designed with the perimeter columns on all four sides sloping down into the central core above the lobby. This consequently allowed for a column-free lobby which has been clad in vein-cut travertine marble. At Two Manhattan West, only one half of the central core could reach solid ground, so SOM designed two ‘mega- columns’ at the perimeter, inserted into spaces between the train tracks to create what the architects call a “table top” supporting the tower above.
Invisible enclosures With a “vast open lobby space” being created for both towers, glass enables a column-free perimeter at One Manhattan West to be an “almost invisible enclosure that blurs the line between the lobby and the plaza,” explains Van Holsbeke. The perimeter columns of Two Manhattan West are minimal, spaced 60 feet apart, “creating large window portals that are filled in with a glass cable wall system,” he says. “This system itself creates a strong visual
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connectivity between the indoor lobby and surrounding public space.”
The overall aim with the two towers
was to “create an abstract composition, with two volumes in the New York City skyline that create a dynamic relation with each other and their surroundings,” Van Holsbeke explains. Each tower features one curved elevation, overlooking bustling parts of the island – One Manhattan West’s facing Penn Station to the east, and Two facing Midtown traffic heading south. “Together, the two buildings form a gateway to Midtown West and into the public space of the Manhattan West development,” says Van Holsbeke. Glass’ physical characteristics made it the right material for creating these forms, explains Van Holsbeke: “To create these monolithic, sculptural buildings, with a very tight skin and that softly curved massing, glass has the bendability that most materials do not have,” he says. “It also helped us create these very transparent, triple-height lobbies that visually seem to dissolve at ground level, so you can see into the buildings and from one part of the public space to another. It offers a permeable connection to the central plaza.” SOM principal Christoph Timm reaffirms
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