REX Architects redesign and addition of 1100 Sixth Avenue
In fall 2017, the New York Post learned that Bank of America has signed a lease to expand its footprint to 1100 Sixth Avenue, a squat 15-floor office building sitting directly across from the bank's NYC headquarters, One Bryant Park. The green-glass, 386,000-square-foot building is occupied by the cable and satellite network HBO, who plan on vacating the space once they move to 30 Hudson Yards with parent company Time Warner. In early 2017, the opportunistic investors at Brookfield Properties
with California-based Swig Company acquired the leasehold on the building and are reportedly
planning a "top-to-bottom redesign" in addition to adding a few acres of floor space to the central, corner location. Recently, REX, the architects behind Brookfield's
5 Manhattan West published a portfolio of images showing the revamped office tower that might be in store.
Looking north up Sixth Avenue (REX)
Called IIᴑᴑ, REX's competition entry
would yield a 441,000-square-foot tower with signature amenities that include a roof terrace, revamped retail, and a high-floor amphitheater. The design is intentionally minimal, featuring triple-glazed low-iron glass and shallow floorplates to provide flexibility and transparency to tenants. The team hopes the ultra-transparency of the design would lend to an extraordinary sense of floating above the spectacular intersection across from Bryant Park. "These dramatically thin office plates provide a sense of floating over the panoramic views, and bring natural daylight across floors, both of which increase occupant wellness and productivity," says the firm.
Using Modernist icons such as the United Nations Secretariat Building and Lever House for precedent, REX channels their novel and infinitely-copied façade systems that sought to provide floor-through-views and deep light penetration. REX explains, "Like Lever House, IIoo asserts its commercial value not by willful form, but by shrink-wrapping a slender, highly-efficient structure in an equally efficient, state-of-the-art enclosure." The scope would utilize unused floor area from its site and the adjacent W. R. Grace Building. Additionally, a variance offered by the city to maintain/refurbish subway entrances yields an additional nine floors resulting in a tower close to the height of the 630-foot Grace Building next door.
The shallow floorplates provide airy, light-filled offices that appear to float above the city
Interiors spaces will be largely column-free and the elevator/stair core, to be clad in travertine, is to be positioned to the northeast corner of the lot to provide clear views over the park and towards the Empire State Building from many areas of the floor. Layout flexibility is provided through bolted-only connections and removable floor decking panels that allow tenants to create multi-story spaces, vertical stair connections, and other signature spaces.
Proposed near the tower's pinnacle is a multi-functional gathering space that can serve as an amphitheater, a lounge, or a discussion chamber. Here, a pair of oval-shaped inscriptions facing the opposite side provide the only "built-in signature moment" on the tower's sparse facades. The multi-height space is envisioned to have a retractable glass roof, and a perimeter catwalk above the stage would provide more opportunities to take in the dramatic views. The space would be shielded from large amounts of solar heat gain via anodized aluminum blinds that would be automatically deployed to nine feet above the floor when direct sun hits the façade. For privacy or glare control, tenants can bring the blinds down manually for the remaining height.
The tower's structure makes efficient use of materials to minimize its sizing and maximize sightlines says REX
While the ambitious overhaul is listed as a competition entry on REX's website, it wouldn't be surprising if the design is Brookfield/Swig's top pick. REX recently steered the revamp of Brookfield's 5 Manhattan West,
which turned an anvil-shaped eyesore into a crystalline, anvil-shaped castle whose new tenants include Amazon and JPMorgan Chase. Brookfield/REX also commissioned Radii
to fabricate a model of the design. REX's other work includes the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center.
Model of the 1100 Sixth Avenue via Radii Architectural Fabricators
The tower would rise between the Grace Building and the Bank of America Tower (One Bryant Park)
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