NEW YORK | Bank of America Tower | 1,200' Pinnacle / 945' Roof | 53 FLOORS | 2009
 

[Construction thread - http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=44861]

http://www.cookplusfox.com/

BofA Tower at One Bryant Park

One Bryant Park
New York, New York
for The Durst Organization / Bank of America
2100000 sqft.


Early in 2008, an extraordinary crystalline skyscraper of steel, aluminum and glass will rise from the northwest corner of Bryant Park to illuminate Midtown Manhattan. Developed by the Durst Organization to house the New York headquarters of the Bank of America, it promises to reshape the urban skyline of the future as surely as did the famed Crystal Palace, the first glass and metal-frame building in America, when it rose from Bryant Park in 1853.

The design for the Bank of America Tower is inspired by the building's unique site within its Midtown location and the broader urban context. Located at the juncture of Sixth Avenue - a highly trafficked and commercially important artery - and 42nd Street, near Times Square, with its worldwide reputation as a critical center for arts and entertainment, the building strives to respond to these dense urban conditions. Starting from its base, which is designed to improve the complex pedestrian and transit circulation, to the overall massing, continuing up to the tip of the spire, the form is a new character amidst an impressive lineage of iconic skyscrapers, from the Chrysler Building to the east to the old McGraw Hill Building to the west.

The Bank of America Tower will be noted for its pioneering integration of inspired design with innovative, high-performance environmental technologies. In a city of "firsts," it will be the first high-rise to reach for the US Green Building Council's coveted Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. To enhance the health and productivity of its tenants, reduce waste, and promote environmental sustainability, the building will use a number of strategies. An exquisitely clear, high-performance glass curtain wall permits maximum sunlight and views to interior spaces, while shielding out unwanted heat. An advanced under-floor air delivery system facilitates more controllable, healthful, and efficient heating and cooling while providing highly filtered fresh air. Efficient power comes from an on-site cogeneration plant, which works in concert with an ice-storage system to reduce the building’s peak energy demands. The tower will also capture and re-use nearly all rainwater and wastewater, saving millions of gallons of precious clean water each year. A high percentage of the building's materials come from recycled and renewable sources within 500 miles of New York City.

The building’s faceted crystal form lets more daylight reach the street, while capturing and refracting the changing angles of the sun. In contrast to this sleek exterior, the base of the building locks into the urban fabric with natural, earth-bound elements that relate to the human scale of the street. Like a front porch, an Urban Garden Room at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street will provide public space and act as an extension of Bryant Park.

Not just another corporate headquarters, the Bank of America Tower will shine as a beacon of environmental intelligence, sustainability and health.


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WarOn String

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Riccardo Matteoli

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parachutes inthesky

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milo-bot

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OZONEHOWARD

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alexanderKnyc

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hYp 85

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Looks like a well thought out building, more creative then the similar NY Times Tower.

My favorite recent addition to New York by far :)

josephdoherty

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OMG! Judging by those new photos posted by NYGUY, are they actually commencing more work on the upper floors which mostly includes construction on the wind turbine?

I believe the wind turbine idea was scrapped. But this tower definitely adds a new dynamic to the skyline...


Cookingardener

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Great pictures. I whould like to see them on Wikipedia. Those images are very old. :(

Taken by me last night (1/6)

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Awesome shots Canadate and NYGUY! Please keep this post active when possible, I cannot get enough shots of this building. Plus, it seems like they are always making up-to-date improvements on it. From the shots Canadate took last night, it appears that they have been continuing to work the bugs out of the lighting...

sinke26

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Thanks and sure thing..will post when I can. And I was wondering about the lights towards the top. I wasn't sure if that row was supposed to be missing or not, it's been bothering me for a little while.

floor-count
 

Why is the Bank of America Tower so tall and has only 54 floors??? Have a look at other towers of that size, that have at least 70 stories. For example the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. This building contains 72 stories and is only about three feet taller.

First, technically the floor count is 58 floors if you include the mechanical floors. Second, today buildings are built with better quality and that includes the floor-to-floor height being higher than in the past. Look at the Chrysler for instance, even though the highest floor is the 77th floor, the height of the last floor about street level being the 77th floor is only at 857 feet this averaging only 11.13 feet per floor. Anothe example of this is that the new WTC's buildings will have higher floor-to-floor heights than the original as well. Hope this helps. ;)

BTW, this building reminds me a lot of the Bank of China as well...

I completely agree, I am kind of annoyed about the missing light as well. There are still a lot of questions and loose ends about this building that have yet to be answered.

I don't understand why this spire isn't lit. I guess maybe I'm going to have to write somebody to complain...The Empire State is looking great though.

edenpictures

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Thanks for explaining. But in fact, the Bank of China´s roof is after my knowledge taller than this (over 1,000ft). But it looks a little bit funny in NY´s tallest list: The Empire State has 102 stories, the second tallest 54, altough there are only 50ft between both.

Americans, are on average, much taller than the Cantonese :p

I've met some tall Cantonese before, but I guess its just progress and better standards as time goes on. ;) The same thing is happening with Asian buildings as well in additino to buildings in most every part of the world whether is is Latin America, the Middle East, or Europe as well...

Also, the Empire State Building essentially has a big mast/spire above 1,050 feet which contains no floors and is occupied only by stairwells/elevator shafts for the observatory on the very top which is the highest observation platform. There are really 87 floors in the Empire State Building if you take the 86 occupiable floors and add the one on the very top (observation level 102) of the mast/spire. Bank of America's highest floor (floor 58) is a little well above 900 feet. Still a large gap in floors between the two, but I hope this makes sense of things even more. :) If there were no observation platform at the very top of the mast/spire of the Empire State Building, I would guess the floor count would have stopped at 86. I hope this makes sense of things a little bit more...

I completely agree NYGUY! We should start a petition to do so! With that aside, the lighting scheme that is implimented so far is looking pretty damn good!

The current lighting scheme seems to be taking itself a little too seriously for the playful post-modern building it adorns... I'd prefer if they got rid of it and just lit the spire.

I personally think that the lighting scheme compliments the building and adds a great element to the building let alone to the skyline. It is a very distinctive lighting scheme that helps a very distinctive building stand out even more. I also figure that both the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building both have prominent lighting schemes, so should the Bank of America. I do agree wholeheartedly that the spire should be lit up on this one as well, especially considering how big, thick and noticable it is almost like the mast/spire of the Empire State Building. Well I would consider it to be in about in between both the Empire State Building's and Chrysler Building's spires in density taking into account that one could climb up it to roughly 1,150 feet if they wanted to, not to mention containing wires and other elements necessary for the flood lighting. If the spire were lit, it would really compliment the lighting scheme that is already set in place on the building IMHO.

The last big thing I am waiting for is for them to tweak the remainder of the bugs out of the lighting scheme and get that final bar lit up... That will make a huge difference!

This building really does kind of remind me of the Bank of China building in Hong Kong due to specific similarities, that building has a lighting scheme that is very distinctive as well but occurs during the light show amongst Hong Kong's skyscrapers every evening.

Great post CHAPINM1! The lighting definitely adds a lot to the Tower and the city's skyline, it was a bold move and I really respect it. But yeah, I can't wait for them to fix the problem with that one row. As far as lighting the spire goes..I'm not to sure about that..I don't know if it would be appropriate on that type of spire. If anything, I think that if they had some sort of spotlights on the roof that were positioned on the spire it might work out. Not sure if you can understand the picture I'm trying to paint..I think I explained it in a weird way...

Thanks for the kind words! I know what your getting at though, it would look kind of weird if the spire itself were lit, however if there were spotlights shining up directly toward the spire or more specifically, if there was a singls spotlight at the bottom of the spire facing up lighting up the spire, I think lighting the spire in that regard would look the best as well. Anyway, once they finish working the bugs out of the lighting scheme, and odds are this will be the entire contribution of the lighting scheme that we will see from this building, I will be satisfied. :)

At night if one is coming in from JFK on the air tram they will be able to say, hey there's the Empire State Building, hey there's another building which must be brand new I don't yet know the name of (BOA), and there's the Chrysler! ;)

I've never really liked the design for this building, but that's a great photo!

It's hard to believe that they would design a spire so large, only to have it disappear into the night. Especially when you consider the lighting scheme the tower has now. Maybe it's just a matter of time, but it should not be hidden on the skyline at night.


Sabrina.Pierantozzi

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I completely agree that a spire this big should be lit, and by the way fantastic picture! Like everything else with this tower, I believe that it will be a matter of time before they do something that involves lighing scheme with the spire. This tower so far has taken a while to construct and has always been throwing us quite welcomed suprises with the exception of not going foward with the wind turbine, well at least to this point anyways...

Then again look at its neighbor next door, the Conde Nast Tower... its huge antenna isn't lit either, yes it wasn't designed originally on the tower but its there and they haven't lit it.

Also like the New York Times Tower, which crown and spire should be lit and is not! That is crazy, it has a prominent crown and its not lit. :rolleyes:

The Conde Nast Tower, NYTT and I'll even be daring to say Chysler have toothpicks for antennas/spires. Sure they are spires, but they don't have the bulk, mass and importance that the BOA's and the Empire State Building's mast/spire do, if that makes sense.

I would place BOA's spire well above Chrysler’s, the NYTT's and the Conde Nast Tower's antenna in terms of intended importance and impact on the skyline, but not quite what the Empire State Building's spire possesses. At minimum, I'd say that the BOA's spire deserves a lighting scheme for sure, IMHO.;)

Also, regarding the Conde Nast Tower, I really like the lighting scheme that is currently set in place with the roof and base of the antenna (the square) being lit up!

The huge antenna on top of the Conde Nast was put there after 9/11 for obvious reasons (the original antenna was much shorter). It's not considered an architectural element of the tower, but the spire on the BofA was designed as one.


More images...

happyarm

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A Captured Image

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Older days...

B. Coleman

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Yup, I knew that the Conde Nast Tower's antenna is not part of the building. The square on the top of the building that is lit up is cool though!

Those billboards on top on the Conde were supposed to be animated, and on occasion there's something up there.

JR Coimbra

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:previous: Definetely an angle in which I have never seen it before! The picture does a great job expressing just how massive the spire/mast really is!!! :previous: It also does a good job showing it stading literally right along with the Empire State Building in showing who is the biggest and baddest in NYC. :cool: A rank that will for sure drop drastically in the next decade.

^ It also shows just how "fat" this tower is, which sometimes doesn't sit as well with me. I know they needed the space. If not for the sharp angles and the peak of the tower, the girth probably wouldn't be as noticeable.

Dude, this tower is phat!

I think what is around it makes it look stubbier. If it was standing all alone like Houston's Williams Tower, it would undoubtedly look less fat.

It would be just as fat anywhere, the size won't change. There's a reason it's as "phat' as it is (the space obviously). Consider that both the Bank of America Tower and the Goldman Sachs Tower are a little smaller, but roughtly the same size (commercial space-wise) as the planned towers 2 and 3 at the World Trade Center. Ironically, both towers were also built with the benefit of the Liberty Bonds.

This building was built to house the global headquarters of Bank of America Capital Markets; hence the size.

A glimpse inside...

uglyagnes

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Definetely up and running for the most part as shown in those offices. One of numerious questions I still have about this tower is I wonder when the scaffolding on the street-level will be taken down? Just a question, nothing critical, but just curious... Then again there are lots of loose ends that still need adjustments and to be finished.

When the tower is officially completed they will remove the scaffolding. Technically work isn't scheduled to be completed until sometime this year, which probably won't be too far off.

Why official? Isn´t it already built?

Official means when there is no longer any work being done.

BTW, they were up working on the scaffolding Friday, so either it'll come down soon, or they have a bit more to do.


kamalaboulhosn

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Thanks for the update on the construction NYGUY and thank you so again for the great photo update!

^ Yeah, it's great to see this one from different angles...

Juanmabcn

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:previous: Now THAT is an angle I definetly haven't seen it from before... :) :previous:

Makes me think of how cool it would be to look at it from the 77th floor of the Chrysler Building (that being the highest floor of the Chysler) since the view is completely unobstructed. You'd be able to see at lest the top half of it with the BOA being as tall as it is (the current second tallest in NYC).

just get a dentist appointment and you're in. :D

I can't help but imagine the Tower Verre in there.



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Bank of America Tower Signs In at Bryant Park

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010, by Pete

As if to remind everyone who's in charge, the new-ish Bank of America headquarters at the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, aka One Bryant Park, has raised a sign over that busy intersection. Simple letters in stainless steel put Midtown on notice that this 1,200-foot-tall shard of fritted glass, home to waterless urinals and scaryawesome views, is where the money can be found.

Developed by the Durst Organization at a cost of $1 billion (with the help of a big bundle of Liberty Bonds), the project from Cook+Fox Architects broke ground in 2004 and, after entertaining passersby with a few unfortunate incidents, got its first tenants in May 2008. Besides the bankers, this 52-story tower is home to single-starred eatery, Aureole, the re-constructed Henry Miller's Theater and a blockfront of ATMs along the Deuce—perfect for replenishing the purse before perusing the goods at February's final Fashion Week festivities in Bryant Park.

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