NEW YORK | Westin Times Square | 535 FT / 163 M | 45 FLOORS | 2002
 

The Westin Times Square was considered a little controversial when it was first proposed for the entertainment complex on the NE corner of 42nd and 8th. But over the years it has become somewhat, more or less typical 42nd. It is best viewed at night however. Some hate it, some love it. I'm somewhere in between on this one...

APRIL 28, 2007

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Hmm it just Meh.

It dose fit in Times Square, I could have looked better without those ugly colorful bands.

Its different, and thats what I like about it, but I think they went a little overboard with the design. Perhaps they wanted it to fit in so much, the design was taken a little too far. It's better than nothing though.

A glimpse of "rainbow brite" working it's magic...

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I agree with Patrick Ive always felt "just.. meh" about this building.

The purple/blue glass is pretty cool but at the same time the gold facade is pretty ugly. Overall it doesnt work that well visually for me.

I dont think what the architect was going for is actually working but I appreciate the effort.

I love the tower and its roof, hate the base. UGh, god awful

^ Yeah same here. I love the tower portion with the light in the middle. But the base is hideous looking.

This is my top candidate for recladding! Sure it ~5 years old, but it lower portion is nothing short of hideous!

Considering the role it's meant to play, I kind of like the base. It's sort of the jack-in-a-box of 42'nd street buildings; you know, the whacky one.

A picture of the building (E-Walk) when it was under construction...

***UNCREDITED PHOTOS***

helmarksteel.com


More pics from nyc-architecture.com

***UNCREDITED PHOTOS***

http://newyork.construction.com/proj...s03_Westin.asp

2002 Top Projects
The Westin New York at Times Square

Probably the most talked about building completed in 2002 was The Westin New York at Times Square.

The 667,000-sq.-ft., 858-room hotel at West 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue polarized public opinion. The new building's curtain wall of 4,500 prefabricated glass panels in 20 different colors with almost 1,000 permutations in terms of shape and size, and its 45-story tower split top to bottom by a curving beam of light, were nothing if not controversial.

The Westin was either welcomed as a sparkling new addition to the glitzy style of Times Square or sneered at as a cartoonish and tacky eyesore.

That is apparently what owner/developer Tishman Realty Corp. and operator, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the real estate investment trust that owns the Westin, W and Sheraton brands, wanted - a building that would draw attention.

To do so, they brought on the cutting-edge Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica to design it. Then they secured the services of the Italian facade expert Permasteelisa Cladding Technologies Ltd. (with U.S. operations based in Windsor, Conn.) to fabricate and install the curtain wall, and Veracon, a producer of architectural glass based in Owatonna, Minn., to create the glass.

The facade panels have several main parts - the extruded aluminum alloy frame, the spandrel glass lights, sealants and adhesives, insulation, galvanized steel and the connector bracket assembly. The first step in installing the curtain wall was the fabrication of dies used to extrude the aluminum profiles that make up the frames holding the glass. Each die had to be created especially for this project.

The panels were connected to the superstructure frame on anchor plates. Prior to the pouring of the concrete floor slabs, Halphen channels were embedded at each floor. Anchor plates were then bolted to the channels and set to the correct elevation for each set of panels. Then the panels were set into chips attached to the anchor plates. Installation of the facade took almost a year.

The hotel tower is connected to a half-block, 200,000-sq.-ft. retail/restaurant complex called E Walk, also developed by Tishman. On top of E Walk is the eight-story, 100-room low-rise portion of the hotel that had originally been designed to be run by a different company. Connecting the three parts of the now integrated project took some ingenuity.

To join the concrete columns of the low-rise portion of the hotel to the E Walk structure, structural engineer Ysrael Seinuk devised a system of 13 steel trusses. Because of the irregular spacing of E Walk's steel support columns that extend above the roof, each truss was different size. Tishman took advantage of the space created by the trusses to add office space to what emerged as a mixed-use project.

Between the trusses and the E Walk columns, 18 rubber and steel isolator pads were installed to allow the hotel to move without disturbing the building below. Thus E Walk is supporting the weight of the low-rise, while the hotel tower is absorbing wind and earthquake movement.

Whatever one's feeling about the aesthetics of the new hotel, there is no question that the new Westin has pushed both the architectural and engineering envelopes and resulted in a distinctive New York landmark.

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Cost: $300 million

Development Team

Owner/Developer: Tishman Realty Corp., NYC
Construction Manager: Tishman Construction Corp., NYC
Architect/Interior Designer: Arquitectonica, Miami, Fla.
Structural Engineer: Ysrael Seinuk PC, NYC
Curtain Wall Design and Installation: Permasteelisa Cladding Technologies Ltd., Windsor, Conn.
Curtain Wall Consultant: Gordon H. Smith Corp., NYC
M/E/P Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles, NYC
Geotechnical Consultant: Langan Engineering and Environmental Services Inc., NYC
Environmental Consultant: Hillmann Environmental Group LLC, Union, N.J.
Exterior Lighting Consultant: H.M. Brandston & Partners Inc., NYC
Electrical Contractor: Zwicker Electrical Co., Inc., NYC
Plumbing Contractor: Par Plumbing Co., Inc., Lynbrook, NY
Concrete Contractor: Sorbara Construction, Lynbrook, NY
Structural Steel Contractor: Canron Construction Corp., Ontario, Ca.

It was finished in 2002? Someone needs to have a talk with Oliver Stone. In a trailer for 'World Trade Center' was shown a reflection of a plane (flying presumably towards the WTC) in the Westin's glass. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time he didn't do any fact-checking...

EDIT: Found it. Watch at :33.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vNi2yYKqByM

I like the lighting scheme and the shape. I think the facade probably won't age well. Sort of like buildings from the 60s and 70s haven't. What seemed like a good idea and fashionable at the time may be hated in the future. I do like that the glass has a way of changing colors and appearance from different angles. My gripe really is the glass accents of different colors. It just seems so oddly random. I guess it fits the neighborhood nicely, though, with all the daring designs around it, but singly it's a bit odd.

We'll see how this one ages. Somtimes I think its perfect for its location, and sometimes I think its an eyesore.

its ok not an architectural wonder but its ok and it look good at night

The base was there in 2001. It was built sometime in 2000 and is actually a seperate project known as EWALK. It was designed by seperate architects and the Westin Hotel is actually built behind it. For people that hate the base, your beef is not with Arquitectonica. Still the clip is innacurate because the planes came from the north and the shadow is on the south side of the base.

NYGUY, how did you take all these great photos? I want to go up there and get a photo of myself under madame tussauds hand.

Those photos were taken from one of the outdoor decks at the AMC-25 on 42nd. There's a deck on every level I believe.

The base is rediculous. Why would they use normal trailer park window frames? Why would they arrange the windows like that? Why is it so big? Why are the colors so ugly? the list goes on.

Off the top of my head, I can't think any buildings in Manhattan that I dislike more than this one. Once you get above the signs on the first few floors, everything looks horribly out of place.

Tha base is not a base. It's a separate building. Read a couple of posts above.

But, yes, it's ugly.