Streets Closed After Glass Panel Falls 52 Stories
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ls-52-stories/
By Sewell Chan
Updated, 1:15 p.m. | The authorities cordoned off the area around 42nd Street and the Avenue of the Americas, in the heart of Midtown, on Tuesday morning after a glass panel fell from the Bank of America building under construction at the northwest corner of the intersection. At 10:32 a.m., the panel suddenly came loose, flew through the air across 42nd Street, and fell onto a pedestrian sidewalk bridge outside the former Verizon Building, under renovation at the southwest corner. The panel shattered, sending shards of glass raining onto the sidewalk.
One person had minor injuries and was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, the Fire Department said.
A person who was briefed on the situation said the glass panel was being fitted around the 52nd floor of the 54-story Bank of America Tower, at One Bryant Park, as an architectural feature. The former Verizon building, which stands to the south across 42nd Street, at 1095 Avenue of the Americas, was recently refitted with a new glass exterior, but the sidewalk shed was still standing because of some remaining construction work.
The intersection has been the site of several accidents in recent months.
Last October, a bathtub-size steel bucket toppled from the roof of the Bank of America tower, banging along the side of the building and trailing a shower of glass and metal as it crashed to the street 53 stories below. Eight people were injured.
In April, a large piece of a 4-by-8-foot panel of glass fell from a window on the 27th floor of the old Verizon Building, hit an elevated sidewalk bridge below and smashed into the van of a Con Edison technician, Nick Cianciotta. Shards of the 300-pound quarter-inch-thick panel sprayed as far as 100 feet away. Passers-by were startled, including several people walking under the shed that runs the length of the block across from Bryant Park. No one was injured.
Designed by the architects Cook+Fox, the Bank of America tower is intended to be environmentally sensitive. Workers broke ground on the tower in August 2004.
Officials from Tishman Construction, which is managing both the construction of the Bank of America tower and the renovation of the old Verizon Building, were meeting with the city’s acting buildings commissioner, Robert D. LiMandri, on Tuesday afternoon.
“At this point the cause is undetermined and we are reviewing all procedures with the department of buildings,” said Richard Kielar, a spokesman for Tishman.
Tishman oversees the contractors at the site, one of which was the facade installation contractor. The contractor’s name was not immediately available.
The object that fell is called a facade panel, which is made of glass enclosed by a metal frame. It is used to cover the facade of the building, some of which encloses the building’s floors and some which rises above the floors and soars up from the building’s roof.
The panels can be of different sizes. Buildings Department officials and Mr. Keilar said the size and weight of the panel that fell were not immediately available.
“It is still ongoing,” Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department, said of the investigation. “Inspectors and engineers are on scene for any safety violations and are conducting an investigation into the cause of the accident.”
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"NYC may not be home to the tallest towers, but it sure makes up for it in the sheer number of towers that calls it home, and the vast density it creates. As Dac said, BOA is just an appetizer of what will come and the potentials that still lie ahead. Just wait and see how vastly different the skylines of both Midtown and Downtown will look like in 5 years time."
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