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http://www.constructiontimes.co.uk/d...orial_id=11029
The avant-garde architecture of the Westin New York at Times Square is just one of the features designed to make the new hotel Manhattan's finest.
Enhanced by a 355-foot-long, curved 'Beam of Light' "the Westin New York is destined to become a landmark in a city known for efficiency, glamour and drama," says David Sargeant, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.
The 45-storey tower sits beside the E-Walk entertainment complex, also owned by developer's Tishman affiliates.
Designed by the Miami-based Arquitectonica, the tower will have a dramatic visual impact across Times Square both day and night, with a complex, colourful glass panelling facade complemented by a huge light display that curves across the entirety of the structure.
Beginning inside the hotel's multi-storey atrium, the recessed beam runs up the entire exterior of the 42nd Street façade, creating a huge arc of light that fires up in to the night sky.
Yet the drama of the façade hides a considerable engineering story as well. Connecting the 45-storey tower to the existing E-Walk left the structural engineers with a tricky problem.
Part of the hotel is contained in an eight-storey 'bustle' above E-Walk, which connects directly through to the tower.
Potential differences in the way the buildings would react to either wind or earthquakes required a system able to deal with the conflicting forces.
A typical response to this problem would be to use expansion joints between the buildings.
However, due to the levels of maintenance required, and the likelihood of leaks occurring where the joints enter the building, construction manager Tishman decided to use a different system.
A seismic isolater, used more typically to dampen earthquake loads in buildings, has been installed.
This allows free movement in any horizontal direction, with no extra load vertically. The gravity load is therefore taken by the E-Walk building below, while any horizontal pressure is resisted by the Westin tower.
In addition, a one-storey steel truss has also been used to overcome the differential in column placing between the bustle and the E-Walk building.
The colourful façade of the Westin is the result of a major international effort, the most complex any of the contributors have undertaken.
The curtain wall project, using more than 1,000 permutations of curtain wall panels and intricate patterns of coloured glass has few rivals in terms of complexity and sophistication.
The 184,000 square feet of curtain wall consists of some 4,500 panels, with almost 1,000 panel permutations among the various shapes, connection devices, colours, and sizes of both frames and glass.
It took over eight months simply to choose the colours of the glass - which are intended to reflect the meeting of earth and sky.
Ten base colours, copper, gold, bronze, orange, white, silver, violet, green, blue, and aqua highlights are used to create the complex pattern.
The glass panels were tested in Italy for thermal and windload performance.
The entire curtain wall is designed to withstand windloads based on a 100-year cycle, including hurricane-force winds.
To ensure that each of the thousands of elements would fit together perfectly a bar coding system was used to track each item, and match them up at the end of the process.
Each component of each system is marked with a bar code, which identifies which panel it pertains to.
When the completed glass panels were sent to New York, these bar codes were marked on each crate, so that on arrival the fabrication team could identify exactly where in the wall each piece goes.
The panels are attached to the superstructure frame on anchor plates. Prior to pouring the concrete structural floor slabs, crews embedded Halphen channels at each floor.
Anchor plates were then bolted on to the channels, and set to the correct elevation for each set of panels. The panels were set onto clips attached to the anchor plates.
The final installation was relatively simple. Each panel is connected by one bolt and one bracket on each side of the panel. The panels themselves interlock by means of a male-female joint, allowing for movement and expansion of the structure.
The installation also allowed for open spaces in the façade for hoist tower ramps on each floor, used for loading of materials and personnel.
The overall lighting effect is a considerable technical accomplishment. Different lighting technologies from landscaping, sports, concerts, and theatre design disciplines were fused into an incomparable architectural lighting system.
The Beam of Light was created through a collaboration of the hotel's architect Arquitectonica, lighting designer Brandston Partnership Inc., and owner/developer Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc.
A total of 466 miniature halogen lights are integrated into the building's façade and into the atrium's wall, inside an arched, recessed 'split'.
The lights are grouped into individually controlled modules of twelve fixtures and create dynamic visual effects that run the height of the hotel.
A 65-foot-long strip of the beam, consisting of 96 halogen lights, is featured inside the atrium, along one of its eight-storey-high walls. The total length of the beam, from the atrium's floor to the hotel tower's crown, is 355 feet.
The design team devised innovative ways to use standard components to create the custom lighting effects.
Hidden within the building's curtain wall, weatherproof channels run power to low-voltage, 50-Watt, 24(beam halogen lights located every nine inches along one side of the beam's arch.
For ease and safety of installation, the electricians assembled and pre-tested the fixtures off-site, as part of the curtain wall pre-fabrication process. The off-site assembly assured a safe and waterproof installation.
To reduce and ease maintenance, the team utilised 10,000-hour lamps, which are more than twice as long-lived as the industry standard.
The lamps are accessible from the building's window washing equipment.
At the roof, the arched light form is launched beyond the physical bounds of the structure with pulsing spotlights projecting into the sky.
The lighting system on the tower's roof combines two fixture types from different lighting disciplines to create a spectacular display.
Seven metal halide 400-Watt GE Powerspot floodlights, which are commonly used at sports fields, were fitted with mechanical Wybron Total Eclipse dowsers to control the frequency of pulsation and the intensity of light.
A single xenon 4000-Watt Space Canon Color Art 2000 fixture, often found at major outdoor rock music concerts, utilizes its full range of theatrical capabilities, including a high-speed strobe, to pulse and punch light into the Times Square night.
Reflective panels, installed on the roof's angled structure above the light fixtures, strengthen the Beam of Light, dramatically framing the roof's sloped form against the night sky.
A hybrid architectural and theatrical lighting control system, including a Lutron Grafik Eye 6000, controls and coordinates both the façade and the rooftop displays.
It has 56 separate control zones utilising architectural switching, dimming, and theatrical DMX controls, which direct all the different parts and key the visual effects. All controls and power supplies are located within the building.
The official opening of the Westin took place in October, and the public officials were unstinting in their praise for the US$300 million property.
"I share with countless New Yorkers the excitement that another beautiful landmark building has opened in Times Square, demonstrating to the world that the revitalisation of this area continues," said New York Governer George Pataki.
"I am particularly proud that this hotel has been developed by a born and bred New York company, Tishman Realty and Construction, which has been helping to build our skyline for more than 100 years."
Mayor Bloomberg added: "The project has already had a significant positive impact on both the City and State of New York, having created approximately 2,000 construction jobs, and now it will provide 600 permanent jobs.
"We hope that visitors and business travellers alike will return again and again, and most importantly enjoy their stay at these grand accommodations in the heart of midtown."
Tishman Construction were equally proud of the building they have spent two and half years on.
"With its striking design and dramatic lighting, it is certain to become a New York icon, and will attract visitors and business travellers from all over the world," said chairman John Tishman.
"The Westin New York exemplifies our desire to provide striking architecture, inspiring interiors, and the most comfortable accommodations to visitors, tourists and business people visiting the visually stimulating world of Times Square.
"I am confident that people will come from all over the world to see this crowning accent to the renaissance of the Times Square district."
Copyright Mcmillan-Scott PLC 2002
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it looks good at night because u can't see its aweful cladding, imho.
can the design of its lower levels get any more gawdy???!!! 
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