NEW YORK | New York by Gehry | 870 FT / 265 M | 76 FLOORS | T/O

[JDRCRASH]

I can only imagine those kids getting to school and looking up and saying, "WOW!! NYC is amazing!".:)

[NYguy]

I can only imagine those kids getting to school and looking up and saying, "WOW!! NYC is amazing!".:)

It's funny, because they will grow up thinking this (school) is normal, that it's the way things are supposed to be.

[CGII]

I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday (crazy, I know) and noticed that Beekman will entirely block the view of the Woolworth from the vista there, so get out and take pictures of it from the bridge because that vantage point will be gone in a few months.

It's amazing, because for so long the project sat in relative limbo and all of the sudden there is a huge massive skyscraper there. It was probably only four stories tall in September.

[lakegz]

anyone take any recent pics of Beekman? I bet it has risen at least six or seven floors since the last photos.

[Fabb]

I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday (crazy, I know) and noticed that Beekman will entirely block the view of the Woolworth from the vista there

Are you really upset about that ? I'm not. Beekam Place is a piece of forward looking architecture, much better than the neo-gothic Woolworth, nice, but not innovative, even for its time.

[mainstreet]

Fabb, you have got to be kidding me. So what if it's not "INNOVATIVE"? You want a skyline to look BEAUTIFUL not INNOVATIVE. The Woolworth tower is a piece of New York history, it happens to be extremely beautiful even if it's a century old. To make a not very good analogy here, people often comment on the ability of musicians to play their instruments while ignoring what counts - the sound that actually comes out of the instrument. How "innovative" or "complex" or "hard" something is doesn't matter as much as how it actually turns out to be - the final image, sound, feel, smell, what have you of any given creative product. THAT is what people will remember and THAT is what makes a piece of expression great. To me, anyway.

[Fabb]

Fabb, you have got to be kidding me. So what if it's not "INNOVATIVE"? You want a skyline to look BEAUTIFUL not INNOVATIVE.

Beekman Place will probably turn out to be both, don't you think ?

[NYguy]

^ This tower will be beautiful in its own right. I'm not someone who believes that just because something is new, it can't be as beautiful as something old. We have to look to the future as well as remember the past. But we can't live in the past.

anyone take any recent pics of Beekman? I bet it has risen at least six or seven floors since the last photos.

I may get some over the next couple of days.

[NYguy]

DECEMBER 26, 2008

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[lakegz]

thank you kind sir.

[CGII]

Are you really upset about that ? I'm not. Beekam Place is a piece of forward looking architecture, much better than the neo-gothic Woolworth, nice, but not innovative, even for its time.

I'm not sure. More than anything else I'm just stating that it's a famous vista to us now that won't exist ever again and will become a totally new famous vista in a few months time and we should relish this opportunity to observe a very dramatic period in the history of the city.

From the bridge, Woolworth has always sort of stuck out from the rest of the downtown skyline. It's something that is simply going to pass.

[CSABA8]

A very beautiful building , and they build it a best place ,is perfectly fit that part of lower manhattan.

[NYguy]

One more to go with that set...:)

26.

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/107531269/large.jpg

[Jularc]

This tower is massive! Can't wait for some cladding.

[NYC2ATX]

OH
:eek:
MY
:psycho:
GOD
:eeekk: :eeekk: :eeekk: :boogy:

smileys are fun.....NYGuy I like that last one. All we need now is the Cloverfield monster :) JK

[NYguy]

.....NYGuy I like that last one. All we need now is the Cloverfield monster :) JK

That always crosses my mind when I'm up there. The Brooklyn Bridge always takes the hit in these movies (its never the Williamsburgh or any of the other million bridges in the city). But it is a favorite.

This tower is massive!

It's a massive and tall, looming tower. This will be the tallest (for now) residential tower in the city, and it occured to me just how close it will be to the 30 Park Place tower (Silverstein's 921 ft tower rising behind the Woolworth). While both will block the Woolworth from some views, the duo will form a new, dynamic cluster with the Woolworth.

[Kingofthehill]

A truly gargantuan tower!

[CoolCzech]

One more to go with that set...:)

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http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/107531269/large.jpg



Wow, it's just going to completely obstruct the view of the Woolworth's, at least from that angle!

[TANGELD_SLC]

This thing's going to be amazing! I think it's got to be Gehry's most normal looking building, though.

[NYguy]

This thing's going to be amazing! I think it's got to be Gehry's most normal looking building, though.

It'll actually look a lot like a classic New York skyscraper, yet at the same time, something completly different.

[aaron38]

From Broadway and the park at City Hall

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/New%20York%20City%202008/IMG_3026.jpg

How tall is it now? It should look great rising up behind those buildings.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/New%20York%20City%202008/IMG_3028.jpg

[NYguy]

I can't wait until we start seeing the actual skin on the buildng. Most people on the street probably think it's just another odinary skyscraper going up. It won't be long before it becomes apparent that it isn't.

[aaron38]

I forgot what the skin looked like, and searching for a render I found this one.
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/2369_6_Beekman%202big.jpg

Those are the foreground buildings in my photos. Beekman Place is going to tower over the park there, I didn't realize it was going to be that big.

[Busy Bee]

^Does Pace ever plan on doing anything to replace their dumpy buildings?

[antinimby]

I can't wait until we start seeing the actual skin on the buildng. Most people on the street probably think it's just another odinary skyscraper going up. It won't be long before it becomes apparent that it isn't.That is true. I get strange looks from other people whenever I stop and admire or take photos of it. They don't know why anyone would be so interested in, what is to them, just another construction project. :haha:

[antinimby]

aaron38, this one's for you... ;)

http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/Beekman4.jpg

[NYguy]

That is true. I get strange looks from other people whenever I stop and admire or take photos of it. They don't know why anyone would be so interested in, what is to them, just another construction project. :haha:

The same thing happens to me too, but they'll be on the bandwagon eventually, (seems everyone in that area, especially on the bridge has a camera also).

[NYguy]

Those are the foreground buildings in my photos. Beekman Place is going to tower over the park there, I didn't realize it was going to be that big.

If not for the new WTC and 30 Park Place, this would be the tallest building constructed Downtown since the original WTC was constructed back in the early 70's. But this has to be in the most prominent location because of the lack of anything as tall in the immediate area.

[Dac150]

^Does Pace ever plan on doing anything to replace their dumpy buildings?

It's funny you say that. I go there and I can tell you that the facade you see is the facade that'll remain for some time to come, if not forever. The interior as well is stuck in the time period that it was constructed in. It's a great school, but the facilities are indeed very dated and in need of some form of face-lift.

[AtlanticaC5]

It's growing nicely, will be very interesting to see the facade on this one. Looks damn good in the renderings though

[Thefigman]

Now that I see the building rising, it's really gonna stand out from the Brooklyn and uptown views.

[chex]

it looks like a dinosaur skin on the twisted windows, its gonna look amazing with the silver...
im getting so excited to see this tower growing, just like when the foster's tower....

[Jonovision]

The way this tower is gonna reflect the sun is gonna be amazing! Sunsets are gonna be stupendous!

[NYguy]

moonman82 (http://flickr.com/photos/25830962@N06/3184003005/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3184003005_71559a1e47_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3363/3184002993_e6dcb110c4_b.jpg

[lakegz]

wow it's already a good 400 feet high now and I imagine if anything, that new floors are gonna be added at an even quicker pace as it gets higher.

[CSABA8]

This beauty growing one floor every week, i can't wait for end of summer to see all 76 floors.I hope they start to build up the facade soon.

[Jibba]

Dang, didn't realize that there was this much progress on this one already. I am curious to see the way this one is going to end up--it could be a real stunner.

[NYguy]

wow it's already a good 400 feet high now and I imagine if anything, that new floors are gonna be added at an even quicker pace as it gets higher.

It wasn't that long ago that people were wondering if this one would rise at all. But it's very typical of New York skyscraper construction. The foundation seemingly takes a year or more, and then the tower itself is up overnight.

[10023]

Nice building, still can't imagine who would want to live in that neighborhood. I've got a friend that lives around Wall Street and hates it.

[NYguy]

Nice building, still can't imagine who would want to live in that neighborhood. I've got a friend that lives around Wall Street and hates it.

Your friend should probably move. There are always people who will live somewhere other people hate. It's a matter of personal preference. For instance, some things that would be a deal breaker for some, could be a must have for others.

[NYguy]

bklnprtt (http://flickr.com/photos/98487711@N00/3154911246/sizes/o/in/photostream/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/3154911256_cdb135cc1a_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/3154911246_c4bc1985e6_o.jpg

[NYguy]

From pmarella (http://flickr.com/photos/pmarella/3199895005/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

Note the Beekman rising into the skyline...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3199895005_9bbb1684bf_b.jpg

[photoLith]

This tower is going to look amazing from that angle. Great photo.

[Dac150]

Yes, Beekman and 30 Park Place are really going to help in bulking up and balancing that portion of the Downtown skyline. I do love though how the WFC and GS create a wall along the Hudson.

[NYguy]

This tower is going to look amazing from that angle. Great photo.

Hopefully we'll get 56 Leonard in that mix too.

[Duffstuff129]

Hopefully we'll get 56 Leonard in that mix too.

Amen. :D I can't wait for these 4-6 weeks to find out if 56 Leonard gets financing. I'm Keeping my fingers crossed.

On topic: Considering how this is a condo/ apartment building is their a website that I could go to to take a gander at the spaces/floorplans/prices? I tried Googling but found nothing. BTW I'm moving back to Manhattan and I'd love to live in a work of art such as this.

[NYguy]

^ I believe there was a website, and I know this tower will be a rental.

Here we see the tower rising behind (and above) the Freedom Tower...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108281993/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108282016/large.jpg

[STERNyc]

Amen. :D I can't wait for these 4-6 weeks to find out if 56 Leonard gets financing. I'm Keeping my fingers crossed.

On topic: Considering how this is a condo/ apartment building is their a website that I could go to to take a gander at the spaces/floorplans/prices? I tried Googling but found nothing. BTW I'm moving back to Manhattan and I'd love to live in a work of art such as this.

Studios start at 4k. A 3 bedroom will cost you 10k a month.

[NYguy]

JANUARY 18, 2009

Rising above City Hall...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108285368/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108285368/large.jpg


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http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108285383/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/108285383/original.jpg

[Duffstuff129]

Studios start at 4k. A 3 bedroom will cost you 10k a month.

So then a 1 bedroom might be around 6k? I hope so. That would fit into my budget very well.

Thanks for the info, SternNY.:)

[baldie]

According to Lower Manhattan info website, curtain wall installation begins in Feb. Can't wait to see that go up.

[NYguy]

According to Lower Manhattan info website, curtain wall installation begins in Feb. Can't wait to see that go up.

That will be amazing to watc....:yes:

[pattali]

According to Lower Manhattan info website, curtain wall installation begins in Feb. Can't wait to see that go up.

Welcome Baldie !

[NYguy]

JANUARY 22, 2009

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[JACKinBeantown]

Looks like 33 or 34 floors. ??

[chex]

so fast! yeah, it looks like 35 something like that....

[NYguy]

And it seems like only yesterday, this was still just a hole in the ground.

[NYguy]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_299/studentslearncold.html

Students learn cold realities of construction work

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_299/teens.gif

Teens from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Queens toured the Frank Gehry-designed tower under construction on Beekman St. last week.

By Julie Shapiro
January 23-29, 2009

When it’s cold and windy in Lower Manhattan, it’s even colder and windier on the just-poured concrete floors of the rapidly rising Forest City Ratner tower on Beekman St.

Joe Rechichi, a senior vice president with Ratner, stood on the tower’s frigid 29th floor last week and surveyed the progress.
“It’s not easy building a tall building in Lower Manhattan,” he said.

Rechichi has to contend with narrow streets, ancient utilities and dozens of neighboring projects competing for resources. The biggest challenge on the project so far was to convert famed architect Frank Gehry’s wavy design for the 76-story building from an idea into an engineered construction plan. Every floor of the building is different, so workers have to rebuild the concrete forms for each floor.

“It’s tough,” Rechichi said. “But when it works, it feels great.”

The Beekman tower has the distinction of being one of the few private projects that is moving ahead despite the faltering economy. Forest City closed on $680 million in construction financing last March, which Rechichi said will cover the project all the way to its completion in 2011. The building will contain the K-8 Spruce Street public school in the base, likely opening in 2011, and high-end apartments above.

Shivering alongside Rechichi on the 29th floor last Wed., Jan. 14 were a dozen students from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture. The students usually learn about construction from their classrooms in Queens, but last week they traveled to Lower Manhattan to see work firsthand.

At least one of the 400 workers in the tower was not happy to see students on the site. As the group headed through the ground floor, past cement trucks that spin all day long, an angry worker strode in the other direction.

“The job stops because we got people on the job?” the worker said to no one in particular. “Get the [expletive] out of here.”

The students ignored him and crammed onto the hoist, a temporary elevator that runs along the exterior of the construction. As the hoist rose, jerked, then continued rising, several students peeked nervously through the slats to see glimpses of lower buildings falling away. One girl buried her face in a tall boy’s sweatshirt.

On the 29th floor, the students huddled around Rechichi, their hands thrust in their pockets. Where walls and windows will soon appear, there was only a swath of orange construction netting separating the students from the open air and sweeping views of the Brooklyn Bridge to the east and the Woolworth Building to the west.

After explaining how each layer of concrete rises over the one below it, Rechichi led the students down to the seventh floor, where he pointed out a plywood rectangle that would become a rooftop swimming pool. Another part of the seventh floor was filled with tall crates of the stainless steel curtain wall that will soon begin wrapping the building.

“In a few months, you will be seeing it from around the city,” Rechichi told the students.

Bob Harvey, acting executive director of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, helped organize the tour, which also took students down into the depths of the pedestrian tunnel construction for the Fulton Transit Center.

“You don’t have to work out in the cold,” Harvey told the freezing students at the Beekman tower. “You can be an architect or an engineer.”

Amritpal Singh, 16, appeared to take the advice to heart. While warming up in a McDonald’s after the tour, he said he had planned to be a construction worker but was surprised to see the men outside on such a cold day.

“I want to be a manager now,” Singh said. “These guys out here were all red and cold. I want to sit in an office.”

[antinimby]

We never got to do anything cool like when we were in H.S.

[lakegz]

Rechichi has to contend with narrow streets, ancient utilities and dozens of neighboring projects competing for resources. The biggest challenge on the project so far was to convert famed architect Frank Gehry’s wavy design for the 76-story building from an idea into an engineered construction plan. Every floor of the building is different, so workers have to rebuild the concrete forms for each floor.

That'w why I'm surprised with the quickness that this building has risen with. I thought it would take much longer to raise so many unique floors.




“The job stops because we got people on the job?” the worker said to no one in particular. “Get the [expletive] out of here.” [/color][/b][/u]


classic New York :haha:

[NYguy]

We never got to do anything cool like when we were in H.S.

Hell, I'd like to go do that now...;)

[NYguy]

That'w why I'm surprised with the quickness that this building has risen with. I thought it would take much longer to raise so many unique floors.

Yeah, I forget when it's supposed to top out, but I'm guessing sometime in the fall...

[RoldanTTLB]

Here's some pics from this morning. They're tough to see in the pics, but there's a ton of brackets on the floor just begging for the skin to go up.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SX_aDXnfPII/AAAAAAAABdE/iPm_vMgEl4c/s800/DSCF0710.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SX_aLJxJ7_I/AAAAAAAABdI/U_NC7-k7X8c/s800/DSCF0711.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SX_aRtjVs_I/AAAAAAAABdM/TkrHw9YWHe8/s800/DSCF0712.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SX_aXBWF-iI/AAAAAAAABdQ/iuR_WiKiXE0/s800/DSCF0713.JPG

Sorry for the crappy camera. it's better than a phone and worse than one that costs real money.

[NYguy]

Here's some pics from this morning. They're tough to see in the pics, but there's a ton of brackets on the floor just begging for the skin to go up.

According to that article, it won't be long...

Another part of the seventh floor was filled with tall crates of the stainless steel curtain wall that will soon begin wrapping the building.

“In a few months, you will be seeing it from around the city,” Rechichi told the students.

[HyperPower]

I don't think the people interested in skyscrapers living in the surrounding area know that this tower is going to be taller than the GE Building in Midtown.

These people are going to walk out of their homes sometime in the next year and think to themselves, "holy shnikeys, thats one tall motha!"

[StarScraperCity]

I can't believe how quickly this one is going up.

[NYguy]

I don't think the people interested in skyscrapers living in the surrounding area know that this tower is going to be taller than the GE Building in Midtown.

I was looking at the tower earlier today. I don't think the people walking around the area realize how tall it will be, or what the facade will look like. I haven't noticed any renderings around the site, which is often found at construction sites in the city. I think this tower deserves one, especially considering how long we had to wait to see it.

[photoLith]

this tower will ruin New York

Sorry, I was looking back through the forum and thought this was funny. Its from about March 2005. Im sure hes changed his mind since then.

[Scruffy]

Sorry, I was looking back through the forum and thought this was funny. Its from about March 2005. Im sure hes changed his mind since then.

I said the same thing at many times. Gehry had just released the abysmal renders for his Miss Brooklyn and here i saw another Gehry only much taller than that and in a more prominent location. I panicked.

eventually, after a couple years, we got a real render for this one. im more than satisfied.


I still think Gehry is a hack.

[NYguy]

Sorry, I was looking back through the forum and thought this was funny. Its from about March 2005. Im sure hes changed his mind since then.

Thirty or forty years from now, that quote may become a classic...:D

[hauchyi]

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc168/hauchyi/NYC_2009_01_26102.jpg

[chex]

gettin tall! nice pic... thanx..

[NYguy]

Yeah, the Beekman will be taller than Chase, a shimmering beacon Downtown.

[NYguy]

margerine margin (http://flickr.com/photos/8461516@N06/3242557004/in/set-72157607776667441/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/3242557004_1beb57a28e_b.jpg


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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/3241733775_b319127d2b_b.jpg

[NYCLuver]

A quick pic from earlier today that I shot.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/DKNY617/IMG_0085.jpg?t=1233628512

[lakegz]

Can't wait to see the cladding. Finally a reason for a guy to get excited for February happenings.

[NYguy]

Can't wait to see the cladding. Finally a reason for a guy to get excited for February happenings.

Probably more exciting than waiting for a rendering of this tower to come out.

[RoldanTTLB]

No cladding yet, but as of this morning they're taking down the walkways for the bricklayers and putting in windows. Please excuse the iPhone shots (the snow didn't help either):

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SYhhe1QK-XI/AAAAAAAABeQ/gqZaraAe3gE/s800/Gehry%20001.jpg
(from the corner of william and beekman)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_3T08TVQ0h2g/SYhhfCqbM_I/AAAAAAAABeY/8Y-HdqhjJEM/s800/Gehry%20002.jpg"
(head on from beekman)

[NYguy]

^ It's getting there, won't be long...

[JDRCRASH]

I am sooo jealous!:D

[NYguy]

Moving up on the skyline...

Steven Chalmers (http://flickr.com/photos/oevets101/3251520594/sizes/l/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3251522018_9fd942b9d8_b.jpg

[NYguy]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_299/studentslearncold.html

Students learn cold realities of construction work

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_299/teens.gif

Teens from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Queens toured the Frank Gehry-designed tower under construction on Beekman St. last week.


A little more from that...(lowermanhattan.info)

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/01_Harvey2.jpg
LMCCC Executive Director Bob Harvey prepares 16 students from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Ozone Park, Queens for a tour of several projects occurring in Lower Manhattan.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/05_011409-beekman-tower-1.jpg
The students also toured progress on Beekman Tower (8 Spruce Street)

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/06_011409-beekman-tour-02.jpg
At Beekman Towers they braved a frigid day and climbed aboard hoists making their way up to the 29th floor.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/07_011409-beekman-tour-01.jpg
Joe Rechichi from developer Forest City Ratner explained some of the issues behind building tall in New York City -- from how concrete is pumped up from ground level to form the structure, to how hydraulic systems enable crews to “jump the crane” (make it taller) as the building is erected.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/09_011409-wtc7-tour01.jpg
Silverstein Properties Communications Director Dara McQuil led the students through WTC 7, the last site visit of the day.

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/03_HS-tour-Dey-stairs.jpg
Students descend into the MTA’s Fulton Street Transit Center project’s structural box for the underground Dey Street pedestrian concourse

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/04_mta-tour-03.jpg
When finished, this 29-foot-wide tunnel will allow pedestrians to walk underground from Fulton Street’s 4/5 southbound platform to the World Trade Center PATH station

[NYguy]

From above

M + A (http://flickr.com/photos/khim/3259147359/sizes/l/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3259147359_9928197a33_b.jpg

[NYguy]

tanhaussen (http://flickr.com/photos/8020726@N04/3265429752/sizes/l/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/3265429752_0dbb7ac4c6_b.jpg

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/11gehry.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Making Buildings That Billow (on Budget)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/11/business/11gehry2650.jpg

By ALEC APPELBAUM
February 10, 2009

When Bruce Ratner hired Frank Gehry in 2004 to design a wrinkled-looking 76-story residential skyscraper in Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge, the market for eye-popping luxury condominiums was booming, and the world-class architect’s multimillion-dollar fees probably seemed relatively insignificant. Now, however, the economy is crumbling, the building is envisioned as rental apartments and Mr. Gehry is bringing a more potent tool to control costs than most architects can deliver.

For the Forest City Ratner Companies, the developer of Beekman Tower, the project will test the idea that an architect can provide powerful (and expensive) modeling software to help keep costs down. Using the software, fabricators have produced a facade with various textures at a price that Mr. Gehry says does not exceed what a developer would pay to build a conventional boxy building of similar dimensions.

The project, Beekman Tower, which has $680 million in debt and is due to open with 904 apartments in 2010, will be Mr. Gehry’s most important contribution to New York’s skyline. With the building’s distinctly bumpy silhouette, “the idea I was trying to achieve was a fabric, so it would catch the light,” Mr. Gehry said.

Mr. Gehry developed the software, now called Digital Project, to produce a sculpture of a diaphanous fish for a Barcelona exposition in 1992 and refined it to specify the titanium panels cloaking his celebrated Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which opened in 1997. He based it on the three-dimensional software that aerospace companies use. “If they can build airplanes paperless, I think buildings can be built paperless,” Mr. Gehry said.

In 2002, he spun off the software business into a company called Gehry Technologies, which sells Digital Project to other developers and architects and trains project teams to use it.

Digital Project works by modeling, in three dimensions, every odd shape an architect envisions and then letting engineers and architects reconcile the shape with a building’s site, ductwork and other features. It shows how one change to a building’s ingredients changes all the others.

The stakes in construction are very high. Developers say that the closeness of the match between what an architect draws and what contractors produce can make or break a project. When engineers and contractors misunderstand how parts of a building connect, resulting delays often inflate a construction budget by 5 or 10 percent.

These days, when banks are loath to risk any money, such contingencies are not available. And some developers do not expect them to return soon.

“If you’ve got a $100 million cost that your bank engineer has approved, you will add $5 million or $10 million contingency for construction errors into your loan,” said Donald Capoccia of BFC Partners, which is building a twisty residential tower called Toren near the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge. “In the future, with stricter underwriting requirements, I believe a building with a $100 million deal will have to be done for $90 million or less.”

Architects routinely use modeling software, but the latest version of Digital Project would enable them to try extreme designs for skyscrapers. While acknowledging that the Gehry software is impressive, Carl Galioto of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a firm that has designed many skyscrapers, says that it is hard to learn and three or four times as expensive as a conventional modeling program. Revit Architecture, the industry standard from Autodesk, is listed at $5,495 on Autodesk’s Web site.

At Beekman Tower, the pressure on Digital Project is intense. The returns on a rental building are likely to be lower than on a condominium, and committing to Mr. Gehry’s ornate design could burn the developer if it leads to cost overruns.

Beekman Tower, with steel panels that bend a little, a lot or not at all and sit in various ways on the building’s skeleton, is definitely complicated. “There is a stair-step character that I tried to achieve,” Mr. Gehry said.

While Mr. Gehry fine-tuned his design and Forest City Ratner tweaked the mix of apartment sizes and shapes, Digital Project analyzed the number of stainless-steel panels that could be used while meeting an essentially fixed price. “There are flat panels, panels that curve a little and panels that curve a lot,” explained Dennis Shelden, chief technology officer of Mr. Gehry’s software company.

Software modeling revealed where panels could sit flush against the skeleton, where they could break without letting in too much cold air, and where they could lean outward.

“We had to find places to put cylinders or cones behind the panels to prop them up,” said Sameer Kashyap of Gehry Technologies, who oversees the use of Digital Project at Beekman Tower. “This is the first time a 76-story building has had entirely unique slab edges.”

Forest City Ratner’s relationship with Mr. Gehry is not limited to this project. He also created a design for the multibillion-dollar Atlantic Yards project, with 17 buildings, which the company has proposed for downtown Brooklyn. With lawsuits pending and the economy turned sour, however, none of those buildings have gone to construction.

Of Forest City Ratner’s financing for Beekman Tower, $203.9 million is in tax-exempt Liberty bonds, which Mr. Ratner secured by agreeing to build a public school at the base (Mr. Gehry did not design it) and by directing $6 million to a fund to support affordable housing. The project must repay a $476.1 million loan from a consortium of six international private lenders. The developer says it is current on its debt service.

Mr. Gehry professes confidence that Digital Project will guide the tower smoothly through construction. “The Bilbao Museum came in $3 million under on a $100 million budget,” he said. “If there were surprises at Beekman, I would know about them.”

Forest City Ratner said that the project is on time and on budget. “It will stay on budget,” added a spokeswoman, Joyce Baumgarten.

Success with this version of Digital Project seems crucial to Mr. Gehry’s legacy. He has frequently been commissioned by institutional clients, which might be expected to be more indulgent than profit-minded developers.

But his image suffered when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued his firm in 2007 because of leaks in his 720,000-square-foot Ray and Maria Stata Center, a laboratory and classroom building with a day care center and gym. (Neither M.I.T. nor Mr. Gehry’s companies would comment about the litigation, which is pending in Superior Court in Boston.)

But David Gerber, Gehry Technologies’ chief marketing officer, said that future refinements of Digital Project will incorporate more information and avoid foul-ups. The latest iteration, Mr. Gerber said in a recent interview, even models a building’s basement sprinklers.

Architects and developers agree that software to measure a building’s ingredients will gain value as governments tighten rules about buildings’ effects on the environment. “You can ask a model to show you what shadow a building casts, or how far materials have to travel to a job site,” says Phil Bernstein, a technologist with Autodesk.

So Digital Project may offer Mr. Gehry a way to make money in an economic era when relatively few clients are likely to be commissioning ambitious buildings. The Swire Group, a Hong Kong concern, used it to deliver One Island East, a tower in Hong Kong, several months ahead of schedule last year.

“Our service is now in consulting,” said Mr. Shelden, the chief technologist for Gehry Technologies. “But we are in discussion with some clients about a shared-savings model,” under which the company would be paid a portion of a client’s savings in construction overruns.

[colemonkee]

Oh man, this thing is going to look fantastic.

[StarScraperCity]

I am beyond satisfied with the cladding. It looks great.

[chex]

come on, come on, put it on the building!

[pattali]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/11gehry.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Making Buildings That Billow (on Budget)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/11/business/11gehry2650.jpg

By ALEC APPELBAUM
February 10, 2009

....

This steel cladding is so beautiful and not common, so Gehry in fact :banana:

[NYguy]

It's great. Now imagine 800 ft of it rising into the sky...:cheers:

[NYguy]

stargate@rogers.com (http://flickr.com/photos/12959714@N07/3239337439/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3239337439_2648cdab56_b.jpg

[photoLith]

Wow! I am loving that steel cladding, so beautiful, looks like chrome!

[Sandy]

I love it too :tup: I plan to come in NYC next April, I really hope the cladding will have begun!! :yes:

[CoolCzech]

stargate@rogers.com (http://flickr.com/photos/12959714@N07/3239337439/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3239337439_2648cdab56_b.jpg

I can't believe how tall this thing's gotten already... it looks like it'll top out in a few weeks!

[NYguy]

^ I think it's only about half way...

I love it too :tup: I plan to come in NYC next April, I really hope the cladding will have begun!! :yes:

I think you will be in luck. Quote from an article posted earlier:

Another part of the seventh floor was filled with tall crates of the stainless steel curtain wall that will soon begin wrapping the building.

“In a few months, you will be seeing it from around the city,” Rechichi told the students.

:tup:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/11/business/11gehry2650.jpg

Until the Freedom Tower gets a few hundred feet in the air (its at 105 ft now), this is Downtown's most exciting project to watch.

[CoolCzech]

From over at Wired NY, by meesalikeu:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/meesalikeu2/P1160702.jpg

[NYguy]

^ Yeah, I would say that it's about half way, or a little more.

[andydie]

I have to say this is turning out to be one of the best NYC skyscrapers going up at the moment. Love the facade:tup: Reminds me a bit about the Chrysler Buildings stainlessness and will turn out great:)

[NYCLuver]

Passed by the site today!

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/DKNY617/IMG_0087.jpg

Something silver! A band of silver foil or covering or something, a lil hard to see sorry for the pic, the sun was reflecting!

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/DKNY617/IMG_0086.jpg

[NYguy]

^ The excitement builds. People still seem to be wondering what all the "fuss" is about this tower, but eventually it will become one of the most photographed in Lower Manhattan.

FEBRUARY 13, 2009

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