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Jean Nouvel's design of the Tower Verre in New York City
With his design for the Tower Verre, Jean Nouvel proposes to take the strict
respect of the zoning envelope to the point where its shape becomes the
tower itself. Governed by its legal envelope and the steel framing needed to
withstand the wind loads, this structure is as unique and singular as the
parcel it stands on. From close up, its receding stealth geometry makes it
surprisingly discrete and unobtrusive for its height.
Seen from Central Park,
the bridges and most locations on the river banks, its triangular silhouette
stands out and is very recognizable in the Manhattan skyline, inscribing the
MoMA unmistakably as one of New York’s most famous and successful
cultural institutions. The façades of the tower are a structural glazing in
standard glass dimensions and the bracing structure follows the simplest and
most economical geometry. Living inside this building feels like inhabiting a
power fully present and reassuring structure, similar to that of a large tree.
The tower draws its shape from the desire for more daylight in the streets
and the same daylight feeds its solar panels with energy. Its character is the
structural expression of the wind bracing and the same wind moves its
Aeolian turbines.
The solar panels and wind turbines fill the narrow triangular
top section, putting its unusually thin silhouette to a reasonable use. This
tower is a monument to the rules of shadow and light, and to the forces of the wind.
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