NEW YORK | One Madison Avenue | 937 FT / 285.6 M | 74 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Didn't get my issue of New York magazine yet, but curbed.com has the info:

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/12/0..._tube.php#more

Libeskind's Madison Ave. Tower Revealed: It's a Hover Tube!



Tuesday, December 2, 2008
by Joey

When it was reported last year that starchitect Daniel Libeskind was planning a massive residential skyscraper for developer Elad Properties on top of 1 Madison Avenue, it set off many worldwide press reports filled with rumors and erroneous information (adding confusion: the Clocktower is actually 3 Madison Avenue; the 60-story skyscraper being built nearby is One Madison Park). A Curbed reader even felt compelled to create that helpful graphic to explain that Libeskind was targeting the 14-story annex building to the landmark Clocktower. Amidst all the speculation, Libeskind never ponied up the goods, instead speaking of the tower only in elliptical references.

This week's New York magazine finally reveals a glimpse of Libeskind's Madison Avenue design, and though the credit crunch has sapped some interest in the project, holy crap look at that thing!

The 54-story condo—built on columns and hovering over the existing building—would top out at over 900 feet (the Clocktower is 700' tall, One Madison Park is just over 600'). Oh, and it's totally tubular.

The glass-curtained tube has cutaways spiraling up and around the facade, which are filled with sky gardens and private balconies. According to Libeskind, "We've taken space away [from the apartments] to create the gardens. It's as if nature has come back into the city." Very expensive and exclusive nature, of course—just like Mother Earth intended!

This will most likely never get built, but according to an Elad spokesman, "The assumption is that by the time construction starts, we're going to be looking at a different economy." They just need to hope that all those Russians and top celebrities aren't tapped out by then. Apparently there's more information and diagrams in Libeskind's new book Counterpoint

[NYguy]

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52569/

Green Dreams on Madison Square




By Justin Davidson
Nov 26, 2008

Six years after Daniel Libeskind alighted in the middle of the World Trade Center circus, bearing images of glass towers dripping with sky gardens, the architect has unveiled a proposal for his first New York building: a glass tower dripping with sky gardens.

Libeskind’s One Madison Avenue would swoop up next to, and past, the 700-foot Met Life tower. One diagram in Libeskind’s new book, Counterpoint, suggests that the 54-story condo, hovering on columns over an existing building, could top out just shy of 937 feet (Rem Koolhaas’s proposed 23 East 22nd Street is a block away.)

Initial designs show a glass-curtained tube with cutaways spiraling up and around the façade to reveal segments of terraced verdure, like cultivated patches on the side of a steep alpine slope. “We didn’t just fill up the tower,” the architect says. “We’ve taken space away [from the apartments] to create the gardens,” which are actually balconies tucked within the envelope. “It’s as if nature has come back into the city,” he says.

whole project has an air of fantasy about it, but the developer is betting that the current fiscal misery will end before the approvals process does. “The assumption is that by the time construction starts, we’re going to be looking at a different economy,” Lloyd Kaplan, an Elad spokesman, says.

[Jonovision]

Wow! This sounds like its gonna be quite the building! I can't wait to see more!

[Crawford]

Fantastic News!!

I look forward to seeing the full rendering!

[scalziand]

This is a bit different than I expected. Actually, scratch that that. I didn't know what to expect for this. From the looks of it, it will fit in with 1 MP and Koolhaas's madness behind it.

Originally Posted by Crawford

I look forward to seeing the full rendering!

Seconded.

[Antares41]

Green to the nth degree! but its daring. Like to see how the NIMBYs respond to this one? What's the odds of it ever getting built? Hope they take the risk, could be truly iconic skyscraper.

[Scruffy]

Its an interesting design and i hate to be that guy but its going to ruin one of the best towers in the city, the once WTB Met Life Clocktower literally its neighbor the north. Perhaps if there were a render that showed the two together and what kind of relationship they will have contextually. and im very curious what the base and top will look like

[NYC4Life]

What an incredible 24 hours for NY real estate. 1st we get a render of this proposed tower, and a 1,000 footer to be built by Extell on 57th street.

[antinimby]

If one section of the tower is as creative as what is shown, I don't think the top will disappoint. In other words, I don't think it will be a flat top.

[NYguy]

I like how they just give us a tease. Someone go out and get that book!

[scalziand]

I love the way the columns branch and regroup on this one.

[antinimby]

^ It hints a bit to the columns of the former WTC towers.

[NYguy]

Now we're talking...
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/12/0...rdens_grow.php

Madison Mania: Libeskind Shows You How His Gardens Grow

Wednesday, December 3, 2008, by Joey



The Architect's Newspaper Blog has scanned and posted the renderings of Daniel Libeskind's Madison Square skyscraper, the 54-story hover tube the starchitect has designed to sit on top of 1 Madison Avenue. The long rumored "New York Tower," as Libeskind calls it, appears in his new book Counterpoint and was finally revealed to the masses this week.

AN also chatted with Libeskind about the 900-foot-tall spiral of sky gardens and luxury apartments, and he said, "This is not a building about a shape or a facade. It's really a building about how New York goes forward, how to build and live in a high-density Manhattan." Alrighty then.

The New York Tower would rise over the Park Avenue side of the 14-story building, so as not to completely overwhelm Madison Square Park and the Clocktower. Now, the disclaimer. According to a spokesman for developer Elad Properties, the images "were made at least a year ago, for publication purposes, and no longer reflect the current state of the project." Which of course is code for, "the Chinese marble is still held up at customs."

[Fabb]

Amazing !

Although, some of the ideas are derived of Citigroup on Lexington.

[NYguy]

http://archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3002



Daniel Libeskind is renowned for his way with words. His orations have charmed competition juries, and in a 2003 profile, critic Paul Goldberger wrote, “For an architect who loves to talk, Libeskind says very little about his buildings that could be considered analytical.”

Not so for the project he simply calls his “New York tower,” a colossus that would reach more than 900 feet above Madison Square Park. “There is no spiel,” he said in a telephone interview this afternoon. “This is not a building about a shape or a facade. It’s really a building about how New York goes forward, how to build and live in a high-density Manhattan.”

The tower, which would be the city’s tallest residential structure, would rise adjacent to the iconic clock tower of the old Met Life building. In a city with dwindling room to build—and a growing need for green amenities—Libeskind said the project offers a park-in-the-sky model for the future, with its bands of leafy terraces that ascend the building.

Before the designs were even revealed—they are still technically under wraps, even though a number of renderings appear in the architect’s new monograph, a selection of which are posted on the AN blog—considerable debate surrounded the building’s relationship to the clock tower. Libeskind said the cut-outs for the terraces, along with the building’s overall massing and location, would pay special deference to the structure’s historic neighbor.

Set back from Madison Avenue, the Libeskind building actually rises atop the back half of the Met Life Building Annex, a 14-story structure next to the clock tower that would remain in use as a commercial building. Unlike the clock tower, the annex is not a city landmark, so is not subject to review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Libeskind added that the project is being designed as-of-right, and will not need any special zoning changes.

While the architect said he was happy to be building in a dynamic part of the city, it was the neighborhood’s grand past that inspired the tower, with its rounded edges nodding to the nearby Flatiron Building, and the terraces serving as an extension of the park below. “That is the real context,” he said. “It is about creating a 21st-century park.”

“This is a building for the city’s future,” Libeskind added, shrugging off concerns about working in these recessionary times. “We have a long way to go still, but we think this contributes in a whole new way.”

_________________________________________

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/...for-the-books/

__

[scalziand]

So there's the rest of it. It's nice how Libeskind put it as far away as possible from the clocktower. That definitely helps to keep it from overpowering the clocktower.

[Antares41]

Love it! Like I said earlier this building could truly be something special, all the buzz is justified.

[Fabb]

The tower, which would be the city’s tallest residential structure, would rise adjacent to the iconic clock tower of the old Met Life building.

I'm well aware of the historic importance of the clocktower, but, a piece of architecture, it's not that great.
I have no problem with Libeskind's tower rising next door and being the new eye-catcher.

[lazar22b]

That is frickin cool

[Swede]

Originally Posted by Fabb

I'm well aware of the historic importance of the clocktower, but, a piece of architecture, it's not that great.
I have no problem with Libeskind's tower rising next door and being the new eye-catcher.

If it was a cheap-o piece of crap I'd be irritated over the location. With this design... I really like it.