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New York City has always been at the forefront of architecture and urban design. Some of the world's most recognizable buildings are located there. And with developable land becoming rarer in urban centres — with millionaires looking to own an exclusive piece of the sky — a perfect storm of skyscraping proportions is being created in Manhattan. The outcome is the proliferation of supertall towers like 432 Park Avenue and the under-construction behemoths at 111 and 217 West 57th Street. But is this recent phenomenon just a trend or the new normal? Robert Goodwin, architectural design director at Perkins+Will's New York office, shed some light on the situation currently unfolding in the skies of Manhattan.
"As New York has become more and more built up there are fewer and fewer large sites available, especially in desirable neighbourhoods where the sales price can be high. What's happened is that developers have been looking at finding sites that are perhaps less than perfect but then assembling air rights from adjacent sites in order to make those projects larger," said Goodwin. Doing so, he added, would put the necessary criteria in place for these developments to be profitable.
In a city populated by highrises, sunlight is at a premium, and Manhattan has a long history of balancing density with the natural environment. New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution dictated massing to prevent tall buildings from obstructing light and air. Though the ordinance was revised in 1961, a cornucopia of wedding-cake style buildings, noted for their multiple setbacks and tiered profiles, stemmed directly from the passing of these early zoning regulations. According to Goodwin, the other way to ensure light gets down to the street is by creating a slender and narrow tower that minimizes sun blockage. "The large sites that allow you to do that wedding-cake terracing approach are so few now," said Goodwin. "When you do tower zoning you have a narrow footprint but your height is unlimited. That then starts to create, through that zoning approach, a condition in which taller towers start to emerge."
Zoning isn't the only cause of sky-high tower development. As New York's international importance continues to strengthen, that increased status attracts big money from around the world. "In the last 10 years, New York has started to become the predominant global city and that means it attracts a lot of money. Everybody wants to have some piece of it. So there are very wealthy people with a lot of money to spend who want that three-storey, $20-30 million apartment."
The combination of those two converging forces has led developers to begin assembling properties in desirable areas on footprints that had previously been considered marginal. As Goodwin explains, by bringing in enough air rights, developers can generate a very tall tower. And since people are willing to fork out millions for these apartments, the additional construction cost of building such a tall tower is immediately covered by the cost of the unit. "Often what happens is you'll see relatively low buildings around these supertall towers because they rely on absorbing those air rights in order to make that one tower so tall," explained Goodwin. "The air rights take away the ability of the adjacent buildings to be taller."
The market that makes the supertall residential towers in Midtown possible is supported by buyers who will shell out big bucks for views of Central Park. The prestige of these addresses is reflected in the price point that the units are attaining. However, Goodwin notes that the money contributing to the creation of "Billionaire's Row" has tailed off recently, so despite market pressures, it's unlikely the skyline will become a sea of supertalls anytime soon.
Since buildings become palpable segments of a larger cityscape, architects have an inherent responsibility to design something attractive. When it comes to designing massive supertalls that will become highly visible spires from kilometres away, that responsibility is amplified. "When developers are selling these apartments for so much money they need to compete at a high level," said Goodwin. "They are looking for the buildings to be landmarks, so they bring in well-known and high-design architects to ensure they're distinctive." Goodwin explains that in recent years, developers' marketing efforts have focused on the architect and interior designer as key selling points. By branding residential buildings around their designers, developers are able to enhance the value and sales price of the units. As an example, the 76-storey 8 Spruce Street is simply advertised as 'New York by Gehry'.
As global architects like Kohn Pedersen Fox and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture put their stamp on Midtown, Perkins+Will has envisioned a "vertical urban community" of their own. Their dynamic 700-foot tower proposed for developer Nef of Turkey would climb above East 37th Street and integrate five unique clusters of amenity space and parks, conveniently positioned at intervals along the building's rise. Offering these community zones throughout the building, rather than packaging them in one specific area, represents a departure from the interior configurations of most condominium developments.
Goodwin described the firm's approach to the project's distinctive architecture, and how the design was birthed from a macro view of city building. "We felt that it wasn't enough to simply maximize the volume of the tower and put a beautiful skin on it. It was important to think about what it means to build tall buildings in a density like New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai or Seoul — the increasing amount of urban density is a significant part of what architects should be facing in the future and how we think about making that environment more livable. In a nutshell, our approach is to create a sense of community."
By taking the urban fabric of appealing neighbourhoods like the West Village, which is defined by rows of brownstones and pocket parks, and rearranging that layout vertically, it creates a flourishing self-contained neighbourhood. "That's very much in line with Perkins+Will's identity and character as a firm — it's creating a way to make this conventional paradigm of tall buildings into something that's about a shared experience and how you can build cities in the future," said Goodwin. "From our point of view, that's not just stylization, that's about programmatic and architectural innovation."
Armed with a strong luxury residential market and an unshakeable reputation as a leading global city, New York City is one of the premier places in the world to engage in some architectural experimentation. Its inimitable density and urban fabric warrants it — underdeveloped sites are rapidly disappearing, forcing architects and developers to work within constrained quarters and creatively reimagine how skyscrapers must encapsulate their desired programs, all the while without ignoring the local environment. The rise of supertalls is powered by a demand for unobstructed views and swanky lifestyles, and given New York's status as an economic and cultural powerhouse, the city will have to wrestle with the predicament of balancing density with the associated impacts of tall buildings in the years to come.
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