The closest most of us will get to 432 Park Avenue — the 427m skyscraper rising in midtown Manhattan — is ogling it from the deli across the street. But in this adorable little video, the Italian structural engineer behind the building leads us through its upper floors.
Silvian Marcus, the CEO of the global structural engineering firm WSP, recently showed the good people of World Architecture News around the building site — which now tops off at roughly 183m, less than half its final height. In his tour, Marcus explains how the building’s exceptionally thin profile is supported by a conventional central column core, but also a more unusual exoskeleton made up of concrete columns and beams.
The entire facade of the building, except for the windows, are part of its structural system — an unusual and lovely idea that hearkens back to the 1950s, when Mies van der Rohe brought the revolutionary concept to Midtown Manhattan with the Seagram Building.
Of course, a lot has changed since Mies’ day — including the prices of the spaces for sale inside, which have already topped $US1 billion. [World Architecture News]