Loading...
Design an environmentally-sensitive, iconic new addition to the Upper Manhattan skyline that simultaneously satisfies the needs of Harlem's rapidly expanding business community.
SHCA is designing Harlem Park; the first major office tower built in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in over 30 years. Vornado Realty Trust is developing the 600,000 sq ft (55,740 sq m), 21-story office tower, which is located at 125th Street and Park Avenue. The building will achieve a Silver level of LEED certification.
Adjacent to the Metro North commuter rail line, Harlem Park will include approximately 82,000 sq ft (7,618 sq m) of retail space on the community's main retail thoroughfare. Set on an 85-foot podium, the 18-story main tower shaft features an aluminum and glass curtain wall with integrated vertical terra cotta fins that echo the masonry construction of nearby buildings.
As Harlem Park will be taller than surrounding structures, designers have countered the verticality of the tower with a composition of smaller-scale 'stacked boxes' that ground the building in the scale of the community. The top 'box' - a distinct cubic form - will be illuminated at night and establish the building within the City's famed skyline.
Adjacent to the Metro North commuter rail line, Harlem Park will include approximately 82,000 sq ft (7,618 sq m) of retail space on the community's main retail thoroughfare. Set on an 85-foot podium, the 18-story main tower shaft features an aluminum and glass curtain wall with integrated vertical terra cotta fins that echo the masonry construction of nearby buildings.
As Harlem Park will be taller than surrounding structures, designers have countered the verticality of the tower with a composition of smaller-scale 'stacked boxes' that ground the building in the scale of the community. The top 'box' - a distinct cubic form - will be illuminated at night and establish the building within the City's famed skyline.
Back
01
The project site is bounded by the Metro North commuter rail station on Park Avenue, 124th and 125th streets. The surrounding context is predominately three to five story brick buildings.
02
The “L” shape of the site as well as the context began shaping the building from the early concept phase.
03
Through investigation it was evident that the scale of the neighborhood would influence the final massing of the new building.
04
As the massing began to take form, the exterior articulation also became influenced by the grain of the neighborhood.
05
The resulting form is a series of “stacked boxes”. The scale and proportion of each box is influenced by the context.
06
The top of the tower is emphasized volumetrically to give the tower a presence to the south.
07
One of the initial concepts for the tower podium – viewed from the Metro North platform.
08
The final podium form directly associates with the neighboring context both in massing as well as in materiality, employing a randomized terra cotta wall that builds up from the low scale adjacent buildings.
09
The articulation of the tower walls emphasizes the directionality of the “stacked boxes” by alternating smooth and striated surfaces.
10
Terra cotta clad fins at the podium lend materiality while maintaining maximum transparency from within.
