English architecture studio David Chipperfield Architects designed a 32-story mixed-use skyscraper located in the southwest corner of Bryant Park, a well-known public park in the heart of the island of Manhattan.

The project is surrounded by historic buildings, such as the New York Public Library, as well as being located near the famous Knox Beaux-Arts building. The mixed-use building incorporates a hotel that extends to the 14th floor, with private residences on top.
The exterior appearance of the building designed by the renowned studio David Chipperfield Architects follows the usual composition of New York skyscrapers, with a base, center, and crown. The ground floor occupies the entire plot, giving the building a double-height up to the fourth level, allocating these spaces to areas of the hotel. The setback of the section on this floor allows the creation of an open-air terrace between the project and the adjoining building's dividing wall.

The façade is related to the nearby historical buildings, offering a contemporary interpretation based on concrete and other aggregates that give the building a classic look.

The structure of the building extends into the homes, dividing the spaces through built-in furniture, eliminating the need for dividing walls, and allowing uninterrupted views through the large windows along the entire perimeter of the home.
 

Project description by David Chipperfield

The Bryant is a 32-storey mixed-use tower building located on the south-west corner of Bryant Park, a nine-acre public park in Midtown Manhattan. Surrounded by historic landmark buildings, it faces the New York Public Library to the north, and is situated near the celebrated Beaux-Arts style Knox Building to the east. The building comprises a hotel that extends to the 14th floor, with private residences above. These two components are served by two separate lobbies at street level, with two adjacent retail units animating the street front.

The building articulates three separate parts following the traditional tripartite composition of the New York tower: base, middle and crown. The base occupies the full width of the site and contains a double-height ground floor as well as the first four levels of the hotel. A decreased footprint, together with an increased floor-toceiling height for the hotel bar and lounge, mark the start of the central section. This set-back creates an outdoor terrace accessible to both hotel guests and residential tenants while maintaining the elevation pattern of alternating medium and high-rise buildings along 40th Street. The crown is established by double-height spaces for the two penthouses at the top of the tower.

Adhering to the conditions of the Landmarks reservation Commission, the façade relates to the historic buildings nearby, offering a contemporary interpretation. The concrete mix contains different aggregates identical to the stone varieties found in the neighbouring buildings’ masonry façades. These polished precast concrete slabs and columns follow a tectonic grid composition lending the building a classical appearance and firmly asserting its place within the streetscape.

The concrete building structure extends into the interior of the residences, reinforcing a sense of architectural substance and identity. Built-in furnishings conceal storage spaces and appliances while dividing the spaces, removing the need for partition walls, and allowing uninterrupted views around the perimeter. Floor-toceiling windows open on to Juliet balconies on the north and south façades for all residences, while the penthouses have double-height, colonnaded terraces with view over the city and park.

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Project Team
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Project director.- David Chipperfield, Billy Prendergast. Project architect.- Mattias Kunz. Project team.- Mira Abad, Pau Bajet, Gonçalo Baptista, Kleopatra Chelmi, Florian Dirschedl, Gabriel Fernandez-Abascal, Micha Gamper, Ines Gavelli, Maria Giramé, Christopher Harvey, Johannes Leskien, Nic Moore, Sergio Pereira.
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Collaborators
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Executive architect.- Stonehill & Taylor Architects. https://stonehilltaylor.com/ Lighting consultant.- George Sexton Associates. http://www.gsadc.com/ Acoustic consultant.- Shen Milsom & Wilke. https://www.smwllc.com/ Structural engineer.- Severud Associates Consulting Engineers. https://www.severud.com/ Services engineer.- Corcoran Sunshine. https://www.corcoransunshine.com/ Real estate consultant.- Vidaris. Project manager.- HFZ Capital Group. https://www.hfzcap.com/ Main contractor.- TG Nickel & Associates.
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Client
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Area
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Gross internal floor area.- 21,200sqm.
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Dates
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Start on site.- October 2014. Completion.- June 2021.
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Manufacturers
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Facade consultant Contractor.- T.G. Nickel & Associate. M&E consultant.- WSP Group. Precast concrete supplier.- Gate Precast.
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Location
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16 West 40th Street. New York, NY 10018. USA
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Photography
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Sir David Alan Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and was raised on a farm in Devon, in the southwest of England. He studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1980. He later worked with Douglas Stephen, Norman Foster, and Richard Rogers before founding his own firm, David Chipperfield Architects, in 1985.

The firm has grown to include offices in London, Berlin (1998), Shanghai (2005), Milan (2006), and Santiago de Compostela (2022). His first notable commission was a commercial interior for Issey Miyake in London, which led him to work in Japan. In the United Kingdom, his first significant building was the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, completed in 1997.

Chipperfield has developed over one hundred projects across Asia, Europe, and North America, including civic, cultural, academic, and residential buildings. In Germany, he led the reconstruction of the Neues Museum in Berlin (1993–2009) and the construction of the James-Simon-Galerie (1999–2018).

He has been a professor at various universities in Europe and the United States, including the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and Yale University. In 2012, he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. In 2017, he established the RIA Foundation in Galicia, Spain, dedicated to research on sustainable development in the region.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and has been recognized as an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). He has received numerous awards, including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2011, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2013, and the Pritzker Prize in 2023. In 2009, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 2010 he was knighted for his services to architecture, and in 2021 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in the United Kingdom.

Chipperfield's career is distinguished by his focus on the relationship between architecture and its context, as well as his commitment to sustainability and the preservation of architectural heritage.

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Published on: May 3, 2021
Cite: "New observer in the park. The Bryant by David Chipperfield" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/new-observer-park-bryant-david-chipperfield> ISSN 1139-6415
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