31 in 31: #12

This is a series for August 2010 which documents my on-the-ground -- and on-the-webs -- research for my guidebook to contemporary NYC architecture (to be released next year by W. W. Norton). Archives can be found at the bottom of the post and via the 31 in 31 label.



Stopping by the IDNY Meetup earlier this evening, I couldn't resist snapping some shots of One Madison Park from Humanscale's 8th floor showroom on East 26th Street. From the north the 50-story tower looks super-skinny, an anorexic Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower with contemporary flourishes, those flash-cube-like glass boxes cantilevered from the bronze shaft. In a recent review, Mr. Ouroussoff asserts that "Cetra/Ruddy had never before produced a building of any architectural significance." Yet he gives the credit for their success here to starchitects raising the bar for mainstream offices, namely "Santiago Calatrava’s abandoned 2004 proposal for a luxury tower in Lower Manhattan." Another starchitect proposal never to happen was planned for the site behind the tower on 22nd Street, a stepping cantilever by OMA for the same developer. It and One Madison Park would have made an interesting couple.

Previously:

#1 - Phyto Universe
#2 - One Bryant Park
#3 - Pier 62 Carousel
#4 - Bronx River Art Center
#5 - The Pencil Factory
#6 - Westbeth Artists' Housing
#7 - 23 Beekman Place
#8 - Metal Shutter Houses
#9 - Bronx Box
#10 - American Academy of Arts and Letters
#11 - FDR Four Freedoms Park