Tour De Verre
Tour De Verre, is the latest skyscraper being designed next to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by French Architect Jean Nouvel. In typical Nouvel fashion, the tower is bound to be one of the next landmarks of the city.
One New Change. Image © Flickr user singaporeaninlondon licensed under CC BY 2.0
The tower, when completed, is going to consist of 83 floors, starting with the area of the ground floor being 3,700 m2, for the top floors the space provided will be 1,600 m2, with the structure rising to a total height of 320 m. The thousand glass facets and the broken up tower would a be the perfect supplement and skyline marker for the MoMA, which might land him an entry into the book of records for material expressionism due to it being bold and unique. The silhouette of the Manhattan skyline is allready a testimony to the advancement of technology, which is why the steel and glass façade of the tower used a diagrid structural design. The slender shape of the Tour De Verre allows the architect to utilize the smallest gaps and still let sunlight into the street.
One Central Park. Image © Murray Fredericks
The top of the tower would hold sun collectors for supporting energy supply, and Aeolian turbines for collecting energy through wind, whereas the steel structure will be built in such a way that it can withstand all types of wind loads. The glass areas have standard dimensions, while the construction of the steel structure follows simple geometrical principles. The tower was intended to rise up of the height of the Empire State Building, but the local building authorities were not in the favor of blocking the sunlight from entering the streets, which might make Central Park too shadowy in the winter.
100 Eleventh Avenue. Image © Flickr user shinyasuzuki licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Project Info:
Architects: Jean Nouvel
Location: NewYork, USA
Dates: 2007 – 2019
Clients: Hines, Pontiac Land Private Limited, Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, Goldman Sachs Group
Types of assignment: Competition, Shell & core
Program: Competition: Hotel, residential and extension of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
Project: Apartments and extension of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
Habitable area / Surface area: 57,000 m² / 61,159 m²
Team: Jean NOUVEL – Ateliers Jean Nouvel
ASSISTING ARCHITECT TO JEAN NOUVEL: Aurélien COULANGES
PROJECT LEADERS: Bertram BEISSEL, Manal RACHDI, Damien FARAUT, François LEININGER, Ingrid MENON, Stacy EISENBERG
ARCHITECTS: Pablo ALVARENGA, Maya BARAKAT, Jean-Patrick DEGRAVE, Laetitia DEGROOTE, Mélanie DOREMUS, Étienne GOBIN, Fred IMBERT, Tristan ISRAËL, Constanza JORQUERA, Narjis LEMRINI, Amanda ORTLAND-BEISSEL, Matthieu PUYAUBREAU
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Floriane ABELLO, Sabrina LETOURNEUR, Elise TAPONIER
RENDERINGS: Benjamin ALCOVER, Manal RACHDI, Raphaël RENARD
Muhammad Umair Siddiqui is an architect and former Arch2O assistant editor with expertise in urban design and architectural project management. Based in Pakistan, he brings strong skills in AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Adobe Suite, combining technical proficiency with a deep understanding of design and planning principles.