This week the world's skinniest skyscraper was completed

This week on Dezeen, US studio SHoP Architects completed 111 West 57th Street in New York City, which is now the world's skinniest skyscraper with a height-to-width ratio of 24:1.

The skyscraper is located on Manhattan's Billionaires' Row and at 435 metres in height is the second-tallest building in the western hemisphere.

SHoP Architects also began construction on another project this week – a new milled-stone campus for the US consulate in Milan, which draws on the site's existing neoclassical architecture.

Eight "weird and wonderful" data centres from around the world

As the exhibition Power House: The Architecture of Data Centres draws to a close at London's Roca Gallery, we took a closer look at eight "weird and wonderful" data centres featured in the show.

From high-tech designs by architects to inconspicuous inner-city retrofits, the exhibition is showcasing data centres from all over the world until 14 April.

Norman Foster curates exhibition that celebrates the "beauty and technology" of the car

Meanwhile, Guggenheim Bilbao opened an exhibition titled Motion: Autos, Art, Architecture this week, which is curated by British architect Norman Foster and showcases nine cars from his own collection.

Foster also designed the displays for the exhibition, which in total features 40 different models including the first Porsche ever made.

Another car that made the news this week is the limited-edition Maybach S-Class created by late designer Virgil Abloh for Mercedes-Benz. The vehicle has a distinctive two-tone finish and was released together with a capsule clothing collection from Abloh's label Off-White.

Architecture "lagging behind all other sectors" in climate change fight says IPCC report author

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest climate report this week, which highlights the built environment as one of the key industries that could help the world to cut its emissions by 50 per cent this decade.

But Yamina Saheb, one of the report's lead authors, told Dezeen that efforts to avert catastrophic climate change have so far been held back by "inertia" from the construction sector, which she says hasn't been modernised since the second world war.

Tom Wiscombe and Marrikka Trotter apologise for "high-pressure office culture" after being suspended by SCI-Arc

In Los Angeles, two faculty members of the Southern California Institute of Architecture apologised after being put on administrative leave for suggesting that architecture students should work long hours for low pay.

Tom Wiscombe and Marikka Trotter said: "We completely understand that as a couple at one school, both with administrative roles, it can seem like we have unfairly consolidated power, and we acknowledge that some faculty and students feel that way."

Naturehumaine splits Quebec ski cottage La Brèche in two

Popular projects this week included a ski cottage in Quebec, a Mexican house created as a refuge for surfers and Lego's new campus in Billund, Denmark, which is organised around a yellow atrium.

Our lookbooks this week focused on basement conversions that make use of subterranean space and interiors with innovative room dividers instead of walls.

The post This week the world's skinniest skyscraper was completed appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #news #thisweekondezeen #architecture #usa #skyscrapers #shoparchitects #newyorkcity #newyorkskyscrapers

SOM unveils plans for Lever House renovation in New York

Architecture firm SOM is renovating the glass Lever House skyscraper that it designed in New York in an effort to preserve the modernist office building's "very important legacy".

Completed by SOM in 1952, the 22-storey Lever House is considered one of the first modernist landmarks in New York, helping to popularise glass curtain walls and the International Style architecture movement in the US.

SOM is renovating the Lever House skyscraper that it designed in New York

However, many of the 70-year-old building's original elements and newer additions are ageing and in need of an update.

SOM's aim for the restoration is to reverse this, preserving Lever House's original appearance while also enhancing its sustainability performance to meet modern-day standards.

Lever House "transformed the design of urban towers"

"Lever House introduced the International Style to America and transformed the design of urban towers around the world," explained SOM partner Chris Cooper.

"That is a very important legacy to preserve," he told Dezeen. "It stands out among all the large-scale commercial development underway around the city."

The International Style was a modernist movement defined by simple cubic forms and the use of glass and steel, stripped of any ornamentation.

The renovation aims to preserve the skyscraper's "very important legacy"

But according to Cooper, the building's architectural significance is not the only reason the renovation is important. Its design and location are also particularly unique.

"Its relationship to Park Avenue, with its unique floorplate and the direct access to daylight, nature, and views up and down the avenue, makes this an opportune moment to reinvest in the building," Cooper said.

SOM collaborating with material scientists

Externally, Lever House is characterised by its rectangular form that is surrounded by a glass curtain facade and stainless steel detailing, and elevated over a marble-lined ground floor plaza.

Many of the materials on the ground floor are now deteriorating, while inside, the 21 storeys of offices still rely on its original 20th-century mechanical systems.

SOM is striving to meet LEED Gold through its improvements to the building's environmental performance, which is the second-highest certification attainable by the green building rating system.

The updates to the ground-floor plaza, which are now underway, include the replacement of paving – which is not original to the building – with durable concrete cast in-situ to resemble the 1952 design.

The ground-level plaza will be updated

Overhead, the plaza's water-damaged plaster ceiling will be substituted for a more durable version, while the surrounding stainless steel columns, black limestone and white marble walls will be restored with the help of material scientists.

"This project required a deep exploration into materials science," Cooper explained.

"We worked with specialists to examine all the primary materials that we were working with, and how we could upgrade some of the existing elements."

The glass and steel facade on the ground-level storefront, which is currently cracked and dented in places, will also be rehabilitated, while existing planters are soon to be updated with new birch trees.

Upgrade will "look as close to its original appearance as possible"

Another key element of Lever House's design is the 15,000-square-foot (1,400-square-metre) terrace on the third floor, which is also set to undergo a complete revamp.

The terrace's landscaping will be updated with new shrubs, flowers and birch trees, while the non-original red paving will be swapped out for grey precast concrete to better suit the tower's aesthetic.

As part of the renovation project, the terrazzo flooring and mosaic tile wall inside the tower's lobby will be repaired, while the lighting system will be upgraded to be brighter and more energy-efficient.

The offices will also be given more floor space and higher ceilings, as well as improved ventilation systems that will maximise fresh air.

The third-floor terrace will also be revamped

"Lever House is so important to the history of our firm and modern architecture, and we wanted to upgrade it to look as close to its original appearance as possible," concluded Cooper.

"These are subtle improvements, but they will really renew the arrival experience and help restore the building’s original appearance."

[

Read:

David Chipperfield completes "surgical" overhaul of Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/04/29/neue-nationalgalerie-overhaul-david-chipperfield-mies-van-der-rohe/)

Another notable modernist building that was recently renovated is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Carried out by British practice David Chipperfield Architects, the project saw the building's ageing structure and exterior restored while its services were modernised.

The studio's founder, David Chipperfield, described the work as "surgical in nature", in an effort to preserve Mies van der Rohe's original vision for the gallery as far as possible.

The renders are byTMRW and the photography is by Ezra Stoller.

The post SOM unveils plans for Lever House renovation in New York appeared first on Dezeen.

#skyscrapers #all #architecture #news #usa #skidmoreowingsmerrill #newyorkcity #newyorkskyscrapers #modernism #midtownmanhattan #newyork

Mass bird deaths in New York City caused by skyscraper collisions

Hundreds of migrating birds have died this week in New York City after crashing into glass skyscrapers, according to local organisation NYC Audubon.

On Tuesday morning, 14 September, a volunteer at the NYC Audubon found over 200 dead birds dotted on pavements around the 3 World Trade Center and 4 World Trade Center skyscrapers alone.

By the end of her shift at the World Trade Center site, volunteer Melissa Breyer said she found 226 carcasses, though many more were "inaccessible, or too mangled to collect".

"When you have 226 dead window-struck migratory birds from one morning, it's hard to get them all in one photo," she wrote on Twitter.

Some of the 226 dead birds I picked up this morning while window collision monitoring for @NYCAudubon. 205 from @3NYWTC and @4WTC alone. Many others swept up, inaccessible, or too mangled to collect. 30 injured to @wildbirdfund. If you’re in NYC today, be careful where you step. pic.twitter.com/RTjm82NIpy

— Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer) September 14, 2021

That day, the Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation centre in New York also received more than 70 injured birds, including 30 found by Breyer.

City lights and glass facades to blame

A combination of stormy weather and artificial night-time lighting in cities are to blame for Tuesday's mass bird death, reported the Audubon network.

This is because both city lights and storms can confuse birds in nocturnal flight, leading to exhaustion from disorientation and in turn, building collisions.

However, Breyer added that some of the migrating birds that died had collided with the towers in the daytime, after confusing reflections in the glass facades for open sky.

Of the 74 window-strike patients we received during Tuesday's mass bird collision event, 27 were black-&-white warblers, including this beauty. They are migrating through the city in huge numbers, and if you're in a park right now, you're likely looking at one.

: Phyllis Tseng pic.twitter.com/E0mDkqaRqS

— Wild Bird Fund (@wildbirdfund) September 16, 2021

"Lights can be turned off, windows can be treated. Please do something," she pleaded.

Silverstein Properties, the developer of 3 and 4 World Trade Center, provided a statement to NYC Audubon that said it is now "actively encouraging our office tenants to turn off their lights at night and lower their blinds wherever possible".

New York considered among most dangerous cities for birds

While this week's death toll was particularly high, glass towers in New York long been considered dangerous to birds.

Volunteers with NYC Audubon regularly patrol the streets during the spring and autumn migrations to document bird deaths, previously reporting that over 90,000 birds collide with buildings in the city every year.

[

Read:

New York City introduces bill to make glass buildings more bird-friendly

](https://www.dezeen.com/2019/12/20/new-york-city-bird-bill-glass-buildings/)

Another study published by Cornell Lab of Ornithology in April 2019 ranked New York as one of the most dangerous for birds in the US, alongside Chicago and Los Angeles.

"Building collisions, and particularly collisions with windows, are a major anthropogenic threat to birds, with rough estimates of between 100 million and one billion birds killed annually in the United States," the report said.

For this reason, New York passed a bill in December 2019 to ensure all new glass buildings are safer for migratory birds. This requires structures over 23 metres (75 feet) to be patterned to make them more visible to birds.

More recently, the US House of Representatives agreed to limit the amount of glass used across federal buildings. This was also in a bid to protect birds from death by collision.

The main photo is by Jonathan Roger via Unsplash.

The post Mass bird deaths in New York City caused by skyscraper collisions appeared first on Dezeen.

#skyscrapers #all #architecture #news #usa #newyorkcity #newyorkskyscrapers #newyork