The Spiral in New York by BIG

Apart from Central Park, green spaces are rare in Manhattan. This is why architects and urban planners started quite early to conceive them in three dimensions. Prime examples of this new type of urban green space are the High Line park by Diller + Scofidio and the artificial Little Island by Heatherwick Studio.

BIG’s first office building in Manhattan

With the Spiral office tower, the Bjarke Ingels Group have taken this approach to new heights. The new structure, which has 66 storeys, stands near the north end of the High Line in the new development of Hudson Yards. At 314 m, it is the studio’s tallest building to date in New York.

A park in the third dimension

The design concept is as memorable as it is marketable: indeed, it extends the nearby Bella Abzug Park into the vertical plane in the form of outdoor terraces on each level, meaning that the volume tapers towards the top. The characteristic tiered silhouette of classic New York skyscrapers – the best example being the Empire State Building – has been shifted to the diagonal here. A further recess appears every 75 vertical metres. At the same time, the terraces on each level are found in a different place. 

Subtle facade variations

The stepped balcony cascade is accompanied by the recesses in the facade and a change in the glazing. In the areas behind the terraces, the panes are less reflective and more transparent than in the rest of the building. Moreover, the three technical areas located on the 36th to the 38th and the 65th levels are clearly discernible on the facades. In addition, the top floor is home to a clubhouse for the tenants, who include several banks and law firms, the Pfizer pharma multinational and the Turner Construction Company, which actually erected the building. 

Steel sheeting in various colours dominates the lobby at the Spiral. © Tommy Agriodimas

Colour-coded steel sheeting

At the very bottom of the building, the surrounding spiral flows into the lobby. Right behind the entrance, visitors can see the imposing elevator core that is required to provide access to the “supertall high-rise”. There are no fewer than seven elevator lobbies, all of which BIG have clad with steel sheeting in coatings of various colours. Only ten of the elevators ascend to the top storeys, for those levels become smaller as the building rises and because elevator traffic in high-rises generally decreases towards the top. 

Recesses in the reflective glass facade go with the balconies, giving them more depth without unnecessarily sacrificing leasable space. © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Precisely selected plants

The architects precisely selected the plants on the balconies according to compass direction, altitude, solar irradiation and expected wind strength. Altogether, the 66 hanging gardens cover an area of around 1200 m², which may sound extensive but should not be overvalued with respect to the total floor space of 260 000 m². For the office workers, they offer an attractive opportunity to enjoy outdoor breaks without having to take the elevator dozens of levels down to street level.