Central Park Tower

Built 2013, 98 floors, 179 residences, 878,615 square feet.

217 West 57th Street, 10019

Central Park Tower was designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture with WSP as structural engineer. It runs to ninety eight stories above ground and the residences begin roughly three hundred feet up, so the lowest apartment already sits above most of the surrounding roofline.

The envelope is a structurally glazed aluminium curtain wall, detailed either with a stainless steel recess at the spandrel or a stainless steel fin standing proud between panels. Structure is carried between the residences rather than at the glass, which is what lets the window line run unbroken across a room.

Two things follow for anything built inside. The curtain wall carries no load and takes no penetrations, so storage, millwork and anything else wanting a wall moves inboard and is planned against the core or a demising wall instead. And a glass perimeter over hard floors leaves the acoustic and thermal work entirely to soft materials. Upholstery, rugs and drapery are doing structural work in these rooms rather than decorative work, and a scheme specified without them will sound wrong and feel colder than the drawings suggest.

Within walking distance

Building facts

New York City Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, version 26v1. Tax lot 1010297502.