The modernization of a mid-century Midtown Manhattan office tower features a new façade intended to improve occupant comfort and reduce energy consumption. The building, at 666 Fifth Avenue, was originally designed by Carson & Lundin.
First opened in November 1957 when it was considered cutting-edge, the original façade of the 500-foot-tall modernist skyscraper was highly inefficient by today’s energy efficiency standards. Using an early version of a semi-unitized curtain wall, the old façade featured units with punched aluminum panels on the bottom and a single glass pane on top. This was advantageous in its light weight, but yielded poor energy efficiency. The project team chose a full reskinning as the best option to upgrade the aging building.
The new façade features the largest single-pane units ever used on an office development in New York City, according to a blog post at KPF.com. These large panes created efficiencies in construction, logistics, and structural detailing. Panel fabricators used a single cut, yielding only minimal waste when producing each unit. Situated inside a four-sided shadowbox, the panels span the full width between columns and the full height between floors. This approach tripled the window area, bringing in plentiful daylight for tenants.
Other improvements on the 1.2 million-sf office tower include:
- Mechanical upgrades for high-efficiency heating and air systems that draw in greater quantities of fresh air.
- A reconstructed lobby with modernized elevators that will support a retail space.
- Numerous columns and low ceilings were eliminated from office floors to maximize interior space.
- Some units offer double-height spaces and interconnected floors, taking advantage of the building’s wide range of floor plate sizes.
- Designers used existing massing—a podium and tower interspersed with multiple setbacks—to create exterior terraces at multiple levels on three sides.
“One of the important aspects of an adaptive reuse project is finding the existing value in a building, and identifying areas that can create more desirable space for users," said KPF Principal Lauren Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP BD+C. "The existing façade at 660 Fifth Avenue was one of the first curtain wall systems when it was built in the 1950s and very modern at the time, but it had limitations in terms of thermal and acoustical insulation, as well as small windows. We approached the façade as a clean slate and proposed opening it up completely with units that would span column to column. This, in a sense, allowed the columns to disappear and create open views. It was a great opportunity to propose something that was perhaps considered atypical, but actually, as we worked through the logistics of it, made sense for a number of reasons and was highly efficient.”
On the team:
Client: Brookfield Properties
Design Architect (full services): Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)
MEP Engineer: Cosentini Associates
Structural Engineer: Gilsanz Murray Steficek (GMS)
General contractor: Turner Construction
![660 Fifth Avenue, NY Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/2_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NY Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/7_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NY Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/3_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/6_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/8_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/9_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/11_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/13_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/15_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/14_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/21_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Photo: Raimund Koch, courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/19_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![29_Before 666 Fifth Avenue_Credit Hayes Davidson Courtesy KPF.jpg](/sites/default/files/inline-images/29_Before%20666%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Hayes%20Davidson%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue_Credit Raimund Koch Courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/25_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue_Credit Raimund Koch Courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/28_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue_Credit Raimund Koch Courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/27_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
![660 Fifth Avenue_Credit Raimund Koch Courtesy KPF](/sites/default/files/inline-images/24_660%20Fifth%20Avenue_Credit%20Raimund%20Koch%20Courtesy%20KPF.jpg)
Related Stories
| Jun 10, 2014
Built-in balcony: New skylight windows can fold out to create a patio
Roof window manufacturer Fakro offers a skylight window system that quickly converts into an open-air balcony.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
Smart Buildings | Jun 8, 2014
Big Data: How one city took control of its facility assets with data
Over the past few years, Buffalo has developed a cutting-edge facility management program to ensure it's utilizing its facilities and operations as efficiently, effectively, and sustainably as possible.
| Jun 6, 2014
KPF, Kevin Roche unveil design for 51-story Hudson Yards tower in NYC [slideshow]
Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group are teaming to develop Fifty Five Hudson Yards, the latest addition to the commercial office tower collection in the 28-acre Hudson Yards development—the largest private real estate development in the history of the U.S.
| Jun 3, 2014
Libeskind's latest skyscraper breaks ground in the Philippines
The Century Spire, Daniel Libeskind's latest project, has just broken ground in Century City, southwest of Manila. It is meant to accommodate apartments and offices.
| Jun 2, 2014
Parking structures group launches LEED-type program for parking garages
The Green Parking Council, an affiliate of the International Parking Institute, has launched the Green Garage Certification program, the parking industry equivalent of LEED certification.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
| May 28, 2014
KPF's dual towers in Turkey will incorporate motifs, symbols of Ottoman Empire
The two-building headquarters for Turkey’s largest and oldest financial institution, Ziraat Bank, is inspired by the country’s cultural heritage.
| May 27, 2014
One World Trade Center cuts rents due to sluggish activity
Sluggish economy and lackluster leasing force developer The Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to reduce asking rents by nearly 10% to $69/sf.
| May 23, 2014
Big design, small package: AIA Chicago names 2014 Small Project Awards winners
Winning projects include an events center for Mies van der Rohe's landmark Farnsworth House and a new boathouse along the Chicago river.