It’s not every day that an architecture firm gets a second crack at one of its masterpieces. More than 50 years after SOM’s Gordon Bunshaft completed his landmark modernist bank building, Manufacturers Hanover Trust at 510 Fifth Avenue, the firm was approached by the building’s new owner to renovate the first two floors and basement for retail occupancy.
Known for its luminous ceilings, expansive glass curtain wall fac?ade (one of the first in New York), and muscular bank vault on display 10 feet behind the glass exterior, 510 Fifth Avenue had lost much of its luster through the years. Numerous ownership transitions and tenant changeovers had led to insensitive modifications that detracted from the building’s most redeeming characteristic: its transparency. The insertion of partitions on the ground level and around the escalator blocked views from Fifth Avenue, and the building’s luminous ceilings had lost much of their monolithic, nighttime glow.
Vornado Realty Trust tasked SOM with restoring the building’s primary design elements while modifying the spaces for retail use. This included updating the structural capacity to satisfy city retail loading requirements, relocating and reorienting the escalators connecting the first and second floors, installing an elevator between the basement and the second floor, and removing the load-bearing vault on the first floor while preserving the ornamental vault door.
510 FIFTH AVENUE
New York, N.Y.Building TeamSubmitting firm: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (architect, structural engineer)Owner: Vornado Realty TrustInterior architect: CallisonMEP engineer: Highland AssociatesConstruction manager: Richter+RatnerGeneral contractor: Sweet ConstructionGeneral InformationSize: 30,000 sfConstruction time: 2010 to 2012Delivery method: Design-build
The program posed several structural design obstacles. Tests showed that the second-floor framing was originally designed for 50 psf of live load, shy of the 75-psf retail requirement. Making matters worse, the relocation of the escalator and dismantling of the load-bearing vault walls required the removal of critical structural members. The Building Team solved this problem by inserting structural steel framing and composite metal deck with lightweight concrete in critical areas and applying fiber reinforced polymer fabric as supplemental support for less-crucial members.
Other modifications included replacing the signature luminous ceiling to match in color temperature and brightness throughout the building, and restoring the exterior spandrels and interior marble columns to their original luster. Finally, a sculptural screen designed by Harry Bertoia that had been taken down during a tenant vacancy was carefully reinstalled.
The Reconstruction Awards judges called the 510 Fifth Avenue project a proverbial win-win. The owner gets commercially viable retail space set in one of the city’s most prominent shopping districts, and the city gets an architectural gem back as it was originally designed in 1954.
Related Stories
| Feb 20, 2014
World's longest desk? Massive, undulating desk accommodates 145 office workers [video]
The desk is built from plywood and one continuous sheet of resin, and can serve all 145 office employees at once.
| Feb 19, 2014
It's a world record! Largest uninterrupted concrete pour kicks off Wilshire Grand project
Guinness World Records verifies the concrete pour as the largest ever
| Feb 19, 2014
Why you should start with a builder, part two
When it’s time to build or expand, the first step is finding a builder that fits your needs. Once you have found a builder, checked their references, visited with their previous clients and are ready to move forward, the next step is answering an initial set of questions that will direct your project.
| Feb 19, 2014
Slight rebound for Architecture Billings Index
After consecutive months of contracting demand for design services, AIA's Architecture Billings Index inched up nearly two points to 50.4 in January, indicating favorable business conditions.
| Feb 19, 2014
Harvard's 'termite robots' can build any thing, any way [video]
The robots build by observing thier environment and then obeying a set of traffic rules programmed by researchers.
| Feb 18, 2014
Illinois leads Top 10 states for LEED in annual USGBC ranking
The U.S. Green Building Council has released its ranking of the Top 10 States for LEED, the world’s most widely used and recognized green building rating system.
| Feb 18, 2014
Study: 90% of healthcare providers say Affordable Care Act is 'step forward,' but major revisions needed
Providers are excited about opportunities to address long-term health issues in the U.S., but worries about the transition persist, according to a new study by Mortenson Construction.
| Feb 17, 2014
Developer plans to 'crowdfund' extended stay hotel in Manhattan
Want to own a piece of Manhattan hotel real estate? Developer Rodrigo Nino is inviting individual investors to put up $100,000 each for his latest project, 17 John.
| Feb 17, 2014
Call for Entries: 17th annual Building Team Awards - Deadline Extended!
BD+C's Building Team Awards is the industry's only recognition program to honor projects that achieve excellence in both design/construction and collaboration of the AEC/O team. The deadline has been extended to March 14, 2014.
| Feb 14, 2014
ASHRAE, Green Grid team up on energy-efficiency guide for data centers
Vendor-neutral publication examines aspects of the popular power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric.
