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.ÂBuilding TeamÂSubmitting firm: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (architect, structural engineer)ÂOwner: Vornado Realty TrustÂInterior architect: CallisonÂMEP engineer: Highland AssociatesÂConstruction manager: Richter+RatnerÂGeneral contractor: Sweet ConstructionÂGeneral InformationÂSize: 30,000 sfÂConstruction time: 2010 to 2012ÂDelivery 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 17, 2013
Pakistan to get world's tallest tower in $45 billion deal
Newly signed mega deal will fund construction of several massive developments in Karachi, including a mixed-use tower that will dwarf the Burj Khalifa.
| Feb 15, 2013
Could the student housing boom lead to a bubble?
Student housing has been one of the bright spots in the multifamily construction sector in recent years. But experts say there should be cause for concern for oversupply in the market.
| Feb 14, 2013
5 radical trends in outpatient facility design
Building Design+Construction combed the healthcare design and construction sector to evaluate the latest developments in outpatient facility designs. Here are five trends to watch.
Smart Buildings | Feb 14, 2013
Minneapolis joins energy benchmarking trend for commercial buildings
Minneapolis is the latest major metro to require large commercial buildings to benchmark and disclose their energy and water use.
| Feb 8, 2013
FMI/CURT 2012 Owner Study highlights construction industry challenges
Capital program owners grapple with concerns about project funding, staffing, regulations.
| Feb 5, 2013
5 forces driving hotel investment
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels & Hospitality Group believes that signs point to an on-going uptick in Americas hotel transactions activity sooner rather than later. They identify the five forces that will drive the hotel investment market during the next five years.
| Feb 1, 2013
Delinquency rate for U.S. commercial real estate loans hits 11-month low
The delinquency rate for U.S. commercial real estate loans in CMBS fell 14 basis points in January to 9.57%. This is the lowest level in 11 months, according to Trepp, LLC's latest U.S. CMBS Delinquency Report.
| Jan 31, 2013
Map of U.S. illustrates planning times for commercial construction
Stephen Oliner, a UCLA professor doing research for the Federal Reserve Board, has made the first-ever estimate of planning times for commercial construction across the United States.
| Jan 31, 2013
More severe wind storms should prompt nationwide reexamination of building codes, says insurance expert
The increased number and severity of storms with high winds nationally should prompt a reexamination of building codes in every community, says Mory Katz, vice president, Verisk Insurance Solutions Commercial Property, Jersey City, N.J.
