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
| Jun 13, 2012
Is it time to stop building convention centers?
Over the last 20 years, convention space in the United States has increased by 50%; since 2005, 44 new convention spaces have been planned or constructed in this country alone.
| Jun 13, 2012
Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute to hold energy asset conference for property owners, senior real estate managers
Top-level real estate professionals have been ignored as the industry has pushed to get sustainability measures in place.
| Jun 12, 2012
SAC Federal Credit Union selects LEO A DALY to design corporate headquarters
LEO A DALY also provided site selection, programming and master planning services for the project over the past year.
| Jun 12, 2012
Restoration Millwork exterior trim achieves GreenCircle certification
Made from cellular polyvinyl chloride, the full line of Restoration Millwork trim, beadboard and accessories is engineered to look, feel and work like top-grade lumber.
| Jun 12, 2012
Piché joins C.W. Driver as director of business development
Piché will expand upon project opportunities for firm’s Southern California operations.
| Jun 12, 2012
BCA Architects transforms Anaheim schools into dynamic learning environments
BCA Architects was selected to update the district's long-range master plan.
| Jun 11, 2012
Survey reveals emerging trends in parking
Industry-transforming innovations are changing the way we park.
| Jun 11, 2012
Buro Hapold hires new principal Neil Porto
Porto brings a broad depth of expertise in civil and structural engineering to new and existing projects.
| Jun 11, 2012
Historic church gains energy efficiency, retains aesthetics with architecturally rated windows
New windows would need to not only stand the test of time, but also accommodate the aesthetics of an architecturally historic church.
| Jun 11, 2012
Genivar and WSP Group join forces
Genivar concurrently announces a $225 million public bought deal of subscription receipts, a $197 million private placement of subscription receipts and new credit facilities.