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
| Aug 29, 2022
Montana becomes first U.S. state to approve 3D printing in construction
Montana is the first U.S. state to give broad regulatory approval for 3D printing in building construction.
| Aug 26, 2022
Idaho Building Code Board considers gutting large part of state energy code
Idaho Building Code Board considers gutting large part of state energy code.
Giants 400 | Aug 25, 2022
Top 100 Apartment and Condominium Contractors for 2022
Clark Group, Suffolk Construction, AECOM, and Lendlease top the ranking of the nation's largest apartment and condominium contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
University Buildings | Aug 25, 2022
Higher education, striving for ‘normal’ again, puts student needs at the center of project planning
Sustainability and design flexibility are what higher education clients are seeking consistently, according to the dozen AEC Giants contacted for this article. “University campuses across North America are commissioning new construction projects designed to make existing buildings and energy systems more sustainable, and are building new flexible learning space that bridge the gap between remote and in-person learning,” say Patrick McCafferty, Arup’s Education Business Leader–Americas East region, and Matt Humphries, Education Business Leader in Canada region.
| Aug 25, 2022
New York City’s congestion pricing aims to reduce traffic, cut carbon
Officials recently released an environmental assessment that analyzes seven different possible pricing schemes for New York City’s congestion pricing program.
| Aug 24, 2022
California’s investment in ‘community schools’ could transform K-12 education
California has allocated $4.1-billion to develop ‘community schools’ that have the potential to transform K-12 education.
| Aug 24, 2022
Architecture Billings Index slows but remains healthy
For the eighteenth consecutive month architecture firms reported increasing demand for design services in July, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 70 Science + Technology Facility Contractors + CM Firms 2022
Whiting-Turner, Hensel Phelps, DPR Construction, and Skanska USA top the rankings of the nation's largest science and technology (S+T) facility contractors and construction management (CM) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 45 Laboratory Facility Contractors and Construction Management Firms for 2022
Whiting-Turner, Hensel Phelps, McCarthy, and STO Building Group top the ranking of the nation's largest science and technology (S+T) laboratory facility contractors and construction management (CM) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 University Contractors and Construction Management Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, Whiting-Turner Contracting, PCL Construction Enterprises, and DPR Construction lead the ranking of the nation's largest university sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.