United Nations Plaza I & II and UNICEF Headquarters
New York, New York · 1976
A precedent for late-modernist skyscraper design utilizing faceted, crystalline geometries and uniform reflective glass curtain walls to create sculptural forms within a dense urban grid.
Materials
- reflective-glass
- aluminum
- concrete
- brick
Visual identifiers
- reflective-glass-facade
- chamfered-corners
- crystalline-towers
- manhattan-skyline
Style tags
- late-modern
- crystalline
- monolithic
Visual tags
- high-rise
- curtain-wall
- late-modernism
- urban-density
- corporate-headquarters
- Geometry
- Two high-rise towers featuring faceted, chamfered geometries and sloping setbacks that break the standard orthogonal grid, clad in a uniform, highly reflective curtain wall.
- Facade system
- Uniform grid-like aluminum and reflective glass curtain wall.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with concrete core
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale skyscraper development integrated into a high-density metropolitan skyline.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft reflections on the glass facades and highlighting the faceted angles of the towers.
- Atmosphere
- Sleek, soaring, and highly reflective, capturing the mid-century optimism of corporate and civic expansion.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban setting in Midtown Manhattan overlooking the East River and the Queensboro Bridge in the background.
- Spatial experience
- The towers rise as monolithic, crystalline volumes that mirror the changing sky, contrasting sharply with the surrounding masonry-heavy, historic mid-rise urban fabric.
- Composition rhythm
- The twin-tower composition uses asymmetrical, complementary chamfers to create a dynamic dialogue between the two vertical masses.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Crystalline Modernism
- Program
- Mixed-use office and hotel towers
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- reflective-glass, aluminum, concrete, brick
- Visual identifiers
- reflective-glass-facade, chamfered-corners, crystalline-towers, manhattan-skyline
- Style tags
- late-modern, crystalline, monolithic
- Visual tags
- high-rise, curtain-wall, late-modernism, urban-density, corporate-headquarters
- Geometry
- Two high-rise towers featuring faceted, chamfered geometries and sloping setbacks that break the standard orthogonal grid, clad in a uniform, highly reflective curtain wall.
- Facade system
- Uniform grid-like aluminum and reflective glass curtain wall.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with concrete core
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale skyscraper development integrated into a high-density metropolitan skyline.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft reflections on the glass facades and highlighting the faceted angles of the towers.
- Atmosphere
- Sleek, soaring, and highly reflective, capturing the mid-century optimism of corporate and civic expansion.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban setting in Midtown Manhattan overlooking the East River and the Queensboro Bridge in the background.
- Spatial experience
- The towers rise as monolithic, crystalline volumes that mirror the changing sky, contrasting sharply with the surrounding masonry-heavy, historic mid-rise urban fabric.
- Composition rhythm
- The twin-tower composition uses asymmetrical, complementary chamfers to create a dynamic dialogue between the two vertical masses.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Crystalline Modernism
- Program
- Mixed-use office and hotel towers
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture