Building The World's Thinnest Skyscraper

synonymous with the skyscraper for more than a century New York City skyline is home to some of the tallest buildings on earth continuously evolving the 21st century has seen engineers maximize value from the small sites left on this desirable Island by creating some staggeringly slender towers but now with a building rising 435 meters from a site that is just 18 meters wide the city has become home to the thinnest skyscraper ever constructed located to the south of Central Park 57th streets proximity to Carnegie Hall and The Plaza Hotel has always given it an air of prestige but with limited land available and without direct views of the park itself property developments in the area were always encumbered that all changed in 2014 with the completion of the super tall 157 a slender residential tower that was able to rise 75 stories from a small site to offer views of the park and healthy returns for its investors the team behind the project had spent 15 years acquiring air rights from neighboring properties and stacking them onto their site enabling their tower to rise while preventing surrounding sites from blocking the view proving that enough floor area could be creating our small size to make such a project financially viable and that Park views weren't reserved for streets bordering the park itself 157 ignited a super slender development boom in Midtown and with prices soaring the area around 57th Street quickly became dubbed billionaires row though plans for a modest skyscraper at 107 57th streets had been around since 2005 it wasn't until the site was amalgamated with several others including the historic Steinway Hall that the 111 West 57th Street or 111 W 57 projects was born first constructed in 1924 and now a protected New York landmark the Steinway Hall had to be preserved and restored as part of any new development while other towers nearby went for contemporary designs SH ap architects conceived a tower that would extend the halls classic 1920's style onto the skyline faced with such a small site footprint engineers conceived the thinnest skyscraper ever constructed a 435 meter 85 storey tower with a width to height ratio of 1 to 24 stepping back as it rises 1:11 w57 would nod to the iconic setback designs of New York City's most famous towers while creating terraces for residents and an elegant profile that dissolved into the sky with works to restore the Steinway Hall already underway July 2015 saw construction of the main tower commenced and a 67 metre freestanding crane the tallest ever erected in New York City was installed on the site the skyscraper is formed from concrete with two sheer walls on the east and west elevations rising around a central core topping out in April 2019 the concrete superstructure is capped with a steel frame crown that creates the towers step back and at the very top houses its window cleaning systems 111 w 57 s extreme profile means that it's subject to forces which would largely go unnoticed in a conventional skyscraper as such a series of Outrigger floors are positioned throughout the tower while a 730 ton tuned mass damper at its summit provides stability by counteracting lateral forces such as strong winds and seismic events the town was structure creates floor-to-ceiling windows that offer views of Central Park to the north and Midtown to the south while the eastern and western elevations are paired with ornate terracotta and bronze tiles in sight the structures extreme dimensions mean that only two elevator shafts are able to serve the residences to maximize space the elevators opened directly into each apartment and are configured as double storey cars with service elevators sharing the same shaft while 111 w57 was initially set to take three years to complete an array of legal and union disputes coupled with several instance on the building site saw the construction schedule double in length and completion is now expected in 2021 standing out on Manhattan's iconic skyline the world's thinnest skyscraper caters solely for the super-rich offering just 58 apartments alongside a range of amenities from pools to barbershops they'll even be a lounge area with a Steinway grand piano further nodding to the site's heritage prices start at fourteen million u.s. dollars for an entry-level apartment and the two-story penthouse became one of the most expensive New York residential sales of 2019 when it's sold to an undisclosed buyer with an asking price of 58 million u.s. dollars the extremes of luxury found at 111 W 57 and indeed the other towers on billionaires row are in increasingly stark contrast to the way that the majority of New Yorkers are able to live in the city and developments of this nature are facing criticism for driving up inequality at a time in our history when so many are advocating for the opposite despite its controversies this impressive tower has pioneered new frontiers of engineering to emerge as the world's thinnest skyscraper all while embracing a classic style that sees it hold its own in a now crowded field of towers around billionaires row with no further developments planned and with the US facing an economic downturn in 2021 eleven w57 and the nearby Central Park Tower could well be the last of New York's super slender skyscrapers [Music] if you enjoyed this video and would like to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the b1m

Channel: The B1M

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Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, skyscraper, supertall, 111w57, billionaires row, new york city, nyc, central park, central park tower, 432 park avenue, 53w53, manhattan, super-slender, worlds thinnest, billionaire's row, USA, megatall, extreme engineering, 111 west 57th street, steinway tower, nordstrom tower, midtown manhattan, new york planning authority, michael stern, ryan serhant, one57, one world trade center, 111W57

Id: 2STPr1Taaw8

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 01 2020