Thursday, 25 August 2005 | Elif Sungur
AOL Time Warner Center by SOM
The design of AOL Time Warner Center in New York is motivated by programmatic requirements as well as the unique context of its surroundings. The design alludes to twin residential towers lining Central Park West - the Century, the Majestic, the San Remo, and the El Dorado. AOL Time Warner Center consists of several distinct forms that moderate the scale of the project and allow light and air to filter through the building, reaching the streets and park below. The building rises from a stone and glass base containing the retail and studio components. Two glass trapezoidal towers set atop the podium rise to a height of 750 feet and culminate in luminous glass and steel crowns. The towers house the headquarters for AOL Time Warner in the lower floors, a Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and One Central Park luxury condominiums, located from the fifty-second to the eightieth floors.
The design is defined by the overlap of three of Manhattan's most significant urban constituents - the city grid, Broadway, and Central Park. The Manhattan grid, or more specifically 59th Street, is reflected in the project on two levels. First, it is recreated within a 150-foot transparent glass cable net wall.with a retail street at the base of the project and Jazz @ Lincoln Center performance lobby situated above. Second, the line of 59th street is rearticulated as a "window" between the towers, extending the view corridor west of Central Park South.
While the reinscription of the city grid is the primary organization and massing strategy, its transformation and articulation is suggested by the diagonal passing of Broadway and resonating geometries of the circle. The sweeping base continues the pedestrian scale of Broadway and curves along Columbus Circle juxtaposed to the grid. As the glass wall transforms to facets of glass at office floors levels, the outward spread of the circle contrasts the angular faces of the towers aligned with Broadway below. The presence of Central Park further defines the design as the towers' angles reinforce the diagonal relationship between site and park and present a new face to the park.
For more information, please visit http://www.soms.com
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