Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Name that Building


Answer: At the Time Warner Center (Columbus Circle, between 58th and 60th on Broadway). Construction began in November 2000, following the demolition of the Coliseum. The building was completed in 2003.


Answer: At the Citigroup Center (53d St. between Lexington and Third Aves). The Building stands out because of the diagonal roof, slanted as if for a solar collector. The idea was eventually dropped because the positioning of the angled roof meant that the solar panels would not face the sun directly.


Answer: The Hearst Tower (between 56th and 57th Sts. on 8th Ave.). This is the first green building completed in New York City -- the floor of the atruim is paved with heat conductive limestone; polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter; rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby; and the building was constructed using 80% recycled steel.



Answer: Book Building or Solow Building (9 W. 57th St. -- also named for a former tenant, the shoe company Nine West). This building, with its sloping facade, is admired by some for its beauty and criticized by others because the sloping facade exposes scars in the sides of neighboring buildings. To counter the critics, the builders put in the large second story gutter and added the red sculpture to draw attention away from the exposed scars. According to recent newspaper articles, the building is nearly half empty because Bank of America moved to its new building and Solow is asking for boom era prices.



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