As the design architect and landscape architect for the developer Olayan Group, Snøhetta has repositioned the landmarked 1980s tower originally designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee for a new age while transforming an existing but underutilized Privately-Owned Public Space (POPS) into a lavishly planted, year-round garden. This expansive role includes the conceptual re-thinking of the tower’s structural core for multi-tenant occupancy and the redesign of the tower’s ground level public areas to be more transparent, accessible, and verdant. Additionally, Snøhetta reconfigured the tower’s working floors to create more usable office space while also overhauling environmental systems across the property in pursuit of LEED Platinum and WELL Gold certifications.
Conceived as a union between the canyon-like qualities of Midtown Manhattan and the Hudson River palisades of Upstate New York and New Jersey, the Garden’s design invites visitors to see the landscape as an expression of the physical energy, vibrant color, and the social energy of Midtown.
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