THE SPIRAL

Terminating the Northern end of the High Line in a vertical landscape, The Spiral is a 2.6M square foot, 65-story multitenant office building and world headquarters for Pfizer, currently under construction for Tishman Speyer Properties.

East and West setbacks mirror the narrowing of the building’s core, as direct-ascent elevator banks on lower floors recede alternately as the building rises; these natural setbacks are blended as terraces along all four facades, resulting in a building with unique floor plates that retains ideal lease spans and maximum efficiency. The spiraling terraces contextualize this tower among the setback towers that emerged in the early twentieth century in New York which resulted from legislation enacted to preserve street-level light and air; here, the landscaped terraces ambitiously plant the backdrop of a new landform in the skyline, while providing high-value rentable space to the private tenants of each floor. High-quality materials, including copper-nickel screens and intensive stone streetscaping, elevate the public interface of the building with its context, referencing the patinated palette of the adjacent rail infrastructure while refuting the banal marble-and-stainless veneers of twentieth century ‘Class-A’ office towers. 

With BIG / Bjarke Ingels Group

New York, NY USA

Client: Tishman Speyer Properties

Merit Award, ASLA New York