A new building designed by César Pelli (Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects), located in downtown Manhattan shows amazing new use of glass.
Not uncommonly, the two main entrances feature all-glass façades, but the stand-out feature of the design is that the supporting construction is also made of glass. The glass panes are up to 17 meters high and 27 meters wide, and are mounted on sustainable glass fins produced by sedak in Gersthofen. The laminates are more than 7m long and consist of three 12mm glass. The fins are capable of bearing the whole weight of the façade.
Special expertise and production techniques were required, and the large glass fins, were created in sedan’s German plant (which specialises in oversize formats), and then sent halfway around the world, from Gersthofen to New York City.
The laminates with three layers each 12mm have a length up to 7m. The construction itself only needs a few connection elements. Thus, the entire surface seems to be composed completely of glass. The usual steel structure does not exist.
The façade towards the Hudson River has dimensions of 12m x 27m, the ones of the façade along Vesey Street are 17m x 21m.
The glass fins were fitted with metal shoes at sedak’s production facility, allowing for easy assembly of the total façade elements on site in just three months.
This construction really opens up new ways of designing buildings.
During 9/11, the complex was badly damaged, particularly the lower levels of the towers 2 and 3, as well as the glazed pavilion. For the reconstruction, in the consisting building between the Marina on the Hudson River and Vesey Street the shopping mall “Brookfield Place” (previously World Financial Center – WFC) has been constructed. It is home to high-end fashion shops and exquisite restaurants. Additionally, the mall offers space for a variety of cultural events, for example, on the roof, film festivals, and regular concerts.