A pair of skyscrapers connected by a skybridge and a rooftop infinity pool will become part of the New York City skyline. Developers unveiled a proposal last Monday for a new megaproject located south of the United Nations headquarters.
Designed by the architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the 187-meter-tall towers will house two hotels, while a high lobby at the top will include restaurants, bars, an art gallery, a glass-floored and glass-roofed observation deck and, if the license is granted, an underground casino.
Along with two new residential towers, the skyscrapers will flank the newly opened Freedom Plaza, a three-block public park with retail spaces and a new Museum of Freedom and Democracy.
The Midtown Manhattan site overlooking the East River is currently occupied by a large-scale art installation, "Field of Light," by British artist Bruce Munro, commissioned by the charitable arm of the Soloviev Group, the project's developer. However, this 27-hectare area, roughly the size of Madison Square Park, has remained unused since the 2000s.
Bjarke Ingels, the Danish founder and creative director of BIG, stated that his company's design aims to expand upon the greenery that architects Le Corbusier, Wallace Harrison, and Oscar Niemeyer created on the neighboring UN building.
"We continue to build upon these architectural principles by uniting three city blocks to form a public green space that runs from 1st Avenue to the East River overlook, creating a green connection to the water's edge," Ingels said in a press release.
The two towers will house the city's first five-star hotel, the Banyan Tree, as well as a hotel operated by casino operator Mohegan. A nearly 568,000-liter swimming pool, which BIG describes as "one of the largest rooftop pools in North America," will be built on the rooftop of the connecting skybridge.
The 50- and 60-story residential towers, meanwhile, are reminiscent of New York's modernist buildings of the 1950s and 60s thanks to their striped glass and aluminum facades. The two skyscrapers, 168 and 198 meters tall, will be connected by a podium that will house a food market and retail spaces.
The project is one of several vying for the three casino licenses recently approved by the New York State Gaming Commission. But the plans have faced local opposition, with some residents and officials expressing concerns. Hoping to persuade authorities to grant the license, the Soloviev Group stated that it would allocate 513 apartments in the complex—nearly 40% of the 1,325 total—to affordable housing should the license be granted.
The "highway" connecting the two hotel towers will feature a nearly 568,000-liter infinity pool on the rooftop. (Credit: BIG).
"The revenue generated by the leisure and hospitality component of the project will allow Freedom Plaza to launch the affordable housing program and a large publicly accessible green space, with many more details yet to be announced," Ray Pineault, CEO and president of Mohegan, said in a statement last year.
Americans are currently experiencing the toughest housing market in a generation, and New York City has been one of the hardest hit places, with rental vacancy rates falling to 1.4%, the lowest level in several decades, according to the 2023 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey.
Soloviev Group also promised that an unspecified percentage of the game's profits, starting with a minimum donation of US$5 million, will go to an independently managed, non-profit community fund.
Elsewhere on the site, BIG designed a new Museum of Freedom and Democracy that “celebrates the origin and evolution of one of humanity’s most impactful inventions and our ongoing struggle to build, maintain and protect the institutions that sustain it,” Ingels said.
The Möbius strip-shaped building, overlooking the river, twists and turns, creating outdoor pathways. BIG described the design as an homage to the amphitheaters built by the ancient Greeks, the creators of modern democracy.
Without being affiliated with Long Island University's Museum of Democracy, the new institution will house pieces from the Berlin Wall and works from the Soloviev Group's art collection.
"Our plan is to develop this site in a way that benefits the neighborhood and the city as a whole, in keeping with its urban profile and waterfront location, and with New York City's key role as a leader in the global cultural economy," said Michael Hershman, CEO of the Soloviev Group, in a press release.
No start and completion dates have been announced yet, as the developers are awaiting a decision on the project's casino license, but it is likely to be completed within five to seven years once construction begins.
If the license is not granted, the project will proceed, likely based on a previous design approved in 2008, the developer said.
Source: CNN.
