Today, we can to share with you 3 new must-visit building in NYC with amazing architectural features! The city has so many amazing buildings, so be sure to look up, as you walk!
There are over 6,400 high rise buildings in NYC.
While some of the most famed include that of the Central Park Tower, the Empire State Building, and the 111 West 57th Street building, NYC’s architectural marvels extend well beyond the city’s skyscrapers.
From the fascinating structure of The Shed to exploring the history behind Grand Central Terminal — and even diving into the incorporation of greenery into other structures, here are just three must-visit architectural wonders located in the Big Apple.
Beyond Central Park
Central Park might feel like the only green space in the entirety of New York City, though the garden inside of the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice makes for a peaceful surprise where you might not expect it.
Located at 320 East 43rd Street, the building itself consists of a glass and steel cube-like structure.
While certainly not as big as Central Park, the impressive garden within the Ford Foundation Center consists of 10,000 square feet, and is located at the base of an atrium. Architectural Digest notes that the garden was ‘conceived and executed’ by a midcentury landscape architect by the name of Dan Kiley.
Today, recent improvements made include wheelchair accessibility, as well as features for the vision-impaired, which aids in making the garden more accessible to the public.
For tourists who visit the Ford Foundational garden (or Central Park) and wish to bring the city’s greenery aesthetic into your own home, doing so can easily be done through the incorporation of indoor trees.
With benefits that involve lowering stress levels, air purification, and simply bringing an earthy ambiance to any home office, living room, or bedroom, an indoor tree can be a fantastic way to incorporate a hint of greenery reminiscent of the city into any home.
When looking to successfully style indoor trees, doing so can be done by seeking visual harmony in terms of color palette and considering a taller tree to fill empty spaces that draw visual attention.
The Shed
When it comes to the arts, The Shed presents a majorly unique architectural marvel for those visiting or living in NYC.
Located in Hudson Yards, the structure opened in Spring of 2019 and serves as a culture center that presents a vast variety regarding the arts.
A 200,000 sq ft building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, Architect Magazine notes that there are two primary components that make up The Shed.
“An eight-level “fixed” base building for cultural programming and support spaces, and a telescoping outer shell that deployed over an adjoining plaza to double the building’s footprint on demand.”
Architect Magazine goes on to further note that the base building involves two levels of gallery space, a theater, rehearsal space, a creative lab for artists, and even an event space, highlighting the sheer capacity of the structure which literally looks like a shed.
The rich history behind Grand Central Terminal
While it’s now known as one of the most famous tourist attractions with 750,000 visitors every day, Grand Central first opened to the public on February 2nd of 1913.
To highlight its architectural detail, Grand Central Terminal notes “One of the splendors of Grand Central is that its vast, majestic spaces reveal extraordinary attention to the smallest design detail”. https://www.grandcentralterminal.com
And further going on to point out that “The architects brought in Parisian artist Sylvain Salieres to craft bronze and stone carvings, including ornamental inscriptions, decorative flourishes, and sculpted oak leaves and acorns (symbols of the Vanderbilt family).”
The sheer detail and attention to the architectural design can be found in various other ways throughout the terminal as well — such as the marble floors, imitation Caen stone walls, and even the famous Oyster Bar’s vaulted ceilings, which feature Gustavino tiles.
New York City is full of towering skyscrapers and other buildings, giving reason to its nickname of ‘concrete jungle.’
However, when looking for those that are particularly innovative in architectural design, the city has no shortage — whether it be clever incorporations of greenery, a functional design that caters to a variety of uses, or the rich history behind the city’s staple locations.
