foster + partners plans 50 hudson yards for new york

UPDATE: on february 12, 2021, it was announced that ‘50 hudson yards’ had officially topped out at its full height of 1,011 feet (308 meters). the building, which is already 75% leased, is expected to open on schedule in 2022. see some construction photos and read our original article from december 2016 below.

foster + partners is set to begin work on ‘50 hudson yards’, a 58-story skyscraper that will become new york’s fourth largest commercial office tower. the 2.9 million gross square foot building is expected to open in 2022. the scheme is part of a large-scale redevelopment project taking place along manhattan’s hudson river, which includes significant projects by KPF, diller scofidio + renfro, and thomas heatherwick.

all images courtesy of related-oxford

foster + partners’ design was unveiled by developers related companies and oxford properties group, with construction set to get underway in 2017 and taking around five years to complete. it was also announced that investment management firm blackrock will lease 970,000 square feet of the building for its global headquarters, while facebook will occupy 1.2m square feet. situated at the northwest corner of 33rd street and 10th avenue, with access points on all four sides and the subway concourse below, 50 hudson yards offers convenient entry points for employees. blackrock staff will have their own dedicated elevator entrance off of 10th avenue.

the 58-story skyscraper will become new york’s fourth largest commercial office tower

soaring to a total height of 1,011 feet (308 meters), 50 hudson yards spans an entire city block and will contain private sky lobbies, outdoor terraces, and executive valet parking and drop off in a private porte-cochère. the scheme stacks three distinct blocks of commercial space one atop the other. outlined with white stone cladding, each block is separated by the dark banding of the floors behind fully glazed façades.

the tower topped out in february 2021 | image by joe woolhead for related companies

’50 hudson yards is a key part of a larger vision that integrates places to live and work within a dense, walkable urban neighborhood,’ explains norman foster. ‘covering a full city block, the building is highly permeable at ground level, allowing it to engage fully with its urban location. designed for a sustainable future, the building makes an important contribution to the regeneration of the far west side of manhattan.’

the tower topped out in february 2021 | image by joe woolhead for related companies

internally, 50 hudson yards will offer large, column-free floorplates spanning at least 50,000 square feet throughout the building. ’50 hudson yards is envisaged as a vertical campus in the heart of manhattan that is eminently readable at city scale with three distinct blocks stacked one above the other,’ adds nigel dancey, head of studio for foster + partners. ‘crafted from a simple palette of white stone and glass, the building’s primary structure has been pushed to the edges to create large-span flexible floorplates.’

an aerial view of new york’s hudson yards development taken in december 2016