'the spiral' by bjarke ingels group tops out in new york

in 2016, bjarke ingels group unveiled plans for ‘the spiral’, a new york office tower designed with a series of cascading landscaped terraces. now, as of january 2021, the 66-story building has topped out at a height of more than 1,000 feet — 1,041 feet, or 317 meters, to be exact. located within hudson yards, each story of the tower offers sweeping vistas across manhattan, with views of midtown, the financial district, and the hudson river.

image by binyan studios (also main image)

bjarke ingels group designed the tower for development firm tishman speyer, who simultaneously announced that the half of the building has already been let ahead of its completion in 2022. one of the building’s primary tenants is pharmaceutical company pfizer, who are set to relocate their global headquarters to the spiral. ‘we were proud when we first signed the lease with them. now we’re over the moon,’ rob speyer, tishman speyer president and CEO told the new york post in light of the company developing a vaccine to protect against COVID-19.

image by binyan studios

the tower’s form references the classic manhattan ‘step-back’ as it tapers vertically with green spaces circling upwards from its base. terraces provide each floor with outdoor space and multi-floor atria, with center-core open floor plans allowing for flexible configurations. meanwhile, soaring ceiling heights and virtually column-free floor plates afford unobstructed city and river views. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image by squint opera

project info:

name: the spiral
location: new york, NY
architect: bjarke ingels group – BIG
developer: tishman speyer
status: topped out
previous coverage: february 2016