Save for the street-level construction scaffolding still up, from the outside 7 Bryant Park looks basically complete, showing its inventive Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects design for all of the Bryant Park area to see. The glassy tower features a scalloped corner that tapers in up to a setback around the 10th floor, and then tapers out again to the top, in what architect Henry Cobb calls a "gesture" to Bryant Park, which the corner faces. Developer Hines started construction on the tower in 2012 without any tenants in place, and their gamble paid off when the Bank of China purchased it last year for $600 million.
A piece on the building today in the Journal highlights the theory behind its design—with the scalloped corner and seating area in front with two large video panels that will display landscape scenes, it's gunning for recognizable status in Midtown's crowded office tower scene. "That [outdoor] space, which is 1,500 square feet of space, normally would be rented as a very valuable corner shop," said Cobb. "On the other hand, what you are gaining [is] an identity that makes the building more attractive to the prospective tenant."
· At 7 Bryant Park, a Novel Design Pays Off [WSJ]
· 7 Bryant Park coverage [Curbed]
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