Manhattan’s 432 Park Ave is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. Interestingly, the inspiration for the facade came from an unexpected source: a trash can.
Designing Manhattan’s 432 Park Ave
Rafael Viñoly was the architect behind 432 Park Avenue’s design. And he found inspiration in the work of Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann. Hoffmann was a prominent figure in the early 20th century, known for his role in founding the Wiener Werkstätte, a community of artists, designers, and craftsmen dedicated to creating high-quality, handcrafted objects. Among Hoffmann’s numerous designs was a 1905 wastepaper basket. It featured a simple, elegant cubic design featuring a square cutout pattern.
Viñoly saw beauty in the minimalism and geometric pattern of Hoffmann’s trash can and decided to incorporate these design elements into the exterior of 432 Park Avenue. The result is a grid of large windows.
From trash to treasure
The building, completed in 2015, is 1,396 feet (425.5 meters) tall. That makes it one of the tallest residential buildings in the world.
432 Park Ave has 96 floors and a total of 104 condominiums. Each floor features just one or two luxury residences.
The building’s slender design is an iconic part of Manhattan’s skyline, but its construction presented unique engineering challenges. To ensure the building’s stability and withstand strong winds, engineers needed unique structural supports to withstand winds.
Furthermore, to counteract the swaying that tall buildings can experience, engineers installed two tuned mass dampers on the 88th floor. These massive steel and concrete structures weigh approximately 1,200 tons and stabilize the building by counteracting movements caused by wind.
For all the luxury inside, you’d never know it all started with a trash can.
The influence of Josef Hoffmann’s wastepaper basket on 432 Park Avenue highlights the beauty of finding inspiration in everyday objects. The ability to transform a humble item into the basis for an architectural marvel speaks volumes about Rafael Viñoly’s ingenuity and creative vision.
Source: “NYC’s $1.3B Supertall Skyscraper Was Inspired by a Trash Can” — Wired