STRUCTURES + BUILDINGS
Proposed 1,300-foot-tall high-rise would be built on a 98-foot by 98-foot lot. New York ‘Super Slender’
Designed by architectural firm RB Systems (www.rb-systems.us), founded in 2016 by Rustem Baishev, 265 West 45th Street proposes a tower typology that has recently emerged in New York City — the “Super Slender.” To be located on a small, currently vacant site on West 45th St., the building’s footprint would measure approximately 98 feet by 98 feet, with the tower rising to more than 1,300 feet tall, and provide modern, ergonomic, sustainable office spaces for multi-floor corporate tenants. The project is another take on a path that skyscraper design will likely be following in the coming years to meet challenges of constrained and dense city centers with their shortage of large vacant lots, yet ever-growing demand for new properties. The tower’s structural system solely determines its appearance. Because of the con- strained site, the choice was made to eliminate perimeter columns and substitute them with a set of steel cables that run and twist along the height of the tower, allowing for an ultralight, yet sturdy structural assembly. The cables are anchored in a deep founda- tion, MEP zones, and tied back to the core at the upper structural ring. According to the architect, the spiral arrangement of the cables — the “twist” — creates a force of surface tension, resulting in a “corset” holding the insides contained, similar to a candy that is held inside a wrapper because its ends are twisted. Architecturally, it becomes an expression of the building’s structure — a sleek, minimal, and futuristic volume of reflective glass, a cylindrical tube that is also one of the most
The proposed 265West 45th Street building — 1,300 feet tall with a 98-foot square footprint — is an example of a “Super Slender”design to meet challenges of constrained and dense city centers with a shortage of large vacant lots. Image: RB Systems
Steel cables, anchored in a deep foundation, run and twist along the height of the tower and are tied back to the core at an upper structural ring. Image: RB Systems
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csengineermag.com
may 2018
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