Not confirmation, but shown in the SOM gallery at their 7 WTC Offices, the design has been updated to be the odd one out that was posted several months/last year in an article that has the zigzag shifted pattern, it is now more simplified and has less vertical lines going up the building. Besides One WTC, the 2nd image also shows some other older iterations.
I personally like this updated version better, makes for more composition than the just straight top to bottom lines.
It looks more like 425 Park now, but I like it.
Does it not look shorter? In what ways has the design changed?
If the model is the latest version, I don’t see how it has changed from the bronze-looking rendering below.
Is there images of the entire architectural model too?
Is this the new design?
Besides the small scale version with the other iterations, I couldn’t find any IG stories that showed the entire large scale detailed model.
Yes, I attached it to show its the same design as the model. It is the only publicly released render of the new version that exists.
Thanks. It looks largely the same.
Anyway, it’s ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
I’m sure it will be great at night as well, curious as to how the crown lighting looks. 1VB might actually be upstaged
4 tiers instead of 5,
Zigzag bracing intermediately instead of vertical,
Fewer vertical lines,
Simplified intersecting geometry at base and crown.
I’ll make a simple elevation diagram comparing the 2.
But this is the current design? If so, it looks spectacular.
It’s not official, as no source has even mentioned anything about the design being altered, but it was the last render that YIMBY used in an article last year, and RXR has been using it in their interviews and press releases. And as I mentioned in my original post, it is the version that SOM has on display in their hall of models at their NY office.
Thanks! I love it. I hope that the heinous Hyatt faces the wrecking ball in 2023.
Still love it. So far all the new Midtown East supertalls have been hits. 270, 1 Vandy and this are wonderful. Plus the Chryslers right there as well. 343 Madison may be the first okayish design, though that’s not looking like a supertall either which is just bleh
Thanks TKDV! Can someone “in the know” confirm/reconcile for me the official height with the illustrated height? They appear to be different, and consistently so, as info and pics are posted, both from official and YIMBY sources. The approved regulatory height is not in question. What is in question is the actual height.
The illustration TKDV just posted is identical to another posted back a year ago in Dec 21 by NewYorkCity76, so nothing has materially changed as far as we can know, ie: setbacks, vertical articulations, simplified crown and base etc… And as with every released rendering, it does not depict the tower at the approved height. It is clearly shown at 1,500 ft. For comparison purposes, the Vanderbilt Tower’s top setback (the base on which the spire stands) is 100ft tall, and the spire is 100ft tall bringing the building to its 1,401ft pinnacle. Using the spire as a measuring rod, 175 Park is rendered at approximately 1,500ft. This has always been the illustrated height, even when the tower was originally proposed to be 1,646ft.
For 175 Park to accurately reflect a final height of somewhere in the vicinity of 1,550ft, the top would need to be at least 1.5 times taller than the spire of nearby Vanderbilt. The original height of 1,646 would have required a top at least 2.5 times the height of the Vanderbilt spire. While these differences are arguably very modest when applied to a spectacular and lofty building such as this one, they do subtly alter the outcome. Another 50ft added to this illustration would be “visible” and impactful. The approved 1,575ft would be even more so.
Also, the color seems to be unclear. The dusk illustrations obviously show a soft and soothing bronze color, however all the models I’ve seen and some of the illustrations point to a silver metallic tower instead. Again, not an issue, as during sunset hours…it will reflect as bronze. TKDV, a question for you, were you taking the photos of the model covertly? Is that way none provide a full view? Thanks in advance to anyone that can provide more clarity.
In proportional calculation, the render comes out to be approximately 1550’ compared to One Vanderbilt (Based on the 1288’ TOR figure to the 1401’ TOS figure, the spire is 113’ tall) and it is shown as being about 1.5 times taller. I will say that renders don’t always show height accurately and because NYC is not perfectly flat, finial measurements from the skyline (render or real imagery) can not be taken, as 175 Park Avenue is at a lower elevation than One Vanderbilt.
The render I posted, as I said, is the only publicly released render of the updated version, but nobody said it was an updated version back then, it was just unexpectedly posted in a YIMBY and Bloomberg December 2021 article and subsequently, not many paid attention or noticed the subtle differences as compared to the design that was constantly shown in committee presentations or general renders. So I’m not saying that it has “changed” from the same render that I posted, I’m more calling out now that it has changed from the “original” design so that people are in fact aware of the change/difference, not from the gold sunset render, which I attached on my original post to show in conjunction with the firm model, not that it was different from the model as some seem to be confusingly coming to the conclusion of.
In general, yes, the “older” (possibly) renders never showed the original 1646’ figure, and were more or less always shown in the area of 1540-1560’, the design may always have been this tall, that is why the Amendment of the FEIS said that the design would not changed, because the 1646’ and 1575’ current figures are the maximum buildable height, not the actual height of the building itself.
You’re correct that the vertical cladding is still silver in nature, and that the render is just a product of the sun’s reflection as similarly displayed in a likeness in an older render (just facing FiDi instead of Central Park as this one depicts). Unfortunately, I did not take the images, they were only screenshots from IG stories.
Thanks TKDV! I did not take into account the street level, sidewalk elevation difference between the two sites. I had assumed they were approximately the same given they flank either side of Grand Central. I’ve never really paid attention to whether I was walking up, or down a grade when doing so there. Of course many such times I was exiting The Campbell, a wonderful establishment that does tend to blunt my situational awareness…a little 
Your point may be the observation that resolves my question. This and the fact that at whatever height was on the table at the time, the renders released always depicted something apparently shorter.
