NEW YORK | 56 Leonard St | 821 FT | 57 FLOORS

Damn :confused:

It’s the guy that just sold all those BB&Beyond shares.

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I thought you were joking because the company is going through some stuff right now, apparently not

Here is the posts article, if you wanna read that trash

Looks like he was about to get caught for something, SEC was investigating him.

He sold 55k shares right before BBBY announced they were closing 150 stores.

You don’t kill yourself over some shit like this unless you’re guilty and think you’re about to get caught

Yeah it looks like he knew he would be facing hard time.

He may or he may not have been in trouble. But really, it’s not very appropriate chatter here. Let’s give his family a chance to mourn and not trash him in a setting like this.

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Well away from that convo on the death and more onto the building, were those concrete strips ever planned to be covered? Because they look bad and like they were just left unfinished.

I think they’d look good with some terracotta

Gustavo Arnal, 52, the chief financial officer of the beleaguered home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, died on Friday. He was brought on to help stabilize the company in 2020, as it needed to ramp up its offerings to meet shopper demand in a retail sector disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Arnal died in what looked to be a suicide, according to the New York Police Department. He was found near his residence, 56 Leonard Street, a skyscraper known as the Jenga building because of its stacked architectural design, and “appeared to suffer from injuries indicative from a fall from an elevated position,” the police said in a statement. Emergency medical officers pronounced him dead on the scene, and the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office is working to determine exactly how he died, the statement said.

Mr. Arnal joined Bed Bath & Beyond as its chief financial officer in May 2020 as part of an executive shake-up led by the then chief executive, Mark Tritton, who left in June. Mr. Arnal was previously chief financial officer at Avon and held senior positions at Walgreens Boots Alliance and at Procter & Gamble, where he spent more than 20 years of his career.

Mr. Arnal spoke to Bed Bath & Beyond investors on Wednesday, giving them updates about the company’s finances and delivering tough news about the impact of its latest turnaround efforts. The retailer said it had started the process of closing 150 stores and would lay off 20 percent of its workers in its corporate office and across its supply chain operations. The store closures will also impact retail associate jobs, the company said.

Though he had been at Bed Bath & Beyond for only two years, Mr. Arnal provided a semblance of continuity in the retailer’s ranks, as many top executives had left, including the chief executive, chief operating officer and chief stores officer.

The retailer has been under immense pressure over the past several years, as it has worked to quickly build up its supply chain and operations, while also dealing with the business pressures of the pandemic and two sets of activist investors. It announced last week that it had secured a loan from the investment firm Sixth Street to shore up its liquidity.

The company has also been at the center of a volatile few weeks of trading, partly because of a legion of dedicated individual investors. Shares of the retailer skyrocketed Aug. 16, energized by disclosures by the activist investor Ryan Cohen; [they plummeted shortly after when he disclosed he had sold out of the company completely.

Mr. Arnal sold roughly 55,000 shares in Bed Bath & Beyond on Aug. 16 and 17, as part of a trading plan he had signed in April. In August, Bed Bath & Beyond disclosed in a regulatory filing that Mr. Arnal and the retailer were [being sued by certain shareholders. The retailer said it was in the “early stages of evaluating the complaint” but, based on its current understanding, “believes the claims are without merit.”

Bed Bath & Beyond released a on Sunday about Mr. Arnal’s death, saying it was “profoundly saddened by this shocking loss.”

NY Times -

Not that I’m aware of, Herzog and de Meuron left them bare to express the concrete and even went to the length of making the edges concave to add architectural expression. They looked better when the building was opened but have since gotten dirty (of course).

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I just don’t think talk about a specific suicide victim is for a set of forums dedicated to buildings, architecture, and planning. IMHO talking about architecture like The Staircase designed without apparent thought given to the likelihood of its attracting suicidal characters is one thing. Talking about one of its victims is another.

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It’s news.

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Pretty high up in the WSJ today. Tragic story if you ask me. Sounds like he couldn’t take the pressure that was being put on him, hard to imagine work responsibilities becoming so huge. Makes me glad I’m not an executive— what’s the point of having a place at 56 Leonard, if your lifestyle is so bad you are suicidal?

I know it’s a bit tangential but the thread so far didn’t get axed.
RIP

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Quote I know it’s a bit tangential but the thread so far didn’t get axed.
RIP

The YIMBY forum is not needlessly moderated; there are always tangential commentary that eventually gets back on track. The moderators here are just that ‘moderate’ - fortunately they do not wield the ‘ax’ of censorship needlessly.

In regard to those exposed concrete floor plates: they were an unfortunate design decision. The convex curve on a rough textured surface was sure to be a ‘soot magnet’ . The other issue is they are a pointless design feature as the subtle curved edge is barely noticeable beyond the first few floors above ground. The biggest problem is the cost of executing concrete formwork with convex curves was astronomical: sometimes Value Engineering measures must be taken for practical reasons as we see here on those exposed floor plates.

This building looks great, and the convex floor plate edges are a minor design flaw that is negligible in terms of how ‘attractive’ this building is - it still has that WOW factor. :astonished:

NOTE: I see a misuse of the the word “convex”. I googled it. I stand ‘self-corrected’. :wink:
What is convex vs concave?

Concave means “hollowed out or rounded inward” and is easily remembered because these surfaces “cave” in. The opposite is convex meaning “curved or rounded outward.” Both words have been around for centuries but are often mixed up.

It’s just a personal opinion but I don’t think the concave slab edges are a design flaw. They cast the slightest gradient shadows that would otherwise not exist with flat edges and because there is a variant of wide and narrow widths, those gradients become more or less noticeable. I definitely notice them on the whole building myself not just the first few floors.

As for the cost of them, I wouldn’t say it was astronomical at all, form works are reusable for buildings like this, they werent having to make a special mold for each floor.

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Those “slight gradient shadows” are so “slight” as to be pointless IMHO.

I like the building’s design overall; but have always been disappointed with those ‘concave’ exposed floor plates. Design features that have no visual appeal are a waste of time/effort/cost in the construction process: the concave edges are virtually ‘invisible’ - hence that feature is superfluous.

Take a look at all these flickr photos, or any photo at a distance, and you can see that the overall appearance of the building would look no different if it had been built with standard square exposed floor plates. This is my only gripe about what is an aesthetic success in terms of the overall design.

I believe this building done with standard square edges would look “no different” to most (maybe all) viewers as well.

It is a personal bugaboo - but I still enjoy the look of this tower. :slightly_smiling_face:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/56leonard/

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They might not be visible from afar (as details normally aren’t on any building) but they’re definitely visible when zoomed in or in closer proximity to the building, but I respect your view/opinion on them. Surely they were intended to be viewed as a subtle detail as the main focal point detail of the building is the various cantilevering and shifting mass geometry, and that is whether they are visible or not (which is something that can’t be formulated for others). If they didn’t want the floor edges to have their subtle curve detail, they would’ve just integrated them with the façade by covering them with spandrel glass rather than making them flat.

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If I were doing a critique during the design phase; my response to the designers would be: “leave that feature out - the visual affect is negligible.”

What I like about art/architecture discussions: we can always simply agree, to disagree. It’s all good.

The entire effect of this building is ruined by those operable windows.

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completely agree!

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The criticisms of this building surprise me. This is one of the best buildings constructed in the city in recent times. I like the concave floor slab edges; they add some shadowing and texture at various times of day; they add some subtlety to a stunning design. And the window comments should also take into account the benefits to occupants they provide. But even with such critiques this one is a gem. I work nearby. Every day I see people stopping and gawking at the place with “wow” looks on their faces. Even if they aren’t architecture buffs like many on this forum they catch the greatness of this design. PS: I suspect the bean will be uncovered before cold weather sets in.

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No way! I personally think they add on to the jagged affect. I get the criticism, but to me it seems thematic. I did notice that the floor slabs do still show off the raw concrete, but it doesn’t look so bad. If you’re shooting the skyline from NJ you will barely tell that concrete is on the exterior