Rendering © KPF

Rendering © KPF

/ Awards

AIA New York City Recognizes One Vanderbilt for Urban Design

On January 8th, 2018, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects granted One Vanderbilt a Merit Award in Urban Design.

Slated for completion in 2020, East Midtown’s One Vanderbilt aligns supertall design with transit accessibility, made possible by a close collaboration between KPF, SL Green, and the City of New York. The tower integrates with Grand Central’s spatial sequence by providing an underground corridor to alleviate terminal congestion and prioritizing public space at its base. The architectural character of the neighborhood is also preserved through a massing strategy that features a series of angled cuts to reveal the Vanderbilt corner of the terminal’s magnificent cornice—a view that has been obstructed for nearly a century. Read more about the site’s history in our first installment of a three-part story on One Vanderbilt.

Each year, submissions to the Design Awards must be complied by AIANY members practicing in New York, or be New York projects designed by firms based elsewhere. A jury of independent architects, educators, critics—all from outside the city—gathered to judge the submitted projects within the categories of architecture, interiors, projects, and urban design. A spring luncheon will honor the thirty-two winners, accompanied by a Design Awards exhibition at the Center for Architecture in downtown Manhattan and a special edition of Oculus Magazine.