Rising 1,100 feet above street level, Edge boasts a height 50 feet taller than the Empire State Building’s observation deck and a massive triangular platform that cantilevers 80 feet from the 100th floor of the tower, creating an outdoor viewing area of 7,500 square feet. Unlike most sky decks that rest on a building’s setbacks, Edge provides unobstructed views of the city skyline and Hudson Yards below.
Edge, the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, offers visitors 360-degree views from the KPF-designed 30 Hudson Yards office tower.
Clad in triangular stainless steel panels, the underside of the observation deck creates a vibrant and dynamically reflective focal point, identifiable on the skyline and from street level. The team selected a bright annealed stainless steel from Finland with an embossed “linen” finish for its reflective qualities. Even the slightest deviations in the highly reflective material surface can be obvious, so each panel was carefully reviewed for flatness and consistency.
L: The glass floor and overall triangular pattern adds to the geometry motif of the building. R: 30 Hudson Yards (center left) is complimented by 10 Hudson Yards (Center Right) with the two towers tilting in opposite directions.
The team selected a bright annealed stainless steel from Finland with an embossed “linen” finish for its reflective qualities. Even the slightest deviations in the highly reflective material surface can be obvious, so each panel was carefully reviewed for flatness and consistency.
A close-up of the annealed stainless steel sourced embossed with the ‘linen’ finish from Finland and the panels prepped for review at their Italian origin site.
Edge’s platform is made up of 15 sections, which individually range in weight between 35,000 and 100,000 pounds. Each section was pre-assembled at the factory to ensure proper alignment and fit. Once uniformity was certain, the sections were taken apart and shipped to site.
Animation of the 15 platform sections fitting in place to create the observation deck.
Sections Were Then Taken Apart And Moved To The Port, Ready To Begin Their Long Journey Across The Atlantic… (Right Courtesy of Timothy Schenck)
Once at Hudson Yards, the sections were carefully lifted and bolted precisely into place, sometimes requiring two cranes to lift them simultaneously. By pre-assembling the sections off-site originally, construction on the observation deck was able to proceed extremely quickly.
Right image courtesy Joe Woolhead.
The major pieces were completely assembled in less than four months.
The major pieces of the observation deck were completely assembled in less than four months.
A 9-foot-tall, angled, mullion-free glass wall encloses the deck, allowing visitors to be surrounded by only glass, air and sky as they lean out into the skyline, while the triangular glass floor gives a one-of-a-kind perspective on the neighborhood below. The impressive panoramic views provide prime vantage points over Manhattan with the Hudson and East River on either side.
The deck offers 7,500-sq-ft of outdoor area, providing an unmatched place to watch the sunset, among other viewing advantages. Images courtesy of Related Oxford.