New York City AOL Time Warner Center

New York City AOL Time Warner Center

The Time Warner Center is a mixed-used skyscraper in New York City. Its design, by David Childs and Mustafa Kemal Abadan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, consists of two 229 m (750 ft) towers bridged by a multi-story atrium containing upscale retail shops. Construction began in November 2000, and a topping-out ceremony was held on February 27, 2003. It is the property with the highest-listed market value in New York City, $1.1 billion in 2006.

Originally named the "AOL Time Warner Center," the building surrounds half of Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan. The total floor area of 260,000 m² (2.8 million ft²) is divided between offices (notably the offices of Time Warner Inc.), residential condominiums, and the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The Shops at Columbus Circle is an upscale shopping mall located in a curving arcade at the base of the building, with a large Whole Foods Market grocery store in the basement. The complex is also home to CNN studios, from where Anderson Cooper 360° and Lou Dobbs Tonight, among other shows, are broadcast live and a 1,200 seat theater for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The Time Warner Center was the first major building to be completed in Manhattan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, although it was already under construction in 2001. The building drew publicity in 2003 when British financier David Martinez paid $42.5 million dollars for a penthouse condo, then a record for New York residential sales.

The building’s street address is officially 25 Columbus Circle, but the developers use the name “One Central Park” to promote the residential units. The address One Central Park West, meanwhile, belongs to a tower across the street owned by Donald Trump. Upon the completion of the Time Warner Center, Trump made a “little joke” at the Time Warner Center’s expense by hanging a large sign on his building gloating, “Your views aren’t so great, are they?”1

The design of Time Warner Center pays homage to the streets of New York: The curvature of the base helps frame Columbus Circle, the angle of the two towers aligns with Broadway, and the space between the towers gives the illusion that 59th Street passes through. In addition, the rectangular patterns on the glass curtain wall overlooking Columbus Circle suggest the Manhattan street grid.

By http://www.DesignbyDaniel.com