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The ambition of the project was to enliven the existing public space at 100 William Street.
The kiosk would not only ignite the dark atrium by its material and design but also by offering an inviting retail opportunity to passersby. The street level passageway sees heavy foot traffic, is a connection between two lower Manhattan streets, and affords entrance to the subway.
The metal-clad enclosure appears to be bulging outwards from the office tower into the atrium. The design aesthetic is clean, modern, and sophisticated. The basic dimensions of the metal-clad enclosure, which is triangular in plan, are fifty-five feet on the longest side by thirty-six feet on the shortest. It is approximately the size of a typical New York City apartment, about 800 square feet. The enclosure reaches a height of 14'9" at which point a forest of nine foot tall aluminum rods rise above to an overall height of approximately twenty four feet.
The playful sculptural elements that extend above the enclosure are held in place by seventy-eight custom aluminum structural panels. Arranged in a hexagonal grid the 1900 aluminum rods appear to dance in the atrium space. These rods are up-lit by adjustable luminaries that line the edge of the enclosure and are neatly tucked behind the parapet so that they are not visible at street level. Originally designed with fiber optics, the roof sculpture had to be redesigned to its present incarnation to operate within budget requirements.
The retail space within is highlighted by an expansive forty-six foot long glass storefront. The uninterrupted ‘picture window' connects the retail space within to the atrium and vice versa. The storefront consists of ten ¾" laminated glass panels. Two of these panels have been fabricated with a gentle curve; the radius offers the smoothest of transitions around the corners