Cantilevered tower reaches for the sky over Central Park

Project: Central Park Tower

Award: Tall Buildings, Bronze, 2022

Location: New York, USA

Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Client: Extell Development Company

A beacon of glass and steel, Central Park Tower is 472-meters-tall and offers gracious living and entertaining spaces that maximize citywide views from its floor-to-ceiling windows. There are 179 apartments ranging from one-to-four bedrooms to studio suites and full-floor duplex and triplex homes.

The podium features a new department store, characterized with an undulating curved glass façade that brings prominence to the flagship store. The 225,000-square feet space occupies seven retail floors, including an upper-level mechanical floor and an underground retail back-of house floor.

The tower is also rich with amenities. Functional spaces include onsite day care facilities, dry cleaning, storage lockers and bike storage. Entertainment spaces include lounges, pools, spa areas, landscaped terraces and the "Central Park Club" with 50,000 square feet of amenities across three floors. These include a residents' lounge with billiards, a screening room and a 15,000-square feet outdoor terrace with a pool, cabanas and children's playground.

Design highlights

A major design feature is the building's cantilever, which occurs 290 feet above ground and slips the body of the tower east for more spacious units with better views. Studies were done to ensure that the cantilever enhances the standard and quality of light for the Arts Student League next door, as skylights that bring non-glare diffuse light into their space would remain and be very sensitive to light pollution.

Photo credit: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture