Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard “Jenga tower” nears completion in New York
The Jenga-like form of Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron’s residential skyscraper in Tribeca, New York, has been captured by Instagram users ahead of its imminent completion.
Located at 56 Leonard Street in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood, the 60-storey tower appears largely complete apart from a section of external elevator scaffolding that remains on one side.
Herzog & de Meuron‘s design comprises an assemblage of glass cuboids, some of which are offset from one another, like a tower of wooden Jenga blocks in the middle of a game.
It follows a trend in architecture for irregularly stacked boxes, with other examples planned for New York including BIG’s replacement for Foster + Partners’ Two World Trade Center skyscraper and a trio of towers on the Williamsburg waterfront.
The form of 56 Leonard appears to become more haphazard towards its top, where 10 unique penthouses each feature up to 200 feet (61 metres) of continuous window walls.
Balconies are irregularly placed up the tower’s side, adding to the Jenga-like appearance.
Residents’ amenities on the 9th and 10th floors include an indoor/outdoor theatre, 75-foot (23-metre) swimming pool, a fitness suite and a conference centre.
Construction began in 2008, but the project was stalled the same year when its recession-hit developer, Alexico Group, failed to raise the last portion of the project’s funding.
Work recommenced in 2012 with the design largely unchanged, and the building topped out in July 2015.
56 Leonard is one of a growing number of “super-slender” towers in New York, which have extreme ratios of height to base width.
The city’s Skyscraper Museum recently launched an online tool for tracking these buildings, which include Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue, Jean Nouvel’s 53W53 and SHoP Architect’s 111 West 57th Street.
Among Basel-based Herzog & de Meuron‘s recently completed projects are a new gallery for the Vitra Design Museum and the restoration of a 19th-century room at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.
Instagram users have also captured images of the firm’s Tate Modern extension, which is set to open next month.
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56 Leonard Street by Herzog & de Meuron
