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Sky Reflector-Net for the Fulton Center in New York
2014 ¥ 5 ∂
rows 1, 2: 20 % open area
rows 7, 8: 32 % open area rows 11, 12: 40 % open area
rows 15, 16, 17: 48 % open area
Fred Bernstein has degrees in architecture from Princeton University and law from NYU and writes about both subjects. Born on Long Island, he lives in New York City.
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sights. But even where the artwork itself is invisible, its effect is powerful; light reflected onto subterranean surfaces becomes a beacon and locating device. For both its beauty and its contribution to wayfinding, the New York Times has called the installation – which officially opens to the public in October 2014 – “magical.” The magic was 10 years in the making; as the design of the Fulton Center changed, Carpenter’s installation had to change with it. Initially, a glass dome was to top the building. With a redesign of the building, the dome became an opaque truncated cone containing offices and mechanical spaces. Working with engineers Schlaich Bergermann and Partner, James Carpenter Design Associates created a lightweight and costeffective net of 6-mm steel cables stretched between upper and lower steel rings – respectively 53 and 73 feet in diameter. Where the cables intersect, they support cross-shaped connectors to which the aluminum panels are bolted. The panels have a “scatter gloss” finish, devised by the designer, which allows them to reflect and subtly diffuse 90 % to 95 % of the light that reaches them. They also have hundreds of small perforations, which decrease in frequency from the bottom to the top of the installation. Overall, the panels are 20 % open at the top and 48 % open at the bottom. That variation, as well as subtle folds at the midpoint of each panel, means the reflections of the sky will always be variegated, even when the sky itself is uniform. Thanks to their finish, their perforations and their angles, the aluminium panels direct light deep into the station. An array of prismatic glass blades designed by Grimshaw Architects shines even more light onto the reflective surfaces, and from there to where it is most needed. At night, the entire installation is lit from front and back, replacing reflections of the sky with subtle lighting effects. To the architects the goal of the project was “to use light to create a great civic room”. That great civic room is now the portal not just to an underground station but to an island of the designer’s own making: an
island of daylight that will give commuters a sense of the passage of time – in both hours and seasons. The project designer Richard Kress notes that station’s peak hours are early morning and late afternoon and these are when the Sky Reflector-Net captures the most sky color and sky variation. And it will remind commuters of nature’s presence within the dense urban environment. Sky Reflector-Net is hardly the first Manhattan attraction devised by James Carpenter, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” award and a one-time colleague of glass artist Dale Chihuly. In 2004, the Time Warner Center opened with a window-wall that allowed unusually clear views to and from Columbus Circle; to avoid thick frames, Carpenter had hung glass sheets from cables. A few years later he designed the shimmering metal base and crystalline glass facades of 7 World Trade Center, a building that makes the neighboring structures look crude by comparison. Now he is working on a 350-foot wall for the retail component of Midtown Manhattan’s Hudson Yards development. And his work extends far beyond New York; he is responsible for the redesign of the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem, and the recladding of a 1960s office tower in Sydney, among many other projects. The New York project is his largest using optical aluminum. The panels were shaped and lasercut in Germany by Durlum. Their perforations serve a practical purpose; they would permit smoke “purge” in an emergency – just one of many ways the installation meets tough performance standards. The cable system was manufactured by TriPyramid Structures of Westford, Massachusetts. After being hung from a crane, for testing, the net was collapsed and trucked to the lower Manhattan site. It took just two weeks to attach the net to the building, and another four weeks to bolt on the numerically-coded aluminum panels. The exact cost of the project – estimated at $2 million – has not been released. What is clear is that Carpenter has given New York a lot of bang, and beauty, for its buck.