Studio Gang 10-story Solar Carve Tower is nearing completion in New York’s Meatpacking District. Officially named 40 Tenth Avenue, the scheme responds to the Highline and surrounding site with a dramatic curtain wall and chiseled shape. New photography by Tectonic reveal the latest progress photos from the Solar Carve Tower.
About the Project
40 Tenth Avenue. Image © Tectonic
40 Tenth Avenue. Image © Tectonic
Sculpted by the angles of the sun, 40 Tenth Avenue explores how shaping architecture in response to solar access and other site-specific criteria can expand its potential to have a positive impact on its environment. Located at the edge of Manhattan between the High Line park and the Hudson River, the building takes its unique form from the geometric relationships between the allowable envelope and the sun’s path.
In addition to producing a faceted, gem-like facade, this integrated response allows the building to benefit the important public green space of the High Line—privileging light, fresh air, and river views to the public park—while also becoming a new iconic silhouette on the New York skyline.
he design advances Studio Gang’s “solar carving” strategy for enhancing connectivity in tall buildings. Developed through the Studio’s ongoing tall building research, solar carving involves using incident angles of the sun’s rays to sculpt a building’s form.
The glazing system has been geometrically optimized into a pattern of three-dimensional facets that articulate the carved sections of the tower. The curtain wall unit is composed of a central diamond-shaped panel tiling downward, surrounded by four triangular pieces that are perpendicular to the slab to achieve standard stack joints. The carved curtain wall not only blocks sun glare and heat gain but also creates dynamic corner workspaces. The facade will feature high-performance glass with low reflectivity.
Consultant Team
Arup, structural engineer, facade consultant, and acoustical consultant
RA Consultants, geotechnical engineer
GEA Consulting Engineers, MEP/FP, sustainability consultant, and IT and security consultant
Code LLC, expeditor and code consultant
HMWhite, landscape architect
Sullivan Group, BPP consultant
HarPar Engineering, OER consultant
Fisher Marantz Stone, lighting consultant
Joseph Neto and Associates/Lerch Bates, vertical transportation consultant
Lerch Bates, facade access consultant