Best of 2005 Awards

U.S. District Courthouse - Cadman Plaza

Project of the Year: Office

Safety and light were the guiding principles for the construction of 505 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The project aimed to create an office tower that would let in the most light possible while also setting a new standard for building safety in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

But what caught the attention of the Best of 2005 jury - and landed the development on its short list for overall project of the year - was how the building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street was pleasing to the eyes as well.

"505 Fifth is probably one of the best-looking buildings built in a long time, and it's an office building," one judge said.

"It's 505 hands down," said another judge. "It's an absolutely spectacular building."

The building team, led by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates of New York as architect and Pavarini McGovern of New York as construction manager, completed the $56 million project in a year and a half. The 29-story, 270,000-sq.-ft. building, which includes 20,000 sq. ft. of retail, opened this fall.

The project team had its share of hurdles, the jury noted.

"It is on what was one of the toughest sites in the city," one judge said.

At the outset, during initial demolition onsite, the project team discovered that an existing structure shared a brick party wall with a neighboring building. The team supported the neighboring wall by securing tie-rods back to the existing steel using 3-ft. channel turnbuckles.

The new building also sits within 20 ft. of a subway tunnel, which required shoring and bracing systems on the perimeter foundation wall. The team developed an alternate foundation plan to the one normally required by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's New York City Transit unit, which would have delayed the foundation and excavation schedule by roughly eight weeks. The alternative shoring method involved installing 4 by 4 ft. concrete piers about 30 ft. deep, along with rock anchors and plank sheeting.

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To meet the broader goal to create a safe structure, the project team decided to use concrete as the primary material, bucking the trend in New York City in which nearly all new office skyscrapers have steel superstructures. The 505 Fifth tower uses cast-in-place, high-strength reinforced concrete designed to withstand extreme heat and trauma to the structure.

The use of concrete cantilevers, columns, and slabs eliminated the need for concrete cores and additional columns typically required when using structural steel, while also helping to create airy, open spaces on office floor footprints that take in natural light. The use of concrete also allowed the team to shape the structure into the tight corner site's parameters by placing the building core on the northeast section of the floorplan.

The open space on each floor plate also allowed the team to address the other priority of maximizing natural light. The designers wrapped the building in a glass curtain wall and installed floor-to-ceiling vision panels on the upper office floors. The team developed concrete spandrel beams so that crews could install the exterior curtain wall from the inside of the building without water infiltration.

At the base, the curtain wall is transparent, with a butt-glazed, glass-fin storefront and a point-glazed system at the main entrance atrium. The lobby also features high-tech LED lighting.

During the entire construction phase, the team had to contend with a stipulation from the city's Department of Transportation that prohibited the use of cranes or hoists outside the property line. It had to locate the tower crane and hoist inside the building structure.

The team also avoided temporary utility hookup expenses by working with Consolidated Edison, the local utility, to permanently reroute the building's network compartment power conduit into the switchgear room during the foundation work - giving the project electricity for the duration of construction.

Key Players

Owner: Kipp-Stawski

General Contractor-Construction Manager: Pavarini McGovern

Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Heating Engineer: Jaros, Baum & Bolles

Structural Engineer: Rosenwasser/ Grossman Consulting Engineers

Geotechnical-Site-Civil Engineering: Langan Engineering & Environmental Services

Demolition: Big Apple Wrecking & Construction

Curtain Wall Erector: Solera/DCM JV

Drywall: Component Assembly Systems

Roofing: Eagle One Roofing Contractors

HVAC: Heritage Mechanical Services

Excavation-Foundation: John Civetta & Sons

Masonry: Master Craft Builders

Stone and Tile: Miller Druck Specialty Contracting

Superstructure Concrete: North Side Structures; Re-Bar Lathing

Miscellaneous Metals: Papp Iron Works

Plumbing: Parkview Plumbing & Heating

Electrical: Polo Electric