Despite the ongoing construction work, the skyscraper project was presented to the press only three days ago. A 76-story high-rise building is being built in Lower Manhattan, but despite its prime location, its 903 apartments will not be elite housing: they will be rented out at market prices.
The restrained shape of the tower, which rises upward in small ledges, resembles the New York skyscrapers of the "old school": it was on them that Gehry was guided when designing. The Beekman Tower will be clad in stainless steel, rather than the architect's favorite material, titanium, as the metal proved to be too fragile for New York's facade cleaning technology.
The building will grow out of a six-story red brick base. There will be a public elementary school for 630 students, doctors' offices at New York Downtown Hospital, and infrastructure facilities. Two new plazas will be set up nearby, landscaped by Field Operations.
The lobby of the building will be decorated in typical Gehry style with twisting steel ribbons.
