Investors L&L Holding Company and Lehman Brothers Holdings acquired a plot on prestigious Park Avenue and wished to retain the lower part of the 1957 tower, which occupies an entire block, standing there. New York's zoning rules for buildings with such a large footprint require the building to shrink significantly as height increases: the resulting pattern is sometimes referred to as a "ziggurat" or "wedding cake".
However, within such a narrow framework set for the contestants, only Norman Foster took the obvious path. He almost exactly repeated the silhouette of the existing tower gradually receding from the red line, having arranged spacious salons with greenery and panoramic glazing at the points of "depth differences". Investors liked such places of meetings and communication for entrepreneurs working in the building, which determined the outcome of the competition. Also, Foster's version is the highest of those who reached the final (209 m, 41 floors). A free plan of offices, not disturbed by supports, was specified in the assignment, and is found in the works of all finalists. Construction is scheduled for 2015-2017.
Rem Koolhaas and OMA's project is a combination of "nearly exhausted rectangularity and still immature curvature": three cubes rotated 45 degrees relative to the Manhattan street grid, connected by curved sections, forming a dynamically rising structure.
The Richard Rogers Tower features open "hanging gardens" with different types of American flora, from lowland forests to mountain meadows, as well as brightly painted frame and glass elevator shafts on the facades.
Zaha Hadid's project is characterized by dynamism and fluidity of form typical for this architect, which even touched the interior of the lobby (preserved from the old building), which underwent minimal changes for the rest of the finalists.
