Unlocking the potential of a complex site

Manhattan West is one of the largest and most complex developments underway in New York City. The project, bound by Ninth and Tenth Avenues and West 31st and West 33rd Streets, is built almost entirely above railroad tracks leading to Moynihan Train Hall and Pennsylvania Station. It is part of the larger revitalization of Manhattan’s rapidly changing Far West Side. With a master plan and four of its six buildings designed and engineered by SOM, the project is an exemplar of what an integrated firm can accomplish.

Public space is at the heart of the master plan. The buildings are organized around a series of distinct plazas, enabled by the engineering of a 2.6-acre platform that covers the rail tracks. The development’s central plaza is lined with a combined 225,000 square feet of retail. From Ninth Avenue, the public space forms a series of urban corridors along West 31st and West 33rd Streets, and the central plaza picks up where West 32nd Street — which terminates at Penn Station on Seventh Avenue — leaves off.

Together, these urban connections create a gateway between Hudson Yards to the west and Penn Station to the east. It also completes the major reactivation of the streetscape on Manhattan’s Far West Side — a revitalization in which SOM has played an integral role, from the concourse improvements at Penn Station to the transformation of the James A. Farley Post Office Building into Moynihan Train Hall.

One and Two Manhattan West

The largest towers, One and Two Manhattan West, mark the Ninth Avenue entry into the neighborhood. Located at the northeast and southeast corners of the site, the two-million-square-foot towers, targeting LEED Gold, are designed to welcome visitors arriving from the north, east, and south. Each tower, clad in high performance glass, is designed to accentuate an elegant simplicity that reflects the sky. They enhance the public realm by extending the central plaza with additional space both indoors and outside. With triple-height, transparent lobbies, the buildings provide views from corner to corner to reveal the central open space to pedestrians and to offer a permeable connection to the central plaza. The towers are set back from Ninth Avenue — opposite Moynihan Train Hall — to create welcoming outdoor plazas.

Solving a structural engineering challenge

While the towers’ presence at grade and in the sky is rigorous and clearly defined, their most dramatic complexities lie underground. Both supertall towers stand on extremely challenging sites above active rail lines. Navigating this challenge required an intricate synthesis of design and engineering. Each tower is supported by a central core with sloping perimeter columns that reach available foundations around the trains. At One Manhattan West, the tower’s central core rises from bedrock to the top level, with floorplates that branch out symmetrically. Near grade level, the building’s perimeter columns slope inward to the core to reinforce the structure and create a column-free lobby, where the structure is clad in dramatic, vein-cut travertine marble. Similarly, at Two Manhattan West, only half of the core could touch down to solid ground. SOM aligned sculpted mega-columns at the building’s perimeter with subgrade spaces between the tracks — an integrated solution that opens clear sightlines from street to plaza.

Hospitality, residential, and adaptive reuse

Beyond the office towers, Manhattan West is conceived as a 24-7 neighborhood. The 21-story Pendry and the 62-story Eugene bring both hospitality and luxury residences, respectively, to the site. The boutique hotel — comprising 164 guest rooms and suites — is characterized by an elegant, softly curved facade that makes a distinctive addition to the complex. The Eugene, an 844-unit residential tower that was designed in collaboration with SLCE Architects, integrates a crucial outdoor connection between 31st Street and elevated outdoor space connecting to the central plaza.

In addition to the new towers, two former industrial buildings — Five Manhattan West and the 1913 Lofts building — have also been renovated into contemporary office space. SOM designed the renovation of the historic Lofts, and provided structural engineering services for the repositioning of Five Manhattan West. As part of this repositioning, a portion of the south side of Five Manhattan West was carved out to create an elevated breezeway and passage that extends the public space to Tenth Avenue and Hudson Yards.

Construction for the entire development is anticipated to conclude in 2023, with the completion of Two Manhattan West. It will mark the latest chapter in a decades-long effort to transform the Far West Side of Manhattan — and bring a new destination to life.