An impressive addition to the Manhattan skyline, 53 West 53 is a striking, 1,050-foot-high condominium tower designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel – the mastermind behind the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Torre Glories tower in Barcelona – with interiors by the legendary Thierry Despont. Rising 82 stories above the Museum of Modern Art in the heart of Manhattan, 53 West 53 features just 145 one- to four-bedroom residences including full-floor homes and duplex penthouses with private elevators, as well as 17 studio and one-bedroom suites.
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2024: Entries Open!
Take your work to the next level. Register Now…
Gold 🏆 Winner
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2023
53 West 53
Residential Architecture High-Rise (Built)
Firm
Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Architect/Designer
Jean Nouvel
Design Team
Jean Nouvel, Thierry Despont, Pontiac Land Group, Hines
Location
53 West 53rd Street, New York, New York, USA
Country
United States
Photographer/Copyright
©Giles Ashford
A product of Nouvel’s inspired examination of its urban context, the building’s multiple tapered surfaces create a unique and recognizable silhouette – both an heir to the classic towers that shaped the New York skyline and a paradigm for the skyscraper of the future. With floor-to-ceiling, triple pane windows, the building provides a rare architectural context through which to view Central Park, the East River, the Hudson River and the downtown Manhattan skyline. The tower’s distinctive shape and iconic geometric design interrupt the repetitive façades of its surroundings by juxtaposing the architectural styles of typical Midtown high rises. 53W53 brings a sense of refined elegance and modernity to its prominent and internationally recognized location.
53W53 showcases Nouvel’s innovative exposed structural system, the diagrid, which gives the façade of the tower a distinctly angular rhythm and creates a unique layout for each residence. The façade of the building is a structural glazing in standard glass dimensions and the bracing structure follows the simplest and most economical geometry. From close up, its receding stealth geometry makes it surprisingly discrete and unobtrusive for its height. The tower draws its shape from the desire for more daylight in the streets with a narrow triangular top section putting its unusually thin silhouette to good purposes. Nouvel’s design is a monument to the rules of shadow and light, and to the forces of the wind. Seen from Central Park, the bridges and most locations on the riverbanks, its triangular silhouette stands out and is easily identifiable from afar.
Undoubtedly, 53W53 has made a significant impact on the built environment in Manhattan and across the world. Made possible through a tremendous amount of coordination among key participants and stakeholders, 53 West 53 commands global attention for its innovative design, use of cutting-edge technology and materials and highly skilled execution. 53W53’s sculptural, skyline-defining presence atop MoMA’s urban campus has inscribed it unmistakably as one of New York’s most renowned cultural institutions.
The creation of Singapore-based luxury developer Pontiac Land Group and international real estate firm Hines, 53W53 possesses a distinct museum-quality nature, using a mix of the finest finishes and materials sourced from around the world. 53W53 offers an elevated living experience for residents with best-in-class amenities, including over 30,000 square feet of programmed spaces, and personalized, five-star-hotel-level services that make 53W53 a progressive outlier among New York’s new crop of ultra-luxury residential towers and one of the world’s most luxurious and elite residential buildings.