Lord Foster attended a ceremony in New York today, to celebrate the ground breaking of the new tower at 425 Park Avenue, the first full-block office building on Park Avenue for fifty years. In addition to LEED Gold accreditation, the tower will also be the first in New York City to achieve WELL certification, in recognition of innovations to enhance the health and well-being of its future occupants.

425 Park Avenue is conceived as a flexible, enduring new addition to one of New York City’s most celebrated streets. The tower’s form is a pure expression of its function, divided vertically into three distinct volumes: its base, knitted with the urban grain at street level; a recessed central section; and a slender column of premium offices at the top. Each volume dovetails dramatic triple-height sky gardens: one of which will serve as a penthouse floor, and another a first-class amenity floor for the tower’s occupants, with dining and facilities for meetings and conferences. Terraces offer views across Central Park and the prized amenity of open space in the heart of Manhattan. The social focus of the tower continues at street level, where entrance is via a dramatic triple-height atrium, with the potential for large-scale works of art.

Lord Foster said:

“425 Park Avenue is a significant location. The prime location is Park Avenue itself because it is probably unique in the world in terms of being an urban, modernist creation. It has a life, a scale. The first thing that 425 has to do is contribute to that urbanity. In the spirit of those individual buildings – that include Seagram and Lever House – 425 has its own identity. It will contribute to the public domain both at ground level and the wider entity of the city.” 

Notes to editors:

• Foster + Partners was appointed to design the new tower at 425 Park Avenue in2012, following a high-profile international competition.
• The new tower is scheduled to open in 2018.
• 425 Park will be the first New York City office tower to achieve WELL certificationin of innovations to enhance the health and well-being of its future occupants.
• Images, animations and video are available on the 425 Park Avenue website:http://www.425parkave.com/

Contact:

Katy Harris at Foster + Partners
T + 44 (0) 2077380455
F + 44 (0) 2077381107