Welcome to a curated Manhattan walking tour of 13 renowned landmark buildings with unique stainless steel façades.
New York City is famous for its skyscrapers, ranging in style from historical Art Deco to a delightful diversity of contemporary expressions. The metropolis is a hub for architecture and design firms. The creative culture and thriving design scene offer unmatched potential for innovative façade design and sustainable development, including building decarbonization.
Join us on a tour showcasing some of the most impressive façades in the iconic skyline of Manhattan!
Outokumpu sustainable stainless steel in NYC buildings
Landmark buildings makes a statement. When they're built with Outokumpu stainless steel, that statement reflects an enduring legacy of timeless beauty, exceptional strength, and unmatched durability. This video shows stainless steel facades in famous buildings in New York, Manhattan.
One World Trade Center
The breath-taking stainless steel exterior of the One World Trade Center (1WTC) is a clever play on geometry, perceptions and light. The façade echoes the distinctive corners of its predecessor and owes its bright appearance from all viewing angles to a highly reflective Deco Laser surface finish.
1WTC is one of the safest buildings in the world, and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
- Design: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- Metal fabricator: POHL
- Façade company: Benson Industries
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Laser
- Volume: 175 t
- Material thickness: 0,8 mm and 2 mm
Oculus
The Oculus soars above New York’s massive transportation hub like a dove about to take flight, while gently curved white steel ribs and streaming light shape the interior space.
Outokumpu stainless steel plate fortify the structure. The added strength and durability of lean duplex stainless steel enable savings on material thickness and reduce the lifecycle costs of the building.
- Design: Santiago Calatrava
- Façade fabricator: Cimolai S.p.A
- Grade: Forta LDX 2101
- Volume: 400 t
- Material thickness: plate
Three World Trade Center
The façade of this 80-story skyscraper consists of stainless steel panels and a glass curtain wall. The setting sun creates a beautiful interplay of light, shadow, and orange glow on the west-facing surface of the tower.
The construction of the project took place in two main phases, several years apart. Outokumpu provided stainless steel panels with an identical Deco Linen finish for both stages, enabling the sleek, consistent appearance that characterizes the building to this day.
- Design: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 550 t
- Material thickness: 2 mm
Goldman Sachs New World HQ / 200 West Street
The global headquarters of Goldman Sachs on 200 West Street is a well-known reference for stainless steel façades with the popular Deco Linen finish. The glass and stainless steel exterior brings life to the form of the building and links it seamlessly to its surroundings.
This 44-story skyscraper is defined by the contrast between the massive smooth curve facing the Hudson River and the angular geometry of the West Street and Murray Street side of the façade.
- Design: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 400 t
- Material thickness: 1 mm and 2 mm
30 Hudson Yards
30 Hudson Yards is a soaring office building in Midtown Manhattan, famous for its triangular observation deck on the 100th floor. The bottom of the observation deck and the accent panels of the Tower are clad in Outokumpu stainless steel with Deco Linen surface finish.
The supertall skyscraper was envisioned by Kohn Pederson Fox to be a dance partner to 10 Hudson Yards, a graceful neighboring tower also adorned in steel and glass.
- Design: Kohn Pederson Fox
- Metal fabricator: POHL
- Façade company: New Hudson Facades
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 110 t
- Material thickness: 2 mm
Vessel Hudson Yards
This landmark is an imaginative work of art: a dramatic high-rise spiral staircase designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
Vessel Hudson Yards is a reference building worldwide for PVD-coated stainless steel. The stainless steel structure shines through the color layer, bringing a beautiful bronze glint to the interconnecting flights of stairs.
- Design: Thomas Heatherwick
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Forta DX 2205
- Volume: 72 t
- Material thickness: 30 mm, 40 mm and 50 mm
7 Bryant Park
This Midtown Manhattan office tower is an eye-catcher, thanks to the novel gesture of the corner facing the park. Two impressive cone-shaped incisions meet at their tips at the setback level and give the building its unique sculptural look.
The façade was created with stainless steel panels, stud-welded together to achieve the sharp angles desired by the designers. The stainless steel panels were directly screwed to the under construction via stud welds to let each metal element appear with sharp angles, as desired by the designers
- Design: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
- Metal fabricator: POHL
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 120 t
- Material thickness: 2,3 mm
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building, built in 1930, is a well-known architectural gem and a symbol of the durability and lasting aesthetic appeal of stainless steel. Adorned with Type 302 stainless steel, the Art Deco style skyscraper created an immediate international sensation.
Regarding its corrosion resistance properties, Type 302 resembles its contemporary cousin, Outokumpu Supra 316L/4404 stainless steel.
Learn more about this success story against the test of time.
- Design: William Van Alen
- Grade: Type 302
Hearst Tower
Located in Midtown Manhattan, Hearst Tower is home to media conglomerate Hearst Communications. Its glass and stainless steel façade is arranged in a diagrid that creates a distinctive silhouette on the skyline.
Hearst Tower is the first occupied green commercial building in New York to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
- Design: Foster + Partners
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 280 t
- Material thickness: 2,5 mm
Central Park Tower
At 472 m (1,550 feet), Central Park Tower is the tallest residential building ever built. The slender tower was created by leading experts in supertall building design: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.
A special feature of this iconic landmark is the fine patterned Deco Haze surface finish. Such a delicate finish demands high homogeneity and color consistency in the base stainless steel. With these requirements met, the result is unvarying perfection in the vast visible surface.
- Design: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Haze
- Volume: 260 t
- Material thickness: 1,5 mm
425 Park Avenue
Designed to house the ultimate office environment, 425 Park Avenue rises high above the prestigious commercial boulevard on which it stands. The façade features elegant diamond-shaped structures – a somewhat signature theme in façade designs by Foster + Partners. Look for this element also in the façade of Hearst Tower!
- Design: Foster + Partners
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 166 t
- Material thickness: 1,2 mm and 2 mm
David H. Koch Center
This sleek ambulatory care center was designed following a vision of the aesthetics of world-class healthcare. The glass on the façade reflects the other side of the street in detail, whereas the stainless steel elements offer a smooth, dispersed reflection.
The façade of the David H. Koch Center showcases the effect of Outokumpu’s Deco Linen finish: diffused reflectance coupled with a smooth, metallic surface. The façade panels extend all the way down to the street level, presenting passers by with an opportunity to examine the surface finish at close quarters.
- Design: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
- Façade company: Permasteelisa S.p.A
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: Deco Linen
- Volume: 57 t
- Material thickness: 2 mm
The Smile
The spectacular façade of The Smile curves inwards as it rises upwards – like a smile. The building's shape lets sunlight and air into the street and enlivens the neighborhood's urban landscape. At a closer look, the stainless steel exterior of the building itself is alive with a myriad of intricate details. The façade was designed to mimic the surface of the moon and each of the 800 stainless steel panels is a unique electrochemically colored individual.
Read more about this monumental façade design.
- Design: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
- Metal fabricator: POHL
- Grade: Supra 316L/4404
- Surface finish: 2B colored in black by Inox-Color
- Volume: 116 t
- Material thickness: 1,5 mm and 2,5 mm