The Americas Tower is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, and built between 1989 and 1992 in New York, NY.
Americas Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as 1177 Avenue of the Americas.
Its precise street address is 1177 6th Avenue, New York, NY. You can also find it on the map here.
The building underwent a major restoration in 2013.
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.
That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Americas Tower a reality:
The Americas Tower can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.
Postmodernism in architecture emerged in the United States during the late 1960s as a reaction against the starkness of the International Style, which part of the new generation of architects argued was too impersonal, sterile, and disconnected from historical and cultural contexts.
Postmodernism challenged the International Style's austerity by reintroducing historical elements and ornamentation, although this time not as literally as in the Neo-Classic buildings. Instead, they reinterpreted them within the context of modern materials and construction techniques.
Postmodern buildings often feature bold, contrasting colors, unconventional forms, and a playful blend of various architectural elements from different eras and cultures.
In the United States, Postmodernism was not just an aesthetic choice but also a philosophical stance. It represented a democratization of design, where architects sought to create buildings that were accessible and meaningful to a broader range of people, not just designers and intellectuals.
The Americas Tower was completed in 1992. By 1992 the Postmodernism movement was experiencing a transition. Critics argued that Postmodernism, initially a rebellious and innovative style, had become formulaic and commercialized, and so the trend started moving away from blending historical styles, irony, and playful ornamentation, and begun to give way to emerging architectural trends concerned with more present matters such as technology, ecology or sustainability.
The Americas Tower was kind of late to Postmodernist movement, which in some ways might make it seem older than it really is.The Americas Tower reaches an architectural height of 692ft (211m). It has a total of 48 floors, served by 45 elevators, which combined offer a total of 933,994 sqf (86,771m2) of usable space.
Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1992, the Americas Tower has mainly been used as Commercial space.
The Americas Tower uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.
A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.
The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.
This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.
From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features panels of polished coral granite spanning the facade and creating vertical rows from the base to the crown. This vertical rows frame the reflective glass windows with gray aluminum spandrels.
