Solow Building

The Solow Building is a Modern Style skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with Gordon Bunshaft as lead architect, and built between 1968 and 1974 in New York, NY.

Solow Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as 9 West 57th Street.

Its precise street address is 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY. You can also find it on the map here.

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 2024 and 2000.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with Gordon Bunshaft as the lead architect, 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 Solow Building a reality:

• Weidlinger Associates in charge of Structural Engineering
• Solow Construction Co. as the Main Contractor
• Solow Development Corporation as the Main Developer
• Cosentini Associates in charge of MEP Engineering
• Ivan Chermayeff as the collaborating Artist

The Solow Building can be categorized as a Modern Style building.

By their own nature, the Modern and International Styles can still look current, even in contemporary buildings. So that's not to say the Solow Building appeared old or outdated when it was completed, but Skidmore, Owings & Merrill certainly did not take many risks when it came to choosing the design style. This made the building look more "classic" and integrated within the city's architecture.

The Solow Building uses a trussed-frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A trussed-frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight, and diagonal elements to provide stability against horizontal forces such as wind or seismic activity by triangulating the structure. 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.

The building's exterior columns protrude from beneath the gutter at the same acceleration angle for both engineering and aesthetic reasons

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features grey tinted glass framed by narrow travertine bands at the corners of the North and South facades, with a slightly thicker band at the top.

At ground level, an open-air plaza with a travertine floor featuring a prominent red sculpture with the number 9 provides access to the building.