88 Pine Street
(Wall Street Plaza)

New York, New York
Completed 1973

Lead Designer: James Ingo Freed

Investment office building with commercial and banking facilities
 

The solution is a loft building designed with economically placed columns and slabs; only essential components are expressed. The white aluminum cladding was selected to stand out among other, darker towers downtown, and to complement historic sailing vessels moored at South Street Seaport. The white finish was achieved by "painting" the curtain wall with baked-on silicone-reinforced acrylic enamel, the first such large-scale application.

Each 28-foot bay frames a continuous window comprising three large panes of glass butt-joined with silicone sealant. The absence of mullions preserves the building's simplicity and suggests its interior flexibility. From within, the windows offer sweeping views of the East River and the Manhattan skyline. The building was designed not as a dense commercial mass but as an airy object to be seen through. Its aim is transparency and lightness achieved by limited means and palette.

Major Components

2,400 s/f lobby; 2 banking halls (10,750 s/f); 29 office floors (380,000 s/f); water wall plaza and monumental sculpture

Awards

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Complete Architectural Services; Interior Design of public spaces

Structural

Office of James Ruderman, New York, NY

Mechanical / Electrical

Cosentini Associates LLP, New York, NY