Solow Building and the Red Object 9 Essay

Introduction

This paper seeks to describe how the Solow Building and the red object work together as well as their connection with each other. The paper will hence illustrated the form of the building, functions and the symbolic meaning of the building. This will be done by elaborating a brief history of the building and identifying some of the functions of the offices within the building and the activities taking place in the same. The role of the red object to the Solow building will also be discussed in order to show how the two connect with each other.

Solow building is a Manhattan skyscraper situated in the 57^th street at 9 West. The building was constructed in 1974 and designed by Owings, Skidmore and Merrill’s Gordon Bun shaft. The building is sandwiched between the 58^th and 57^th street just in the west of Fifth Avenue next to other prominent buildings like the Plaza Hotel and the Bergdorf Goodman department store^[1].

The red object 9 in the west that is in front of the building was actually part of the project. It was included in the project due to the complaints that the sloping building’s reflecting walls had revealed an unappealing sides of the historic buildings previously obscured in the neighborhood^[2].

Solow building, also known as Solow Building Company is a skyscraper situated in the 57^th street at 9 West within the Midtown neighborhood in the city of New York. The building was constructed from the year 1968 and completed in the year 1974^[3]. It was designed by Owings, Skidmore and Merrill’s Gordon Bun shaft.

The building is sandwiched between the 58^th and 57^th street just in the west of Fifth Avenue next to other prominent buildings like the Plaza Hotel and the Bergdorf Goodman department store. Solow Building is 210.01m high with 50 floors above the ground (West Group 2007).

The building’s façade materials consist of concrete glasses with a façade system of curtain wall. It has a modernism architectural style. The building’s main usage is for commercial offices. The only existing competitor of the building in the vicinity by height is the GM Building which is located a block east and north^[4]. The floors above the 23^rd floor provide a complete view of the Central Park and unobstructed virtual view of northern Manhattan.

The concave vertical slope of the Solow Building of its south and north façade on the 57^th and 58^th Street forms one of the building’s notable aesthetic attribute. Similarly, the W.R. grace Building which is also a Bun Shaft creation is an attribute too to the building because of the used façade design that was rejected in the Solow Building (Dunford 2004).

The building has some of the most expensive rents within Manhattan. The top floor of the skyscraper is occupied permanently by the Solow Building Company. The Bank of American Securities is the largest tenant occupying several stories and other trading floors in the 3^rd and 2^nd floors.

Other known tenants that use the building for commercial purposes are the U.S. Headquarters of the French Corporate and Investment Bank, the Silver Lake Partners, the private Equity Firms, Highland Capital Management and the Apollo Management^[5]. Some of the amenities provided by the Solow Building are the parking garage which is in the underground with available retail space in its northern side (Dunn 2004).

The underground spaces that is rented by the Brasserie restaurant, the lobby newsstand, trading floors and twenty four high-speed elevators that are subdivided into a set of floors. Some of the facts about the Solow Building are that it is one of the largest Midtown skyscrapers which has a façade sloping up from the base and that the 9 West chain stores is practically named after the Solow Building^[6].

A part from the mentioned companies and the tenants using the building for commercial purposes, the building also has other services offered within its premises such as accessing data base of the designers, company and project tracking, export data functionality, contact information of the company, customer support that may be troubleshooting and other complimentary research (Bureau of National Affairs 2005).

The Solow Building and the red 9 object are connected such that the red colored sculpture distracts the eyes of the pedestrians or the passersby from noticing the unappealing walls of the historic buildings. The red object was designed by Ivan Chermayeff, a graphic artist in New York City (Edward 2000).

According to the Solow residual value and the production function by Cobb Douglas, the econometric model of building the performance of and industry is established and its quantitative analysis and influencing factors conducted^[7]. The data used for this analysis resulted from the macroeconomic data between 1997 and 2008. The drawn conclusions and results indicate that the production of the industry’s building belongs to the incremental reward type (Chermayeff 2011).

In my economic point of view, the industry’s improvement on the performance may depend on the efficient and adequate investment, continuous scientific progress, appropriate economic reforms, high quality oriented labor force and technological innovations. I also think that the object 9 is a perfect connection with the Solow Building as it not only destructs the viewing of the unappealing walls of the historic buildings, but it’s also scenery on its own^[8].

It’s beautiful and attractive enough to capture the attention of anyone. The position of the red object 9 in the west actually suits its purpose. It is therefore my perception that the building is of high economic importance and scenery as well due to the commercial activities going on within its premises.

Conclusion

In summary, this paper has described the Solow Building and the red object and how the two work together as well as their connection with each other. The functions and the symbolic meaning of the building have been explained too. In the process of learning, I learnt the history of the building and the functions of the offices situated in it. The role of the red object has also been revealed in aid of the historic buildings which have varied implications to the unappealing walls of the previously obscured buildings.

Bibliography

Bureau of National Affairs. Construction Labor Report. New York: Bureau of National Affairs, 2005.

Chermayeff, Ivan. Basic concepts in the identity design. New York: Cengage, 2011.

Dunford, Martin. Rough guide to New York. New York: Springer, 2002.

Dunn, Brian. New York. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Edward, Jefferson. New York Supplement. New York: West Publishing Company, 2000.

West Group. West’s New York Digest: New York: West Publishing Company, 2007.

Footnotes

1. Bureau of National Affairs. Construction Labor Report. New York: Bureau of National Affairs, 2005
2. Chermayeff, Ivan. Basic concepts in the identity design. New York: Cengage, 2011.
3. Dunford, Martin. Rough guide to New York. New York: Springer, 2002.
4. Dunford, Martin. Rough guide to New York. New York: Springer, 2002.
5. West Group. West’s New York Digest: New York: West Publishing Company, 2007.
6. Edward, Jefferson. New York Supplement. New York: West Publishing Company, 2000
7. West Group. West’s New York Digest: New York: West Publishing Company, 2007.
8. West Group. West’s New York Digest: New York: West Publishing Company, 2007.