7 Bryant Park

The site, between West 39th and 40th Streets, is that of the former 1045 Sixth Avenue, the New York headquarters of the textile maker Milliken & Co. In 2009, once that building had been torn down, its owner, Pacolet Milliken, brought in Hines as development manager; two years later Hines signed a 150-year ground lease on the lot and became developer and managing partner. The idea for the tower took shape in 2010, in the wake of the real-estate crash, and it was built without a tenant lined up.

That year Henry N. Cobb, the developer Gerald D. Hines and the textile magnate Roger Milliken, aged 85, 85 and 95, raised a glass to the future of the lot at a dinner; Milliken died the same year. A zoning rule required the facade to set back at 150 feet; Hines bought unused development rights from the neighbouring Spring Mills building, adding about 60,000 square feet of buildable area and five storeys, and giving the tower a better ratio between podium and shaft.

In July 2015 the tower's opening was announced for the end of the summer. Bank of China became its owner for nearly $600 million and planned to occupy about 60 per cent of it, including the ground-floor branch; Pei Cobb Freed had already designed the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. In 2016 ENR New York named 7 Bryant Park its project of the year. The Natural Stone Institute gave the lobby a Tucker Design Award for its use of stone, and later gave the firm its Grande Pinnacle Award for the building.

The tower has 30 storeys, about 470,000 square feet (43,700 m2) and stands 450 feet (137 m) high. A rectangular podium carries a set-back rectangular tower, within the envelope set by zoning. To face the park, the architects carved out the north-east corner: two cones, one pointing up and the other down, touch at their tips at the setback level, like an hourglass. Yvonne Szeto explains that the gesture had to be made at the corner facing the park, without wasting floor area on the floor plate.

The curtain wall uses glass panels of about 10 feet by 10 feet instead of the usual 10 by 5, to open a wider panorama over the park, separated by satin stainless-steel spandrels 4 feet high. At the foot of the curved corner, a round steel canopy 46 feet across shelters a public space facing the park.

In the lobby the facade motifs return: carved limestone panels shaped as conoids line the walls, triangles of marble and granite decorate the floor, and a water feature and a living wall link the space to the park. The setback of the facade leaves room for two outdoor terraces turned toward the park. The building is LEED Gold certified.

The curved corner, facing Bryant Park where 40th Street meets the Avenue of the Americas, can be seen from the park and from the street; at its base the round canopy shelters a public space.