GREEN & BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE
550 MADISON AVENUE GARDEN
The opening of the Garden, the first new green space in Midtown in decades, comes as Olayan completes the repositioning of the iconic 550 Madison Avenue office tower, New York City’ s youngest landmark. Snøhetta served as design architect for the repositioning of the tower as well as landscape architect for the new Garden.
Designed by Snøhetta, the Garden is located adjacent to 550 Madison in the location of a formerly enclosed mid-block passageway. The garden is substantially larger than other local public spaces, and welcomes area workers, residents, and visitors with abundant seating, 48 trees, 200 shrubs, 6,300 bulb plants, 10,000 herbaceous understory plants, gender inclusive public restrooms, and three kiosks with food and beverage offerings
Craig Dykers, Snøhetta Founding Partner, said,“ 550 Madison builds on a series of projects in Midtown, including our work in Times Square and the observatory we designed at One Vanderbilt, that infuse the public realm with a sense of openness, wonder, and freedom. Like many New Yorkers, we yearn to connect with the outdoors, and this collaboration with Olayan offered our team an opportunity to reposition the heroic 550 Madison tower for a new age while reestablishing how the tower meets the city.”“ Snøhetta’ s design for the new garden transforms the streets surrounding the iconic 550 Madison building into an accessible, lavishly vegetated, and highly visible public space. A new lobby window and redesigned storefronts honor Philip Johnson’ s original design. We are honored to help return this important part of Midtown to its visitors while contributing to the celebrated vibrancy of New York City,” added Michelle Delk, Partner and Landscape Architect, Snøhetta.
“ The half-acre Garden at 550 Madison is a welcoming new green space, offering a lush and elegant environment at the center of New York City,” explained Erik Horvat, Managing Director of Real Estate at Olayan America.“ The garden’ s cutting-edge design and meticulous maintenance positions it among the most beautiful public spaces in the city, while providing a dynamic amenity to tenants of 550 Madison.”
Built around a tranquil water feature and five sections centered on different focal structures, the 21,300-square-foot garden is nearly twice the size of a previous public space in the same location. The garden’ s bloom calendar is carefully timed for plant species to offer a wide range of colorful hues, from pink to purple, blue, and yellow, at different blooming dates from February to October each year.
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