1290 Avenue of the Americas

Lobby entries have become a major focus for property owners renovating older buildings in New York City. This lobby façade was envisioned to have unidirectional tension-net supported glass above an extraordinarily slim portal frame.

TriPyramid Stuctures collaborated with the architect and glazing contractor to develop details for the rods, rod connection hardware and large-scale portals. The portal frame geometry was optimized to maximize visual slenderness and maintain strength, but extremely tight tolerances were required to ensure easy installation of the rod termination hardware. Each frame member was cut from 16-inch wide, 3-inch thick stainless steel plate, and the full frame was welded completely before finishing to achieve dimensional stability. The full penetration welds were located such that there was no visible trace after machining and finishing, leaving the impression of a continuous ribbon of stainless steel. The glass and glass standoff assemblies were provided by W&W Glass.