Plenty of Sparkle Gives Westin New York at Times Square Extra Flair

There’s plenty of sparkle in the new Westin New York at Times Square hotel. There’s glass and metal that reflects the bold, imaginative design of the structure itself and the adjacent retail/entertainment complex dubbed E Walk®. This new Westin hotel even illuminates the night with a beam of light that arches through the 45-story glass prism and beyond. The glittering facade on this $300-million project features 8,000 sheets of glass in ten colors.

The shining metal on the low-rise portion of this magnificent structure includes 40,000 sq. ft. of 4mm Alucobond® Plus material in six custom colors of high-gloss fluoropolymer: E Walk® Bronze, Rich Pale Gold, Firelining, Antique Brass, Westin Copper and Antique Westin Copper. Panels were fabricated to be rectangular and run at an angle across the building. A single, fabricated panel may consist of as many as four fabricated panels of different colors.

Two of the four walls of the low-rise portion are sloping. “The only way to achieve this fabrication was to create a 3-D model and do the plotting and cutting with CNC equipment,” said Vlad Sobot of Sobotec Ltd., the Canadian fabricator and distributor.

Panels were applied to the exterior from level 5 (on two elevations) to level 17, and were attached with the Sobotec SL1000 System, a rout & return caulked system. The cladding installer was Permasteelisa, through its sub-contractor Tower Installation. The stud wall to support the Alucobond panels was also engineered by Permasteelisa. Alucobond Plus material is an aluminum composite material (ACM) that consists of two sheets of .02” aluminum bonded to a thermoplastic core. A stainless-steel and red-neon marquee highlight the entrance, along with a carpet of red light and illuminated Westin logos.

Developed, built, owned and asset managed by affiliates of Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc., and Tishman Hotel Corporation, the 863-room hotel is located at 43rd Street and 8th Avenue. The hotel opened October 18, 2002, operated by Westin Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT), under the Westin brand.

“The Westin New York at Times Square is destined to become a landmark in a city known for efficiency, glamour and drama,” said David Sargent, director of sales and marketing for The Westin New York at Times Square. “It’s the crowning accent to the renaissance of Times Square.”

Design architect for the project was Arquitectonica; HKS served as production architect. In documenting the evolution of the project, Arquitectonica principal Bernardo Fort-Brescia states, “The challenge was designing a large structure with a multiple use program within the confines of the narrow block in New York.” Arquitectonica studied the evolution of the New York skyscraper “to move forward to a next generation” and studied the history of 42nd Street. “The role of the billboard, the theater marquee and the pedestrian experience were studied.” The studies, that included “the possibilities of introducing a sculptural profile within the rectangular prism,” were discussed in workshops with the developer.

The low-rise portion of the hotel, dubbed the “rock,” is approximately 10 stories “shaped in a jagged rocklike form,” that serves as “mediator between the giant scale of the tower and the familiar scale of the retail podium.” This retail podium was designed by architects D’Agostino Izzo & Quirk of Boston.

The Westin New York was named the 2002 Hospitality Project of the Year by New York Construction News and was chosen to grace the cover of the January issue of Lodging Hospitality. It also was named New Development Project of the Year at America’s Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS).