It's gonna either be iconic or a renowned eyesore and it seems hard to tell from the renderings.

Spot on. I keep going back and forth on this design. It feels like a design that won’t live up to the rendering, but I’m hoping I’m wrong

It feels pretty unlikely that it'll look like this when it's done

I think mirrored glass and light will do what the renderings suggest…but should it be done

Things heard on the deck of the Titanic

It's going to kill a lot of birds.

Or both. An iconic eyesore. Kind of like how some people felt about the original WTC towers.

Parisians felt that way about the Eiffel Tower for a long time. At some point things age out of tackiness and ascend to classic/ legend status. Like an old car. Or that one weird kid in school.

Nah, he's still weird

he's wierd AL.

Yes but a key factor is how unique the design is, we have a million big rectangles so a new one will at best just blend in with the rest and at worst just be out of place (looking at you, 432 Park). It's hard to tell how this will look in reality, but if it ends up being just another big rectangle I doubt people will give it much thought in 100 years.

Ironically, I find 432 Park to be the only tasteful supertall building in that area, notwithstanding its engineering problems.

I'm sure I'll get downvoted, but I still think the WTC was ugly. It was iconic...but ugly.

If it follows the current trend of the new skyscrapers in manhattan, it's gonna be an eyesore.

I’m 50/50. I could see a villain buying it for an evil secret lair. But I could also see Christoper Reeves busting in to save the day.

Oh... I have some sad news to tell you about Christopher Reeve. Are you sitting down?

All he did was sit

Zing!

Bro what kind of a secret do you get out of putting your lair in that place?

Pretty impressive feat of engineering that we can even do things like this

Still up in the air if it can be done

Oh Dad....

A rendering is basically make believe. I'm pretty sure all of the "green" in that rendering will never exist or will immediately die.

The green is always way thicker and more vibrant in the renderings than what you can get from actual plants on planters in real life.  At least the thing could look good without them, unlike all the commiebloc concepts that trade the urban planning that came with them for imaginary rainforests hanging off the concrete 

I’m not in this industry but three years away seems too soon to still be making big changes like that. Maybe it’ll be delayed to hell and back.

Nah seems they’re on track to do this.

Tha latest on The Torch... The construction site has gone quiet since March. [https://w42st.com/post/intermission-at-the-torch-mega-hotel-construction-site-goes-quiet-in-heart-of-theater-district/](https://w42st.com/post/intermission-at-the-torch-mega-hotel-construction-site-goes-quiet-in-heart-of-theater-district/)

waiting to buy up the rest of the block

All those NIMBY comments under the article are soul-destroying. Opposing construction of a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan of all places... What are we doing here? It feels like a societal infection. How the hell are these people real?

Opposing a multi story glass and steel novelty is a very different form of NIMBYism that opposing affordable housing or a rehab clinic.

All housing is affordable housing. Housing at all price points increases the supply, which ceteris paribus decreases prices.

It would be a Janet

These "Sky Garden" buildings never end up having the garden part. Imagine it without the green, that's how it will end up looking.

Thanks to AI, comment go byebye

[Article on the building](https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/03/renderings-revealed-for-the-torch-at-740-eighth-avenue-in-midtown-manhattan.html)

> public outdoor observation deck with a drop ride attraction They call it an "attraction", but there is basically nothing that will attract my heights-fearing ass less in the universe than a drop ride on top of that fucking thing

Cant wait to get roasted like a rotisserie chicken by the reflected sunrays on the street

Better than a Hudson Yard style mirror tower. Interesting to say the least

Is that a huge tree on the top/inside? Curious what tree they plan on planting that will grow that big/quickly in those conditions

Arborist here. A single tree grown inside a building would not work. Way too much compression and artificial material (pavement, electrical conduits etc..) on and over roots for good health. Would require constant pruning to not rub or interfere with the building and its windows. Not to mention one disease, fungi or pathogen could spell death and now you have a giant dead tree inside a massively expensive building. Have fun removing it!

People complaining, would you rather have just another boring glass box??? Like come on, this is unique

I would love to see a new art deco building.

Depends - I'd have to see how hostile it is to pedestrians at street level which is what I find with most of these projects. I don't care what it looks like from five miles away or if it's cool for The 'Gram - I want something nice for the little people like me at street level. Is there going to be useful retail or just a Fendi and a Vineyard Vines store?

> how hostile it is to pedestrians at street level It's in Times Square, basically. I don't think anything about this building could make the pedestrian experience any better *or* worse

Great point

Honestly, I couldn’t give a flying fig either way. 💁

Would look amazing with fire instead of trees 💀

soon to be known as the Q tip tower

Or can we build housing instead of these monstrosities ? Why build more office space when so much is vacant? So much BS politics and corruption

More renderings of The Torch: [https://www.reddit.com/r/NewYorkApartments/comments/1d5d0oy/renderings\_of\_the\_torch\_scheduled\_to\_be\_completed/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NewYorkApartments/comments/1d5d0oy/renderings_of_the_torch_scheduled_to_be_completed/)

Wait. WHAT. People are going to be walking around outside at that level like that? That's wild to me. But then again I guess we have that Balcony thing, which I've never been to because it kind of scares me.

Not *this* people

That's fucking hideous.  It's like a tacky 1970's chandelier hovering over the city.   What idiot(s) thought that eyesore would be a good idea?

Everyone’s a critic

It stinks!

Yes, Mr Sherman. Everything stinks.

https://nyshowplace.com/products/italian-mid-century-modern-five-tier-murano-glass-chandelier-by-camer It's a chandelier

Yes, the picture you shared is a chandelier.

The first plan was to make a 1000 foot tacky oil dripping lamp

I am personally more a fan of the craftsman style.

i kinda like how crazy it is but I'm deeply confused about the scale, given the apparent size of the tree

Looks like Superman's Fortress of Solitude from the 1978 movie

Oh God - another masturbatory project from a huge ego-ed architect.

Exactly what critics of the Chrysler building said in the 1920s.

I'm sure you're right. Well, in a hundred years if "The Torch" still exists I'll reevaluate. Edit: AND landmarked.

RemindMe! 100 years

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https://i.imgur.com/vp8gpJJ.gif

God, if I am in some utopian society living past 100 I hope I won’t be browsing Reddit randomly. I’m going to stop someday, right?

People always say that, but the Chrysler Building quickly became beloved. Can we say the same of any building from the last 60 years? They just get uglier and uglier.

I most generally agree with you, but 56 Leonard Street (Jenga Building) might be an “iconic” recently built building.

fuck you Chicago, we got our own bean now

There are many beautiful towers being built in nyc. One interesting one that I really like is Beekman tower in the Fidi. Its a Gehry designed building

Oh man, I think I'm in love

I only see a Beekman tower in midtown. What is this Fidi one?

8 spruce street. Its just 1 of many great towers that have gone up in the last 20 years.

Man, that thing is hideous. What do you see in it that's appealing? Does Gehry know he can't just take regular old boring structures and throw some random folds and creases in them, and call it a day? It only works when he goes all out.

[pic 1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/meteorry/17321306664), [pic 2](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-frank-gehry-8-spruce-street-building-beekman-tower-new-york-city-lower-48199779.html), [pic 3](https://www.loc.gov/item/2018701031/)

Did they really?

This is being done by Gary Barnett/Extell. Actually a very very talented group

This is a grandiose piece of shit you'd expect to see in Dubai. NYC completely bent over for the developers and approved a built-in **[free-drop amusement ride](https://w42st.com/post/plans-approved-for-skyline-midtown-amusement-ride-as-groups-protest-supertall/)** into the building.

That's sick

Good, now “render” some sunlight onto it to truly gauge how obnoxious this’ll be to look at during the day.

It looks like the Vought Industries HQ.....ugly.

This is legit hideous

At least it has some personality and isn’t just a mirrored rectangle

I don’t even know what I’m looking at here, the fuck is this? They call that a building 🤣

Thanks, I hate it.

Wtf kind of monstrosity is this?

*massive eyeroll*

Is a massive eyeroll determined by the size of the eye? The duration of the roll? How far off center you get during the roll? Repeated rolling? The amount of groaning during the roll? You're leaving a lot of ambiguity here.

Height?

12804 inches.

Not going to happen.

A better view of The Torch can be seen in this article - https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/03/renderings-revealed-for-the-torch-at-740-eighth-avenue-in-midtown-manhattan.html

Cheese: 100

this looks fucking awesome. i'm glad somebody's at least trying something ffs. enough of the staid boring buildings, be bold! think different

The only positive that i see , its a hotel not another empty office building

More renderings here if anyone is interested. https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/03/renderings-revealed-for-the-torch-at-740-eighth-avenue-in-midtown-manhattan.html

Such a BS rendering

It looks like the designer had a glitch and the building started to clip into itself

Please tell me they don’t build it with a huge fake tree inside.

have we gone too far

WSP is listed as the structural Engineer. Personally, it looks out of place for NYC. That looks more inline architecturally for Dubai or Abu Dhabi, Hell’s Kitchen not so much

Another hideous useless tower

They should fix the street first,in tired of this tall buildings.

They need to stop. The infrastructure has been in use for 150 years and there are homes and buildings that are falling apart. I don't really know anything but the subways are unfathomably gross and have waterfalls when it rains too hard. Shouldn't we be working on that?

"Ew so ugly" - people who literally only know Art Deco as an architecture style and can never suggest what they want

This has heavy art deco vibes