Nordstrom NYC Flagship

225 W 57th Street, Midtown NYC — Fall 2019

OVERVIEW

Nordstrom was developing a new iconic flagship store close to the converging streets and subways at the South West corner of New York’s Central Park and wanted a design that embodied NYC’s creative convergence of art, culture and fashion. We designed undulating waves of glass that fold the energy of 57th and 58th streets into 7 levels of light-filled flexible space, integrating three additional building spaces along Broadway with fluid forms and a consistent material palette. As you step into each new space, daylight radiates across the finish surfaces, enlivening each visitor's experience with the movement of the sky and pulse of the city.

The central development within the overall retail campus was comprised of 7 floors, 2 below grade and 5 above street level, and these spaces anchored the base of the tallest residential building in New York City. Nordstrom wanted to maximize flexible programming throughout, and encourage vertical movement between all 7 floors, all while navigating sizable structural columns and lateral bracing needed for a 1500’ tower. We initially were asked to design the facade of the building, to create a new iconic identity for Nordstrom’s NYC arrival. We studied layers of light and materials in a vertical orientation at the scale of 1 floor, working to create some visual depth through movable vertical veils, while exploring ways to telegraph daylight as deep into the floor plate as possible. These studies expanded to the full scale of the building along both 57th and 58th Streets, and we worked closely with Adamson Associates Architects and Schlaich Bergermann and Partners to meet the architectural and structural requirements. The glass panels spanned 17.5’ vertically and acted as independent structural elements, requiring early and close collaboration with glass fabricators (Cricursa and Sunglass) and a facade fabricator and installer, Permasteelisa. This initial design effort also required early procurement to maintain the overall project schedule, so advanced document packages were created in close coordination with Extell Development, who managed the construction of the core and shell for Nordstrom.

Once the design was far enough along, it became clear that the light and fluid forms shaping the exterior enclosure should also integrate and guide the interior design. We worked closely with the Nordstrom team and CallisonRTKL to select materials and finishes that brought natural light deep into the footprint of each floor, and oriented materials vertically to encourage people to move by elevator and escalator through the 7 floors. Of particular importance was minimizing the depth of each floor along 57th and 58th Streets and maintaining a 12’ ceiling height throughout the upper floors. The ceilings fold up at the perimeter, and the interior tower columns ascend through an illuminated plane, creating a soft cloud-like expression throughout the store interior.