25 New York Design Hot Spots: # 6-11 Architecture

"During my first trip to the city, I was literally deposited in the library by a friend who couldn't take time away from work. My first impression was amazement at the beauty and grand scale of the interiors, the ornamentation, and rich materials. Wandering into the reading room, the sheer size, lighting, chandeliers, green lamps, and contemplative quiet made me realize, ‘Oh my God! I am really in New York.'"


-EJ Lee, principal, Gensler

"The view from Fifth Avenue to the skating rink captures the elegance of the tower, the scale of the promenade, and the surprise of the open space at the end. But for me, the sculpture is one of the last examples of figurative work fully integrated into modern architecture. The balance between the simplicity of the architecture and the animation of the art is perfectly maintained: the sculpture becomes the architecture."

-Barry Svigals, 
managing partner, Svigals + Partners 
Architecture + Art

"Obviously these are out of commission now, but when I worked at Calvin Klein, our corporate travel account was with TWA. And I loved walking on those arched, base-board lit jetways."

-Rafael de Cárdenas, founder, Architecture at Large

"This unique Art Deco space truly transported me to that singular time in history when design and music influenced each other. The measured combination of inventive design, bold detailing, and diverse mixture of materials excites the senses, making the eye wander from the glass planes of the lighting fixtures to the etched designs on the glass doors, the zebra wall treatment, the patterned tiled floor, the shape of the seating booths, the reflection of colors on the mirrors, and on."

-Belen Moneo, principal, Moneo Brock Studio