Masonry Magazine December 1989 Page. 36
Winners In The New York
Worldwide Plaza Commercial
Building & Pavilions
New York City
Sitting majestically on an entire Manhattan block which once gave rise to the Madison Square Garden fan's cheering, the Worldwide Plaza Commercial Building and Pavilion's 47 story office tower is designed in the tradition of New York City's skyscrapers. The multi-use complex, besides the office tower, includes a 38-story apartment tower, low-rise housing, retail space, a parking garage and a public plaza. All the buildings have been sighted and the heights set to make them compatible with the surrounding area, defined by the community scale of Ninth Avenue and the midtown density to the east. The Eighth Avenue office tower, containing approximately 1.5 million square feet, is clad in masonry with clear glass windows, topped by a sloping roof. Successive setbacks modulate the masses of the building. Retail space is located on the building's two lower floors while just to the west of the tower is a plaza which includes a midblock street to break the 800 ft. long block.
The Plaza contains a landscaped space flanked by two garden pavilions. The project's residential portion includes a 38-story apartment tower, several five story buildings and a nine story building with street level retail space. The major material of the complex is light colored masonry suggested by the existing character of the neighborhood.
The Worldwide Plaza complex was designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill with LaSala Industries, Inc., New Rochelle, New York, the mason contractor. Owner is the New York Communications Center Associates.
2nd Annual Masonry Awards Program
The Masonry Institute of New York City & Long Island has selected the Rockefeller Research Laboratories at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center and the Worldwide Plaza Commercial Building and Pavilions as winners in their 2nd Annual Excellence In Masonry Program. The Institute
Upper left-Leon Moed (left), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, accepted the $5,000 check and plaque for the Worldwide Plaza complex. The check was then donated to Long Island University's Zeckendorf Scholarship Fund. Making the presentation is Institute's Anthony J. Zotollo. Upper right-Accepting the plaque for New York Communications Associates, owner of the Worldwide Plaza was Frank Stanton.
Left to right (seated): Arthur Del Salvio and Robert Fioretti, Sal Vio Masons, Inc. and Kenneth LaSala and Anthony LaSala, LaSala Industries, Inc., the award-winning masonry contractors for Rockefeller Research Labs (Sal Vio) and Worldwide Plaza (LaSala) respectively. Standing (left to right): John Loretoni, NYC District Council Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen; Institute Trustee Ralph Perri; Arthur Potterfield, NYC District Council Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen; and Institute Trustee Anthony J. Zotollo.
36 MASONRY-NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1989