Exterior work is making steady progress on the topped-out Gene Kaufman-designed hotel at 305 West 48th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. Located between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, the 303-foot-tall, 27-story tower will contain 211 hotel rooms to help sate the booming demand for lodging in the tourism-heavy Times Square area. Bright Management is listed as the developer and Rockwell Group is in charge of designing the building’s interiors and amenity spaces.
Photos show nearly all the glass on the main southern elevation in place. The last major exterior component left to be completed is the installation of the colorful red and yellow paneling around the corners of the edifice, which is depicted in the main rendering. This unconventional cladding will give the hotel a sense of vibrancy that fits with the energy and eclectic architecture of nearby Times Square.
305 West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
305 West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
305 West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
The floor of the upcoming rooftop lounge can be seen protruding over the edge of the southern profile.
305 West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
305 West 48th Street. Photo by Michael Young
The nearly 73,000-square-foot project will devote 59,000 square feet to hotel rooms. Amenities include a bar and lounge in the cellar, a ground-level rear garden, a second-floor terrace, and a rooftop lounge on the 27th floor. Nearby transit options include the C and E trains at the 50th Street subway station, and the A, C, and E trains and NJ Transit buses at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which also features underground access to the Times Square-42nd Street station, serviced by the 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, and W trains.
A completion date for 305 West 48th Street has not been announced yet, though it’s possible that work could finish before the end of 2020.
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It’s like an unstoppable disease.
Please stop trying to justify Gene’s aesthetic decisions. It does not fit in with the “energy” of the area. It’s garbage with zero aesthetic value.
I agree with your assessment of Gene’s work, but since Michael Young does such a brilliant job documenting works in progress with his photographs, I cannot in any way fault him with a little editorial flourish now and again in his writing; there has to be an upside, somewhere, after all….
Did Gene Kaufman make a deal with the devil? To become the most hired architect in NYC he lost all his creative talent.
Just dreadful. It should be renamed “value Gene-gineering”. He’s a hack.
Let’s see…
Setback
No relation to the neighboring buildings
“Architectural” inspiration from either building blocks or Legos
Minimal design detailing if any
Budget worthy materials
Rooftop bar or lounge
It’s either a KAUFMAN or a CHANG!
See how easy it will be to find these examples of “CRAPITECTURE”!
?
If that building was a newborn baby, the doctor would slap the mother.
Why is YIMBY suddenly a Kaufman apologist? Nothing about this design – or any of the dozens of his other abominations – has “vibrancy” or “fits” with anything. BE GONE!
It is wonderfully done in the shapes and glass, but the red and yellow panels just look way to colorful for what it is.
I think some darker or nougat colors would’ve been a lot more architecturally pleasing.