Update: Earlier today, the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects issued a statement expressing concern over plans to tear down the SOM-designed Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue. In the statement, AIANY acknowledges that the recent news surrounding the building has led to an increased awareness of the International Style but is quick to note that should the building come down, it will set a terrible precedent. The structure was awarded the highest-possible LEED rating just six years ago in 2012, and "without a better understanding of how it will be dismantled and what is going to replace it, demolishing such a recently renovated green building, particularly one as prominent as 270 Park Avenue, implies that sustainable design is a low priority."
AIANY's statement also points out the harmful side effects that would result from razing the building, which the organization outlined in its recent Zero Waste Design Guidelines. Construction and demolition waste is often polluted with paint, adhesives, and fasteners, and it accounts for between 25 and 45 percent of the solid-waste stream nationwide. "Demolition of 270 Park Avenue would represent a shift away from the values of sustainability and responsibility in building design, which are championed by architects in New York and beyond."
As a solution, the AIANY chapter offers itself to JPMorgan Chase and elected officials as a resource for finding a solution that benefits all parties, while minimizing the environmental impact of demolition. "As architects, we strongly believe in new and innovative design, but also recognize the value of historically influential architecture and champion sustainability."
Architecture buffs and preservationists have been tweeting up a storm recently, and for good reason: Last week, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Union Carbide Building, designed by SOM in 1960, will be torn down. The 707-foot-tall building, located at 270 Park Avenue, currently serves as the headquarters for JP Morgan Chase Bank, who are tearing down the modern architectural gem to make way for a taller skyscraper—492 feet taller to be exact. As it stands, the current building can only accommodate 6,000 employees, while its replacement will have room for 15,000. Demolition is slated to begin in early 2019; if all goes according to plan, the Union Carbide Building will be the world's largest structure to have been voluntarily torn down.
"I am speechless," tweeted architecture critic Paul Goldberger. "Under the radar, JPMorganChase develops a plan to demolish SOM's UnionCarbide, a deserving 1960's landmark, and build new. Most postwar Park Ave is junk, and they want to demolish one of its greatest bldgs bc new zoning allows bigger [sic]."
The building's location falls within the Grand Central District, which recently changed its zoning laws in an effort to encourage the development of taller, more modern skyscrapers that would, in turn, ensure that Midtown East remains a bustling business district. “With a new headquarters at 270 Park Ave.,” the bank’s chairman and chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said in a statement, “we are recommitting ourselves to New York City while also ensuring that we operate in a highly efficient and world-class environment for the 21st century.” Once the demolition is complete, the building—with its steel construction wrapped in glass and support columns that lift up the ground floor—will have stood for just over 60 years. In 2011, it completed extensive renovations that granted it a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
It's important to note that this building was designed by one of the few leading female architects at the time: Natalie de Blois. Gordon Bunshaft is also credited as part of the design team, but in reality, de Blois did most of the work (for which Bunshaft took credit). De Blois designed the building in the International Style, an offshoot of modernist architecture that eschewed ornamentation and favored architectural transparency, shortly after Mies van der Rohe erected the Seagram Building, an exemplar of the style, a few blocks to the north. "To demolish one of the peaks of modernist architecture in the name of modernity is obscene," writes critic Justin Davidson. "A sign that you consider your city disposable."
