Skyscraper Under Construction, 270 Park Ave, NYC, 2021.
All the pixels, probably over-budget, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51382836481
#photography
Captured with the Phase One IQ4-150 Achromatic back and the Rodenstock 138mm/6.5 HR Digaron-SW lens, which, unusually for large format lenses, employs a floating element integrated into the focusing helical.
This photo is a literal image of a construction site (to become the new JP Morgan building), but also an exercise in abstract precisionism and cubism. We see the new skyscraper, and the buildings in the background, essentially as a Mondrian-esq deconstructed tangle of lines and rectangles.
The skyscrapers along Park Avenue in the 40’s and lower 50’s are all minor engineering marvels. They’re built atop the rail yard for Grand Central Terminal (an early adopter of the modern real estate concept of “air rights”). Many of the newer buildings are much taller than was anticipated when the terminal was constructed more than a century ago. This heavily constrains their foundations and anchor points, leading to unusual load-bearing designs such as the steelwork shown in the photo.
@mattblaze@federate.social I always assumed those buildings were just Transformers that got tired and sat down on Manhattan, and might at some point wake up and leave Earth.
@mattblaze@federate.social Thanks for saying this! I was struck by the odd looking steelwork, but didn’t have that context.
@mattblaze@federate.social I love architecture. I now live in Barcelona (formerly in NYC for many years, and marvel at the architecture here.
Yesterday I had a meeting in Casa Sayrach.
@obrien_kat@mastodon.world Barcelona is so consistently and uniquely beautiful!
@mattblaze@federate.social indeed it is ☺️
@mattblaze@federate.social that is so freaking cool
