Artfully dancing together to the beat of their own drum, the familiar look of the New York skyline has now been broken up by an eye-catching pair of skyscrapers on the banks of the East River. The dual copper-clad residential towers are reminiscent of a couple dancing, leaning back slightly and linked together by a bridge with a metallic reflecting finish half-way up the tower. The glass for the 100-meter-high skybridge for this extraordinary project was created by the Swiss specialists Glas Trösch which developed a complex, double-insulating glass with an internally laminated, metallic web to give a glossy finish.
The design of the American Copper Buildings overcame the challenges posed by development and zoning plans, which helped to determine the layout and architectural volumes. This makes the end result all the more impressive: New York firm SHoP Architects has created a distinctive building complex for developer JDS that stands out both in its material choice and shape—even in a city as architecturally distinctive as New York. The central design element is the Skybridge, which goes beyond a purely aesthetic function as it links the utilities of both towers and is integrated into the structure’s static design.