LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL

CONSTRUCTED 1952, CURTAIN WALL RESTORED 2002 LIZ KUTSCHKE & LAUREN ALVAREZ

ORIGINAL OFFICE SPACE IN TOWER

CURTAIN WALL AS CONSTRUCTED 1952

UPDATED LOBBY IN 2003

VIEW FROM PLAZA LEVEL THROUGH COURTYARD RESTORED CURTAIN WALL

LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL

THIS MODEL DEMONSTRATES THE BASIC STRUCTURAL SYSTEM OF THE LEVER HOUSE. THE SYSTEM
CONSISTS OF A STEEL FRAME, METAL DECK FLOORS, AND CONCRETE CORES. THE CORES, WHICH STABILIZE
THE BUILDING AGAINST LATERAL FORCES, ARE LOCATED ON ONE SIDE OF THE BUILDING. THIS CREATES
AN UNBALANCED SYSTEM, WHICH IS COMPENSATED FOR BY MOMENT CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STEEL
MEMBERS. THIS ALLOWS THE STEEL STRUCTURE TO CARRY GRAVITY LOADS AND RESIST LATERAL LOADS.

BECAUSE OF THE MINIMAL DIMENSIONS OF THE STEEL STRUCTURAL SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL WIRING AND
PIPES ARE INTEGRATED INTO THE CELLULAR METAL FLOOR DECK AND LARGER ELEMENTS ARE HUNG BELOW
THE DECK AND CONCEALED BY A SUSPENDED CEILING.

PLAZA LEVEL PLAN WITH SYSTEMS FIRST LEVEL PLAN WITH SYSTEMS SECOND LEVEL PLAN WITH SYSTEMS

CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING

CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING
STRUCTURE PLUMBING
CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING STRUCTURE PLUMBING
KEY
STRUCTURE PLUMBING DROP CEILING BELOW
PLENUM SPACE HOUSING

CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING VENTS, RETURNS, AND

RECESSED LIGHTING

STRUCTURE PLUMBING

COURTYARD GROUND LEVEL GROUND LEVEL

BASIC SYSTEMS LAYOUTS FLOOR TO FLOOR SECTION WITH SYSTEMS BUILDING SECTION WITH SYSTEMS TYPICAL TOWER PLAN WITH SYSTEMS SKETCH MODEL
CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING
CIRCULATION ENVELOPE LIGHTING
STRUCTURE PLUMBING
STRUCTURE PLUMBING
 LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL

TOP THREE FLOORS OF TOWER

CONTINUOUS FACADE HOUSE MECHANICAL SPACE
WITH EVAPORATION UNITS
AND COOLING TOWERS. THIS
LOCATION SATISFIES THE
REQUIREMENTS OF FRESH AIR
AND HEADROOM FOR THE A/C
PLANT.
THE FACADE IS CONTINUOUS THIS EDGE HELPS
OVER THESE THREE FLOORS, PREVENT WATER FROM
WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANGE ENTERING THE ACTUAL
IN GLASS PATTERN TO HINT AT POINT OF CONNECTION
PROGRAM SPACE THE PROGRAM CHANGE. TO THE GLASS BY
REDIRECTING IT
DOWNWARD.
INTEGRATION OF
STRUCTURE AND THE SLOT TO THE RIGHT
FACADE CHANGES ALLOWS FOR
BETWEEN THE TOP CONDENSATION FROM
LEVEL OF THE PODIUM INSIDE THE WALL TO
AND THE BOTTOM LEVEL ESCAPE INSTEAD OF
OF THE TOWER. AT THE COLLECTING AND
TOP OF THE PODIUM, AFFECTING THE STEEL.
THE CURTAIN WALL
THE CORES OF THE BUILDING MOVES INSIDE THE
ARE CENTRALLY LOCATED AT COLUMNS TO VISUALLY
THE GROUND LEVEL, WHERE SEPARATE THE TOWER,
THE FLOORPLATE IS AND GIVE THE
LARGEST, BUT ARE APPEARANCE OF A
ORIENTED MORE TO ONE LIGHT AND FLOATING THE ORIGINAL STEEL
SIDE AT THE TOWER, MASS. IN THE TOWER USED FOR THE
WHERE THE FLOORPLATE FLOORS, THE COLUMNS CURTAIN WALL
IS SMALLEST. ARE MOVED INSIDE THE EVENTUALLY RUSTED
CURTAIN WALL TO AND CAUSED
ENHANCE THE SHIFTING IN THE
SEAMLESS AND THIN GLASS OF THE
APPEARANCE OF THE CURTAIN WALL. IT
CURTAIN WALL. THIS WAS THEN REPLACED
INTEGRATION IS BASED IN 2002.
IN AESTHETIC INTENT.

INTEGRATION - BUILDING SCALE INTEGRATION - ROOM

INTEGRATION - ROOM SCALESCALE
INTEGRATION - BUILDING SCALE
LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL

RECESSED LIGHTING, AS WELL AS THE DUCT SYSTEM, IS RUN THROUGH SYSTEMS

CURTAIN WALL MULLION ASSEMBLY ABOVE THE DROP CEILING. THIS IN PARTICULAR IS THE RECESSED LIGHTING WIRING.
VISION GLASS The Lever House is known as the first skyscraper building to ever use a curtain wall design.
However, the Lever House was not the first time Bunshaft and SOM used some of the concept ideas
that went into the design of the New York Building. In the 1939 Venezuelan Pavilion for the World’s
SPANDREL GLASS Fair, Bunshaft toyed with the idea of creating a space with enormous amounts of transparency. While
not nearly to the scale of the Lever House, the Venezuelan Pavilion also exhibited glass walls, and a
ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION sense of transparency present in the office spaces of the Lever House. Shortly before the construction
of the Lever House, Bunshaft met with Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and discussed ideas for ideal spaces.
It is no surprise that very shortly after the Lever House was built, the Seagram was constructed in a
similar manner exactly kiddie-corner from its lot.

The curtain wall construction worked quite well, in theory, but the building unfortunately did
end up having some complications due to its construction over its lifetime. The sealants used between
FIRE BLOCK WALLS SIT APPROXIMATELY 3” the spaces in the glass wall were unfortunately not quite up to the challenge needed in order to keep
BEHIND THE SPANDREL PANELS. THIS SPACE the steel supports dry. As a result, the steel bars rusted, expanding and popping out some of the
SERVES SEVERAL FUNCTIONS: DISSAPPATE windows of the building. After the building was resold in 2002, the new owners put in the money to
HEAT TO AVOID HEAT BUILD UP IN GLASS, have the curtain wall re-done. Fortunately, with the advancements in technology at this point, the wall
HIDE FLOOR SLABS, HIDE RADIATORS, HIDE was successfully recreated.
SUSPENDED CEILING WITH MECHANICAL
AND ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS Other factors involved in the Lever House’s construction included the placement of the
mechanical spaces and circulation cores. Because Bunshaft sought to utilize as much sunlight within
the office spaces as possible, the cores were located to the northwest side of the building. This is also
the only wall of the building not constructed with glass curtain wall. This particular portion of the
building is the strongest because of this, but Bunshaft chose to focus primarily on the aesthetics and
the experience of the building as opposed to making it the most structurally efficient. The columns
placed throughout the building help to support it at its more vulnerable state, and the beams placed
above the drop ceiling help to distribute the load evenly throughout these columns. The cores
themselves are effectively located close to the center of the building at the lower levels, and are more
located toward one end throughout the tower, due to the small size of the floor plates as one goes up.
The very top three floors are also mechanical spaces, serving the entire building as well.

In these top three floors are cooling towers and various other HVAC functions. The air from
these towers is dispersed through large ducts located at the top of the building’s drop ceiling. The
wiring for the recessed lighting as well as other electronics is also run above the drop ceiling, giving
SUSPENDED CEILING WITH VENTS, RETURNS AND the office spaces a clean and clear look.
RECESSED LIGHTING

DROP CEILING PANELS HIDE THE ENTIRE SYSTEM, GIVING

INTEGRATION - DETAIL SCALE
THE ACTUAL OFFICE SPACES A CLEAN LOOK.
ADDITIONAL WIRES ARE RUN THROUGH THE BEAMS IN
THE CEILING AS WELL.

INTEGRATION - DETAIL SCALE

LEVER HOUSE - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
GORDON BUNSHAFT WITH SKIDMORE, OWINGS, AND MERRIL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Nicholas. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill: SOM since 1936. Milan: Electa Architecture ;, 2007. Print.

Adams, Nicholas. "How the Leopard Got Its Spots: Lever House as a Skyscraper." SOM Journal 7 (2010):
177-86. Print.

Danz, Ernst, and Ernst Haagen. Architecture of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 1950-1962. London:
Architectural, 1963. Print.

"Exterior Enclosure Replacement." SOM Journal 3 (2003): 91-99. Print.

Lonsway, Brian, Amira Joelson, Melanie Loui, and David Williams. "Lever House - Technical Report."
Columbia University. 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/bt/lever/report.html>.

Woodward, Christopher. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill;. London: Thames & Hudson, 1970. Print.