MoMA's 53 West 53

A Provocative and Masterful Design Leverages 45 Shades of Sherwin-Williams Fluropon on MoMA’s 53 West 53 

When admiring the skyline of Manhattan, a handful of buildings tend to stand out from the others such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Towering 1,050 feet over the Museum of Modern Art, 53 West 53 is the latest addition to the skyline to capture the attention of sightseers. As the building reaches a unique spire, its elegant silhouette tapers as its peak soars. With several diagonal metal beams streaking across the glass façade, the building reflects the creativity and inspiration of the art displayed in the museum 77 stories below.

Constructed by Hines, along with partners Goldman Sachs Real Estate Principal Investment Area and Pontiac Land Group of Singapore, 53 West 53 has been claimed to be one of the most recent exciting additions to Manhattan skyline. As part of a new integration into MoMA’s urban campus, three new gallery levels will be created within the base of the building.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, 53 West 53 is now the seventh tallest building in the city. The building's multiple tapered surfaces create a unique silhouette—a nod to the classic towers that shaped the New York skyline and an architype for skyscrapers of the future. The tower draws its shape from the desire for more daylight in the streets. The narrow triangular top section is putting its unusually thin silhouette to good purposes. This tower is a monument to the rules of shadow and light, and to the forces of the wind.

With more than 505,568-square-feet, the tower houses 162 high-end condominium residences, designed by noted architect Thierry Despont. Along with stunning views of New York City and Central Park, residents also receive spectacular in-house services and amenities such as a high-performance fitness facility, 65-foot lap pool, golf simulator, access to the museum and full-time concierge service.

The service and support from Sherwin-Williams helped to provide and perfectly match dozens of colors to accomplish the gradient transformation of each apex. It took 400 semi-truck loads to deliver the thousands of aluminum panels sprayed with Fluropon in varying colors from Texas to New York.

“In my 35 years of metal construction, we have never used this amount of colors for one project,” said Bob Baker, plant manager, Baker Metal Products, Inc. “The entire team worked tirelessly to test every color to ensure each was exactly what Mr. Nouvel had conceptualized.”

Along with providing tremendous resistant to the enduring weather conditions of New York, Sherwin-Williams’ Fluropon coating was chosen based on the difficulty of providing and perfectly matching several dozen colors to create the gradient transformation of each apex. The Fluropon finish will uphold its integrity for years to come.

“We often call these types of buildings, monumental in our business,” said Jeff Alexander, VP of Sales for Sherwin-Williams Coil and Extrusion Coatings.  “In this particular project that is an understatement.  Not only is the building monumental, but the effort to meet the architect’s vision while delivering on what Texas Finishing needed, was a monumental task.  Our color and coating selection proved to be up to the task and it’s a certainly a signature building that brings even more vibrancy to the famed New York skyline.