A new attraction opened to the public on Thursday in the new One Vanderbilt tower in the heart of Manhattan. A few lucky ones were able to test “Air”, an installation made of glass plates and mirrors 300 m above the void in New York’s fourth tallest skyscraper.
The immersive attraction was created by artist Kenzo Digital. An elevator takes tourists up in forty-two seconds and then offers them a breathtaking view of the New York Island framed by the East River and the Hudson. There, visitors stroll over three floors in a sort of giant all-glass observatory, “Summit One Vanderbilt”, offering an extraordinary spectacle.
.@KenzoDigital invites you to escape in his new work “AIR” located in the heart of New York 🗽
The American artist took his place in the One Vanderbilt building to place thousands of mirrors from the 91 to the 93rd floor. Open scheduled for October 21. pic.twitter.com/FdbTwupNMx– ThirtyThreeDegres (@ 33Degres) October 19, 2021
“Thinking about the relationship” with the city
The experience “changes the perception of space and plunges the visitor into a halo of silhouettes and skyscrapers,” Kenzo Digital explained of his work. For one of the visitors handpicked to visit the attraction before its opening this Thursday, the experience allows “to think about the relationship that everyone forges with the city”.
Located at the corner of the famous 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, the eponymous tower was designed by the firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. Built between 2016 and 2019, it opened in September 2020. It is 397 m (427 m with its spire) and is therefore the fourth tallest tower in New York behind One World Trade Center, on the site of the 11- September, the residential towers of the Central Park Tower complex and the 111 skyscraper on 57th Street.
