1271 Avenue of the Americas Plaza, New York City

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1271 Avenue of the Americas (formerly the Time Life Building) is recognized as a Mid-Century-Modern icon in New York City. The set-back building and urban plaza was one of the first of its type in New York City, and the prototype for the subsequent “X,Y and Z” buildings that were part of the expansion of Rockefeller Center in the early 1960’s. This historically significant building and plaza underwent a sensitive and carefully considered program of restoration, modernization and improvement. Ken Smith Workshop was responsible for the renewal of the iconic modern-era urban plaza and streetscape. The urban plaza renovation, while faithful to the original 1959 design concepts, introduced a number of significant improvements and adjustments to the original design.

There were significant design challenges in the renovation of the plaza paving, street trees, and reconfigured water feature. The plaza, with its signature serpentine paving pattern inspired by the sidewalks at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, creates a unique sense of place in the Rockefeller Center district. This project transformed the entire plaza—replacing the original large fountain with smaller-scale elements that are more pedestrian-friendly, and adding a new breezeway connecting Sixth Avenue to the main lobby.

Reconfiguring the front plaza and water feature was the biggest public space challenge. The original plaza fountain was a rectangular pool attached to the face of the tower’s façade. Proportionally this created an awkward plaza space that was neither sidewalk nor configured plaza space. To redress this issue a new stepped feature that combined water fountain element, seating and planting was designed to mediate between the sidewalk and the plaza.