On June 18, 2022, the AIANY Women in Architecture Committee hosted a tour of the award winning, LEED Platinum, WELL Platinum One Vanderbilt tower. We were honored to have the tour led by KPF women leaders Darina Zlateva, AIA, Design Director and Senior Designer; Rebecca Kent, AIA, Associate Principal and Designer; and Nicole McGlinn-Morrison, AIA, Senior Associate Principal and Job Captain.

The tour began in the public entrance plaza where the tour guides shared about the history and beginnings of the One Vanderbilt project, the building operations, and an overview of the complex approvals process. We then visited the Transit Hall, Vanderbilt Lobby, Madison Lobby, Le Pavilion Restaurant, The Vandy Club Amenity Floor, a vacant unfinished floor and the SL Green NW Altus Suite pre-build. We learned about the complexity of the below grade connections to the transit hub and the secret family bathroom two levels below the plaza!  Especially inspiring was hearing about the design process, materials and art selection and rigorous benchmarking undertaken for certain elements such as lobbies and floor to floor heights, to make this a truly premier building. One Vanderbilt is beautifully crafted, from the interlocking masses of the exterior, the elegant façade, bronze and terracotta detailing, to the bespoke interiors, rich palette of materials, landscape and lighting. The final stop of the tour was a vacant floor with breathtaking panorama views of the city!

We are very grateful to KPF and SL Green for their generosity, time and efforts in making this tour possible. In addition to the local AIA community, we had attendees from as far away as Oregon, students from the Bronx, and a group of female students from Utah! Thank you to all those who participated and asked great questions.

We look forward to seeing you at our future WIA events!