Hudson Yards

Hudson Yards, the largest mixed-use private real estate venture in American history, is captured in this view from Weehawken, N.J., on March 13, 2019, two days before its official opening. The $25 billion development on 26 acres is like a shining new city on New York, resting on massive platform on a once ignored stretch of the West Side.

“Architecturally, details deserve shout-outs, like the curved steel window frames at 55 and the V-shaped limestone crotch where the Shed intersects the tower, wrote Michael Kimmelman, Architecture critic for The Times, on March 14, 2019. “I like how the angled limestone slabs decorating 35 make the facade seem to shift between stone and glass as one passes the building; how the podiums of 55 and 35 play off each other, and how the chamfered base of 10 cedes the stage to a spur of the High Line, making the skyscraper suddenly appear to step back on tiptoe.

“But details are details. Over all, Hudson Yards epitomizes a skin-deep view of architecture as luxury branding. Each building exists to act like a logo for itself. The assortment suggests so many crowded perfume bottles vying for attention in a department store window display.”