Hillier-designed glass plant opens on 63rd St. in NYC

Real Estate Weekly, June 18, 2003

"We could have created a box, but instead we chose to show off the equipment, to celebrate it," says designer David Finci, AIA, of the recently opened glass chiller plant overlooking the FDR Drive at 63rd Street in Manhattan. Finci is a principal in the New York office of Hillier, one, of the country's' largest architecture firms, and de signer of the 25-foot high building, made of glass walls -- frosted on the side facing the highway, and transparent to the rest of the campus.

"The plant's exciting facade gives people a real visual surprise," says Rockefeller University's Associate Vice President for Plant Operations Alex Kogan. The chillers are lage machines that help maintain, comfortable air temperature throughout the prominent research university's campus.

Each year, millions of travelers see Hillier's striking glass, metal and steel framed cogeneration plant: complex at John F. Kennedy Airport. Designed by Finci, the brightly lit structures showcase two 150-foot vibrantly colored generators and soaring stacks that produce enough energy to power the whole airport.