Manhattan's Coming Super-Skyscrapers

The astounding condo sales for the nearly completed One57 at the southern edge of Central Park has spurred the construction of three more super-skyscrapers, all of which will be even taller and will challenge national height records for residential buildings. Gizmodo has published a breakdown of the coming towers and the one in the center of the above image caught my attention the most.

The most recent entrant in New York's supertall sweepstakes comes from SHoP Architects and JDS Development Group, which announced a plan to build a 1,350-foot skyscraper at 107 West 57th earlier this month. Though it’ll only be the second tallest building in the city (and the fourth in the country), it distinguishes itself in another way. It's only 40 feet wide: While for a townhouse that might not be all that remarkable, it’s unheard of for a supertall skyscraper. The reason most supertalls have wider bases is to support the lateral force of wind and seismic movement on its upper floors. Though SHoP was unable to comment on the structural design of the tower when we contacted them, it’s bound to be pretty unique. And because each floor is only 40 feet across, each unit will take up an entire level of the building. In other words, it’ll be an entire skyscraper of luxury penthouses.

One hundred feet higher than the roof of the Empire State and forty feet wide. Will they have to nail everything down in their apartments?

RELATED: Very tall buildings are typically constructed to sway in the wind at 1/500th of their height.  Toronto's CN Tower, for example, reports a sway of  "three feet, four inches from center" at the Sky Pod observation deck level at 1467 feet.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: I wrote about the 96-story 432 Park tower back in March.

UPDATE: Here's a groovy 360 degree view from the top of One57.  Click and hold for the image to rotate.