40 Bond Dumpster Diving

The last time I snapped some photos of Herzog & de Meuron's 40 Bond in NoHo the building was awaiting its glass exterior and had mock-ups of the curved glass pieces that would cover the concrete frame.



Walking by yesterday, over seven months later, it appears installation of the glass covers is almost complete.



While the original design featured cast glass covers, the glass as installed is (I'm guessing) 1/4" curved laminated glass curved over reflective metal pieces. Unfortunately the caulk between pieces is gray and stands out more than it should, or at least did in the renderings, especially at the intersections.



Before walking away I noticed something strange, one of the curved glass sections sitting in a pile of trash:



Getting "up close and personal" with one of these pieces, I could look at the size, profile, and surface characteristics that aren't as apparent from a distance.



While the piece is bigger up close than far away, and the profile is deeper than I expected, what was a complete surprise was the frit or sandblast pattern, a gradient from solid at the edges to nothing in the center. This pattern helps to isolate the sunlight reflections into a narrow profile, a la the renderings, while also minimizing the same reflections, which I'll admit were pretty strong when the sun poked through the clouds.



And yes, I tried picking up the piece to see if my friend and I could walk away with it, but it was waaaay too heavy.