Brookfield Properties has unveiled a new art installation by artist Pierre Huyghe at One Liberty Plaza, a 54-story, 2.3-million-square-foot office skyscraper at 165 Broadway in Manhattan’s Financial District. The centerpiece of the building’s reimagined double-height lobby is A::Light, an interactive ceiling-based artwork that functions as a playable video game. The installation was presented in collaboration with Fine Art Concepts, LLC, with Huyghe represented by Marian Goodman Gallery, and lobby interiors by Gachot Studios.
Photograph of One Liberty Plaza. Credit: Timothy Schenck.
A::Light transforms the standard grid of a drop ceiling into a dynamic pixelated game board inspired by the classic video game Pong. Visitors to the lobby can control the game using wired paddles, causing individual ceiling tiles to illuminate as the game progresses. The result is a visually engaging experience visible from both inside the building and from nearby Zuccotti Park. This installation marks the first time A::Light has been permanently housed in a commercial building since its original premiere at the Vienna Secession in 1999 and its presentation at the 2001 Venice Biennale.
Photograph of One Liberty Plaza. Credit: Timothy Schenck.
Photograph of One Liberty Plaza. Credit: Timothy Schenck.
The lobby redevelopment complements Brookfield Properties’ ongoing integration of public art into its real estate portfolio. The firm has previously displayed works by artists such as Richard Serra, Isa Genzken, and Ellsworth Kelly across its New York properties. The One Liberty Plaza project adds to this legacy, pairing high-concept contemporary art with architectural upgrades that include Italian travertine wall cladding, terrazzo flooring, and custom furnishings.
Photograph of One Liberty Plaza. Credit: Timothy Schenck.
Transit nearby One Liberty Plaza includes the WTC and Fulton Street stations, served by the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z, and R trains, as well as the PATH train and multiple bus routes.
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This former US Steel Building is likely the only major one to require periodic painting of its facade. It replaced the notable Singer Building which is lamented along with the old Penn station. Turning lights on and off in the lobby seems a bit silly.
Destroying the sublime Singer Building was another historical crime, like so many before it and after.
The worst and ugliest building in the financial district.
The best ‘installation’ would be to recreate the Singer Building.
Amen to that!
And why not? The Singer’s scale was such that it could easily be recreated as residential – “luxury” condominiums to justify the cost. The Singer’s doom was sealed by its location. Sad.
One Liberty Plaza looks like the giant AMAZON box that the Singer Building would have fit into!
Wow, a lot of hatred in the comments section for this perfectly anodyne mid-century modern office building. I’m not saying the destruction of the Singer building wasn’t a cultural crime, but how do you pick this particular building to hate. Seems fine to me. The art is also…fine. It’s fine.
Well imbecile, maybe that feeling is because this is the “particular building” that replaced that Singer Building..
why the h8ration? the singer building was demo’d by 1969, which is way before you were born in volgograd.
A hideous black box of a building without any soul or beauty. It exists only to exist. No lipstick on a pig art installation will fix this
More fitting would be a detailed scale model of the Singer Building in the lobby. Would be beautiful, educational and catch way more eyes than thus ceiling game. However, I understand the investment in contemporary art (money laundering)
I love this site and appreciate Michael Young’s photos. I am a New Yorker born in Manhattan and currently live out of state. I will take the liberty of quibbling about one comment concerning this post. Calling someone an imbecile simply because you disagree is childish. It makes you seem bitter. I suggest therapy.
My approval of One Liberty Plaza has mostly to do with a lover who worked there for Merrill Lynch in the 70s. Ahh, the One That Got Away, lol. I also have always liked this particular tower because it was not clad entirely in glass and up close looked like a big Hershey bar to me; I love dark chocolate! Anyway, the horizontal beams gave it texture and the big dark mass of it evoked power and money and contrasted nicely with the original WTC towers behind it when seen looking west. There are skyscrapers in Manhattan that are actually black for example: 1166 6th Ave, 450 W.42nd and 919 3rd Ave although the façade of the latter seems to have been altered on it’s 12th and 36 floors. I remember it as a big black glass box. I had long forgotten that One Liberty Plaza was the tower that replaced the lovely Singer Building, what a loss!
Silly or not I can’t wait to play Pong in the lobby next time I am in the area.
My reaction to his being ‘mystified’ as to the obvious cause for this almost universal grudge against Liberty Plaza resulted in my ‘vivid’ response..
This is pretty ugly and bland looking. It adds zero visual appeal and proves that money can’t buy taste – typical of these new modern art installations. It would be more at home above a racquetball court inside a luxury rental building, not in a class-a office lobby. Are your tenants really going to want people swinging paddles around in the lobby?