Marriot Marquis Hotel Times Square

There is always some confusion in defining what Manhattanism is and, mainly, how it is shown in a single building that represents the congestion of the island, its verticality, overlapping uses, etc. If we think of Manhattan and its skyscrapers, the Empire Estate, the Chrysler Building, or the Rockefeller Center come to mind, projects that define the city's skyline but which today are impenetrable. They appear to us as the infinite vertical repetition of the office plan. His epic is more symbolic than real. In Delirious New York , Rem Koolhaas introduced us to the Downtown Athletic Club as a building representing said Manhattanism. The architect himself defines it as “ the complete conquest of the skyscraper, floor by floor, by social activity, ” and how the skyscraper is used as a constructivist “ social condenser”: a machine to generate and intensify some modalities of relationships with human .” In Delirious New York , the Downtown Athletic Club is shown to us in a section where the height of the slabs changes to house different hedonistic conditions, each one more extravagant than the last: a swimming pool, a golf course, oysters, etc. However, the Downtown Athletic Club was still an inaccessible private club: another opaque skyscraper on the Manhattan skyline. Siempre aparece una cierta confusión en definir que es el Manhattanismo y, principalmente, como se muestra en un único edificio que defina la congestión de la isla, su verticalidad, superposición de usos, etc. Si pensamos en Manhattan y sus rascacielos, nos viene a la mente el Empire Estate, el Chrysler Building o el Rockefeller Center, proyectos que definen el skyline de la ciudad, pero que hoy en día son impenetrables. Se nos presentan como la repetición en vertical infinita de la planta de oficinas. Su épica es más simbólica que real. Rem Koolhaas en Delirio de Nueva York, nos presentó el Downtown Athletic Club como un edificio que representaba dicho Manhattanismo.