National Maritime Union building – O’Toole Building

The elegance and style of the NMU building is a symbol of the upward mobility of the labor movement since the 1930s. La elegancia y el estilo del edificio de la NMU es un símbolo de la movilidad ascendente del movimiento obrero desde la década de 1930. Nichols, Mary Perot – Village Voice Magazine, (1964). The building, designed by Albert C. Ledner, is located between 7th Avenue and 12th Street, next to a triangular square that opens the space in front of the building façade to the pedestrians. The main volume staggered in three bodies that “float” on two glass cylinders. This ground floor façade is made by one-foot wide (approximately thirty centimeters) glass blocks and hide the structure where the building rests. Therefore, the building contracts its shape on the ground floor to allow an exterior transition space between the entrance and the street. El edificio proyectado por Albert C. Ledner se localiza entre la Avenida 7 y la calle 12, al lado de una plaza triangular que abre la fachada del edificio a los viandantes. Un volumen principal escalonado en tres cuerpos “flota” sobre dos cilindros construidos a partir de bloques de vidrio de un pie de ancho (aproximadamente treinta centímetros) que esconden la estructura donde se apoya el edificio. De este modo, el edificio se contrae de un modo expresivo en planta baja permitiendo un espacio exterior de transición entre la entrada y la calle. The stepping of the building inside out and the setback of two and a half feet of the glass façade (about seventy-five centimeters) create balconies that are shaped in elevation by portholes openings. This gesture defines its expressive final appearance. The construction of the façade is made by white painted prefabricated concrete panels anchored to the structural.