A new public Garden and a repositioned landmark debut in Midtown Manhattan

This week Olayan Group and Snøhetta held a ceremony with elected officials and city leaders to open a new, half-acre public garden at 550 Madison Avenue between 55^th and 56^th streets in Manhattan. The opening of the Garden, the first new green space in Midtown in decades, comes as Olayan completes the repositioning of the iconic 550 Madison Avenue office tower, New York City’s youngest landmark.

Snøhetta served as design architect for the repositioning of the tower as well as landscape architect for the new Garden.

Designed by Snøhetta, the Garden is located adjacent to 550 Madison in the location of a formerly enclosed mid-block passageway. The garden is substantially larger than other local public spaces, and welcomes area workers, residents and visitors with abundant seating, 48 trees, 200 shrubs, 6,300 bulb plants, 10,000 herbaceous understory plants, gender inclusive public restrooms and three kiosks with food and beverage offerings.

A view looking through the new arch-topped Garden window added by Snøhetta to the redesigned lobby. The window allows for clear views through the tower from Madison Avenue. Photo: Barrett Doherty.

Craig Dykers, Snøhetta Founding Partner, said,“550 Madison builds on a series of projects in Midtown, including our work in Times Square and the observatory we designed at One Vanderbilt, that infuse the public realm with a sense of openness, wonder, and freedom. Like many New Yorkers, we yearn to connect with the outdoors, and this collaboration with Olayan offered our team an opportunity to reposition the heroic 550 Madison tower for a new age while reestablishing how the tower meets the city.”

“Snøhetta’s design for the new garden transforms the streets surrounding the iconic 550 Madison building into an accessible, lavishly vegetated, and highly visible public space. A new lobby window and redesigned storefronts honor Philip Johnson’s original design. We are honored to help return this important part of Midtown to its visitors while contributing to the celebrated vibrancy of New York City,” added Michelle Delk, Partner and Landscape Architect, Snøhetta.

“The half-acre Garden at 550 Madison is a welcoming new green space, offering a lush and elegant environment at the center of New York City,” explained Erik Horvat, Managing Director of Real Estate at Olayan America. “The garden’s cutting-edge design and meticulous maintenance positions it among the most beautiful public spaces in the city, while providing a dynamic amenity to tenants of 550 Madison.”

Built around a tranquil water feature and five sections centered on different focal structures, the 21,300-square foot garden is nearly twice the size of a previous public space in the same location. The garden’s bloom calendar is carefully timed for plant species to offer a wide range of colorful hues, from pink to purple, blue and yellow, at different blooming dates from February to October each year.

The Garden is arranged as a series of immersive outdoor rooms, each designed to encourage social interaction. The bench above encircles a communal hearth that creates a warm spot to sit during the winter months. Photo: Barrett Doherty.

Distinct, “upland,” “lowland” and “sheltered” garden sections feature tree-filled backdrops and shrub skirts, drawing inspiration from Northeastern mountain vegetation ranging from fine-textured and airy to thick luxuriant foliage.

Mountain Rosebay, Smooth Hydrangea and Bottlebrush Buckeye fill the garden’s shrub skirt, with a tree assortment including Yellowwood, Sweetbay Magnolia and River Birch. Planters host a diversity of regional native species, from Soloman’s Seal, Goatsbeard and Black Cohosh to Coral Bell and Sword Fern.

Working alongside Snøhetta on the garden was a team of leading landscape and horticulture companies, including Phyto, The Dirt Company, SiteWorks, Arup and Adamson Associates Architects.

The 41-story, 850,000-square-foot 550 Madison began as a single-tenant headquarters for AT&T when it opened in 1984. The building’s new garden is part of a six-year effort by Olayan to reimaginethe high-rise – New York City’s youngest historic landmark – with wellness initiatives, sustainability programs and more than 30,000 square feet of luxury amenities.