Last High-Rise Standing
René Ammann | 19. March 2023
Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright describes (W)rapper — first designed by Moss in 1997 — as “the bombastic tombstone of a bygone era, a carbon-guzzling monument to a time when architectural ego trumped the interests of people and planet.” (Photo: Oliver Wainwright)
Number of high-rise office buildings in the United States that sit on seismic base isolators, apart from the (W)rapper by Eric Owen Moss Architects: 0
Although the gray structure may look like concrete, it is steel covered in cementitious fireproofing: “a menacing thing,” Wainwright writes, “cranking up Moss’s cyberpunk tendencies to new high-octane levels.” (Photo: Oliver Wainwright)
The steel I-beams supporting the floors and curved bands in the facade occasionally project through to the exterior. (Photo: Oliver Wainwright)