90Grados specialises in creating high-quality architectural renderings - and this time they present the virtual construction of a skyscraper that was left unfinished in New York after the Great Depression of 1929: the Metropolitan Life North Building.
Get to know in detail the history behind the building and the modelling process in the words of its authors:
Many people were probably struck by a particular building in New York; close to the historic 1909 Metropolitan Life Insurance Building. It is disproportionate in appearance, clad in white limestone, and only 25 storeys high but with a base larger than any skyscraper in the area. And not many know that it is a skyscraper that was left unfinished after the housing market crash of the Great Depression of 1929. Had it been completed, it would have been the tallest skyscraper in the world for over 40 years. The original design by architect Harvey Wiley Corbett, in partnership with D. Everett Waid, consisted of a 100-storey tower approximately 390 to 400 metres high, surpassing the Empire State Building's 381 metres.
After the crisis, the project had to be modified, building only 25 of the 100 proposed floors. It was completed in three stages over the course of 20 years, resulting in what we see today. There are no records of the final project's original plans. Only sketches and photos of a model of the architect's first vision, which initially consisted of a glass and steel tower resting on a limestone-clad base. Something still too modern for its time and in context with the skyscrapers that were already being built.
All of this only increased our curiosity to know what it would have looked like finished in all its splendour.
We made use of the tools we currently have to bring it to life. The first step was to collect all the graphic information available on the internet, to add to the historical data of the project. From basic 3D Google Earth models, detailed photos of the existing building, to renders of other design attempts. The scale was obtained from Google Maps and the Google Earth 3D model. We built a floor plan and a reference façade in AutoCAD, which also provided the design guidelines for the rest of the building. The 3D model was made in 3DMax. For the decorative details, we edited current photos in Photoshop to give them orthogonality before importing them.
As the tower took shape, gaps in the design appeared that were nowhere to be found. So we turned to Corbett's other projects, and especially one in which he was involved: Rockefeller Center. The materials try to imitate the current ones, mostly white limestone. Vray was used for the rendering, and Photoshop for the photomontages.
Finally, we added two antennas to add realism to the more recent photomontages. The tallest Radio and Television antenna was placed on top of the Empire State Building in 1951 to cover the entire Manhattan area. If Metlife North had been completed, it would have been the one chosen for the job. Due to the design lines of the facade, it seemed to us that two would be the most harmonious, although more in the style of Chicago. Pure speculation and design play!
