Metro Financial Tower: Engineering a Vertical City

Foundation Engineering

Bedrock in lower Manhattan lies at depths of 15–20 meters below street level, interrupted by decades of previous urban infrastructure. Our geotechnical team designed a hybrid foundation system combining 840 mm diameter driven piles with a 2.8-metre thick transfer slab.

Structural Innovation

The building employs a high-performance concrete core wall system with outrigger frames at three mechanical levels. This configuration allowed us to reduce the core wall thickness from a conventional 1,100 mm to just 700 mm at lower levels.

LEED Platinum Achievement

Achieving LEED Platinum on a commercial tower of this complexity required coordination across 47 separate sub-systems. Key contributors included triple-glazed unitized curtain wall with solar-responsive fritting and a greywater recycling system processing 85,000 liters per day.

Lessons Learned

The Metro Financial Tower reinforced our belief that sustainable design and structural efficiency are complementary, not competing objectives.