Sofitel New York Hotel: 2000 Winner

The SKYDB Awards recognize high-rise buildings that unite architectural quality with practical performance, and the Sofitel New York Hotel in Manhattan was selected as the 2000 SKYDB Awards Winner.

The 398-room hotel places a slender glass tower between two limestone-clad wings that meet the scale of West 44th and West 45th streets. Its T-shaped base creates a formal entrance sequence while allowing daylight into rooms on a confined Midtown site. The limestone elevations draw on the measured proportions of Parisian Moderne buildings without turning the hotel into a historical copy.

The central shaft rises above the two 20-story wings as a distinct skyline element, yet the composition remains legible from the sidewalk. Limestone panels give the street walls weight, while glass distinguishes the central tower and the entrances. The award recognizes a hotel tower whose exterior gives a large room program an ordered civic presence in a dense part of Manhattan.

Architect: Brennan Beer Gorman Architects