277 Fifth Avenue

Replacing a number of low-rise buildings, including a two-story Art Moderne taxpayer, 277 Fifth Avenue is from the offices of Rafael Vinoly, the Uruguayan architect whose designs include the controversial 20 Fenchurch Street in London (dubbed the Walkie-Talkie by hostile critics) and the Sol Lewitt-like skyscraper apartment house at 432 Park Avenue. 

277 Fifth at first seems to be a reverse negative image of the latter, with black glass and spandrels replacing 432 Park’s white cubist grid.