Travel + Leisure

2022-05-14 15:37:58 By : Mr. Paco Wong

New York City's "30 Rock" is about to grow 30 feet taller. 

As part of upcoming renovations at the landmark "Top of the Rock" attraction in midtown Manhattan, the building will soon feature a 30-foot moving "Skylift" on its 70th floor. 

Visitors to Top of the Rock will be able to extend their adventure with the Skylift, which will look a bit like a golden-tiered wedding cake. According to the project proposal, guests will step onto a viewing platform enclosed by a glass balustrade, which will slowly extend 30 feet into the air. Bringing new meaning to the phrase "panoramic viewing," the 360-degree experience is complete with unobstructed views of the city.

To make things even more spectacular, when the viewing platform is not in use, it will seem to disappear. 

"I think what is being composed here now is exciting," Commissioner Frederick Bland said at the project's approval meeting, according to New York architecture site 6sqft. "It's there when it's there, and it's not there when it's not there, which introduces a level of kinetic quality to architecture which I've always been interested in."

Opposite the Skylift, the 30 Rock roof will also install a new globe-shaped structure consisting of "light rings" that will illuminate, panels of LED lights and sculpted glass. The 70th floor will also now feature a new mosaic tiled floor, featuring some of Rockefeller Center's art deco iconography. 

On its 69th floor, 30 Rock will also soon feature a new attraction called "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper." Inspired by the famous 1932 photograph of the same name, of construction workers eating lunch on a dangling steel beam. The attraction will include an actual beam that will raise and rotate so visitors can recreate the historic photo. 

The project will also revamp parts of 30 Rock closer to ground. Both the mezzanine and ground floors of the building will see a light refresh, with new details in lighting and visitor flow management. 

Construction on the project has not yet begun, however the proposed renovations were approved at a meeting of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in late April.