Glass Act: Hudson Yards

New York’s Hudson Yards development has created a city within a city and generated a stir along the way

- Sophie Kalkreuth

It’s a brisk morning in Manhattan when I step onto Edge, a viewing deck located on the 100th floor of a Hudson Yards tower. Although I know the 765,000-pound sky deck is solid, bolted together and anchored to the east and south sides of the building, I feel something approaching terror.

I’m regularly hoisted up buildings before walls and windows are installed, but stepping onto a cantilevered deck is different: The floor isn’t connected to anything; there is only air underfoot.

“Just imagine the summer sunsets,” says Mr. Jason Horkin, executive director of Hudson Yards Experiences, gesturing west and passing over all of lower Manhattan with the sweep of his arm.

At a height just over 1,100ft, the deck has glass walls installed at an angle so you can lean over the side for an adrenaline rush. In the middle of the platform, a glass-bottom is laid like a window into the floor. I can’t bring myself near either, but next time, after a glass of champagne from Peak, the bar and restaurant opening on the 101st floor, I’m sure to be braver.

Edge, which opens to the public on March 11, is the latest attraction to launch at New York’s Hudson Yards, a US$25-billion mixed-use enclave that is built, rather ingeniously, atop a pit full of resting trains.

During construction, columns had to be threaded among the tracks, as trains below continued running in and out of the terminus. A great amount of heat had to be vented, and to make planting trees possible, developers Related Companies and Oxford Group hired engineers from Arup to design a special cooling system for the soil.