New York City just got a breathtaking new view. Skylift at Top of the Rock is now open, giving visitors a 360-degree view of the city nearly 900 feet in the air. Visitors step into an open-top, revolving platform that’s encased with walls of plexiglass on the building’s 70th floor. The platform is elevated to what would be an additional three stories and rotates to give up to 13 visitors a full view of the city.
Rockefeller Center’s Top of the Rock Observation Deck was already known for its view of the city across three floors, but Tishman Speyer, the building’s developer, has invested in new experiences as part of a five-year modernization effort. It comes as the market for New York City observation decks has grown more crowded with the likes of One World Observatory, Edge at Hudson Yards, and Summit at One Vanderbilt luring sightseers’ attention and dollars.
Late last year 30 Rock opened The Beam, which lets visitors pose on a beam like the workers eating lunch in “Lunch atop a Skyscraper,” the famous 1932 photo taken which was taken at Rockefeller Center; and this summer a Welcome Gallery with a theater show about the history of Rockefeller Center opened to the public. Skylift, though, “is the crown jewel of our revitalization,” as EB Kelly, senior managing director at Tishman Speyer and Head of Rockefeller Center, describes it.
The challenge in building Skylift was creating something that could be taken apart and reassembled at Top of the Rock without needing a crane. It also needed to be able to fit within the existing space at Top of the Rock, and because of the limited space in the area, “transporting and installing large glass panels and machinery required the Skylift components to be transported in small pieces through a single elevator, adding complexity to the process,” Phil Hettema, founder and CEO of the experiential design firm THG Creative, tells Fast Company.
Made from steel and fiberglass, Skylift was designed to fit the art deco style of Rockefeller Center with repeated patterns, decorative lines, and symmetry, and it has 96 LED pixel flutes that can change colors for holidays and special dates and be seen across the city. Eat your heart out, Empire State Building.
General admission to Top of the Rock begins at $34, and visitors can add tickets for Skylift beginning at $35.