A new Big Apple attraction transports Clare Vooght to dizzy heights
My ears pop as we shoot up 91 floors in a mirrored lift, bright white lights flashing all around me. It’s clear that this isn’t going to be the usual observation deck experience.
I step out of the elevator into a tunnel with lights that switch from blue to purple to pinky-orange as I walk, and emerge onto the mirrored deck. With the view of shoulder-to-shoulder Manhattan skyscrapers outside – including the unmistakable silhouette of the Empire State Building – and transparent glass and mirrors lining the floors, walls and ceiling, it feels like the room, and the view, goes on for ever.
One Vanderbilt is one of New York’s newest skyscrapers – it opened in September 2020, and the Summit One Vanderbilt observation deck arrived a year later. It’s also one of the most sustainable, with 90% of the steel used to build it recycled.
It generates nearly 50% of the electricity it uses and has its own rainwater management system. Standing on the glass, 1,070 feet up, is a surreal experience. People lie on their backs looking up into infinity, others spend time honing their perfect Instagram shot, while some simply walk around, taking it all in.
I linger in the next section of the experience where there’s a Yayoi Kusama sculpture, called Clouds, which looks like molten silver cloud formations, weighted to the floor but somehow conveying movement. But the Affinity Room is where I have the most fun. Silver orbs bob around the room, floating up to the mirrored ceiling and bouncing up and down along the floor.
Silver orbs bob around the room, floating up to the mirrored ceiling
It’s a grey, drizzly day, but the shiny silver balloons light up the room. I could stay here for hours, taking pictures and bobbing about with these otherworldly floating orbs against the backdrop of the honeycomb-like structures of Manhattan from above.
Back at my hotel, scrolling through Summit One Vanderbilt’s Instagram account, I discover the one way my visit might have been better still – with a sunset experience. It would have allowed for everything I saw, plus a glimpse into the club-like light installations that happen after dark. But perhaps that’s just another reason to book a trip back to the Big Apple sooner rather than later.
Book it
Admission for Summit One Vanderbilt starts at $39 per person.
summitov.com
Rooms at the newly opened Moxy East Village cost from $199 (around £174).
travelagents.marriott.com
Flights to New York JFK with Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow cost from £399 return, based on a January 2023 departure.
virginatlantic.com
PICTURES: Evan Joseph Studios
Read more
How to explore Boston’s food scene – on any budget
US road trips: 5 of the best RV routes
Walt Disney World Florida: First Look at the new Guardian of the Galaxy rollercoaster
