The long-awaited Garden at 550 Madison Avenue has officially opened to the public, marking the first new green space to debut in Midtown Manhattan in decades. The innovative public garden, designed by renowned Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta, represents the culmination of a comprehensive six-year repositioning effort of the iconic 550 Madison Avenue office tower by developer Olayan Group.

Snøhetta served dual roles in this transformative project, acting as both the design architect for the tower's repositioning and the landscape architect for the new Garden. The firm's involvement reflects their growing portfolio of public realm projects in Midtown, including previous work in Times Square and the observatory at One Vanderbilt. Craig Dykers, Snøhetta's Founding Partner, emphasized the project's significance in bringing openness and connection to nature in the urban environment.

The Garden occupies the location of what was previously an enclosed mid-block passageway adjacent to 550 Madison Avenue. At 21,300 square feet, the new green space is substantially larger than other local public spaces and nearly twice the size of the previous public area in the same location. The half-acre Garden welcomes area workers, residents, and visitors with extensive amenities including abundant seating options, 48 trees, 200 shrubs, 6,300 bulb plants, and 10,000 herbaceous understory plants.

The design centers around a tranquil water feature and is organized into five distinct sections, each focused on different focal structures. Michelle Delk, Partner and Landscape Architect at Snøhetta, explained that the design transforms the streets surrounding the iconic building into an accessible, lavishly vegetated, and highly visible public space while honoring Philip Johnson's original architectural design through new lobby windows and redesigned storefronts.

The Garden's sophisticated planting scheme draws inspiration from Northeastern mountain vegetation, featuring distinct 'upland,' 'lowland,' and 'sheltered' sections with tree-filled backdrops and shrub borders. The carefully curated plant selection includes Mountain Rosebay, Smooth Hydrangea, and Bottlebrush Buckeye in the shrub layers, while the tree assortment features Yellowwood, Sweetbay Magnolia, and River Birch. Planters throughout the space host diverse regional native species including Solomon's Seal, Goatsbeard, Black Cohosh, Coral Bell, and Sword Fern.

One of the Garden's most thoughtful features is its meticulously planned bloom calendar, designed to provide visitors with a continuous display of colorful flowers throughout most of the year. The plant species are carefully timed to offer a wide range of vibrant hues, from pink and purple to blue and yellow, with different blooming periods spanning from February through October. This ensures that the Garden maintains visual interest and seasonal variety throughout its active months.

The Garden includes three food and beverage kiosks to serve visitors and features gender-inclusive public restrooms, making it a truly accessible and welcoming space for all users. Erik Horvat, Managing Director of Real Estate at Olayan America, described the new Garden as offering 'a lush and elegant environment at the center of New York City' with cutting-edge design and meticulous maintenance standards that position it among the city's most beautiful public spaces.

The Garden project was executed through collaboration with a team of leading landscape and horticulture specialists, including Phyto, The Dirt Company, SiteWorks, Arup, and Adamson Associates Architects. This partnership ensured the highest standards of design implementation and horticultural expertise throughout the development process.

The 41-story, 850,000-square-foot 550 Madison Avenue originally opened in 1984 as AT&T's single-tenant headquarters and now holds the distinction of being New York City's youngest historic landmark. The new Garden represents just one component of Olayan's comprehensive building transformation, which includes over 30,000 square feet of luxury amenities, wellness initiatives, and sustainability programs designed to meet modern workplace standards.

Additional building improvements complement the Garden's outdoor offerings with sophisticated interior spaces. A Rockwell Group-designed club-level amenity space promotes collaboration and creativity, featuring a concierge-managed Grand Hall, Library, Hearth Room, Screening Room, and Pool Room, along with multiple dining options and event kitchens. The building also houses a state-of-the-art fitness center that rivals luxury private wellness clubs, complete with elegant spaces for health classes and workouts.

The transformation includes a new Gensler-designed lobby that creates a cathedral-like experience filled with natural light, bronze mesh materials, rust-colored leather, and greyscale terrazzo flooring. The lobby's centerpiece is 'Solid Sky,' an impressive artwork by artist Alicja Kwade featuring a 1.2-billion-year-old, 24-ton spherical installation made of Azul do Macaubas quartzite from Brazil, dramatically suspended by chains from the building's vaulted triple-height ceiling and illuminated by a soaring 65-foot arched glass window.