As uncovered by Curbed, construction workers at Rafael Viñoly's 1,396 foot (426 meter) tall 432 Park Avenue were served with a full stop work order last week by the New York City Department of Buildings, after an 8 foot (2.4 meter) long section of steel pipework was dropped from a construction hoist on the building's 81st floor.
Fortunately nobody was hurt as the pipe landed across the street in front of an occupied building. The Department of Buildings' website also shows that the stop work order on the building was lifted after just a day, once the hoists being used had been inspected by the installation company.
However, the incident has done nothing for the building's reputation among New Yorkers, as Andy Cush took the opportunity to let fly on Gawker's Justice blog: "Between the Manute Bol-sized hunks of material raining from this investment opportunity for global plutocrats... and the specter of a Central Park that's bathed in the shadows of Billionaires' Row, one thing is clear: even when their aeries high above the city sit unfinished and unoccupied, midtown belongs to the rich."
