In 2013 The Municipal Art Society of New York published a report called The Accidental Skyline that investigated the shadows that will be cast onto Central Park from the supertall skyscrapers under construction and planned for midtown and especially along 57th Street. The report contains examples of traditional urban planning diagrams that illustrate the shadow projections from different times of year and allow stakeholders to understand the extensive shadowing that many of these "pencil towers"will project over the park.
Using the shadow functionality now available with Cesium, we've created a visualization of this shadowing phenomenon from eight of the largest buildings recently constructed and planned for midtown. The video shows the shadows casted by the buildings as the sun rises and sets on September 21st, the same date chosen by the MAS as indicative of a typical fall day in Manhattan. Watch the visualization below:
Note: Video timeline is in UTC, which is 4hrs ahead of EST.
Visualizations like these are not only important urban planning tools but are necessary communication devices to help the public understand the impact to public spaces from large developments and allow for informed civic engagement.
Contact us to see the same shadowing visualization for any building in the world in our new Shadow Casting app.
