Rockefeller Center's sunken plaza could receive substantial renovations

Architects Gabellini Sheppard Associates and developers Tishman Speyer have unveiled a series of substantial changes for the outdoor public realm areas associated with the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City. 

The proposal, presented to the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission last week, aims to improve pedestrian circulation and visibility throughout the iconic sunken plaza and surrounding areas by adding new stair configurations, upgrading the storefronts that currently line the plaza with a ribbon of operable doors, relocating several statues, and repaving the terraces overlooking the sunken court to make them more wheelchair accessible. 

The 19-building Rockefeller Center complex was originally designed in the 1930s by architect Raymond Hood, the designer behind the Chicago Tribune Tower and other notable early 20th Century skyscrapers. The complex was built in p...