Michael Hammers

Celebrating New York

From the very start, the historic Observation Decks of the Rockefeller Center offered New Yorkers an opportunity to experience and to celebrate their city in a special way.

Since 1984 the Observation Deck of 30 Rock - the main building of the Rockefeller Center - with its unique 360-degree view of Manhattan was inaccessible to the public.

On October 24, 2005 New York City admired the reopening of the observation decks redesigned by Manhattan based architectural firm Gabellini Sheppard to which Michael Hammers, working on behalf of Swarovski, had made an influential contribution with two installations: Joie a ten-meter-high crystal installation in the large stairwell of the redesigned and rebuilt Grand Atrium Lobby, and Radiance, a crystal surrounding wall 160 square meters in size in the Grand Viewing Room on the 67th floor.

Both installation are formal expressions reflecting the basic idea of Art Deco, an epoch during which the Rockefeller Center was built: the artistic decoration of architecture as a “Gesamtkunstwerk” – a complete work of art.

With his certain sense of the style of the 1920s and 1930s, Michael transferred the spirit of this bygone time into the renovation.

In 2015 Michael Hammers Studios were commissioned by the Rockefeller Center to maintain Radiance to the full extent under Michael Hammers artistic supervision.

Michael's work at Rockefeller Center achieved worldwide recognition as true landmarks of contemporary art and architecture.