Disputes over shadows aren’t black and white

A heat map takes into account shadows and how quickly they pass.

Environmental Simulation Center

New York’s skyline is in the process of getting some new icons. They are known as pencil towers, super-slender towers and pejoratively as bank vaults in the sky because of their high price tags. They are feats of modern engineering, but also controversial. 

One reason is the shadows they would cast on Central Park at certain times of year. Another reason is that the luxurious apartments and high price tags that make them possible are also signs of conspicuous consumption by the mega-wealthy. There are analysts who try to sort out fact from fiction when it comes to light and shadow, but they have their work cut out for them.  

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