Vision Stewardship, Creative Direction & Oversight, Design & Creative Development for all F&B, Concessions, Hospitality spaces
Perched 1,131 feet above Manhattan, Edge at Hudson Yards is the highest sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. Since opening in 2020, Edge has quickly become one of New York’s most visited attractions, celebrated for its dramatic triangular architecture and breathtaking 360-degree skyline views across the city.
As the destination grew in popularity, the team behind Edge recognized an opportunity. Could the experience evolve beyond a spectacular viewpoint and become something more immersive, more layered, and more resilient regardless of weather or season?
Journey first began collaborating with Edge following early discussions about how the indoor areas of the attraction could better support and enhance the outdoor sky deck experience. While the views themselves were unparalleled, the spaces leading up to them had the potential to offer far more.
The ambition was to create feats of physical design and engineering that could work in harmony with light, sound, reflection, movement and architecture, and not simply to add digital moments.
Our work began with experience strategy. Through a series of workshops and exploratory sessions with the client team, we examined what made Edge NYC distinctive: its angular architecture, its use of glass and light, and its commanding perspective over the city.
From this analysis we developed a new experiential framework for the destination. The strategy centered around a visual language inspired by prisms and triangles, reflecting the geometry of the building itself while offering a metaphorical lens through which to rediscover New York.
The concept imagined visitors moving through a series of environments that refract and reinterpret the city before revealing it in its full panoramic form. A kaleidoscopic journey into the New York skyline. This became a framework for a layered, multisensory experience inspired by the lights, sounds and energy of New York City.
“A series of installations that feel equal parts museum, nightclub and dream sequence.”
Journey’s strategic direction formed the basis for a new suite of immersive experiences introducing seven interactive environments and a sequence of hero moments that blend sound, light and architecture to create sensory encounters that evolve throughout the day and across seasons, delivered by partners Moment Factory and SOFTlab.
Spanning multiple levels of the experience, from the Level 4 entry to the Level 100 sky deck, the installations were designed to build anticipation, encourage discovery and create moments of photography and social sharing. Each environment responds to movement, shifts with the time of day and evolves across seasons, ensuring no two visits feel exactly the same.
The new experiences include Prism, Pulse, Skyrise, Reflections, Kaleidoscope, Crystal Cave and Infinite City. Together, they create a journey of color, reflection, motion and original music, from an ever evolving prism of New York imagery to responsive mirrored panels, interactive light installations and NYC’s largest kaleidoscope.
Alongside this strategic and advisory oversight, and design guardianship, our team also designed the interiors for the Tao Hospitality Group operated hospitality spaces, including a reimagined Peak with Priceless restaurant and the brand new Avenue Sky Lounge on Level 101, as well as the concession bars located across the sky deck.
These environments required a different interpretation of the Edge brand. Rather than simply echoing the sleek architectural aesthetic of the observation deck, the hospitality spaces needed to create a warmer and more luxurious atmosphere suited to dining, cocktails and nightlife.
“The project reinterprets Manhattan’s Art Deco heritage through spaces that feel both timeless and contemporary.”
– Hospitality Design
Journey worked closely with Tao Hospitality Group to align our design visions, ensuring the final environments reflected their premium hospitality standards while remaining anchored in the broader Edge NYC experience.
Together with the outdoor sky deck, elevated dining, cocktails and nightlife, these spaces help transform Edge into a complete day to night destination. Visitors can now experience immersive environments, iconic skyline views and premium hospitality within one connected journey.
Annual visitors
The highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere