SAKS FIFTH AVENUE · NYC

Saks Fifth Avenue

Occupying a full city block across from Rockefeller Center, Saks Fifth Avenue stands as one of New York City's most iconic retail destinations. Pointknown documented the building's exterior envelope and key interior environments to create a coordinated Revit model supporting renovation, planning, and long-term asset management.

Center of Manhattan’s architectural & cultural landscape

Retail

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Project Type

Commercial

Deliverables

Revit Model

Location

New York City, NY

Use Case

Renovation, Planning, & Long-term asset management

Measured once. Delivered ready for design.

What was documented
Pointknown documented both the exterior envelope and key interior environments of the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York City, one of Manhattan's most recognizable retail landmarks. The scope included full exterior documentation across the entire city block, primary retail spaces, circulation routes, structural column grids, stair cores, and vertical circulation systems. Select interior areas, including café spaces overlooking Rockefeller Center, were also captured. The project combined terrestrial laser scanning, field measurements, extensive photography, and multiple data sources to accurately record existing building conditions.

What was delivered
The final deliverable was a fully coordinated Existing Conditions Revit Model representing both the building's exterior and critical interior systems. The model established reliable column grid alignment throughout the structure, accurately documented vertical circulation and core relationships, and provided clean architectural geometry suitable for renovation planning and future design work. By integrating data collected from multiple sources into a unified digital environment, the model created a dependable foundation for ongoing building management and architectural decision-making.

Why it matters
For a building as prominent and complex as Saks Fifth Avenue, accurate existing conditions information is essential for reducing uncertainty during renovation and planning efforts. A coordinated digital model allows architects, engineers, and ownership teams to better understand the building's structure, circulation systems, and spatial relationships before design work begins. By creating a reliable digital baseline, Pointknown helped support more informed decision-making, improved coordination, and greater confidence in future project development across this iconic Manhattan property.

3D Existing Conditions Model

A coordinated building model makes complex existing conditions easier to understand, communicate, and build from.

Saks Fifth Avenue

Documenting a Landmark in the Heart of Manhattan

Saks Fifth Avenue sits at the intersection of architecture, retail, tourism, and urban infrastructure. Pointknown was tasked with documenting the building's exterior envelope, circulation systems, structural organization, and key interior environments to create a dependable digital foundation for future work.

Complex Urban Conditions

Reliable building data starts with disciplined fieldwork

Exterior capture was completed overnight along Fifth Avenue using terrestrial laser scanning, minimizing disruption while collecting high-precision data from one of Manhattan's busiest corridors.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

A complete existing conditions package, from reality capture to usable deliverables.

Completed before the widespread adoption of mobile reality capture technology, this project utilized a hybrid workflow combining terrestrial laser scanning, field measurements, photography, and Pointknown's early proprietary documentation methods. Exterior data collection was performed overnight using a Leica ScanStation P20 in collaboration with Langan Engineering, minimizing disruption along one of Manhattan's busiest corridors. Fieldwork extended from Fifth Avenue to rooftop access points overlooking Rockefeller Center, helping establish the foundation for the documentation workflows Pointknown continues to build upon today.

WHY POINTKNOWN

The value is not in the scan itself. It is in what your team can do next.

Design-ready deliverables

Measured information is structured into clean Revit and CAD outputs so architects, owners, and developers can move quickly.

Clear communication

Pointknown focuses on clarity. The process stays in the background. The usable result stays front and center.

One source of truth

A single field effort supports visualization, planning, modeling, and documentation—without repeated site visits or fragmented information.

Interested in something similar?

If you are planning, renovating, leasing, or evaluating a building, clear existing conditions matter.

Pointknown helps design teams and property stakeholders move forward with confidence by turning existing buildings into usable, decision-ready information.

projects@pointknown.com