166 Avenue of the Americas
Construction scaffolding has started to come down at the newly renovated and expanded headquarters of the charity God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to the sick and homebound. The charity's original two-story, brick building at Spring Street and Avenue of the Americas, on the fringes of the SoHo neighborhood, has been expanded into a six-story structure containing a volunteer lounge and terrace on the third floor setback and a rooftop garden. A rendering posted on the construction fence was not very promising aesthetically, but there was hope that the reality would prove more appealing. Unfortunately, with the recent reveal of the brick and metal facade, there has been no improvement over the rendering. A highly reflective metal facade, patterned by a pressed running bond, comes across like cheap cladding that completely disregards the fabric of the neighborhood's surrounding buildings. One Vandam, the new structure rising directly to the north, employs a limestone and glass curtain wall that proves to be a more successful strategy for introducing a contemporary facade into the historic SoHo neighborhood. Though we applaud the expansion of a charity with a wonderful mission like God's Love We Deliver, an opportunity has been lost to add to the architectural heritage of the neighborhood at such a prominent corner.
Southwest corner of 166 Avenue of the Americas (right) and One Vandam (left).
West facade of 166 Avenue of the Americas (right) and One Vandam (left)..
Detail of the west facade.
Facade detail.
West facade from Avenue of the Americas.
West facade from Avenue of the Americas.
Northwest corner from Avenue of the Americas.
Architects: Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel; Program: Office; Location: SoHo/Hudson Square, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
71 Laight Street - The Sterling Mason
Façade installation continues at Morris Adjmi's The Sterling Mason, a 32-unit, six-story condo in Tribeca. Developed by Taconic Investment Partners, the project consists of an existing coffee and tea warehouse structure, built in 1905, with a new structure fronting on Greenwich Street. The existing red brick and terracotta structure will be fully restored and converted into its new residential use, while the new building is conceived as a mirror image, both in size and proportion, of the existing warehouse structure. To further this idea, the new structure is clad in an aluminum prefab panel skin with a plasma finish that emulates a brick façade while adding a shimmering effect.
Northeast corner at Greenwich and Laight Street.
North facade from Laight Street.
Northwest corner from Laight Street.
Northeast corner from Greenwich Street.
Northeast corner from Laight Street.
Facade detail.
East facade from Greenwich Street.
Southeast corner from Greenwich Street.
Architects: Morris Adjmi Architects; Interiors: Gachot; Landscape Architect: Deborah Nevins & Associates; Developer: Taconic Investment Partners; Program: Residential; Location: Tribeca, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
860 Washington
Superstructure has surpassed the halfway mark at James Carpenter's 860 Washington, an office tower at the High Line. The 10-story, 113,848-square-foot mixed use building adjacent to the High Line in the Meatpacking district has reached the 7th floor with its concrete structure. Retail will occupy the first two floors of the building, with the second floor at eye level with High Line visitors. The eight office floors feature ceiling heights of 11'-3" and column-free perimeters provided by the 15-foot cantilever from column to the edge of slab. A side core layout, with elevators and stairs located along the northern edge of the site, allows for full exposure along the east, south, and west facades. In stark contrast to the predominantly brick facades of much of the surrounding context, 860 Washington's facade will be an all glass curtain wall system, more akin to the newer office towers at the World Trade Center. The building is targeting LEED silver and is projected to open in the third quarter of 2015.
Construction Progress Diagram.
Southeast corner from Washington Street.
East elevation from Washington Street.
Southeast corner detail.
Northeast corner from Washington Street.
South elevation from West 13th Street.
Southwest corner from West 13th Street.
Southwest corner from the High Line park.
South elevation framed by the High Line spanning Standard Hotel.
Looking north on Washington Street.
Looking north on Washington Street.
Architects: James Carpenter Design Associates; Developers: Property Group Partners with Romanoff Equities; Program: Office, Retail; Location: Meatpacking District, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage & Salt Shed
Work is well underway on the DSNY's Spring Street salt shed, a faceted concrete structure by Dattner Architects to house 4,000 tons of salt. Rising to nearly 70 feet, the heavy, abstract form will contrast with the reflective, metallic surfaces of the new Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage directly across the street, also by Dattner. The garage looks to be ready to open sometime in the first half of 2015 with the salt shed wrapping up at the end of the year.
Looking north on West Street.
Google Street View, June 2011.
Southwest corner of the salt shed.
Northeast corner of salt shed.
Northeast corner of salt shed (right) and the New York Land Ventilation Building for the Holland Tunnel (left).
Looking east on West Street towards the site of the salt shed (right) and the garage (left).
Southwest corner of the garage from West Street.
West facade of the garage from Pier 34.
Looking east from Pier 34 towards the garage (left).
West facade of the garage from West Street.
Looking south on West Street towards the garage (left).
Architects: Dattner Architects with WXY Architecture + Urban Design; Program: Infrastructure; Location: Hudson Square, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
50 West Street
Superstructure has reached the 17th floor at Helmut Jahn's 50 West Street. The 64-story, 780-foot residential tower will bring 191 condo units to Lower Manhattan. Some of the condo units will feature duplexes while others offer double height living rooms with skyline views. Amenities in the building include a pool, private fitness center, an entertainment floor, a landscaped rooftop observatory, and office condominiums on the third floor that residents can purchase for the ultimate home office.
Construction progress diagram. Rendering © dbox.
Looking north on West Street.
Southwest corner from West Street.
Southwest corner from West Street.
West facade from West Street.
Northwest corner from West Street.
Southeast corner from Washington Street.
Northeast corner from Washington Street.
East facade from Washington Street.
View from the Rector Street Pedestrian Bridge.
Architects: Jahn; Interiors: Thomas Juul-Hansen; Developers: Time Equities Inc.; Program: Residential; Completion: 2016.
56 Leonard Street
The shifting floors continue to rise at Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard tower in TriBeCa. Structure has reached the 50th floor and the glass window wall has been installed up to the 28th floor. The iconic tower already asserts its striking presence from many points in the city and the effect will only increase as the final 11 floors, where the shifting is most pronounced, takes shape. When completed, the condo tower will include 145 units, each with their own unique layout thanks to the architects' shifting floor plate strategy.
Construction Progress Diagram. Rendering © Herzog & de Meuron.
North facade from Church Street.
South facade from Church Street.
Northeast corner from Church Street.
Northeast corner detail from Leonard Street.
Northeast corner detail from Church Street.
Northeast corner from Church Street.
North facade from Leonard Street.
South facade from Worth Street.
Northwest corner from Leonard Street.
West facade from West Broadway.
Northwest corner from West Broadway.
Northwest corner from West Broadway.
Northwest corner from the Laight Street bridge.
Lower Manhattan skyline with 56 Leonard (left), 30 Park Place (center), and One World Trade Center (right) from Pier 34.
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron with Goldstein Hill & West Architects; Structural Engineers: WSP; Developers: Alexico Group, Hines; Program: Residential; Location: Tribeca, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
Jerome L. Greene Science Center & Lenfest Center for the Arts
Construction continues on the first phase buildings for Columbia University's Manhattanville Campus expansion to the north of the main campus. Two buildings by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) are fully underway, the Jerome L. Greene Science Center and the Lenfest Center for the Arts. Since the last update, glass façade panels have been installed on the first floor of the Science Center. At the Center for the Arts, work on the steel structure continues while awaiting for curtain wall installation to begin. Demolition is complete on the site of RPBW's third building, the Manhattanville Academic Conference Center. The five-story, 60,0000-square-foot building will house a 400-seat auditorium and state-of-the-art seminar and meeting rooms.
Southeast corner from the 1 train subway platform.
Detail of the rooftop mechanical equipment.
Northeast corner of the Science Center.
Future site of the Academic Conference Center.
South façade of the Science Center from the 125th Street subway station.
South façade of the Science Center from Broadway.
Southeast corner of the Science Center.
Southeast corner of the Science Center.
South façade of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
Southwest corner of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
Southwest corner of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
View of the Manhattanville Campus from Riverside Drive.
South façade of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from Riverside Drive.
Northwest corner of the Science Center (left) and the Center for the Arts (right) from Riverside Drive.
View of the Manhattanville Campus from Riverside Drive.
Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Davis Brody Bond LLP (Science Center and Center for the Arts), RPBW with Dattner Architects (Academic Conference Center); Program: Education; Location: Manhattanville, New York, NY; Completion: 2016.
High Line Restaurant
As of last week, Renzo Piano's restaurant underneath the High Line, at Gansevoort and Washington Streets, has finally opened. The structure has been designed in Piano's typical high tech language of metal and glass that complements the aesthetic of his new Whitney Museum and High Line Headquarters building adjacent to the restaurant. In the warmer months, the restaurant's exterior envelop has been designed to open up to adjacent public plaza. Santina, run by restaurateurs Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick, will feature a coastal Italian-American menu.
Northeast corner from Washington Street.
East façade from Washington Street.
Signage at the front entry.
Southeast corner from Washington Street.
East elevation from Washington Street.
Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Beyer Blinder Belle; Interiors: Thomas Schlesser and Design Bureaux, Inc.; Program: Restaurant; Location: New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
CUMC Medical and Graduate Education Building
Curtain wall installation continues at Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler's 14-story building for the Columbia University Medical College. Most of the panels are up on the west façade, where the first panels appeared late last year. More of the non-uniform structural beams, clad in a white shell, are also apparent on the west façade. The cladding of the east façade has started as well, with fully opaque panels at the base that transition in a gradient to fully transparent panels at the southern end. While structurally fully formed in concrete, the "Study Cascade" still awaits its enclosure, which will be a crucial detail that determines how successfully the constructed building achieves the powerful concept in the renderings.
Looking north on Haven Avenue.
Southeast corner from Haven Avenue.
Southeast corner from Haven Avenue.
South façade.
Southwest corner.
Southwest corner.
West façade detail.
East façade.
East façade detail.
East façade from West 171st Street.
Northeast corner from Haven Avenue.
Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Gensler; Program: Education; Location: Washington Heights, New York, NY; Completion: 2016.
Pierhouse
Topping out has occurred on the northern condo building at Marvel Architects' Pierhouse, on the outskirts of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Joining the Starwood-run, 200-key hotel building attached to its northern extreme, the 100-foot, 10-story condo building will house the bulk of the 108 units, mostly of the duplex variety. The rest of the units will be housed in a lower, 5-story building to the south of the Squibb Park Bridge that bisects the site. The hotel's facade of metal and glass has been installed on the lower half of the 10-story building. Limestone and glass will clad the park-facing facade of the condo building, with anodized aluminum panels cladding the Furman Street facade.
The Pierhouse structure has garnered much attention recently for its height. Some in the Brooklyn Heights community are outraged over its impact on the views of Brooklyn Bridge and the skyline from the promenade. Current construction appears to adhere to previously released renderings, making the sudden public outrage, including a ridiculous blog's allusion to burning it down, a little baffling. The views to Brooklyn Bridge along some portions of the promenade have been obstructed by the new building but the southern extents have not. At the portion of the promenade that has been most impacted, near Squibb Park, the public will presumably have access once again to the Squibb Park Bridge which can convey them past the building to an elevated view of the bridge and skyline, not to mention all the parkland.
Northeast corner of the Pierhouse's hotel building from Furman Street.
Northeast corner of the Pierhouse's hotel building from Furman Street.
North facade of the Pierhouse's hotel building.
Northwest corner of the Pierhouse's hotel building from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Northwest corner of the Pierhouse's hotel building from Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier A.
West facade of the Pierhouse from Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier A.
Southwest corner of the Pierhouse's condo building and the Squibb Park Bridge from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Facade scaffolding going up at the Pierhouse's condo building.
Looking west from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade towards Pierhouse (foreground) and Lower Manhattan (background).
Looking west from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade towards Pierhouse (foreground) and Lower Manhattan (background).
Looking west from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade towards Pierhouse (foreground) and Lower Manhattan (background).
Looking west from Squibb Park towards Pierhouse (foreground) and Lower Manhattan (background).
Southeast corner of Pierhouse from Squibb Park.
Architects: Marvel Architects; Landscape Architects: Michael Van Valkenberg; Developers: Toll Brothers City Living, Starwood; Program: Residential Condo, Hotel; Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
COOKFOX Architects · West Village · 2026