In part one of a series on changes to the Hudson River waterfront in the West Village, we take a look at the pending development of the Superior Printing Ink factory along West Street. Click on the link below for recently reported details on these plans, plus our snapshots of one unlucky co-op preparing to lose its river views.
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Update: Gwathmey in SoHo
In a previous post we ruminated on the possibility that another project designed by Gwathmey Siegel might soon rise in Manhattan to follow on their much discussed Astor Place "Sculpture for Living" (right). Recently Lois Weiss of the New York Post reported that the Landmarks commission has now approved the design for a residential project to fill a parking lot at 311-323 West Broadway across the street from the SoHo Grand Hotel. The Laboz family plans a condo project that will go through the block to Wooster Street, and may include townhouses. We'll take a closer look as details emerge.
Winka Dubbeldam, Take 2
Dutch-born architect Winka Dubbeldam is at work on a follow-up to her innovative 497 Greenwich Street design (top right) with a new project for an empty lot on Vestry Street in TriBeCa. The design for 31-33 Vestry was recently unveiled at a hearing held by the Landmarks Preservation Commission where Ms. Dubbeldam was asked to make a number of changes. The building's curtain wall as proposed (bottom right) would be inlaid with bands of light-emitting stone that will glow at night. The luminous facade would be extremely flat and, according to Downtown Express' Ronda Kaysen, members of the commission expressed concern that it would make for too harsh a contrast with the neighboring buildings. To our eyes the plan is such a clean break from the past that to ask Ms. Dubbeldam to apply cheap echoes of its surroundings would be rather silly. We hope the revised design will maintain the spirit in which it was first conceived, and we hope the commission will ultimately find the merit in a challenging design. Follow the link to Downtown Express for a larger view.
Update: One Kenmare Square
A bit more detail now on 210 Lafayette Street, if we may. Architect Richard Gluckman, responsible for the serene spaces inside the Gagosian and Mary Boone galleries, has designed this 11-story loft apartment house, including the interiors. Apartments will range from a 450 sq. foot studio to 1400 sq. foot 2-bedroom units. Ceilings will be 10 feet high and windows will wrap the curve in a ribbon pattern. We had been curious about how far along this Andre Balazs-connected project was when we came across Curbed.com's recent snapshots. Bookmark Curbed, it's the perfect daily fix. The post linked below takes you to a series of photos documenting the progress of the curvy structure. A shock of the new rising where SoHo meets Little Italy. The project's marketing web site, produced by dbox, is now up. Also visit the site of the Gluckman Mayner firm for a closer look at their work, including Marianne Boesky's TriBeCa loft.
On The Drawing Board
A new category on our list of contents at left called Looking Glass will be a place for us to post quick project news, forecasts, and any random speculation we may indulge in from time to time. In this edition, after the jump, we take a sneak peek and link you to three project renderings just posted to the web by their developers.
Visualizing Calatrava's Tower
To get a sense of just how radical Santiago Calatrava's 80 South Street condo tower will be, we wanted a closer look. What might living in these sky boxes feel like? These alternate views give more detail and perspective than anything else we've yet seen.
The roof of each cube will be the outdoor garden for the unit above, so make sure those orchids aren't leaking. A sales and marketing placeholder has already gone up on the web, poised to open for business the minute the condo offering plan is approved by the good offices of the New York attorney general.
Narrow Margin
Thin is in. What do you call a trend born of necessity? When new construction fills small odd-lots and leftover spaces it usually means the most desirable neighborhoods are fast approaching a state of being fully "built-out." It also means the price per square foot is just too good for developers to pass up. Do the math, as they say in bad action movie spec scripts.
Here we're looking at three projects all within a stone's throw of one another in Chelsea, and all on extremely narrow lots. They all feature full-floor units, most with bedrooms in the back--where one shouldn't expect a lot of sunlight. The Soma, top right, is located at 116 West 22nd Street and has 10 units on eleven stories. The glass front will be a welcome addition to what is now a fairly dark (and dank) block. At left is the nearby
