If, as some magazine writer recently opined, Richard Meier is the Prada of architecture, then certainly the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are its Helmut Lang--the brand for the real insiders. Nobody understands this "degree of coolness" factor better than Ian Schrager, who has turned his attention from hip accommodation to luxury condos for the Art Basel jet set. Having sold most of their new condominiums on Gramercy Park, Schrager and his partner Aby Rosen are now set to soon break ground on a vacant lot on NoHo's Bond Street, where they have hired Herzog & de Meuron to work their avant-garde magic for design conscious downtown loft buyers. After the jump we give you a bit more detail on the hush-hush project.
[Editor's Note: details of this project are now public, and a full report with images can be seen at our post located HERE]
Speculation about the closely guarded plans has been swirling in the architecture community for months. Sadly, we no longer have the tiny rendering to show you, as we have been politely asked to remove the image we found on the web site of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. On the Harvard page (linked below) the luxe condo is listed cryptically only as Project No. 253, "Bond Street Apartment Building," without any further details. The single image is just too small for us to make any sound judgements, but we feel confident predicting that the NoHo neighborhood is in for a glassy green shock-of-the-new. So you mean those Harvard brats have had this scoop right under their noses all semester? Yes, indeed they have. Perhaps they could use one less course in the semiotics of spatial arrangement, and one more course in the urgent obsessions of New York media.
Any other details, smarty? Sure, here is what we know so far from various sources: The Pritzker prize-winning Swiss design duo will apparently re-imagine the classic cast iron building--only without the iron. Instead, the entire facade will be fashioned from glass pieces handmade in Barcelona. The mid-block building, located at 40 Bond Street, will have 30 loft condominium apartments, five townhouses with private backyards. Construction has not yet begun, although the site has been cleared, and core samples were recently drilled to test the soil.
Update: according to spokespeople for Mr. Schrager details of the plan are still evolving, so take all of this as a mixture of genuine reportage and informed speculation. Final plans may be released as early as February.
Can't wait for the sales office to open? Then upgrade your coffee table with an imported 3-volume set of the complete works of Herzog & de Meuron, a fetish item among design cognoscenti. It will only set you back $400, if you can find a book dealer who has one. And you don't even read German...
Of course there's a 40 Bond Street website in the works, but don't bother clicking right now: you need the secret password. Meanwhile, content yourself with a look at Herzog & de Meuron's trippy Prada store in Tokyo courtesy of this site here. Is that green glass handmade in Barcelona too?
