Lower Manhattan, arguably the original home of the skyscraper, has seen its profile altered over the years by new buildings of varying size and quality. In the past half-dozen years, two new and very tall ones have taken the trend in different directions—the new 1 World Trade Center, replacing the destroyed original, and 8 Spruce Street, designed by controversial architect Frank Gehry, whose work does not inspire neutrality. The two standouts can be seen above, with 1 WTC on the left, and 8 Spruce on the right.
I’ve not been a big fan of Gehry’s; his plan for Atlantic Center in Brooklyn, including the new Barclays arena, was (my view) fortunately abandoned for other designs, and his Cleveland Clinic building in Las Vegas seems (again, my view) a silly trick.
But this time, I find myself on the other side, almost in love with a building that has taken a small space and a tall (78-floors of apartments) profile and made it an interesting place that can’t be easily defined as modern, post-modern, surreal, digital—just to name a few of the adjectives that have been tacked on it. For more details and a review by the New York Times, click HERE.
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It is truly a remarkable and unique skyline. I think Gehry’s new building is brilliant. While some of his other buildings seem a little precious, I tend to enjoy his style. But this one’s a stand out.
I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again, I love Gehry’s buildings. Whether one is a fan of all of them, or not, it’s an amazing thing to perceive such seemingly static materials used in such a visually malleable way. Almost reverting to a tribal sensibility when fabric was the stuff of shelter, the most exciting tent wins. I’m surprised more of his influence hasn’t been expressed by others. Or in domestic architecture. Maybe some day. Or maybe they have and I just haven’t seen them yet. (Nice lens)
You may have noticed that NYC has 2 areas of very tall buildings – The Battery/Financial District and Midtown, separated by an large area where building height is limited. This was not just due to zoning. The reason is geological. The bedrock is very close to the surface in Midtown and Battery so there is support for very tall buildings. However, From 34th street down to Canal the bedrock is much deeper and the ground is more sandy/gravely, so it was unsafe to build tall buildings in area. The technology is changing and we are starting to see some tallish building go up in Chelsea, Greenwich Village and SOHO but none are truly skyscraper size