VIA 57 West

Under construction in July, 2015
Bjarke Ingels's model for the West 57 project

VIA 57 West (marketed as VIΛ 57WEST) is the name for a large housing project designed by the Copenhagen and New York based architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the project previously went by the working names 625 West 57th Street, West 57th or simply W57. The pyramid shaped tower block is on West 57th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.[1] According to The New York Times, the name was chosen "because the southbound West Side Highway slopes down as drivers enter the city, right at the spot where the building is situated," acting like a gateway to Manhattan.[2]

Context

Bjarke Ingels met the New York developer Douglas Durst in the early 2000s when he was in Denmark with his Danish wife. Durst, who visited Ingels' Copenhagen studio in February 2010, found him very inventive, noting that unlike other architects, "What was striking about his work was that each design was so different, and designed for the locale."[1]

In spring 2010, Durst Fetner Residential commissioned BIG to bring a new residential typology to Manhattan. In 2011, BIG opened an office in New York to supervise W57's development and construction.[3] By mid-2012, the office had a staff of about 50, and as of 2015, it employs over 150 people in New York.[1]

West 57 is Ingels's first New York project. The 750-unit building will resemble a distorted pyramid with a steeply sloped facade, rising 467 feet (142 m) toward the northeast. The triangular structure has been described as a hybrid between a European perimeter block and a traditional Manhattan high-rise.[3] With its angular balconies around an integrated green plaza, the block will connect with the waterfront and the Hudson River Park, taking full account of the surroundings while providing fine views with little traffic noise.[1][4] The building has a floor area of 80,000 square metres, including residential and retail programming.[5] The northern façade of the building features a number of balconies skewed at a 45-degree angle, a pattern employed in previous works such as the VM Houses, in the Ørestad section of Copenhagen.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West 57.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Robbie Whelan, "New Face of Design", Wall Street Journal, 22 July 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/realestate/naming-a-new-york-building.html
  3. 1 2 "West 57th by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group", ArchiTravel, 20 September 2012, Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Kelly Minner, "A BIG New York Debut: West 57th", Arch Daily, 7 February 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  5. ↑ http://static.big.dk/projects/w57/slides/project_sheet_project_sheet_W57_original_original.pdf
  6. ↑ Smith, Stephen (26 August 2014). "Construction Update: Bjarke Ingels' 625 West 57th Street - New York YIMBY". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2016-02-06.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.