New Tower on 87 Lafayette Street?

[krulltime]

So I came upon this interesting design by Lot-Ek about this new tower on 78 Lafayette Street. Anybody has any more information? On their website there is not alot of information. Any news I missed? What do you guys think? More renderings at their website.

[Fabrizio]

If it looked exactly like the rendering, if it were perfectly made, perfectly put together... jewel-like... IMO it would be beautiful.

But I doubt that would be the reality.

[NoyokA]

Interesting and I like to see that its pushing the envelope. That said the fact that it is interesting and pushing the envelope probably seals its fate, it seems whenever something truly original is proposed, the attention that is always inadvertently grabbed the most is the attention of the NIMBY groups who go on to squander such efforts, meanwhile McSam’s and other horrible pieces of architecture fly under the radar and have no trouble being realized. I hate NIMBYS!

[Fabrizio]

It's funny, because for my personal taste this to me is contextual.

Look especially at the second photo down. The new tower sits between two Int. Style 1960's office buildings, but behind a French chateau. It ties them all together without looking ridiculous or banal.... contrasting rather than clashing. The surrounding buildings support it. But perhaps it would look sad if it were among tenements.

[NoyokA]

Originally Posted by Fabrizio

It's funny, because for my personal taste this to me is contextual.

Look especially at the second photo down. The new tower sits between two Int. Style 1960's office buildings, but behind a French chateau. It ties them all together without looking ridiculous or banal.... contrasting rather than clashing. The surrounding buildings support it. But perhaps it would look sad if it were among tenements.

I'm not saying that it isn't contextual. All I'm saying is that it always seems like whenever something different from the bottom-line model of architecture is followed, the group that notices the most are NIMBY's. Today's NIMBY's are hard to reason with.

Im optimistic that this project will get the go ahead, since I know this area pretty well, its dominated by a dorm, government offices, and a number of prisons, it doesn't for instance have the same demographics of NIMBY's as Tribeca.

[lofter1]

Title of this thread should read "87 Lafayette" ...

DOB says this property (87 - 91 Lafayette / aka 98 - 108 White Street) is LANDMARKED.

The "chateau" is a former FDNY Fire House ...


The old home of Engine Company 31, located at

87 Lafayette Street Manhattan, built in 1895

It now houses the production studios / living space of documentarian
Jon Alpert's Downtown Community TV Center (dctvny) .

[Fabrizio]

You see how clever it's done... the slant follows the slant of the chateau roof. The side street wall matches it's cornice line. The red windows.

[NoyokA]

I didn't realize that the building was a landmark, it definetly should be though, its about the only piece of noteworthy architecture in that immediate area. Even though it looks like only a small garage would be destroyed for this project I highly doubt the Landmark Commission will approve this project, not because of the demolished garage, but because it will "overwhelm" the original building.

[212]

Those protruding red window things in the facade must be shipping containers ... see the other work on the firm's site.

Usually I'm very preservationist, but we need more innovation like this. I hope it's approved. (If it's a real proposal.)

[212]

Instantly this building in concert with the old firehouse would be more of a landmark than the firehouse on its own.

[stache]

I would love to see this proposal all in black and white, or an illustration all in color. It's hard to tell what it would really look like with the proposal only in color.

[Peteynyc1]

Looks like that building has been hanging out with "Blue"

[lofter1]

I'm not exactly sure how this new building would be situated here, but it might be something like this ...

***

[krulltime]

Slanted tower studied next to landmark firehouse


16-APR-07

Plans for a very dramatic, 19-story, slanting tower at the rear of the former firehouse at 87 Lafayette Street appeared today in a posting on the Internet.

The plans were developed by Young Woo & Associates and renderings of the tower are on the website of Lot-ek, an architectural firm, and appeared in a posting today on wirednewyork.com.

Baptiste Thevenon, an architect with Lot-ek, told CityRealty.com today that the design was for a 19-story artists' loft building with a one-story commercial base. He said that his understanding was that the owner of the adjoining property over which the slanting tower would cantilever was seeking an agreement with the owner of the firehouse for development of its air-rights.

The adjoining property is 93-99 Lafayette Street, which is part of a property lot that also includes 103-109 Walker Street and 139 Centre Street.

Young Woo & Associates and Angelo, Gordon & Co., acquired the 177,000-square-foot former headquarters of Globix Corporation at 139 Centre Street last year for about $55 million.

At the time of the sale, Mark Friedman, executive managing director of GVA Williams said that "with the building's location bordering Chinatown and TriBeCa, there is enormous excitement in the Asian community about the possibilities for the site" that has a development potential of 230,000 square feet and is supposed to be delivered vacant in May. "It is suitable for conversions to condominiums, hotel, or other high-end uses that are in short supply," Mr. Friedman maintained.

Mr. Woo told CityRealty.com today that he has "failed" to obtain an agreement yet with the owner of the firehouse, adding that he has a "good relationship" with the owner.

The 17,000-square-foot firehouse, old Engine 31's quarters, which was erected circa 1895 in French chateau-style atop the former swamp Collect Pond, is occupied by the Downtown Community TV Center of which Jon Alpert and his wife, Keiko Tsuno, are principals.

The firehouse, which is on the northeast corner at White Street, is a New York City landmark so a certificate of appropriateness would most likely be sought from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for any development on any part of its site.

The slant is very dramatic and somewhat similar to the angles used by the late Philip Johnson for a pair of office buildings in Spain several years ago.

Mr. Woo said that he had become very interested in plans developed by Lot-ek (which stands for "low-tech") employing large metal shipping containers. He said he considered their use in residential construction "fascinating" and "environmentally friendly."

Mr. Woo's company is the developer of the residential condominium tower planned for 200 Eleventh Avenue at 24th Street that will have 16 apartments of which 14 will have their own 1-car garage space that measures 20 feet nine inches by 12 feet within the apartment.

The garage "rooms" may be the building's most unusual feature, but its most visible feature will be its unusual facade that its website maintains was inspired in part by neighboring industrial lots. The building's facade has a base that will clad in gunmetal glazed terracotta while the setback tower will be clad in brushed stainless steel that the website states "takes on organic curves while reflecting the area's industrial past.

Youngwoo & Associates, which is also involved in the Chelsea Arts Tower, a 20-story, commercial condominium building nearing completion nearby on West 25th Street.

Annabelle Selldorf is the architect for 200 Eleventh Avenue.

The Lot-ek scheme for 87 Lafayette Street apparently employs stacking the containers with staircases at the north and south ends and also calls for some containers to protrude randomly on the west facade. The building's slant begins at the third floor on White Street and the sixth floor on the north side. The roof of the slanted tower would have an array of solar panels.


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[antinimby]

Young Woo & Associates is a good quality NY developer and should be commended for using good architectural firms and having tastful and stylish designs.