Archinect - News

BIG updates KING Toronto construction progress

2024-10-23T18:00:00-04:00

Here’s a brief construction update on the BIG-led new KING Toronto development with Diamond Schmitt Architects. The design pays homage to the definitive modularity of Moshe Safdie’s seminal Habitat 67, with 514 units rotated on a 45-degree angle and arranged as through a canyon overlooking the nightlife-centric King Street West corridor. Ingels says it will top out soon at 16 stories after beginning construction in mid-2020. This "experimental" addition will be the Danish firm’s third project for developer Westbank, following Vancouver House and the Telus Sky tower in Calgary.

Terner Center's report on construction defect liability turns a new page for California housing reformers

2024-07-26T11:48:00-04:00

The latest report from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation on the stasis of multifamily developments in California has identified existing construction defect liability laws as a barrier to enabling housing justice statewide.

This issue involves the risk taken on by developers of condominium projects and particularly affects BIPOC communities who are less likely to be homeowners than their peers. California’s policies are therein compared to others in the United States and Canada. The findings will help lead to legal reforms to increase homeownership and should be considered especially by architects working in the state's surging multifamily market.

A first look at Nabr, Bjarke Ingels’ disruptor housing company

2021-12-14T11:55:00-05:00

Nabr has offered the first clues of what their homes of the future may look like. The “people-first housing company” was co-founded by Bjarke Ingels with the ambition of “putting more people on a path to owning a high-quality, environmentally friendly home in the city.”

Nabr’s first building is set to be launched at 415 South 3rd Street, San Jose, California in 2023. Designed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group, and named SoFA One, the project will consist of more than 100 homes personalized by each owner. Prices are expected to start in the high $700Ks, with interested parties able to join a waitlist for the homes from 2022.

Image by The Boundary for Nabr

The waitlist for Nabr Homes will be open to everyone, with applicants able to fill out specific details on the units they are seeking. When the service matches the applicant’s preferences to an available unit in their area, the applicant will be invited to Nabr’s Design Studio to select and customize the home, including l...

A condominium in Waukesha, Wisconsin has been evacuated after structural deficiencies discovered

2021-12-10T17:10:00-05:00

A 48-unit condominium building in Waukesha, Wis., that was in imminent threat of collapse due to a rusted structural frame and columns has had its residents evacuated. The City of Waukesha, on Dec. 2, deemed that the Horizon West Condominium building at 315 N. West Ave. is unsafe for occupancy.

65 residents were ordered to immediately evacuate the building, which was originally constructed in 1966. McGuire Contractors, Inc. was called in to temporarily stabilize the structure with new steel bracing, however, the building is still not safe to be in. The company’s president, Steve McGuire, attributed the issues to the condo’s fireproofing, which soaked up water that migrated through the concrete balcony causing the gradual deterioration of the structural steel over the course of 55 years.

Since June of 2020, the city has reportedly known about the conditions of the balconies after a complaint was made. The fire department conducted inspections throughout 2020 and 2021, leading to the installation of fencing around the building due to the worsening condition of the balconies and falling debris. A month later, the condo association began removing the balconies, which revealed the state of the structural frame of the building and the columns.

Construction on Queens' tallest building, Skyline Tower, is complete

2021-07-28T19:41:00-04:00

Construction is now fully complete on Skyline Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Long Island City and all of Queens. Addressed as 23-15 44th Drive, the 68-story, 778-foot-tall edifice is designed by Hill West Architects and developed by United Construction & Development Group, FSA Capital, and Risland US Holdings LLC. Yielding 802 residences designed by Whitehall Interiors and marketed by Modern Spaces, residences range in price from $500,000 to $4 million.

Each of the units feature panoramic, 360-degree views of Manhattan and the surrounding skyline. The Hill West Architects-designed building is a sleek, monolithic structure defined by its fully-glass façade. Its base and crown are composed of metal fins that enclose the parking space and roof parapet, respectively. Amenities include a 75-foot pool, two-level spa, lounges, fitness center, business center, outdoor terrace, and children’s playroom.

Previously on Archinect: New renderings released of Long Island City’s Skyline Tower, Queens’ soon-to-be-tallest

According to The Real Deal, about 41% of the Skyline Tower’s units are in contract, with sales reaching a record billion-dollar sellout. It’s the first condo in the borough to aim for a sellout of this figure.

IBI Group's gridded Axis Condos add honeycombed patterning to Toronto's skyline

2020-05-20T16:51:00-04:00

IBI Group has completed work on the 38-story Axis Condos development in downtown Toronto. Design for the 541-unit tower was lead by IBI Group Global Director of Buildings Mansoor Kazerouni.

According to the architects, the graphically patterned glass tower offers a six-story podium filled with retail and residential spaces, including "small format" storefronts along the ground floor and a setback facade that allows for the sidewalk surrounding the building to stretch to nearly 20-feet in width. At the corner of the project site, the building pulls back further to create spaces for al fresco dining.

The podium level is matched with that of a neighboring tower complex in order to "ensure a consistency in the scale of the street wall," the architects write.

Offering angled balconies separated by thick white-walled partitions, the tower rises to its full height patterned in a honeycomb design along its northern and southern facades. The tower's more spartan east and west exposures rise...

Inside Renzo Piano’s first residential tower in New York City

2019-11-25T14:30:00-05:00

Known for his work on The New York Times Building, the Whitney Museum, and the Morgan Library expansion, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano has completed his first residential building in NYC at 565 Broome Street. The Soho tower has 115 residences, ranging from studios to four-bedroom condos. Uber’s Travis Kalanick and tennis star Novak Djokovic have already scooped up units in the building, where sales launched last September.

RAMSA breaks ground on tallest residential tower in Minneapolis

2019-10-23T14:38:00-04:00

Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and developers Arcadia and Ryan Companies have broken ground on Eleven, a 41-story condominium tower slated to become Minneapolis's tallest residential building.

View of the tower against the city skyline. Image courtesy of RAMSA.

The 550-foot, stone-and-glass tower features punched windows, glass balconies, and a stepped crown filled with penthouses and luxury amenities. Each floor of the tower will contain four individual units along the lower levels of the building. Higher up, the building will contain either one or two units per story.

The tower is wrapped in balconies and terraces. Images courtesy of RAMSA.

For the project, Ryan Companies is serving as a co-developer, builder, and design architect partner; Additional design services are being provided by Peterssen/Keller Architects and Martha Dayton Design.

Entry-level condo market gets a boost from Trump

2019-08-15T10:00:00-04:00

The Trump administration is vastly expanding the scope of condominium purchases eligible for lower-down-payment loans. The move, announced Wednesday by the Federal Housing Administration, could help revive the entry-level condo market for first-time buyers because FHA-backed loans require only a 3.5% down payment and lower credit score than conventional loans.

The move, in the works since 2016, could help provide a modest pathway for more Americans to afford real estate purchases, though tight supply and a pronounced focus on luxury housing on the part of developers could dampen the effects of the new measure.

Miami's condos are going unsold

2019-07-11T20:07:00-04:00

Miami’s high-end real-estate market has drastically slowed in the past several years, as the Latin American buyers who led a frenzy of postrecession purchases have all but disappeared. South American economies that were roaring in the early years of the decade, including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, are now facing severe economic distress, which has devalued their currencies and left purchasers from those countries with far less buying power in the U.S.

Oversupply, the unknown threat of climate change, and shifting immigration patterns are pushing high-end condominium prices downward in Miami, where, The Wall Street Journal reports, sales have fallen off 24 percent from last year.

“There’s just an abundance of inventory,” Alexandra Peters, a Miami real estate agent, told The Wall Street Journal. She added, “there’s so much frustration. It’s hard to move properties.”

Although foreign buyers, long the backbone of Miami's high-end housing economy, are buying in fewer numbers than before, that hasn't stopped developers from building. According to the report, roughly 20,000 new units have been built or planned since the Great Recession.

Hudson Yards and Stern-designed towers dominate NYC's ultraluxury real estate sales

2019-06-11T14:03:00-04:00

Manhattan’s latest crop of new luxury developments continues to attract a steady stream of buyers. At the ultra-pricey 220 Central Park South in Midtown, the grand limestone skyscraper designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, four more units officially sold, including New York City’s most expensive closing in May: a three-bedroom aerie for nearly $26.5 million.

The NYT's Vivian Marino provides an update on the biggest recent luxury real estate transactions in New York City with notably pricey purchases at Robert A.M. Stern's 220 Central Park South and 250 West 81st Street towers and also at the newly opened Hudson Yards mammoth development.

"Philip I. Kent, the former chief executive of Turner Broadcasting System, was one of the many buyers at 15 Hudson Yards, the megaproject’s first residential tower. (Oh, and the architect who helped design that building also bought an apartment — in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)," writes Marino.

Residents sue to stop Sutton 58 high rise construction in NYC

2018-08-29T15:05:00-04:00

Sutton Place residents filed a lawsuit Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to stop a luxury condo tower from rising on East 58th Street. The plaintiffs, a group called the East River Fifties Alliance, are residents from the surrounding neighborhood, including condo owners whose views would be blocked by a roughly 800-foot tower under construction at 430 E. 58th St.

Construction on NYC's Sutton 58 condo project was previously halted after Sutton Place residents secured a rezoning proposal. The rezoning mandated squatter buildings making Sutton 58 noncompliant. Since then a city zoning board granted the project a reprieve, resulting in the resident's lawsuit to stop construction.

Penda's Tel Aviv Arcades offer arches and terraces rather than the generic glass tower

2018-06-25T15:39:00-04:00

The Austrian branch of Penda reveals a residential high-rise for Tel Aviv defined by arches and cascading terraces. The design responds to the broad display of the city’s Bauhaus era and responds to the city's climate challenges rather than opting for another glass tower.

Tel Aviv Arcades rendering by Penda Austria. Image: Penda Austria.

Defined by the arch, the structure's design allows for views while still minimizing openings to direct sunlight in order to cooperate with the mediterranean climate. Varying terraces are used as a shading devices while also functioning as a vertical neighborhood for residents.

Tel Aviv Arcades rendering by Penda Austria. Image: Penda Austria.

The condominium tower measures approximately 380 feet in height featuring about 58 square feet of residential areas on 18 floors. The building will ...

Plans unveiled for Chicago's second tallest skyscraper alongside repurposing the Tribune Tower

2018-04-17T15:59:00-04:00

Developers on Monday unveiled plans for Chicago’s second-tallest skyscraper, a tapering shaft of metal and glass that would soar above historic Tribune Tower, resemble the top of Batman’s black mask and be only 29 feet shorter than Willis Tower. If completed, the $1 billion-plus project to repurpose Tribune Tower and build a skinny, 1,422-foot high-rise just northeast of it would bring more than 700 residences and 200 hotel rooms to an area north of the Chicago River.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are working with Los Angeles developers Golub & Co. and CIM Group to build Chicago's next skyscraper. Their design would take over Trump International Hotel & Tower's title of second-tallest in the city.

Current plans for the new tower have construction beginning in late 2019. The new skyscraper would house a 200 room hotel, 439 rental apartments, and 125 condos in its upper floors. The site would be on what it now a surface parking lot behind Tribune Tower.

Their plans also call for repurposing Tribune Tower with 163 condominiums. This conversion will be headed up by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), with Vinci Hamp Architects brought on as historic preservation consultants. The earliest of these condo's would be ready by 2020.

Tribune Tower project rendering, Chicago. Image: Golub & Co. and CIM Group.

David Adjaye’s 800-foot, hand-cast concrete condo tower in NY's Financial District revealed

2017-12-15T13:35:00-05:00

Developer Lightstone has finally presented the first official reveal of 130 William, the highly anticipated condominium tower designed by British architect Sir David Adjaye. His first tower in city, Adjaye will be adding to Manhattan's iconic skyline with a 800-foot, 66-story residential tower in the Financial district.

Rendering courtesy of Lightstone.

The newly released design is a marked departure from early conceptual studies of the tower, which showed a gold prism against rigid rows of arched windows. The windows remain arched, but are varied in scheme and plans for the tower now include an additional 50 extra feet and an extra 5 stories. Adjaye's design has also traded gold for concrete, a refreshing break from the sleek steel and heavily glassed high rises that have become ubiquitous in this part of the city.

Rendering courtesy of Lightstone.

Featuring a façade of hand-cast concrete with bronze detailing, his design makes nods to the past and a...

Chicago Tribune Tower sale closes; mixed-use redevelopment likely

2016-08-31T13:42:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group has agreed to buy Tribune Tower for up to $240 million, marking the end of media ownership for the historic North Michigan Avenue building and the beginning of a new chapter, likely as part of a mixed-use redevelopment. [...] Tribune Media unveiled conceptual plans last year to redevelop the parcel, adding several buildings to maximize the space with residential, retail and hotel components.

The Tribune Tower sale previously in the Archinect news: Chicago Tribune Tower inches closer to hotel & residential redevelopment

New Renderings of Bjarke Ingels’ High Line Towers Show Crowns and Amenity Bridges

2016-08-10T17:31:00-04:00

In November 2015, Bjarke Ingels‘ released images of a pair of asymmetric, twisting towers along the High Line at 76 Eleventh Avenue then at the beginning of this year, the design changed to a simpler silhouette with more space in between the two buildings. Now it has been revealed through another group of renderings glass crowns at the 300- and 400-foot tops, the retail podium and plaza fronting the High Line, and two amenity-filled podium bridges that will connect the towers.

Luxury condos sink in San Francisco's Millennium Tower

2016-08-03T12:36:00-04:00

San Francisco's Millennium Tower has been sinking at a rate of two inches per year since it was completed in 2008, which is about ten inches more than the builders had anticipated the building settling for its entire lifetime. Not to be boring, the tower is also tilting slightly to the northwest, giving the multi-million dollar residences within the building a slightly different view of the city and, perhaps, their investment. As the SFGate reports, while some blame the nearby Transbay Transit Center site dig for the sink, others noted that the building had sunk at least ten inches by the time the excavation began. But not to worry, officials say:

At the same time, geotechnical reports show that since 2009, the settling has been uneven — resulting in the 2-inch tilt.

And while Stanford’s Deierlein doesn’t consider the sink or tilt a safety issue, he did say, “I would be concerned for my investment.” That’s because a shifting building can cause walls to crack, elevators to malfunction...

New renderings of Tadao Ando's living wall in Manhattan

2016-06-30T13:27:00-04:00

As luxury condominiums go, 152 Elizabeth Street displays an unusual rigor and finesse: this is not an exercise in overindulgence, but in refined balance.

With its 32,000 square feet split between seven individual residences, Tadao Ando's floor-to-celling windowed, burnished metal, poured-in-place concrete structure also features a 55' x 99' living wall with vegetation that shifts seasonally for the ideal mix of color and texture. English Ivy, Boston Ivy, Virginia Creepers, Jasmine Clematis and climbing Hydrangeas will make up this constantly evolving green wall, a blend that was picked in part by landscape firm M. Paul Friedberg and Partners.

According to a press release, "the building’s design references four primary elements - light, sound, air, and water." Sited in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood, the design of 152 Elizabeth Street's interiors is a collaboration between Ando and Gabellini Sheppard Associates, the latter of which is serving as the architect of record.

Once likened t...

Inside the Zaha Hadid-designed $50 million High Line penthouse

2016-05-25T14:00:00-04:00

The cherry atop 520 West 28th, Penthouse 37 contains five bedrooms and six-and-a-half bathrooms, including a corner master suite with two windowed dressing rooms and his-and-hers baths nestled on its lower level, which also houses three guest en-suite bedrooms, a utility room, and a wet bar.

Running at a little over $7,269 a square foot, Zaha Hadid's one and only High Line-adjacent luxury penthouse design features a sinuous metal exterior with floor to ceiling glass windows between 10th and 11th avenues in Chelsea. Ismael Levya Architects worked with Zaha Hadid Architects to create the 39-unit condominium, which offers starter units at $25 million.

The latest on Zaha Hadid Architects:

Chicago Tribune Tower inches closer to hotel & residential redevelopment

2016-05-20T19:34:00-04:00

A group of developers on the short list to buy Tribune Tower want to convert the Gothic Michigan Avenue landmark into condominiums, apartments and even a hotel [...] The property also comes with something all developers love: land for new buildings. A buyer could build one or two more towers on the parking lot next door and on space created by demolishing some of the existing Tribune building that is not landmarked. [...]

In other recent Chi-Town news on Archinect:

It's official: $250M mega penthouse in Stern-designed 220 Central Park South tower is now NYC's priciest address

2016-05-05T17:32:00-04:00

It has been whispered about for months, but now it’s official: Vornado Realty Trust is offering up a palatial four-floor apartment at 220 Central Park South that is priced at a record-smashing $250 million. The massive condominium will encompass floors 50 through 53 of the Robert A.M. Stern-designed limestone tower, and it will span some 23,000 square feet [...]. The asking price works out to nearly $11,000 per square foot.

Previously on Archinect: This $250M mega penthouse might become New York's priciest home

LPC Approves Brooklyn’s First 1,000+ Foot Tower; New Renderings and Details

2016-04-19T12:22:00-04:00

Brooklyn is finally getting a new skyscraper development worthy of its 2.6 million populace. Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved SHoP Architects‘ vision for 9 DeKalb Avenue, a rehabilitation of the landmarked Dime Saving Bank that will marry it with a dramatic, supertall skyscraper behind, the first 1,000+ foot building to arrive in the borough. To bring back more of the building’s grandeur, its exterior and interior spaces will be restored.

Can Vancouver break out of its 'boring-architecture' mold with these new ambitious skyscrapers?

2015-09-21T17:03:00-04:00

A slew of innovative new condo towers are being proposed for Vancouver, as the city aims to take its arguably boring architecture to the next level. [...] Vancouver's move into adventurous architecture arguably began back in 2013, when Danish architect Bjarke Ingels revealed his design for twisting tower Vancouver House, which is now under construction.

Related on Archinect:

This $250M mega penthouse might become New York's priciest home

2015-06-17T15:55:00-04:00

Vornado's super luxury tower at 220 Central Park South isn't even out of the ground yet, but billionaire buyers seemingly can't wait to stash their stacks of cash in the 950-foot-tall tower. The Real Deal hears rumblings that a Qatari investor is eyeing a monstrous spread that would cost around $250 million, making it easily the most expensive home in New York City. It would completely obliterate the current record, the $100 million sale at One57.

Robert A.M. Stern's NYC condo towers have a habit of attracting record bids (previously: NYC’s Most Expensive Condo to Be Listed at $130 Million).

Tadao Ando shares his design ambitions for 152 Elizabeth Street in New York

2015-06-12T14:23:00-04:00

Tadao Ando's first ever NYC building — the brutalist condo tower project 152 Elizabeth Street — is kicking into high gear with the release of new renderings, photos of the completed sales gallery, floorplans for the first residences coming on the market, the launch of a new website for the building, and the unveiling of a video interview with the Japanese master and the project's interior designer, Michael Gabellini of Gabellini Sheppard Associates.

Read on for more details we've received, and watch the video interview below.

"For 152 Elizabeth Street, Ando harmoniously balances fundamental elements including water, metal, glass greenery and concrete. His inventive use of concrete, a material that’s ubiquitous in a majority of his projects, has become famous around the world.

Part concrete, part jewel box, the building makes a strong yet quiet statement with a façade comprised of voluminous glass, burnished metal and flanked by poured in-place concrete and a living green wall that rise...

Further details on Tadao Ando's NYC luxury condo tower

2015-03-27T20:50:00-04:00

At the corner of Elizabeth and Kenmare Streets at the edge of NoLIta, demolition work began in early March to make way for a seven-story condominium, Mr. Ando’s first stand-alone project in the city, although he has designed a restaurant (Morimoto in Chelsea) and residential interiors in Manhattan. Sales are expected to begin in April, with prices [...] likely to rise to more than $30 million for the four-bedroom penthouse, according to Mr. Steinberg.

Previously:

Snøhetta to take over SF development project near Civic Center

2014-10-29T19:53:00-04:00

This would be the first U.S. tower for Snøhetta, founded in Norway but on the rise in the United States since being selected in 2004 to design the pavilion for the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum. Snøhetta will replace an even better-known architect for the corner: Richard Meier, the Pritzker Prize-winning designer of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, whose firm has been working on a tower in the same location since 2008.

The site in question is directly adjacent the Civic Center's metro stop on Market St., and a large part of the developer's plans revolve around shifting this existing stop one block north, to avoid (in the SFGate author's words) the "squalid even by neighborhood standards" area. The residential tower being built on the site, which includes condominiums with retail space on the ground floor, would account for its affordable housing requirements by building separate properties three blocks away.

Snøhetta's other work in San Francisco includes SFMoMA's expansion, which is currently under construction.

Isay Weinfeld to build first NYC-based project, Jardim

2014-09-30T21:10:00-04:00

Renowned Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld has been commissioned to design his first NYC-based building, a 36-unit luxury condominium project called Jardim. Set to be built on 527 West 27th Street in West Chelsea, Jardim will be surrounded by other recent starchitect-designed projects like the High Line and the developing Zaha Hadid-designed luxury condo building at 520 West 28th Street.

Here are some real-estate-friendly tidbits we know about Jardim so far:

Commissioned by New York-based Centaur Properties and Greyscale Development Group, Isay Weinfeld will be responsible for the architecture and interiors of Jardim
The project will be located at 527 West 27th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, in Chelsea just west of the High Line.
The building features 36 condominium residences ranging from 1 to 4 bedrooms. Sales for the units are scheduled to launch in early 2015.
It will be a block-through development comprised of two 11-story buildings.
Many residences will have private outdoor...

NYC’s Most Expensive Condo to Be Listed at $130 Million

2014-09-23T19:01:00-04:00

A triplex penthouse at Zeckendorf Development Co.’s tower under construction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side will be offered for sale at $130 million, making it New York’s most expensive apartment listing. The 12,394-square-foot (1,151-square-meter) property will span the top three floors at 520 Park Ave., where sales will begin the first quarter of next year, Arthur Zeckendorf said in an interview today.