Archinect - News

Oceanwide Plaza: Graffiti 'vandalism' or the greatest tag 'takeover' of all time?

2024-03-09T08:00:00-05:00

The New York Times has entered the debate surrounding LA's troubled Oceanwide Plaza development this week after social media and the outside press tied its celebrity status to the neglect of downtowns, housing rights issues, and their relationship to developer capitalism.

The Times piece follows news of the city’s recent order on Oceanwide to install a security fence to prevent against interlopers' vandalism and the 'public nuisance' the highly publicized graffiti artwork has turned the unfinished project into.

'Vandalism' is a charged term to apply in this case, but it has affected other sites near Downtown Los Angeles, like the copper wire-stripped Sixth Street Viaduct, in the midst of its delayed economic rebound. The street art community is here portrayed alongside BASE jumpers as a lawless quandary that considers their “takeover” a bar-raising move geared mainly at promotion and exposure. A smarter take is that taggers have the broader consensus of society so well-figured tha...

Snøhetta tops out Manhattan residential tower with ‘striking geometry’

2024-02-23T12:03:00-05:00

A Snøhetta-designed residential tower in Manhattan’s Upper West Side has topped out. Named 50 West 66th Street, the scheme is described by Snøhetta as having a “striking geometry” with a “natural palette of refined materials.”

Archinect first reported on the development in 2017 upon the release of the design proposal, detailing the tower’s palette of textured limestone, glass storefronts, and bronze details. Externally, the facade is defined by what the designers call a “series of sculptural excavations, evocative of the chiseled stone of Manhattan’s geologic legacy.”

Image credit: Extell

As the tower rises, its profile gradually narrows, including a distinctive splitting of the volume at the 16th level, creating a shared amenity terrace. Above the terrace, the opposing corners of the tower are sliced away to create residential balconies. “Angled facets evoke this chiseled vocabulary, revealing the same gleaming bronze found at the building’s base,” the designers add.

Image credit: L...

Snøhetta reveals ‘excavated’ bronze tower that will be the Upper West Side’s tallest

2017-11-27T15:19:00-05:00

Snøhetta's design for a 775-foot tall condominium tower at 50 West 66th Street calls for a series of sculptural excavations, with several slices up the structure and narrowing upward from its base.

According to Wallpaper, the Upper West Side tower developed by Extell Development will feature textured limestone, glass storefronts and bronze details. As the building tightens in size, the tall windows with bronzed frames will be set into the stone facades. On the tower’s 16th floor, the firm is planning a stepped outdoor terrace to serve as a shared amenity space, as well as sweeping views of the Hudson River and Central Park.

Upon its completion, the 127-unit tower on 66th Street will be the tallest on the Upper West Side, passing by the 668-foot tall tower proposed for 200 Amsterdam Avenue.

In February, Extell unveiled renderings of a new condo near Central Park West at 36 West 66th Street, for which they acquired for $45 million in 2015. Three office buildings were razed for the pro...