ODA Architecture has completed a residential scheme at 101 West 14th Street in New York City defined by a glass box facade. The 13-story condominium holds 44 units between one and four bedrooms alongside 10,000 square feet of amenities, with interior design by Whitehall Interiors.
The building’s exterior features a glass box facade with fractal geometry to create a “sense of lightness, airiness, and depth,” according to ODA. Drawing inspiration from nature, the team says it arranged the glass boxes with gentle pattern recognition for a “natural soothing effect on our brains.”
Inside, the glass box facade translates as 18-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling glass walls, triple-paned to reduce noise interference from the surrounding city. Most units also include outdoor terraces “uniquely recessed in the geometric facade of the building,” creating fully covered outdoor private spaces.
"Situated at the intersection of two of NYC's most desirable neighborhoods, Chelsea and Greenwich Village, 101 West 14th Street is significant to 14th Street’s evolution into its own residential corridor,” ODA founder and executive director Eran Chen said in a statement on the scheme’s completion. “As such, we wanted to ground the intersection with an eye-catching geometric façade that will anchor all future residential development on the street.”
Other recent projects by ODA to feature in our editorial include a mixed-use tower in Fort Lauderdale and a residential tower along New York's Billionaire's Row. The firm has also previously featured in an interview for Archinect's Meet Your Next Employer series.
10 Comments
So why would ODA use words like "contextual" or "soothing" to describe their building? Their is not a single thing that is contextual, be it overall size, scale, massing, color, material, datum lines, detailing, theme, texture, decoration, or patterning. Their is nothing soothing, rather it is jarring, random, gravity-defying, and a giant urban surprise given the surrounding cityscape.
I am not commenting so much on their aesthetic choices, so much as to why they would use words that are the opposite of what they have actually designed. Rather Orwellian.
This is par for the course.
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
―
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
“As such, we wanted to ground the intersection with an eye-catching geometric façade that will anchor all future residential development on the street.”
They don't refer to context because they plan to set the context themselves for when the surrounding buildings are demolished and replaced with larger. I wonder how the area will develop. They are assuming future buildings will follow their open geometry. Cheeky, no? But what if the next architect/developer decide they are going to set the context with something completely different, more eye-catching. Then the next decide they will set the anchor—and so on. Run the clock and see what you end up with.
well put, that's NYC in a way.
I think this looks cool, geometrically. It doesn’t look so good socially, though. We need more housing for non-rich folks.
I agree it looks cool, especially the drawing of it. The question should be, does it add to the street and the neighborhood as well. I think it would be possible to do both, but unfortunately we don't teach architects the value of being a part of the larger neighborhood.
i don't think it's great for nyc.. i prefer the one across the street, it's a more restrained version.
I hope the residents like roller shades.
I don't hate the design, but "Drawing inspiration from nature, the team says it arranged the glass boxes with gentle pattern recognition for a “natural soothing effect on our brains.”?????? Really? Inspiration from nature??
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