New York by Gehry

Frank Gehry’s recently completed, and long-awaited, New York by Gehry is the first of its kind to be designed by the famous architect. At 76 stories high, the multi-use residential complex is the tallest in the Western hemisphere and nestles well within Manhattan’s rich skyline. Soaring above a pocket of low-rise buildings that fill the outskirts of New York’s financial district, New York by Gehry stands in charming dialogue with the nearby New York City Hall, Woolworth building and Brooklyn bridge; paying homage to the great city’s past and future.

From across the East River, New York’s mix of curtain-walled, steel and masonry structures glimmer as red and blue hues on New York by Gehry’s rippling steel clad facade. The ripples, growing dense towards the tower’s peak, seem to bring the energy of the people and streets below into the mighty building itself.

While Gehry acknowledges Bernini’s Baroque art and architecture as a key influence on his design, the tower’s form also features references to its setting. New York by Gehry’s warm dusk and dawn reflections are reminiscent of the Chrysler Building’s steel clad art-deco crown, and slight steps on its wavy facade playfully refer to the layer-cake look imposed by New York’s historical set-back laws. Gehry’s references are a celebration of the city’s history and progression – balancing new with old.
 
Although Gehry desired the entire tower to be draped on all sides, the development’s marketing experts were anxious that the rippling facade required at least one face flat. As a result, one side of the tower is completely flat, but its juxtaposing sleekness and sheer scale nevertheless invites the same awe. From the ground, impressions of New York by Gehry are also different. The steel tower, which houses all the building’s apartments, sits on a six-storey high terracotta pedestal before it sprouts into its dramatic ripples. Also designed by Gehry, the pedestal houses the building’s civic facilities, including New York’s first privately owned public school as well as the ambulatory department of the neighbouring Downtown Hospital.
 
The rectilinear and very un-Gehry-like pedestal was part of an agreement between the developer and city planners to address many of the local community’s longstanding issues, including overcrowded schools and a much needed upgrade to Downtown Hospital (the building sits on the hospital’s former parking lot).
 
Levels one to five house the 100,000 square foot school with a capacity of up to 630 students. The vertical campus is complete with a 5,000 square foot rooftop play area on the pedestal’s fifth level. Retail outlets are also destined for the ground level, while the sixth level houses the ambulatory department as well as doctors’ offices. Finally, below the entire building, an underground parking area caters for the hospital. Outside, the school’s ground level frontage features a large landscaped plaza for the school’s use throughout the academic year. On the building’s opposite face, a second and more expansive plaza buffers the building’s main residential entrance from the city and provides relaxing, open green space for the general public. The 11,500 square foot plaza was designed by landscape architects Field Operations with Dutch horticulturalist Piet Oudolf, and celebrates the tower’s design with Gehry-esque sculptures and seating. 
 
Past the major plaza, a grand porte cochere welcomes residents into the tower’s lobby, which features a custom-made concierge desk also inspired by the tower’s curvy form. As the Western hemisphere’s tallest residential building, New York by Gehry is entirely rent-only (starting at more than $2,500 a month) and is filled with luxurious amenities. In addition to the 903 apartments, the tower includes a fitness centre, spa treatment suite, a swimming pool, library and other lifestyle facilities; a perfect mini-city for lucky New Yorkers. The care in the exterior’s finish, which involved 10, 500 separate 1,000 pound sculptured panels hand-finished in Japan, is carried through to the smallest details of the apartments inside. The apartments feature sculpted hardware and door handles matched with sculpted keychains, all designed by Gehry.
 
Inside, the apartments are less dramatic in appear- ance than the undulating metallic exterior. White oak flooring with cabinetry in Gehry’s signature honey- coloured, vertical-grain Douglas Fir and soft white walls, give a tranquil and crisp aesthetic.  The mixture of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments are configured into up to 200 different plans that all revolve around expansive living spaces and the unique bay window views to New York’s vast cityscape.
 
With a project as large in scale and ambitions as New York by Gehry, success comes not only from addressing the needs and expectations of the local community, city planners and prospective tenants, but also the site’s greater urban context. New York by Gehry does exactly this. The building may unite or even divide Gehry’s fans, but there’s no denying that it adds a worthy glint to the New York skyline.+
 
PHOTOGRAPHY dbox
 
1. IN DIALOGUE WITH THE PAST New York by Gehry playfully but respectfully alludes to New York's historical layer-cake buildings.
 
2. GEHRY'S RIPPLING STEEL-CLAD TOWER New York by Gehry's folding and twisting facade is a fitting encapsulation of the energetic city.
 
3. FROM THE TOPMOST LEVELS, THE CITY SEEMS A WORLD AWAY  The building's dramatic exterior is naturally matched with dramatic views from the inside with expansive views into New York on all its sides.
 
4. GEHRY'S "LOVE LETTER TO NEW YORK'' Gehry's initial design sketches were inspired by Bernini's many sketchbooks exploring drapery. The same energy and liveliness of Gehry's sketch can be seen on the building.
 
5. BAY VIEWS AND SUBDUED INTERIORS The interiors completely contrast the building's grand exterior, instead welcoming large bay window views within warm and modest spaces.