Our office co-developed this residential project in Manhattan’s
Meatpacking District. The design added four new floors to a six-story
Romanesque brick warehouse; the additional space was made possible by an
airrights transfer from and an eight-foot cantilever over an adjacent low-rise
historic building. The new volume is clad in anthracite zinc panels—a
rain-screen enclosure—punctuated by a seemingly random pattern of floor-to-ceiling
windows and translucent lighted strips. The materiality and dynamic rhythm of
the new fenestration provide a counterpoint to the solidity of the brick
warehouse and symbolize the transformation of the district from industry to the
arts and nightlife. The pattern was calibrated to make the most efficient use
of standard sheets of zinc. We worked closely with the fabricators to
understand the properties of the material and the parameters that defined
its manipulation. Each panel was laser-cut directly
from our digital files and etched with a reference code that was keyed to
installation drawings, which indicated location of panels, sequence of
installation, and special instructions such as flashing details and mock-up
requirements. While production of the panels was largely automated, technique
was not eliminated—rather, it was incorporated into the details of the design.
