This hotel/condo pro­posal reacts to these var­i­ous con­di­tions with large and small scale ges­tures. Devel­oped under the ‘tower’ zon­ing guide­line, the build­ing is intended to iden­tify the cross­roads of neigh­bor­hoods that are begin­ning to merge into one large down­town Man­hat­tan landscape.

To the south, along Lispe­nard Street, a quiet and nar­row street, a pri­vate lobby secures condo own­ers direct access to their upper floors. The pro­por­tions of the tower plan are con­fig­ured to allow max­i­mum expo­sures to the east and west to avoid the mas­sive obstruc­tion of the build­ing to the south.

Along Canal Street, as a relief to the fre­netic activ­i­ties of the street, the hotel court­yard is enclosed by a “bill­board” wall made of mir­rored pan­els that reflect, lit­er­ally and metaphor­i­cally the chaos of the street. Within the land­scaped court­yard, guests can min­gle in what would be an extended lobby expe­ri­ence includ­ing a cafe. A dou­ble height lobby houses all check-in activ­i­ties. On the 3rd floor, on the rooftop of the adja­cent build­ing, an out­door lounge hov­ers as a wood deck that folds down to the court­yard. Business/conference facil­i­ties are directly linked to this lounge.

Located on the 16th floor, the final hotel floor before the con­dos, a multi-use lounge space pos­sesses a chameleon-like char­ac­ter­is­tic. On pleas­ant days, cur­tains are drawn and full height glass pan­els along the perime­ter slide open allow­ing occu­pants a unique expe­ri­ences of being out­side while being inside. Dur­ing other days of the sea­sons, the glass pan­els inter­play with mul­ti­col­ored cur­tains to express the moods of the year. From this aer­ial perch, vis­i­tors enjoy the con­stantly chang­ing city through a con­stantly chang­ing frame­work. As a form, the tower is kept sim­ple tho­rugh its 30 floors to allow the drama of the 16th floor to be under­stood and appre­ci­ated by the street level observer.