OMA Unveils Greenpoint Landing Towers for Brooklyn
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OMA’s New York office has revealed the design for its first project in Brooklyn: a pair of residential towers shaped like “a ziggurat and its inverse.” OMA’s towers form part of the new Greenpoint Landing development in Greenpoint – a Brooklyn neighOMA Unveils Greenpoint Landing Towers for Brooklyn
OMA’s New York office has revealed the design for its first project in Brooklyn: a pair of residential towers shaped like “a ziggurat and its inverse.” OMA’s towers form part of the new Greenpoint Landing development in Greenpoint – a Brooklyn neighborhood. The OMA press release states, “The site will be a gateway to the neighborhood beyond and have a unique impact on the Brooklyn skyline.” Formerly home to low warehouses, rope factories, and parking lots, Greenpoint is increasingly becoming a popular hub for eateries, bars, and cafes. OMA’s project will enhance the transformation of the neighborhood from a post-industrial edge to a new neighborhood. The Greenpoint Landing scheme, which is the brainchild of developers Brookfield Properties and Park Tower Group, will extend Eagle Street and Dupont Street to meet a new waterfront esplanade. The project involves updating the curved waterfront into a series of blocks, following a master plan developed by local firm Handel Architects. OMA’s project focuses on the Block D portion and features two rental-housing towers of different heights. As described by the studio, “Like two dancers, the towers simultaneously lean into and away from one another.” The taller tower has a stepped underside so that it widens toward the top, while its shorter partner staggers inward. Rising side by side, the structures look as if they could have been one volume that was broken in two. The gap in between will measure 60 feet (18 meters) wide – equivalent to the size of a narrow street – to maintain views of Manhattan across the East River, as well as the surroundings. Providing further details about the project, OMA states, “Rather than being lifted on a monolithic base or standing in isolation, the towers are framed by two lower volumes on the opposite corners of the block, creating a continuous edge around the block. Along with this edge, subtle folds and shifts mark entries and define a smaller grain reminiscent of the often-variegated street edge conditions within Greenpoint.” The towers and podium are clad with precast concrete panels surrounding large windows that play on a traditional punched window facade while providing lightness and porosity to the massing. Much like the buildings’ forms, the precast panels are carved by a series of angled planes. The carved faces react dynamically to the movement of the sun throughout the day, creating shadowy effects to give the volumes varying grey hues. In total, Greenpoint Landing block D will include 745 residential rental units. “Echoing Greenpoint’s pastoral origins as a neighborhood of family farms, two levels of green space open up to the waterfront. Terraces are framed by a collection of common spaces and amenities. Above them, the towers are linked by a bridge programmed with a pool and fitness center looking over the Manhattan skyline,” adds OMA. As described by OMA, “Altogether, Greenpoint Landing aims to establish a platform for a new kind of living: connecting past and future, indoor and outdoor, urban streetscape and waterfront.” https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more