This sensation of pushing and pulling, together with its reflective glass envelope, give the building a compelling chimera-like quality, with features that seem to change depending on one’s vantage point, the weather conditions, or the time of day. Its protruding elements recall the famous image of a disembodied hand sliding one apartment into a model of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, France. But now, nearly a decade after ground was broken, the structure, made up of stacked glassenclosed volumes and projecting terraces, is almost finished, and residents are starting to move in.Īscan Mergenthaler, a Herzog & de Meuron partner, says that the idea behind the unusual cantilevering geometry was not to defy gravity, but to design the units from the inside out and then express the individual apartments and their generous outdoor spaces in the form of the architecture.Īlthough 56 Leonard has been referred to as “Jenga-like” countless times in the press, the result is an assemblage that appears carefully balanced in equilibrium rather than on the verge of toppling over. For four years during the financial crisis, construction was at a total standstill. Gross Floor Area (GF): 425,000 square feet.For quite a while, it seemed as if Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard Street project-a 57-story residential tower in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan-would never get built. Schedule Site Preparation: Spring/Summer 2008 Construction Commences: Fall 2008 Projected Occupancy: Fall 2010ĭeveloper/Sponsor Alexico Group LLC, New York, NY Principals: Izak Senbahar, Simon Elias Client Representative: Eric Andersonĭesign Architect Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Ascan Mergenthaler Project Architects: Vladimir Pajkic (Associate), Philip Schmerbeck, Mehmet Noyan Project Team: Zachary Vourlas, Jason Whiteley, Daniela Zimmer, Mark Chan, Simon Filler, Sara Jacinto, Jin Tack Lim, Mark Loughnan (Associate), Jaroslav Mach, Donald Mak, Hugo Moura, Jeremy Purcell, James Richards, Heeri Song, Charles Stone (Associate)Įxecutive Architect Costas Kondylis and Partners, New York, NYĬonstruction Management Hunter Roberts, New York, NY Site Area: 12,500 square feetīuilding Dimensions Width: 125 feet Depth: 100 feet Height: 830 feet Location 56 Leonard Street, between Church Street and West Broadway, in the Tribeca Historic District of Manhattan, New York City ( map). With this height, it will surely impact the city skyline as you can see on the panoramic above. I wonder how the concrete structure works on this building, which was done by consultant firm WSP Cantor Seinuk (who also worked on the Freedom Tower). This typology makes the building look like a stack of houses, away from the traditional skyscraper form.

This 57-story residential in the Tribeca area will house 145 residences, each one with its own unique floor plan and private outdoor space. First, we have OMA on the 23rd street with its structural facade and cantilevered volume, and now the 56 Leonard Street building by Herzog & de Meuron, which entered the construction phase. Undoubtedly, this city changes its shape very often.Īnd as of now, new residential buildings are bringing new forms to this skyline. Yesterday, I was visiting the Skyscraper Museum in New York, and I saw an incredible aerial photo that shows the evolution of downtown Manhattan during the last century, from the water reclamation to the black towers to the new skyline without the twin towers.

Herzog jenga tower nyc