While we were busy wallowing in the trenches of Red Hook, French starchitect Jean Nouvel was busy changing the Midtown skyline forever. His design for a 75-story skyscraper next to the Museum of Modern Art at 53 West 53rd Street was unveiled by Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, and the plans for the massive building call for more MoMA gallery space, a 100-room hotel and 120 luxury apartments. Ouroussoff, already comparing the tower to the Woolworth and Chrysler Buildings, wrote: "Its faceted exterior, tapering to a series of crystalline peaks, suggests an atavistic preoccupation with celestial heights." Got that? So what do others think of the future pied-a-terres for status-seeking foreigners:
1) "It's difficult to believe, but after Jean Nouvel's sensitive-yet-stunning 40 Mercer, his sparkly-yet-stunning 100 Eleventh Avenue, Jean Nouvel comes through with another groundbreaking design for Manhattan." [Tropolism]
2) "Isn't it kind of ironicly sad that the developer proposing one of the most exciting projects for New York City in decades is from Houston." [Wired New York/Stern]
3) "Just another stupid 75 story box. But if it's anywhere near as cool as the Quai Branly, Ourousoff's hyperbolic enthusiasm may well be deserved." [Curbed comments]
4) "damn, that's a fine lattice. it seems to play off the tombasil pretty well." [Archinect/holz.box]
Unanswered: Is this thing as-of-right, or what?
· Next to MoMA, a Tower Will Reach for the Stars [NYT]
Loading comments...