Right around the corner from where the late and sometimes great Philip Johnson put up that fancy Urban Ass House on the edge of Hudson Square, his firm PJAR is planning to pile up some more glass and stone and steel for a new residential condo development at 22 Renwick Street. The PJAR website shows a stepped-up stack of boxes rising 12-stories above little Renwick Street. Seems pretty straightforward.
[The PJAR proposal for 22 Renwick Street in Hudson Square]
Some of the 19 units there should at least get a good view of neighbors across the street. Along with some nice vistas of the Zinc-y sink condo going up at the end of the block on Canal Street. Not to mention sights of that 40+ story Trump thing going up across the way. As for the building itself, it looks like 22 Renwick will have some big blank walls on the sides. If we're lucky maybe they'll be something like those wavey walls over at 255 Hudson. This precisely planned pile certainly is a world of difference from another scheme proposed for this site by ST+R Architects a few years back. Where this new one is all sharp lines rising straight up the previous one was curves and swoops and cantilevers going every which way.
[The site at 22 Renwick as it now exists]
[Various aerial angles of the PJAR proposal for 22 Renwick]
[The PJAR scheme for 12-stories and 19 units]
ST+R submitted the proposal seen below for 20+22 Renwick as part of the 49th Annual architecture magazine P/A Awards. The aim was to
... transform what would seem an un-developable lot given current civic, urban, and market patterns, into a profitable and architecturally significant member of the community. This building will offer a new vision for the future of this neighborhood.That vision is something we won't be seeing here on Renwick Street. Sometimes this town is just too damned sensible for its own good.
[ST+R Architects models for their 2002 proposal at 22 Renwick]
[The east side of Renwick today (left) and the unbuilt ST+R design]
[ST+R's proposal would cantilever over the existing building at 20 Renwick]
· The Real Urban Ass House [Curbed]
· Projects in Progress - 22 Renwick Street [PJAR Website]
· Urban Camping in Hudson Square [Curbed]
· Zinc Building Update: Water, Water Everywhere [Curbed]
· Trump's Hole Update: We've Got Your Slab Right Here [Curbed]
· Cool Cars, Hot Boobs at 255 Hudson [Curbed]
· 20+22 Renwick [SR+T Architects Website]