Amidst the glitz, glamour and gossip down on Noho's Bond Street, a humble stack of bricks called 45 Bond is undergoing the addition of two new floors up top. This vertical enlargement of cinder blocks, rebar and discrete grey bricks seems to be something entirely different for this 2007 Block of the Year. And why is that? Documents for this project reveal no globe-trotting registered architect here. Rather, a simple professional engineer is in charge.
Could this be the utilitarian response to all the starchitectural fireworks up and down this block? Some folks have started slinging mud all over the street, so perhaps discretion is what is called for. And maybe what we're seeing at 45 Bond is a riff on the vernacular of a certain starchitect whose work is absent from Bond Street, his early references now pulled up from the past and revisited in all their simple usefulness, expertly juxtaposed against the demo and destruction next door. Or maybe it's just a no-thought box being plopped atop an old four-story walk-up. Dunno. Whatever is going on, it's always fun to see a big bendy crane in action.
· Pool Watch: Bond Street Swimmin' Hole Takes Shape [Curbed]
· Now Open: Eva Scrivo Beautifies Bond Street [Racked]
· CurbedWire: Ian Schrager Speaks on 40 Bond Et. Al. [Curbed]
· Destructoporn: Noho's 41-43 Bond Torn to Pieces [Curbed]