The big Banksy Rat that was seen camping out on the southeast corner of Wooster and Grand Streets down in Soho a few months back apparently wasn't the only one who liked the location. A revised plan for a new apartment building on the lot was presented to the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 2 this week. The reception from neighbors of the plan (who have set up a 27 Wooster blog) and members of the Committee was less than warm. Why? Because like many sequels, it fails to live up to the original.
What's now being shown is a re-working of a previously-approved plan, one which had been developed through a long negotiation process between the previous architects?Smith-Miller + Hawkinson?members of the community and various city agencies. All that cooperation resulted in an elegant structure, mainly composed of glass. Now a rep from mega-firm KPF Architects, the gang that took over this job, said that the project's marketers decided there was too much glass, and the units were too small. Ergo, a new design and another round fishing for the required approvals.
They're still giving us glass, but now it's hidden behind bands of metallic meshy stuff. There are strips of skinny windows rising above a squat base with much emphasis on the horizontals. One committee member likened the new design to something from the "fifties," saying it looked both out-of-date and out-of-place. Could this mean it's back to the drawing board yet again?
· Another Big Rat Makes It A Triple [Curbed]
· New Proposal 27 Wooster, KPF Architects [27 Wooster blog]
· Wooster Street Lofts [Smith-Miller + Hawkinson]
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