The gang at NYU, coming off their 40-story fail and neighborhood rallies a plenty, is now getting stoned on West 3rd Street, where panels of swirly sedimentary something are covering the south face of the church-replacing Center for Academic and Spiritual Life at 58 Washington Square South. The rock looks like sandstone, but one guy on the site opposite Washington Square Park could only say it's "fancy shit from India." That imported stuff can make for a great high, and here we get some trippy swirls in tans and pinks, with a hint of purple haze. After a long stare we're totally dazed and confused.
Some revised renders from Machado and Silvetti Associates show that a part of the West 3rd Street facade, still bare steel, will get contrasting cladding where the spirit cozies up to the blonder tones of the Kimmel Center next door. Up top is a new glass cornice, slightly set back, and the glass inset at mid-block on treeless Thompson Street has been truncated a tad with stone all around.
The windows show the biggest change from the earlier designs, as they are no longer as deeply inset as when first proposed. Windows that have been installed display beefier mullions and more prominent surrounds than those found in the renders. As for the leafy filigree facing onto Washington Square South, the new images look less like a faux-rest of branchettes and more abstractly Moorish in origin. None of that fancy milled stone has gone up yet, so we'll have to take another trip to the land where Academic and Spirit meet before we can give a fully baked report.
· Photo Gallery: 58 Washington Square South [NYU]
· Center for Academic and Spiritual Life coverage [Curbed]
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