Behold, Tadao Ando's 'Glass Jewel Box' NYC Condo Building

Of the new developments coming to New York City, one of the most closely watched is Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando's first ever standalone building in New York City, a seven-story building with just seven condos at 152 Elizabeth Street in Nolita. A few images and details have been revealed, but today, the New York Times brings the first full rendering of the project, along with lots of interior details. The Times describes the design as "classic Tadao Ando," calling it "a glass jewel box suspended in poured-in-place concrete." Half-floor homes will start at $6 million, full floors at $15 million, while the most expensive home will ask more than $35 million.

In describing his design to the Times, Ando wrote in an email through a translator, "I want to create a space which no one has created before with a very common material which anyone is familiar with and has access to. Concrete can be made anywhere on earth."

The developer, Amit Khurana, founder of Sumaida and Khurana, told the Times that as soon as he saw the site—a blocky old industrial building that held a garage—he thought of Ando: "It was that industrial energy feel of it. Everything about this site is concrete."

The entrance of the building will be on Elizabeth Street, where the facade will have a garden wall, and residents will walk through "a vestibule lined with a water wall with grooved glass panels that allow the light to filter through," and a fog and light sculpture will hold court in the lobby. "I wanted to create intimate space," Ando told the Times. "The water element acts as a buffer and transition from the busy and loud urban fabric to the quiet and private residence."

Inside, Gabellini Sheppard Associates are designing the apartment interiors. All homes will have floor-to-ceiling windows, floors made of 250-year-old Danish oak with 20-inch-wide (!) planks. Several features are design to give the homes a sense of fluidity and make them adaptable. Kitchen islands will be expandable, select walls will be removable, and wood-paneled hallways will have sliding pocket doors.

Sales should start next month, and the building will be complete by November 2016.

· A NoLIta Condo by the Architect Tadao Ando [NYT]
· All 152 Elizabeth Street coverage [Curbed]