[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6328

Line Gang
Aqua Tower architect to make New York debut in booming meatpacking district




Alan G. Brake
10.31.2012

http://www.gizmag.com/solar-carve-tower/24887/pictures

Solar Carve Tower means not to intrude





By James Holloway
November 6, 2012

Studio Gang Architects has unveiled an unusual scheme for a 213-ft (65-meter) tower to be be built directly next to New York's High Line, the elevated park converted from a former rail line. Studio Gang's Solar Carve Tower is named for its unusual tapered design which shaves away corners of an otherwise cuboid tower form. The shape is designed to minimize the tower as an obstruction to direct sunlight en route to the High Line.

Currently the site of meatpacking facilities on the corner of 14th Street and 10th Avenue, the proposed location for Solar Carve Tower stands directly to the west of the High Line, near the bank of the Hudson River. This makes the High Line particularly sensitive to new construction in that location, where new buildings are likely to block late, low sun from the west where, thanks to the presence of the river, there's otherwise plenty of sky.

Alternative forms explored (Image courtesy of Studio Gang Architects)



http://archrecord.construction.com/n...-Spotlight.asp

Gang's Solar Carve Tower Will Keep High Line in the Spotlight

By Lee Bey
November 5, 2012

An old meatpacking plant abutting Manhattan's celebrated High Line park could soon be replaced by what promises to be one of the most talked-about buildings in New York, if all goes according to plan.

Designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang, the proposed Solar Carve Tower is a glassy, 213-foot-tall office and retail building with a faceted facade. As its name suggests, two corners of the 186,700-square-foot building are carved away to let daylight shine past it and onto the neighboring High Line. The tower, to be developed by William Gottlieb Real Estate, would be located on 10th Avenue between 13th and 14th streets.

Solar Carve Tower would be the first New York project for Gang, who says the commission began with a phone call from the Gottlieb company. "They called us up one day and said, 'We want to do a very special building and we'd like you to look at the site,'" says Gang. The firm’s analyses showed the sliced tower would allow 200 more hours of sunlight per year to fall on the High Line. But because of its unusual shape, which aims to bring light and air to the raised park instead of just the streets below, the architect and developer are seeking a zoning variance from the city's Board of Standards and Appeals.

"You want to bring light and air to the street, but zoning hasn't caught up,” to treating the High Line as such, Gang says. "If we were to build what we were allowed to build, we'd be essentially running [the High Line] into a tunnel," similar to how the Standard Hotel currently straddles the park. Gang says she hopes to have the variance granted by May. "We're hoping they will recognize how important this is," she says. The project is tentatively scheduled to be completed by late 2015.