Newly completed 565 Broome by Renzo Piano is SoHo’s tallest residential building
565 Broome, Renzo Piano Building Workshop's latest residential tower in New York may be SoHo's tallest, but it remains refined and understated thanks to the Italian architect's masterful design

Even though the newly completed 565 Broome counts as SoHo’s tallest residential building – at 30 floors – it’s not that easily observable from the street. ‘We are part of the city,' says Elisabetta Trezzani, a partner at Renzo Piano Building Workshop, who worked with the Italian architect on the design. ‘Renzo says we don’t want to touch the ground in a possessive way,' she adds.
It’s Renzo Piano’s very first residential project in the United States, and NYC’s first luxury residential Zero Waste Building, but Trezzani, who also oversaw the RPBW-designed Whitney Museum, emphasizes that the methodology was similar.
‘We started doing studies and making massing models as we always do,' she says. ‘The first thing that came to mind was that due to the size of the site and the height limitations, we needed a break in the mass to achieve a sense of proportion.' The firm devised a design of two conjoined towers that translates ideas of transparency as well as a continuous connection to the city.
A low-iron glass façade links a double-height lobby seamlessly to the street, creating a light-filled entrance made of Spanish limestone, white oak plank floors and pre-cast concrete panels – a muted interior, but for a couple of bright red Fritz Hansen Egg Chairs.
Above, thanks to the towers’ twin shape and the unit arrangement of studios, one-bedroom and multi-room apartments, most corridors became redundant, maximizing floor space and enhancing a sense of home in the RDAI-designed interiors. The quietly distinctive curved corners of the condominiums, made of that same low-iron glass, allow for crystal-clear views of the surrounding city.
True to Piano form, this residential project boasts a glass-encased robotic parking of which the machinery is visible from street-level. The amenities, too, hold a number of features that reveal the RPBW signature. The Paris- and Genoa-based firm’s commitment to brightness and breathability ensured the presence of a courtyard with live green walls, a 92-foot tall indoor conservatory with three black olive trees that gives access to two communal spaces that house a library curated by Aaron Hicklin of Narrowsburg ( New York’s One Grand bookstore), a 55-foot long saltwater pool bathed in natural light, an above-ground gym, spa, and a playroom for children.
It all adds up to the project’s overall refinement and conceptual coherence. ‘The quality and quantity of detail in every little element, from outside to inside, is something that represents our methodology,' Trezzani concludes.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Siska Lyssens has contributed to Wallpaper* since 2014, covering design in all its forms – from interiors to architecture and fashion. Now living in the U.S. after spending almost a decade in London, the Belgian journalist puts her creative branding cap on for various clients when not contributing to Wallpaper* or T Magazine.
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?
The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
This spa in the Riviera Maya stays open until midnight. Here’s what happens after dark
Rosewood Mayakoba’s Akbal Series proposes a new kind of night out
-
Two new villas extend Christian Louboutin’s exuberant Portuguese hotel
A pink, kasbah-inspired residence and a whitewashed boathouse join the French shoe designer’s Vermelho Hotel in Melides, Alentejo
-
Inside a Donald Wexler house so magical, its owner bought it twice
So transfixed was Daniel Patrick Giles, founder of fragrance brand Perfumehead, he's even created a special scent devoted to it
-
The Pagani Residences is the latest ultra-luxe automotive apartment tower to reach Miami
Rising up above Miami, branded apartment buildings are having a renaissance, as everyone from hypercar builders to crystal makers seeks to have a towering structure bearing their name
-
A modern cabin in Minnesota serves as a contemporary creative retreat from the city
Snow Kreilich Architects' modern cabin and studio for an artist on a lakeside plot in Minnesota was designed to spark creativity and provide a refuge from the rat race
-
Touring artist Glenn Ligon's studio in Brooklyn with its architect, Ravi Raj
Glenn Ligon's studio, designed by architect Ravi Raj, is an industrial Brooklyn space reimagined for contemporary art
-
A dynamic Mar Vista house plays with the rhythm of indoor and outdoor living
A new Mar Vista house, designed by Mexican architecture studio PPAA, combines a façade with a whisper of brutalism, and a breezy, open interior, seamlessly connected to its Los Angeles setting
-
This Michigan lakeside house is an exercise is sculptural minimalism
Explore a Michigan lakeside house, designed by Disbrow Iannuzzi and featuring sculptural timber interiors and a contemporary minimalist feel
-
Welcome to How House, a revived Rudolph Schindler gem in Los Angeles
The latest owner of How House, an early Rudolph Schindler gem, is taking a contemporary approach to conserving its heritage
-
Nearly a century after it was completed, Bruce Goff’s revolutionary Adah Robinson House astonishes once again
The flamboyant building in Tulsa, Oklahoma is beginning its latest chapter as a charitable event space, known as The Oath Studio. See the restoration