Heavy metal: Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th façade goes up in New York

Construction at Zaha Hadid’s very first large-scale project in New York, the luxury residential building on 520 West 28th, has been gathering pace. Having recently topped out and moved on to advanced façade work, the scheme by Related is set to follow faithfully the late architect’s original ‘complete vision for urban living on the High Line’.

Supporting this, ZHA has just released the late architect’s original paintings and studies for the project – featuring her trademark style of angles and curves. Sitting perched next to New York’s famous raised urban park, the sculptural 11-storey building is designed to include 39 residential units of various scales. All the apartments have differences in shape and features, making them all unique – ‘as an individual, collectible artwork’, explain the developers.

At the same time, the building’s characteristic chevron glass and steel façade elements have started making their appearance, hinting at what the finished building will look like come completion in 2017. The bespoke metal pieces are currently being crafted by independent, family-owned Pennsylvania company the Cohen Metal Factory – they are then being transported on site for installation. The elements are hand finished and polished by experts in order to give the building the same quality as a high-end sculpture. Tailor-made glass panels were also created for the sinuous curved windows across the development.

‘As architects, we’re thinking always of how you can innovate,’ Hadid said in the past on the condominium. ‘That’s what I think is interesting. We can improve society... to make a better life.’ And 520 West 28th was conceived to bring that precise ethos to life, highlights the developer.

The sales for the Pritzker Prize-winner’s first New York building launched in 2015 and completion is expected in 2017.