The earthy and harmonious mid-century modern aesthetic that Los Angeles-based architecture firm Marmol Radziner has perfected over the past 30 years has found its way to the east coast. Abutting Brooklyn Bridge Park, the 30-storey Quay Tower offers unrivalled family-friendly spaces and sweeping views on the East River that encompass the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
From its façade, right on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront, the light-filled lobby connects to the park with welcoming seating areas that flank an Armani grey marble, custom reception desk. The walls are hung with original commissioned artworks inspired by the harbour.
The luxury development is the firm’s first New York project of this scope, and one that translates the responsiveness to nature, invariably felt in Marmol Radziner’s low-slung bungalows, into an answer to city-dweller’s desire for impressive skyline vistas. But the building doesn’t radiate the hermetic luxury other New York towers are known for, thanks to the firm’s alignment with developers Oliver's Realty Group and RAL Companies ‘to create truly usable, family-friendly spaces for the residents,’ the firm says.
Quay Tower features such perks as a pet-washing spa, a 1,500 sq ft children’s playroom and, more exceptionally for New York, private elevator vestibules and mudrooms accessible from the general corridor. In the interiors, Marmol Radziner employed floor-to-ceiling windows that allow light to stream in and furnishings made of ‘natural materials that age well and have a hand-worked quality,’ they explain. Calacatta Borghini marble, velvet, woven leather and cane chairs abound.
Tellingly, the top floor space – bar a handful of penthouses – was largely reserved for the residents’ amenities, including outdoors access, making good on Marmol Radziner’s reputation as the go-to architects for indoor-outdoor living.
Up there, communal open-air living takes precedence. The Sunset Lounge, which faces north overlooking the Manhattan skyline and the East River, features an indoor/outdoor fireplace, BBQ and catering kitchen. The southward oriented Sky Cabana provides an outdoor sun and dining terrace that faces the harbour. California dreaming for families in the city that never sleeps.
INFORMATION
-
NoMad London’s new restaurant fast-tracks you to New York’s jazz ageMartin Brudnizki Design Studio conjures up old-world glamour at Twenty8 NoMad, where the menu features nearly as many martini variations as main courses
-
Wolfgang Tillmans brings a performative edge to bibliophilia at the Centre Pompidou’s libraryAs the Centre Pompidou’s library is emptied ahead of the venue’s five-year restoration, the German photographer moves in for a final fling of a Paris exhibition
-
This Hyderabad live/work space is rooted in its leafy context, centred around an old neem treeIn Hyderabad, India, Soil & Soul Studio by Iki Builds is a blueprint for a conscious way of building, working and living
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxuryThis coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpieceNow hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside outFor the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think soFor some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
-
Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summerA Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
-
A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bonesWe step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio
-
A refreshed Rockefeller Wing reopens with a bang at The Met in New YorkThe Met's Michael C Rockefeller Wing gets a refresh by Kulapat Yantrasast's WHY Architecture, bringing light, air and impact to the galleries devoted to arts from Africa, Oceania and the Ancient Americas
-
A Fire Island house for two sisters reimagines the beach home typologyCoughlin Scheel Architects’ Fire Island house is an exploration of an extended family retreat for the 21st century
