With New York’s Waterline Square, three architects are better than one
Three leading starchitecture firms – Rafael Viñoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates – have joined forces to collaborate on Waterline Square, a new residential development occupying five acres of land on one of the Upper West Side's last remaining waterfront development sites along the Hudson River.
Brought together by national real estate organisation GID – due to its experience designing New York City buildings – the architects have each designed a unique tower block for the development.
While unique, the three buildings feature the same architectural lexicon of glass and specialised metal panels in rectangular shapes with stone bases, allowing their forms to feel like members of the same family. The stepped outdoor spaces form cascading ridges across the facades and each building has an irregularly faceted crown, with heights varying from approximately 370 ft to 450 ft.
Open green space and a park have been landscaped into the development design, linking it to the New York City grid and the adjacent Hudson River Greenway
At ground level, outdoor green space has been designed to flow through the masterplan, linking the buildings together and connecting them to the city and Hudson waterfront beyond. A park with a playground, fountains and waterfalls has been placed at the centre of the development to conjure the same sense of community found at the neighbouring iconic spaces of Hudson River Park, Central Park and Riverside Park.
Expected to complete in the second half of 2018, Waterline Square is part of the larger Riverside Masterplan, which began over two decades ago, designed to transform 77 acres of Manhattan’s Hudson River waterfront into a residential neighbourhood.
Each building is being constructed simultaneously, with the development expected to complete in 2018
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Waterline Square website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Inside a creative couple's magical, circular Indian home, 'like a fruit'We paid a visit to architect Sandeep Virmani and social activist Sushma Iyengar at their circular home in Bhuj, India; architect, writer and photographer Nipun Prabhakar tells the story
-
Ten of the best track jackets for channelling a 1970s-meets-1990s coolAs a ‘Marty Supreme’ track jacket makes a bid for viral garment of 2025 – thanks to one Timothée Chalamet – the Wallpaper* style team selects ten of the best tracksuit and coach jackets for men and women, each encapsulating an easy, nostalgia-tinged elegance
-
Eight questions for Bianca Censori, as she unveils her debut performanceBianca Censori has presented her first exhibition and performance, BIO POP, in Seoul, South Korea
-
Step inside this resilient, river-facing cabin for a life with ‘less stuff’A tough little cabin designed by architects Wittman Estes, with a big view of the Pacific Northwest's Wenatchee River, is the perfect cosy retreat
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthFrom wineries-turned-music studios to fire-resistant holiday homes, these are the properties that have most impressed the Wallpaper* editors this month
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume