Upon my travels in and around New York I kept gravitating to the Chelsea, The old meat packing district, of the city. Before I took my trip I came across an article talking about the architecture going on in this part of the city. The article talked about how this part of the city was becoming known as "architects row". What more could a city ask for than to have multiple buildings by renowned designers/architects that will reshape and establish a new and refreshing aesthetic? (some I guess don't care as many of our cities today seem to be missing this :) )

What I came across while walking around the streets of chelsea was this wonderful building by SHop Architects. It is a 10 story condo building that really captures what is happening with this part of New York; the integration of old and new.

What is great about the building is its unique positioning and innovative integration onto an existing building.Yet it isn't overpower and screaming "look at me". This building quickly has become one of my favorites in New York. My only regret is not getting a chance to be able to get inside of it.

I hope you enjoy these few pics I took as it gives you an idea of the context and how this piece of architecture really works.

You can see more of SHop's (http://www.shoparc.com/) work on there website.

Also you can see my images in larger sizes from my flickr photo set (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizum/sets/72157602087688795/) of this building.

Here is a shot showing the proximity of the Porter house in relation to the High Line and Frank Gehry's IAC (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6979) building.

Here is a little closer view of the building. It is on the right hand side of the picture.

Here is the KMZ...

Here is the view of the building from the south. Much of this area, as well as places around Soho, have old brick roads. Just little touches that add so much character to the place. The large old warehouse/industrial building behind the Porter House makes for an interesting backdrop from this view and I think helps the building to seem more integrated within the context. It would have a far greater presence and I think not be nearly as strong of a design.

Same south view, just a little closer up. there are lots of shops and little cafes and bars opening up all over the place in this area. There is this quiet energy here that I thought made this place so interesting.

And notice the green screen. There is so much of this around the city its crazy. New York is under a major renovation it seems, as well as tons of new construction.

Another south view...

Notice the bluer sky in this shot from the one above? I was using my new polarizer filter on this shot :)

Getting a closer view of the building...

A view from the northwest. this gives you a good feel for the juxtapostion the new SHop design has with what existed.

Here is an even closer up view... The brown panel system they used I believe is zinc. The color and texture the panels have really help to break down the mass of the mass volume of the building. Integrated within the panels and then window system are while translucent strips that light up at night (I have some shots I grabbed from flickr coming that show these).

A view from 9th ave. and the west facing facade.

Same west view... just closer :)

And then a view from the northeast. I really like this view and the way the panels of the new part of the building slide down into the existing building. These simple moves just make this design for me.

Well, the only interior I have I stole from SHop's website. Its the Lobby... nothing special but I felt convicted to have atleast one interior shot :)

Here is a night shot I mentioned earlier. This shows those strips lit up. For some reason I was just never in this part of town at night except for the Friday before I left. But, Cacapis and myself were too busy drinking $9USD Beers :)

and one more view at night. This isn't a shot I took but one I barrowed from Flickr.

I don't have much more to add but that this is a nice little gem in an area that is booming with some really good architecture. And I can't wait to get back and see how much this area changes once the High Line is complete and some of the buildings under construction around it finish.

Now I sit back and wish I would have taken more pictures of this building as I feel I didn't take enough :)

If anyone has there own images of this building please add them to the thread...

thanks and enjoy...

beautiful!!!! the truly meaning about construct architecture.

9 dollar beer damn, are those 2liter's? nice project for the context.

i really wonder what's the material of the panels made of?

I prisume just aluminium cassettes with a matte coating, not sure.

I thought the panels were specced in just a few sizes and the facades were composed out of arranging these. I thought that there might have been something unique going on with the steel framing in this regard but I don't remember the details.

I saw a lecture by Christopher (although, it might have been William) Sharples a few years back and he spoke about this projects in detail (along with a few others)... the material is zinc.

They actually worked closely with a curtain wall manufacturer to create the custom zinc curtain wall system for this project rather than using something commercially available. As Greg has mentioned, the panel system is quite modular - only 6 panel sizes are used, but arranged in such a way as to create the randomized look.

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I liked this building, too. Yes, zinc.
Reminds me of a bit of a Borg Cube.



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/Borg_cube_from_bridge.jpg



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