An article in today's edition of Curbed.com by Joey indicated that the widely acclaimed Five Franklin Place residential condominium project designed by UN Studio, which is headed by Ben van Berkel, is up for sale through Cornerstone Property Group because it is in default on its $28,250,000 acquisition loan.
The article noted that the property had been acquired for $36,600,000 in 2006 by Sleepy Hudson LLC, of which Leo Tsimmer and David Kislin are principals and which has developed the the High Line 519 condominium building at 519 West 23rd Street that was designed by Lindy Roy and is notable for its cloud-like scrim balconies.
UN Studio was founded in 1998 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos and, according to its website, its projects include the Battersea Weave Office Building in London, the Light*House in Aarhus, Denmark, the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuggart, Germany, the Groninger Forum in Groningen, The Netherlands, the World Business Centre in Busan, South Korea, the Ciudad del Motor in Alcaniz, Aragon, Spain, and the Auditorium della citta di Padova in Italy.
In 1998, van Berkel designed the Mobius House in Het Gooi, The Netherlands, which illustrated his belief, the press release stated, "that orthodoxies exist to be challenged, including the increasingly stale tropes of glass-sheathed, square box Modernism."
The design for the dramatic, planned, 20-story condo building at Five Franklin Place called for 55 units.
The mid-block, 55-unit building at Five Franklin Place extends through the block to 371 Broadway between White and Franklin Streets in TriBeCa.
A press release issued in April, 2008, provided the following commentary on the project:
"The building will be wrapped in an optically dazzling, constantly shifting pattern of horizontal black metal bands sewn onto its form the way decorative seams and pleats are sewn onto a luxurious couture garment. A direct homage to the applied metal facade decoration of TriBeCa's celebrated 19th Century cast iron architecture, these gleaming reflective ribbons will grow thinner and thicker, wrapping the entire tower and moving softly around corners to give the whole structure an etched effect and curvilinear softness, while reflecting the evolving light of day, the clouds and the colors of the city in one of the most dramatic compositions attempted in modern Manhattan's recent building boom."
"Thanks to strategic twisting and torquing," it continued, "his facade bands will serve as essential functional elements of the tower as well, transforming into balconies for more than half of the building's residences, terraces for the penthouses at the top, and sunshades that deflect heat and protect all of the structures interiors from excess sunlight....The horizontal and mutable qualities of van Berkel's facade bands have been brought inside and translated into broad horizontal spatial arrangements; carefully placed curved walls that echo the soft corners of the ribbons outside and shift to allow for maximum flexibility in the use of rooms; balconies shaped to loop residents' movements back indoors; and highly-engineered, custom features and fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms designed by van Berkel and fabricated by renowned design manufacturer B&B Italia....Bathrooms, for example, will have circular sliding doors so that baths can become part of bedrooms and share the same views - and to introduce an alternative to the now standardized rectilinear interiors of contemporary condominium architecture in New York City."
The article noted that the property had been acquired for $36,600,000 in 2006 by Sleepy Hudson LLC, of which Leo Tsimmer and David Kislin are principals and which has developed the the High Line 519 condominium building at 519 West 23rd Street that was designed by Lindy Roy and is notable for its cloud-like scrim balconies.
UN Studio was founded in 1998 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos and, according to its website, its projects include the Battersea Weave Office Building in London, the Light*House in Aarhus, Denmark, the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuggart, Germany, the Groninger Forum in Groningen, The Netherlands, the World Business Centre in Busan, South Korea, the Ciudad del Motor in Alcaniz, Aragon, Spain, and the Auditorium della citta di Padova in Italy.
In 1998, van Berkel designed the Mobius House in Het Gooi, The Netherlands, which illustrated his belief, the press release stated, "that orthodoxies exist to be challenged, including the increasingly stale tropes of glass-sheathed, square box Modernism."
The design for the dramatic, planned, 20-story condo building at Five Franklin Place called for 55 units.
The mid-block, 55-unit building at Five Franklin Place extends through the block to 371 Broadway between White and Franklin Streets in TriBeCa.
A press release issued in April, 2008, provided the following commentary on the project:
"The building will be wrapped in an optically dazzling, constantly shifting pattern of horizontal black metal bands sewn onto its form the way decorative seams and pleats are sewn onto a luxurious couture garment. A direct homage to the applied metal facade decoration of TriBeCa's celebrated 19th Century cast iron architecture, these gleaming reflective ribbons will grow thinner and thicker, wrapping the entire tower and moving softly around corners to give the whole structure an etched effect and curvilinear softness, while reflecting the evolving light of day, the clouds and the colors of the city in one of the most dramatic compositions attempted in modern Manhattan's recent building boom."
"Thanks to strategic twisting and torquing," it continued, "his facade bands will serve as essential functional elements of the tower as well, transforming into balconies for more than half of the building's residences, terraces for the penthouses at the top, and sunshades that deflect heat and protect all of the structures interiors from excess sunlight....The horizontal and mutable qualities of van Berkel's facade bands have been brought inside and translated into broad horizontal spatial arrangements; carefully placed curved walls that echo the soft corners of the ribbons outside and shift to allow for maximum flexibility in the use of rooms; balconies shaped to loop residents' movements back indoors; and highly-engineered, custom features and fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms designed by van Berkel and fabricated by renowned design manufacturer B&B Italia....Bathrooms, for example, will have circular sliding doors so that baths can become part of bedrooms and share the same views - and to introduce an alternative to the now standardized rectilinear interiors of contemporary condominium architecture in New York City."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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