New York, New York, USA
“We are in the midst of an urban population explosion globally. Cities urgently need to rethink how they will continue to increase density while remaining livable. Vertical living and high-rises are absolutely a part of the solution, but they need to be crafted intelligently,” says David Adjaye.
“I saw 130 William as an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to New York’s urban fabric, both to its ground plane and its iconic skyline. It was important to me that the design could operate within both of those contexts.”
130 William, David Adjaye’s first high-rise residential tower in the USA is rising 800 feet (244 meters) above the ground and consists of 242 residences ranging from one- to four-bedroom layout and 66-story luxury condominiums into the dense New York City cityscape and its Financial District neighborhood, carving distinctive silhouette within the city’s iconic skyline.
The project has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
130 William’s program includes a new public plaza park that establishes an inviting public realm for both tenants and passersby; ground floor retail; a robust suite of lifestyle and wellness amenities including a fitness center, spa, pool, lounge and game rooms, IMAX theater, golf simulator, children’s play spaces, and outdoor terraces; and a rooftop observatory deck—all of which support the building’s residential community and works to redefine the possibility of the vertical urban neighborhood.
The generous new public plaza park is a piece of urban placemaking that offers a transitional condition between the bustle of urban life and the respite of the residences.
The design celebrates the building’s Lower Manhattan context with a hand-cast concrete façade evocative of the masonry craftsmanship of the neighborhood’s historic high-rises.
Rhythmic, large-scale arched windows, inspired by the mercantile loft-style warehouses and structures that once populated the area, establish the building’s bold silhouette and invite natural light deep into the interior.
The façade’s sawtooth fenestration extends the height of the building and was strategically developed to mitigate aggressive wind and calibrate solar angles, while the windows are designed to modulate solar exposure, maximize natural daylight, and enable a self-shading system.
On the north side, the façade design was adapted to maximize natural daylight by introducing double bay windows.
Upper-mid tier residential units evolved into duplexes with double-height living rooms, a unique and thoughtful layout for its price point.
Units at the top 10 floors of the building are customized with “outdoor living room” loggias inspired by classical European architecture.
These spaces blur the boundary between inside and outside, creating a bespoke indoor-outdoor experience for residents while animating the façade with the life of the building.
By inverting and widening the façade arches, private loggias frame the skyline, offering panoramic views of Manhattan framed by both rivers and contributing to the unique façade aesthetic.
The expressed texture of the tower exterior’s tinted hand-cast concrete gives way to smooth bronze detailing throughout the building, which establishes a refined sense of home with a more delicate, tactile experience.
The material palette, the sculpting of the light, the use of color, and the integration of contemporary art and furniture are coordinated as part of the overall design.
The architects provided both architectural design and interior design services at 130 William, considering every aspect of the project down to custom-designed burnished bronze fixtures.
Project: 130 William
Architects: Adjaye Associates
Lead Architect: David Adjaye
Associate Architects: Hill West Architects
General Contractor: Gilbane Building Company
Client: Lightstone
Photographers: Ivane Katamashvili, Dror Baldinger, and James Wang
