Dezeen Magazine

OMA in Jersey City

Somewhat belatedly, here are five images of OMA’s design for 111 First Street, a mixed-use tower for the waterfront in Jersey City, USA.

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The 52-storey tower features three slabs containing live-work spaces for artists; a hotel and apartments; and more apartments. The three stacked volumes are set at 90 degrees to each other.

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The project was unveiled at the end of February.

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>> more dezeen stories on OMA here and here

Here is OMA’s press release about the project:

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OMA designs mixed-use tower for
Jersey City’s arts district

(February 26, 2007, Jersey City) The City of Jersey City, The Athena Group and BLDG Management Co., Inc. announced today that the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been commissioned to design a mix use development in Jersey City’s burgeoning waterfront development, at 111 First Street.

The 1.2 million SF development’s mix of program of condominiums, public amenities and hotel, artist work & live studios, gallery, retail and parking will act as a beacon for the future development of the area into Jersey City’s arts district.

Each component of the program is concentrated into individual blocks: a cube of artist work & live studios and galleries, a slab that combines hotel rooms and apartments, and a wider slab that accommodates deeper apartments.

The resulting volumes are stacked perpendicularly in plan to create a 52 story tower. This stacking maintains the independence of each block optimizes potential views from the site and creates a dynamic relationship between the building and its surroundings: a spectacle from convention.

Alternating the orientation of each block creates a series of open spaces at their junctions: the 111 First Street Public Terrace on the 5th Floor, terraces for the hotel restaurant and spa on the17th Floor and two shared residential terraces on the 36th Floor.

Adjacent to each terrace is a public space that activates it during the day (gallery, spa, gym, pool, restaurant) and night (cabaret, bar, restaurant, residential lounge).

With direct street access, the 111 First Street Public Terrace will become a virtual link between the planned Powerhouse Entertainment Center and the Sculpture Garden north of the site.

The vertical and horizontal density of public activity generated will energize the surrounding area to become a cultural hub for Jersey City.

OMA*AMO New York will conduct the project, currently the studio is also working on the new Millstein Hall for Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

The project is lead by OMA Partner Rem Koolhaas and director of OMA*AMO New York, Shohei Shigematsu. Their previous collaborations included the design of the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, the OMA design for the Whitney Museum in New York and more recently the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters in Shenzhen, China and the Millstein Hall at Cornell.

111 First Street

Project: 111 First Street
Status: Commission
Clients: BLDG Management Co. Inc. and The Athena Group, LLC
Location: Jersey City, NJ, U.S.A.
Site: city block adjacent to an old Powerhouse

Program: Total 1.2 million SF: 415,000 SF of apartments, 210,000 SF of hotel and amenities, 160,000 SF of artist work / live studios, 19,000 SF of gallery, 87,000 SF of retail and 240,000 SF of parking
Building height: 592 ft

OMA*AMO New York
Partner-in-charge: Rem Koolhaas
Associate in charge: Shohei Shigematsu

Team: Noah Shepherd, Christin Svensson, Margaret Arbanas, Kengo Skorick, Alasdair Graham with Torsten Schroeder, Chun Yue Chiu, Duncan Flemington, Martin Schliefer, Tomek Bartczak, Javier Munoz, Ian Robertson

Structure: WSP Cantor Seinuk Structural Engineers