Comments on: HL23 by Neil Denari

By: afrotype

afrotype — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:20:51 +0000

The is project disappointed me a bit. His design philosophy changed ovcer the years, and rightly so, since his early work which made me a fan. When he was at Sci-Arc, we got to see and hear his creative efforts of what he was striving for at the time. Back then, he was an “artist” (paper architect) and most of his built work was instillations.
A friend of mine told me to watch “German Engineering” on Youtube, and that’s when I saw this project. Yes its elegant, but with all that white inside and out it will be very costly especially in NYC which is a dirty city to begin with. Yes this is an extremely commercial project so the fundamental architectural questions are thrown out the window (I would be more impressed if Neil did a public housing project for the rest of us—the working class. I’m sure it won’t look so elegant…) in favor of high profile economics. He isn’t the first to capitalize on that theme.

Also, another thing that bothered me about this project is the ‘look’ of it. I have to agree with some of the commenters. I never liked the idea of architects designing offices for living. The open, exhibitionist spaces will raise the level of narcissism above acceptable limits. It does look like an airport terminal, btw…!

In the end, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. The pressure of producing a resume of built work, even to the point of borrowing German traditional construction typology,Fachwerk, he has now, after years of paper architecture, found a door to practicing architecture. For the sake of those rich clients who already bought into this project, I hope this building will look this sleek and elegant 50 years from now. Time will tell.

By: elena arsenoglou

elena arsenoglou — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:47:34 +0000

i think i start falling in LOVE with your buildings Mr.Denari!!!!!!!!
AMAZING!

By: archie

archie — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:24:53 +0000

This is his first?! about time. The house addition doesn’t count.

By: David

David — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:49:24 +0000

I went to a lecture he gave about this project and a few others. The images look so real in HD. He said that in order to keep it from falling over the highline, they will have to pull the steel frame back and tension it over center everytime they build a new floor. To answer Arjun ’s question, the lower floors have balconies and all the floors have operable windows. The glass has reflective coatings and UV filters and never lets in more than 70% of the light. The white faux “struts’ allow only 10%.

He also said, “If you have to ask how much the penthouse is, you cant afford it.”

By: edward

edward — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:50:57 +0000

Certainly a tour de force of the designers art but… like living in ones own private air terminal?

By: Arjun Bali

Arjun Bali — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:53:02 +0000

impressive design. nice use of space and functionality.
questions: as we head into global warming:
*does the open expanse of glass make it into an oven?
*will it be high on energy bills?
*do the windows open out or does one live with air-conditioning for climate control?

By: Tanaz

Tanaz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:22:35 +0000

Quite a beautiful light weight, floating structure. I could imagine the maintenance of the building to be super costly.

By: Nisa

Nisa — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:45:24 +0000

I was more amazed by the renderings…bloody gorgeous! The whole concept looks great, hope it turns out exactly the way it looks now.

By: Dr P

Dr P — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:48:33 +0000

I thought these were all photos initially – amazing renders.

Fantastic building as well – really enjoying the dynamic created by the jaunty angles, overhang and the slit down the cladding.
The structure on the side walls is superb – the glass combined with this makes the building seem light and very spacious despite small footprint. Great job.

By: floyd landis

floyd landis — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:34:49 +0000

How do they have time to play with “pie in-the-sky pretend architecture”? Because they don’t have any clients.