Dezeen Magazine

New images of SHoP's supertall Brooklyn tower revealed

New images of a planned 304-metre-tall tower in Brooklyn by SHoP Architects have been revealed in advance of a review by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The 73-storey tower would be the tallest building in the borough and the first supertall building in the city outside of Manhattan, which has been experiencing a skinny skyscraper boom.

Developed by JDS Development Group and Chetrit Group, the tower would incorporate the landmark-designated Beaux-Arts Dime Savings Bank building into its base and would require the partial demolition of the rear of the historic structure.

The demolition cannot proceed without the approval of the Preservation Commission. A review of the project is currently scheduled for 15 March.

The thin tower includes a series of small setbacks with fins at the top. Bronze-coloured ribbons accent the primarily glass tower.

Skyscraper by SHoP at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn
The new images are an update on plans originally unveiled last year

The old bank building, which features a domed hall, would be converted into a retail arcade.

Unlike the majority of the new supertall condominium towers rising in New York, the Brooklyn skyscraper would be filled with rental apartments, 20 per cent of which would be set aside for below-market rents.

Opinions are divided on the tower, with some worried that the spread of supertall towers will harm the quality of life in Brooklyn, while others feel it marks the arrival of the borough on the global stage.

"Yes, the city planned this for a new Brooklyn," Gina Pollara, the newly appointed president of the Municipal Art Society, told the New York Times. "But does the public really understand what the cumulative effect of all these towers will be on the public realm?"

The Downtown Brooklyn Community Board 2, an advisory body, unanimously endorsed the project.

Working for the same developers SHoP is designing a 1,400-foot-tall (426 metres) tower in Midtown Manhattan, which also incorporates a landmarked old building into its base.

Elsewhere in the city, the firm is planning New York's tallest timber-framed building.

SHoP is also designing a multi-tower complex on the Brooklyn waterfront in the Williamsburg neighbourhood on the site of the former Domino Sugar factory.