Wagner Park Turned Its Floodwall Into a Landscape
At Manhattan’s waterfront, a raised lawn conceals part of a coastal defense system. Preserving the harbor view required rebuilding the ground beneath it.
Architecture
New York architecture explained through the engineering, design, history, and hidden systems of the city's most significant buildings.
Why Brooklyn’s Pink Building Changes Shape at the Corner
At 144 Vanderbilt, a former gas station becomes a pink concrete village. Behind the striking facade is a careful negotiation between zoning, townhouse scale, and outdoor living.
Brooklyn’s Tooth Tower and the Dentists Who Fought to Stay
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower gave Brooklyn a skyline icon and generations of dental appointments. Its conversion into luxury condos put those two identities on a collision course.
How Juilliard Grew Above Broadway Without Closing
A 50-foot cantilever gave Juilliard room to expand while opening Alice Tully Hall to the street. Building it meant reconstructing a working conservatory around its students.
The Castle That Takes New York’s Temperature
Belvedere Castle helped turn a scenic Central Park lookout into a weather landmark. Its readings reveal why one temperature can never describe an entire city.
The Fifth Avenue Tower That Curves Around a Hat Factory’s Headquarters
At Bryant Park, a glass skyscraper bends around the ornate Knox Building. Behind that gesture lies an intricate effort to turn occupied buildings into one bank headquarters.
One Clinton: The Library Deal Behind Brooklyn’s Flatiron
A triangular condo tower in Brooklyn Heights replaced a struggling library, funded repairs across the borough, and became entangled in scrutiny of City Hall fundraising.
One Manhattan Square and the Long Wait for Groceries
A luxury tower, a separate affordable building and a supermarket that took more than a decade to return reveal competing visions of neighborhood improvement in Two Bridges.
The Greenwich Gives Everyone the View From the Top
Rafael Viñoly’s Lower Manhattan tower traded an even taller silhouette for broader floors and a crown of shared amenities, turning prime penthouse territory into a residents’ retreat.
What Lies Beneath Brooklyn’s Brownstones
Brooklyn’s signature houses are brick beneath their sandstone fronts. Their transformation from practical construction to coveted real estate is a story of geology, repair, and reinvention.
The Hidden Curtains That Reopened the Beekman’s Atrium
Sealed for decades over fire-safety concerns, the Beekman’s nine-story atrium returned with a discreet system of smoke curtains, glass baffles, and ventilation.
The Times Square Hotel That Became Its Own Billboard
With ten colors of glass and a luminous curve through its tower, the Westin turned the struggle for attention into an unusually complicated facade.