The Tower That Lifted Water to Upper Manhattan
Highbridge Water Tower solved a stubborn problem in New York’s gravity-fed water system: how to serve a neighborhood higher than its water supply.
Architecture
New York architecture explained through the engineering, design, history, and hidden systems of the city's most significant buildings.
The Burial Ground Beneath Washington Square
Washington Square’s marble arch celebrates a president. Beneath the surrounding park, thousands of earlier New Yorkers remain buried, shaping what the city can build today.
Waterline Square and the Architecture of Sunlight
Behind Waterline Square’s angled glass towers lies a question that shaped years of debate: how do you build a neighborhood without leaving its park in shadow?
Why Buildings Need Revolving Doors
That awkward shuffle into the lobby serves a purpose: revolving doors control drafts, conserve heat, and help tall buildings manage powerful air pressure differences.
Pier 98: Where Manhattan’s Heat Meets the Hudson
A former fuel dock connects New York’s subway history to its steam system and a continuing debate over the river’s industrial role.
The San Remo: Room for Sunlight, No Guarantee for Stars
The San Remo’s twin towers turned housing rules into a Manhattan landmark. Decades later, Madonna discovered that buying into the building presented another kind of design problem.
100 Norfolk Street: The Building That Gets Bigger as It Rises
On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a condominium turns a height limit into an architectural puzzle, using air rights and exposed steel trusses to expand above its neighbors.
Manhattan’s Grand Gateway Has a Traffic Problem
The Manhattan Bridge arch was designed as a monumental entrance. Fatal crashes at its feet have renewed the question of what should pass through it.
At 200 Eleventh Avenue, the Garage Comes Upstairs
A Chelsea tower lets residents ride an elevator with their cars and park beside their apartments. Making that convenience possible took an unusual arrangement of concrete, ventilation, and living space.
How 160 East 22nd Street Hangs Over Its Neighbors
A 24-foot overhang gives this Gramercy condominium room to grow above older buildings. Behind its limestone facade, enormous concrete beams carry the weight home.
Cornell Tech: New York’s Big Bet on a Small Island
On Roosevelt Island, New York’s bid to build a technology powerhouse became an experiment in construction, energy efficiency, and the architecture of ambition.
The Shed: Eight Million Pounds of Moving Architecture
At Hudson Yards, a rolling shell turns a plaza into a performance hall. The engineering inside explains why this unusual arts center moves.