Posted May 1, 2018, 5:41 PM
|
|
New Yorker for life
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
|
|
https://therealdeal.com/issues_artic...or-architects/
How developers hunt for architects
Builders of everything from high-end condo towers to affordable rentals want designers with vision and practicality
By Erin Hudson
May 01, 2018
Quote:
Michael Stern
CEO, JDS Development
You hired an architectural historian to work at your firm. Why? We do a lot of projects that have a landmarked or historic component. Architectural historian Marci Clark really helps us to identify the fabric and the DNA of what was there so that we can properly tell the story of what’s coming. In addition to [conducting] historical research, she really helps make sure that everything we do has design integrity, isn’t arbitrary and, you know, overly trendy.
You’re worried about being overly trendy? I’ll give you a great example. At 111 West 57th Street, we’re designing a very tall tower that’s integrated with a wonderful landmark. We wanted to do a tower that was complementary to the landmark but wouldn’t overwhelm and mimic it — that’s a hard balance to find. We don’t want to make it look like a spaceship landed in a neighborhood. Very often, the past informs the right thing to do in the future, so to have somebody who can tell us why and how a neighborhood, or a building, came about in the first place is really helpful.
How did the idea to look into the architectural history come about? The initial idea for trying to look into that old history came from myself and Shaun Osher [founder of CORE, which handled sales at Walker Tower]. We were in a room brainstorming saying, “Hey, what are we going to do to sell this Verizon building and not have it referred to as the Verizon building?”
Does history actually help you sell units? Absolutely. If you look back at Walker Tower, no one had ever heard of Ralph Walker, the architect. He was forgotten. He did phenomenally worthy work but really hadn’t been noticed. Marci developed an exhibit and a book that really brought his work to the forefront and created the architectural pedigree that contributed to the success of Walker Tower and later the Stella Tower. Buyers understood there was integrity to the work and that it was worth paying a premium for. Other developers leveraged off our work too; Ben Shaoul did a building in Tribeca that he actually called Ralph Walker Tribeca, which would have been an unfathomable name before Marci exposed his work.
|
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
|