OMA has unveiled its first residential tower for New York. Located at 121 East 22nd Street, the building sits at the intersection of two neighborhoods, with the busy Madison Square area to the North-West and the relative tranquility of Gramercy Park to the South. The building's facade reflects this duality, with a striking "prismatic corner" of glass contrasting the rest of the building's more conventional window layout. The corner element is designed to frame views, in some places directing users' attention up towards the sky and in others along the busy streets below.
Filling an L-shaped site that faces 22nd Street on one side and the corner of 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue on the other, the building features ground-level retail units and a setback above its 12th floor to continue the roofline of its neighbors. “The design of the 133-unit residential block was driven by the duality of its context," explained OMA's New York Principle Shohei Shigematsu. "Punched windows echoing the façade of its pre-war neighbors seamlessly transition to contemporary, floor-to-ceiling glazed windows towards the corner, forming a gradient from historic to modern.”
