Rendering of a bedroom in 215 Chrystie Street.

Swiss starchitect firm Herzog & de Meuron has partnered with high-concept developer Ian Schrager to design a free-flowing luxury condo development in the West Village. The project, 160 Leroy Street, will span a full city block and west-facing apartments will offer sweeping, panoramic Hudson River views.

160 Leroy has all the trademark design references of the Pritzker Prize–winning architects, whose aesthetic vision incorporates smooth sculpted glass and elaborate curvaceous surfaces. The result is a highly tactile facade that is at once fluid and rhythmic. 
The 49 residences maximize views and natural light, with wall space presented in a way that encourages art showcasing. The arched entryway of 160 Leroy leads to a lush, landscaped private courtyard and pastoral garden. No amenity was spared for this luxury project, and residents will enjoy a 70-foot pool and whirlpool spa, state-of-the-art fitness center, sauna and steam room with private massage room, yoga studio, lounge, and children’s clubhouse. Schrager sums up the sublime nature of the luxury project, stating that “the experience of arriving at 160 Leroy will be transformative.”

160 Leroy isn’t the first time Herzog & de Meuron and Ian Schrager have teamed up to bring their vision of high concept living to New York. 215 Chrystie, currently under construction, will be a boutique hotel and luxury residential tower on the Lower East Side. The collaboration resulted in a structure that is based on an external framework designed to allow for floor plans free of any interior columns. The result is open, uninterrupted living spaces. The sweeping layouts are further enhanced by floor-to-ceiling glass wraparound walls. In a similar vein as 160 Leroy’s pastoral courtyard, a private garden with offer intimate privacy and an aesthetically pleasing, foliage-covered screen shielding the interior from the street. 160 Leroy will reach 28 stories, with the top floors housing 11 spectacular residences above the boutique hotel, with vast, open kitchens and interior walls finished in warm black walnut and expansive, panoramic city views. The tower’s architecture is meant to evoke and express two different typologies that exist in unity with each other while providing a mixed use environment that can act as “a city within a city”, according to Herzog. He goes on to explain that the building will spark a new genre of modern urban life:

“215 Chrystie is the ultimate expression of uptown meets downtown. It is both tough and refined at the same time. This inherent contradiction, in a symbiotic relationship, is what makes it so unique and different. The presence of one attribute serves to showcase the other.”

Herzog & de Meuron’s unique architectural aesthetic is also on display at 56 Leonard, the luxury condo tower that currently caps out as Tribeca’s tallest building. Unlike the typical sleek facades of  the glassy high-rise residential buildings of the moment, 56 Leonard features cantilevered geometrical glass rectangles that make the tower resemble a massive Jenga set stretching toward the sky. In keeping with the firm’s use of windows and glass, the interiors of 56 Leonard will feature fully-glazed walls offering panoramic Manhattan views, allowing for a seamless visual integration with the external world. The openness of the residences will be further enhanced by ceilings  soaring up to 19 feet.

After the tower’s completion, a mirror-surfaced sphere by Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor will be installed on the external ground floor, only adding to the design distinction in Herzog & de Meuron’s architecture.