128 West 23rd Street, New York

Sven Peters

in collaboration with VUW / CastDesignStudio

128 West 23rd Street, is an ambitious project reflecting the increasing market demand for high-quality, high-performing energy and environmentally conscious residential property in Midtown Manhattan. Adjacent to the "Ladies Mile"  Landmarked Historic District, which includes several notable retail properties and the Flat Iron Building, as well as ample green space in Madison Square Park and Union Square, the property has remained underutilized and underdeveloped despite benefiting from the its close proximity to these rich resources.  Currently, an unremarkable four story, 5700 SF property predates the current zoning resolution. When developed to its current full potential, 128 W23rd Street will be a slender tower composed of 15 full floor loft residences and built to approximately 25,000 gross square feet.

In order to position the building at the forefront of the market,  the design will be targeted towards a high-end "enviro-hedonist" buyer profile. Following market and academic research, notable sustainable strategies will be investigated - such as utilizing heavy timber construction in a tower - the first of its kind for a contemporary residential property in New York City; as well as closed loop Geo-exchange heating and cooling systems and dynamically monitored and controlled exterior and interior facade shading strategies, which taken together can offer approximately 90% reduction in energy expenditure during peak demand. The project will be designed under the German Passivhaus environmental standard which will incorporate the latest advancements in energy recovery, infiltration mitigation and air purification. In this way, the project seeks to marry adaptive and predictive intelligent systems with sustainability harvested and manufactured and/or reclaimed materials from historic buildings from the Eastern US. The result will be something altogether new, yet familiar.