‘The banks thought we were mad’: coral castles and look-at-me loos reinvent New York housing
With building codes strict and land values high, Big Apple apartment blocks tend to be grim. But two firms, SO-IL and Tankhouse, are fighting back with lush courtyards, breezy landings – and glass-walled toilets 15 storeys up
For all its metropolitan dynamism and heady sense of possibility, New York is not a city that produces good housing. Its building codes are so strict, its land values so high, and its construction practises so intractable, that the results tend towards grim stacks of cells. New apartment blocks – even at the high end – do little to disguise the fact that they are simply physical spreadsheets of units, expressions of brutal economic efficiency, occasionally garnished with a thin architectural dressing.
“New York is supposedly the greatest, most competitive city on Earth,” says Sam Alison-Mayne, who grew up in Los Angeles, son of the prominent west coast architect Thom Mayne. “Competition usually breeds the best solutions for things – but not when it comes to housing.” While he was working as a contractor, he met Sebastian Mendez, an Argentinian architect at Foster + Partners at the time, and the two realised there was scope to do things differently. They quit their jobs, founded a development company, Tankhouse, and, 10 years later, have built three of the city’s most innovative housing projects in recent memory.
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‘I thought about filing for conservatorship’: I bought a home with my elderly parents. They reneged on their promise to sell their house and repay me. What now?
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WPP ‘looked at’ New York listing
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With ‘City of Yes,’ New York Finally Gets Real About the Housing Crisis
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Sick Prisoners in New York Were Granted Parole but Remain Behind Bars
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Dazzling Ice Castles draw tourists to New Hampshire, other states
An annual architectural celebration of ice is up and running again in New Hampshire and several other statesABC News - Jan. 13 -
New York’s Chinese Dissidents Thought He Was an Ally. He Was a Spy.
Shujun Wang seemed to be a Chinese democracy activist, but an F.B.I. investigation showed just how far China will go to repress citizens abroad.The New York Times - Jan. 10 -
‘They were inventing a new definition of sexy’: stars and scenesters on the New York Dolls’ riotous rock
Fifty years on from their dissolution, admirers from Joan Jett to Dave Vanian explain the appeal of a band who ripped up rock’n’roll in high heels – and pointed towards punk. Fifty years ago, the ...The Guardian - Jan. 10 -
The kindness of strangers: we thought we’d been poisoned at Tolstoy’s house. Then a local explained what we had really drunk
We took thirsty chugs from the tall glasses. Surely this ‘water’ belonged in a biohazard chamber, not our mouths. Read more in the kindness of strangers series In July 2019 I travelled to ...The Guardian - Jan. 8 -
DraftKings tests a subscription service as it looks to offset high New York taxes
DraftKings is testing the subscription service in New York, which is tied for the highest tax rate on sports wagering in the country.CNBC - Jan. 3
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