Check Out CO: LifeEdited’s Entry for the adAPT NYC Competition
LifeEdited, as part of a team with Jonathan Rose Companies, Curtis + Ginsberg, Grimshaw and Scape Studios, was honored to be chosen a finalist for the adAPT NYC Competition. Our design was called CO: Compact, Connected, Complete.
To break down the division of labor: As New York’s preeminent green real estate developer, Jonathan Rose Companies handled the development aspect of the project; Curtis + Ginsburg and Grimshaw were responsible for the building’s architecture; Scape was responsible for landscape design; and LifeEdited did the apartment interiors and a few other aspects of the overall design.
Grimshaw explains the overall architectural layout of the building:
The massing has four components: ground floor retail; micro-units; social and community spaces; and a northern circulation spine. The apartments feature south facing windows and private balconies angled toward the park. Indoor and outdoor communal spaces are sprinkled throughout. The south façade emphasizes light and air for each unit while the east and west facades serve as bookends that bring ample light into the corridors on every floor. The north façade features a green wall system and large windows to bring light into the stairwells.
The interior was designed to function as living room/lounge, bedroom and office. The video below shows the “semi-furnished option” which is outfitted with the Resource Furniture Atoll 000 bed/sofa and Paso table; the latter piece converts from coffee table to dining table for eight. We gave it triple duty by making it part of the workspace.
The building features a “Product Library” where residents can check out items like extra chairs and bulky, not-so-frequently-used items like a stock pot. Other cool features of CO included large terraces and rooms shared by the whole building and a “Potluck Restaurant” where residents could make impromptu dinner parties (or lunch parties we suppose).
The goal of the project was to create a compelling and livable micro-apartment building–and one that could be realized in New York City in today’s real estate climate. Having been chosen as finalists amongst a deep and very talented pool of competitors, we think CO achieved those ends. We were very happy with the end product and though we did not win the competition, elements of CO will sure find their way into future projects.
What do you think of CO? What worked? What didn’t? What more would you add? What would you take away?