The facade behaves like a skin that rotates 30 degrees and wraps the building structure. The external stair on the facade attracts and elevates pedestrians off the street to allow penetration into the building through the voids. The project uses a similar grid dimension as the neighboring buildings but does not conform to similar height definitions, emphasizing its desire for singularity through the rejection of classical linguistics in the context.
150 Wooster St.
The existing language of external fire-escapes in the Soho District of New York City provided the inspiration for this design. Safety laws and regulations required buildings to have a form of egress on the exterior of a building in case of fire or emergency. Due to these zoning restrictions, some buildings adapted by attaching fire stairs on the facade parasitically. This project attempts to 'beautify' this condition that has an inherently negative aesthetic.