Rendering of 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando’s first New York City project

The Pritzker laureate hopes his modest seven-storey block will “embrace the industrial character of the area”

How do you judge the renderings of so geometric and other-worldly an architect as Tadao Ando? One of architecture’s best-known Ando photographers, Edmund Sumner, told us last month, “his work has produced some iconic images shot by great photographers from around the world, and so it’s equally a challenge to try to capture something new.”

These mock-ups, which premiered over on Dezeen, of a new block the 72-year-old Japanese architect is building for developers Sumaida + Khurana, are distinct, as they're for Ando’s first large-scale project in New York City.

 

Rendering of 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando
Rendering of 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando

While we’re more used to seeing his dwellings lodged on the cliffs of Sri Lanka or mountains in Monterrey, Ando wants this development, at 152 Elizabeth Street “to embrace the industrial character” of lower Manhattan. Just how much genuine industry goes on in the neighbourhood around Elizabeth Street, between Kenmare and Broome, in Nolita, isn’t clear; yet the block’s simple, concrete, glass and steel, certainly looks as if it will add to Manhattan’s architectural make-up.

The seven storey building will only house only eight apartments, plus rooftop terrace, with reflecting pool (see above), making it a modest undertaking, by today's standards. No complete rendering has been released so far, yet US real-estate site, Curbed, has speculated as to whether the whole thing might sit on stilts; you can sort of intuit that from the sketch, below.

 

Drawing for 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando
Drawing for 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando

Whatever the lowest floor holds, we imagine Sumaida + Khurana will find no trouble in shifting these apartments; they hope to have the whole project complete by 2016. For more, go here; for a richer understanding of Ando’s life and work, take a look at our books on the great man; and for access to an international knowledge base that goes beyond the rendering, try out our online atlas. You can find Tadao Ando's practice page in the Atlas here