524 W 19th St - Metal Shutter Houses - Shigeru Ban

[Jasonik]

"With his New York partner, Dean Maltz, Ban is designing a condominium tower next to Frank Gehry’s new IAC headquarters building beside the West Side Highway in Manhattan." (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/magazine/20shigeru-t.html?ex=1337486400&en=f03a266323e56270&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink)

www.shigerubanarchitects.com (http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com)

http://www.dma-ny.com/

http://newyorkmetro.com/realestate/features/2016/map060529_risingwest_560.jpg (http://nymag.com/realestate/features/2016/17153/)
Is it on the high line between #12-Gehry and #13-Seldorf?

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/1781/524w19th01cat0.th.jpg (http://img453.imageshack.us/my.php?image=524w19th01cat0.jpg)

The little white building (524 W19th) between 520 West Chelsea and IAC has been demolished.

Waiting to see what Shigeru Ban puts up behind the Bamboo Curtain.

There's a website, Metal Shutter Houses (http://www.metalshutterhouses.com/), but no info.

[lofter1]

DOB Shows New Building Application (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0001309644&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=)(s) for 524 - 526 West 19th Street:

Partially Approved: 9.05.07
Stories: 11
Dwellings: 9
Height: 120'
Gross SF: 33,183
Lot Size: 50' x 92'

[lofter1]

Shigeru Ban (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Ban) designed the Nomadic Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadic_Museum) which was set up on Pier 54 (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=43120&postcount=13) in 2005 ...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/27/nyregion/27hard.large1.jpg
Putting final touches on the Nomadic Museum. "I guess it's some sort of minimalism," a dock builder said.

[czsz]

^ Was cool while it was there. It moved on to San Francisco the last time I checked. Wouldn't be a terrible idea for a container museum to quit its nomadism and settle down in the area...

[BrooklynRider]

That was a cathedral. So peaceful inside.

[lofter1]

Yep ^^^

524 West 19th ...

Shutters in West Chelsea Let Condos Open Wide

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/19/garden/20currents.3.jpg

NY TIMES (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/09/19/garden/20070920CURRENTS_index.html)
JULIE V. IOVINE
September 20, 2007

ARCHITECTURE

Shigeru Ban, the Paris-based Japanese architect, seems to favor architecture that provides a raw experience. Two years ago, New Yorkers lined up to hike through shipping containers he stacked on a Hudson River pier as a mobile art cathedral for Gregory Colbert’s majestic animal photography. And who can forget his Tokyo apartment with its exterior walls made of flapping white curtains?

Now Mr. Ban has returned to Manhattan’s West Side with a design for a condominium on 19th Street near 11th Avenue that can be thrown open entirely to the elements. The Metal Shutter Houses are nine duplex apartments (ranging in size from a 1,950-square-foot three-bedroom to a 3,180-square-foot four-bedroom penthouse with three terraces, encased in perforated metal shutters that operate exactly like the rolling grates of the Chelsea galleries and Korean delis that inspired them.

Duplex owners will be able to mechanically adjust their own shutters, and inside each apartment, a 20-foot window wall will pivot open, left, getting these few Manhattanites as close to California living as they might possibly dream of being. That feeling will no doubt be reinforced by Frank Gehry’s IAC headquarters just feet away on the lot next door. The Metal Shutter Houses, at 524 West 19th Street, are scheduled for completion in fall 2008.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/19/garden/20currents.2.jpg

(C) NY TIMES

[lofter1]

The showroom for Metal Shutter Houses (http://www.metalshutterhouses.com/) has not yet opened but they are making their presence known over on West 19th Street ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/High%20Line/524W19_01a.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/High%20Line/524W19_01c.jpg

***

[MidtownGuy]

^very cool fencing. what a great way to attract buzz.

[BrooklynRider]

Wow! I love it. Rather simple and yet so innovative.

[sfenn1117]

^It will be fun to watch the tower in all different forms, from a beautiful summer evening all open to a raging blizzard all bunkered down. This street is setting up to be incredible.

[Stern]

I don't really get this project. Obviously the metal shudders will be up in the spring and summer, but what as sfenn mentioned during a blizzard or cold weather (7 months of the year) or when it’s raining, or whenever its not 70 degrees and partly cloudy. Won’t people have to put up these metal shudders and subsequently get totally blocked out from the outside world? I’m all for light and transparency as I’ve made my opinions known about a million times on the NYTIMES thread. I could never rent an apartment with out sufficient light and air, infact renting an apartment without a window is illegal, I could be wrong but these residents will be without adequate light and air for a good part of the year. I don’t get the project because if I had the option of metal shudders I would never put them down, subsequently losing a large part of living space, or you could compromise more space for no view whatsoever, the only reason metal shudders exist elsewhere in the first place is for security reasons which isn’t a concern here. Glass Shutter Houses would have on the other hand been a great idea. Sometimes I wish certain architects wouldn’t try to be innovative for the sake of being innovative, this is most definitely one of those instances.

[fioco]

It's not either/or but both/and.

From the article quoted above:
"Duplex owners will be able to mechanically adjust their own shutters, and inside each apartment, a 20-foot window wall will pivot open. . ."
Handy in fierce windstorms, the shutters will also help you connect with your inner-Queens-small-business-entrepreneur, as well as handily protect your castle during the three months you're at your Tuscany Villa, and -of course- catching up with Fabrizio.

[Jasonik]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/19/garden/20currents.2.jpg

On the right the fenestration is vaguely apparent through the shutters, which may in fact be a type of architectural mesh (http://www.cambridgearchitectural.com/). There may even be an insect screen component to the shutters. Don't underestimate Ban.

[Jasonik]

SHUTTER TO THINK

By KATHERINE DYKSTRA

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11012007/photos/re049.jpg
METAL-WORTHY: Metal Shutter House
living rooms, capable of opening on both
sides, have radiant heat flooring.

November 1, 2007 -- When your new boutique condo project is surrounded by serious starchitecture, including buildings by Frank Gehry, Annabelle Selldorf and Jean Nouvel, how do you make it stand out? Easy. Hire an architect who's used to thinking out of the box - and then let him.
That was the idea behind commissioning Japan's Shigeru Ban to design the nine-unit, 11-story building on far West 19th Street now known as Metal Shutter Houses. He used as inspiration the garage-style doors seen on many a nearby Chelsea art gallery.

"The industrial buildings in the area have metal shutters," says Ban. "I tried to use something contextual, multifunctional."

Mechanized metal shutters, made of horizontal perforated slats, make up much of the building's fa‡ade. When the shutter is closed, the resident is able to see out, but the city cannot see in. Press a button and the shutter rolls up into the ceiling, not unlike a garage door, though with considerably more finesse. Behind the shutters, the terrace is separated from double-height living rooms by windows, which are also motorized and able to fold up into the living room, making the exterior and interior one.

Klemens Gasser, the developer of the project along with Spiritos Properties (collectively known as HEEA Development), initially purchased the property in 1998 to house an art gallery. At the time, far West 19th Street was almost completely industrial, not to mention more or less deserted.

But in the intervening years, it has evolved into one of the most architecturally avant-garde blocks in the city, with the Gehry-designed IAC Headquarters, Selldorf's 520 W. Chelsea and Nouvel's 100 11th Ave. In addition, Tamarkin Co. is designing and developing an 11-story condo with 22 duplexes on the corner of 19th Street and 10th Avenue. The design includes four penthouses that will reside in a wavy structure that tops a rectangular base. The lesson being, edgy architecture begets edgy architecture.

"If I had to choose between doing something on the Upper East Side or in Chelsea, I'd choose Chelsea because of the interesting context," says Ban, who admits to having another project in the works in New York but is reticent to reveal its whereabouts. We can assume it's not on the Upper East Side.

Metal Shutter House units include four three-bedroom, 1,950-square-foot duplexes with terraces; four 2,700-square-foot four-bedroom duplexes with terraces; and one four-bedroom duplex penthouse measuring 3,319 square feet with 1,963 square feet of outdoor space, which includes a private roof deck.

Units start at $3.6 million, or about $1,850 a square foot; pricey when compared with other projects in the area: 459 W. 18th St., a Delle Valle building, is averaging $1,338 a square foot, and 520 W. Chelsea is seeing $1,600 a foot and up.

And while the penthouse at 520 W. Chelsea sold for almost $9 million, "a record for that area," says Shaun Osher, president of CORE Group Marketing, which is selling the building. Though it might not hold the record for long. The penthouse at Metal Shutter Houses is on the market for $10.5 million.

"We've already had great interest in the penthouse," says sales director Madeline Hult of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing. "Two people in the last couple days."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11012007/realestate/shutter_to_think_232942.htm

[Jasonik]

Metal Shutter Mania: Ban's Bamboo and a Sales Office Too!
Friday, January 18, 2008, by Joey (http://curbed.com/archives/2008/01/18/metal_shutter_mania_bans_bamboo_and_a_sales_office _too.php#more)

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_metal1.jpg
[Photos: Will Femia (http://testofwill.blogspot.com/)]

Architect Shigeru Ban's small collection of bodegas/luxury apartments (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/09/20/shigeru_bans_metal_shutter_houses_revealed.php) known as the Metal Shutter Houses continue to sell like little bancakes, but what of the West Chelsea construction site? Progress is slow (has ground even broken?), but the area is wrapped in bamboo in lieu of advertisement-dotted plywood, so that's something. We're sure Annabelle Selldorf's 520 West Chelsea (http://curbed.com/archives/2006/11/14/development_du_jour_520_west_chelsea.php) and Frank Gehry's IAC building are eagerly awaiting their shiny new neighbor. As for the Metal Shutter sales office at 515 West 19th Street, it's surprisingly low-tech. In fact, it may be downright charming!

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_metal2.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_metal3.jpg

· Metal Shutter Mania: Ban's Boxes on Display, Selling (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/11/metal_shutter_mania_bans_boxes_on_display_selling. php) [Curbed]
· Ban's Heavy Metal Now for Sale (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/10/26/bans_heavy_metal_now_for_sale.php) [Curbed]
· Ban Me! Pricing for Shigeru's Shutters Set (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/09/24/ban_me_pricing_for_shigerus_shutters_set.php) [Curbed]

[alonzo-ny]

I was lucky enough to attend a fantastic lecture by Shigeru Ban last night at Cooper Union. I found it utterly inspiring, his simple designs and simple descriptions blow out of the water any of the average architects ridiculous overblown descriptions of their designs. Its a pity this guy doesnt build more here in NY.

[Kris]

December 30, 2007
Window Shopping
Open to the Elements
By SUZANNE SLESIN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/30/realestate/30wind.xlarge1.jpg
AIRY SPACES A model of the Metal Shutter Houses in West Chelsea, designed by Shigeru Ban. The metal shutters are retractable.

A DESIGN-SAVVY friend called. She had an appointment in the just-opened sales office of the Metal Shutter Houses, an 11-story condominium designed by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, in what is now West Chelsea.

I’m a big fan of Mr. Ban’s work. I love the way he uses ordinary materials to create sublime spaces. I have dreamed about living in the house in Tokyo he designed with its cloudlike billowing curtains. I was eager to see what he would come up with for a luxury building in Manhattan.

Mr. Ban’s project, at 524 West 19th Street, is being developed by Jeff Spiritos, the president of HEEA Development L.L.C., and Klemens Gasser, a Chelsea art dealer. It was still a hole in the ground when we visited, the site shoehorned between the IAC headquarters building by Frank Gehry (love that cool iceberg) and another glass-and-steel building by Annabelle Seldorf. The two buildings give that block of 19th Street a lunar feeling, which was heightened by the gray light of late autumn.

I hurried across the street to find my friend already looking at floor plans in the sales office. If I had been a serious buyer I would have been, too. The office had only been open a few days, but the units were going fast.

Inside, Madeline Hult, a sales director at the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, was turning on the video that demonstrated the condo’s star turn: the series of retractable perforated metal shutters and big windows that allow the apartments to be wide open to the elements.

Love it, I thought. But I was also wary of power failures, and couldn’t help but wonder how practical it was to have those windows in a city with good weather only half of the year. But soon, my friend and I were being swept away by the sheer ingenuity of the scheme and the opening and closing, appearing and disappearing metal shutters in an extraordinary architectural ballet.

We were in a trance as Ms. Hult was describing walls that slipped away to disappear behind cabinets, 20-foot ceilings, staircases with glass banisters, radiant heat in the floors and the all-white kitchens and bathrooms sculptured out of Corian.

The project, in which Mr. Ban collaborated with the New York architect Dean Maltz, is, at least for me, a fantasy of modern living: a pure and yet high-tech space that can be open to the air and views. On the inside, nothing will interrupt the smoothness of the surfaces.

“Shigeru does not like to show air-conditioning ducts,” Ms. Hult said. Come to think of it, neither do I.

But actually living up to living here was another issue. The sky-high prices were, of course, a restraint. But strangely, so were the elegance, clarity and transparency of the spaces. I’m way too messy and too much of a collector; I’d sully the perfection of the rooms. On the other hand, maybe I was just being defensive.

Of the original eight units only two are still available: Unit 6 has 4,644 square feet and is a full-floor duplex with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a library, a dining room and five private outdoor spaces. It has a price tag of $10.25 million. Unit 7 has 1,949 square feet of space with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and three outdoor spaces for $4.1 million.

The prices take one’s breath away, but my friend was still interested. She’s worried that she could only move in with a few pieces of clothing, and that her grandchildren would have to leave their toys at home.

But maybe if all goes well, she’ll invite me over.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

[SilentPandaesq]

The prices take one’s breath away, but my friend was still interested. She’s worried that she could only move in with a few pieces of clothing, and that her grandchildren would have to leave their toys at home.

Ohh....to have that be my main concern.

[Front_Porch]

I will never forget showing a $6 MM Richard Meier unit to a buyer who was like, "I love it, if only I could rip all this white stuff out."

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[alonzo-ny]

I will never forget showing a $6 MM Richard Meier unit to a buyer who was like, "I love it, if only I could rip all this white stuff out."

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Off topic but ive never come across this before. What is MM as in $6MM. Surely million requires only one M after the number?

[TSQ]

Off topic but ive never come across this before. What is MM as in $6MM. Surely million requires only one M after the number?

In this case, its roman numerals - M is one thousand, so 6 MM is 6 thousand thousand, or 6 million.

[lofter1]

Thanks for that http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

Again I learn something NEW at WNY.

And didn't even need to google to do so ;)

[alonzo-ny]

Aha, but isnt that confusing?

[lofter1]

Not ^ once you know it.

[alonzo-ny]

Plus one M is quicker.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Two M's is two thousand. 6 MM is 12,000.
I thought an M with a line over it is one million.

[alonzo-ny]

Whenever I read any news story its always blah blah $4m blah balh

[NYatKNIGHT]

Agreed. You usually see K or M, thousand or million.

[Front_Porch]

In the interests of speed and clarity, I bow to the group ruling:

M= million
K= thousand

a K -- no, make that a KM -- thanks for sorting this out, guys.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[Peteynyc1]

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_1_metal2.jpg
The sales office would make a great little duplex townhome in my opinion. I may even take that over the metal shutter unit.

[BrooklynRider]

The Metal Shutter Houses will rise between Gehry's IAC and this new residential building...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/1211.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/810/metalshutter01car6.th.jpg (http://img522.imageshack.us/my.php?image=metalshutter01car6.jpg)

[kz1000ps]

Zippy, I'll see you and raise you ten.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4504/img8189dz9.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

Metal Shutter Houses out of the ground.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/9676/metalshutter02czh0.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=metalshutter02czh0.jpg) http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2046/metalshutter03cxr0.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=metalshutter03cxr0.jpg)