LIBERTY LUX & LIBERTY GREEN
Location: Battery Park, New York, USA
Design Director: Raya Ani
Company Name: EEK Architects
Category: Architecture
Year: 2010
The two “green” condominium towers will consist of approximately 550,000 sqf and contain about 540 apartments. They will be connected by a two-story, 45,000-square-foot community recreation center with a pool and gymnasium.
The challenge was to address the relationship between the two residential buildings and the community facility at the base while offering each their own unique identity that functions as part of a whole. The site’s position between the open ballfield on one side and the more intimate scale of the North End Avenue on the other side required the building to address two different scales on either side. The western façades are orderly and reserved to address the residential character of the avenue, while the eastern façade facing the city expressed large-scale projections, all within the parameters of the BPC guidelines.
The 2-story glass of the community facility base unifies both buildings while allowing visibility of the facility’s interior functions. The space between the two buildings is a gateway to the ballfields and trellises at the top, and it further emphasizes the gateway. Photovoltaic panels are prominent on the bulkhead of site 24 and 23, meant to create a sustainable design gesture at the top, while the photovoltaic trellises along the lower roofs highlights the gateway. The green roofs that are accessible to tenants not only provide a higher insulation, stormwater management and cleaner air, but also create attractive, landscaped views for residents.
