With all the news about what’s going on in the world today, it feels like we are in a science fiction movie. The streets are emptying out and our buildings stand alone.
Every now and then, when I remember to find the time in my day to pause, I’ll stop on the street corner, look up, and take in the Manhattan skyline. New York City is home to some of the most magnificent buildings and architecture in the world. Old and new. Residential buildings. Commercial office buildings. Galleries. Museums. Buildings that are immediately recognizable because of their beauty and grandeur. The Chrysler. The Empire State. Rockefeller Plaza. The Woolworth. One Wall Street. The NY Public Library. The Guggenheim, to name just a few. It is also home to some of the most bizarre and ugliest buildings. I won’t name those, but there seems to be a general consensus about the list.
Historically, the city has disgracefully allowed the tearing down of some magnificent structures. Most tragically, McKim, Mead and White’s original Penn Station, only to replace it with the current day monstrosity that houses Madison Square Garden. The city also now seems to allow any new wacky design to be built, regardless of aesthetics. Some of these new structures seem dated before they’re finished, and others should simply be torn down because they are horrid.
I’m not an architect or an architecture critic. I have, however, sold thousands of apartments and worked on over 100 projects of all shapes and sizes. I am very fortunate to work alongside some of the most revered and respected architects of our time. What I’ve noticed is that many architects have a strong desire to deliver, not only the best product for their developer client, but also beautiful homes for the future owner. While others are driven by their desire to make a design statement that feeds their personal brand and strokes their huge ego. Then, there are the rare special breed who manage to thread the needle and deliver both beauty and function.
The most obvious, overlooked fact is that the most successful projects are those that are designed from the inside out. We start by designing smart, innovative floorplans where the layouts work best for the owner. The homes are the nucleus of the building. Once we have this foundation, the rest can grow and fall in place. The true artistry of the architect then comes into play when they mold the exterior facade to match the interior.
Conversely, the most unsuccessful projects are those that are designed from the outside in. They consider the facade paramount to the inside of the building. This often leads to apartments that make little sense and results in interiors that run the gamut of bad ideas from rooms with weird angles and shapes and terraces that overhang living rooms below, to long dark hallways and funky spaces that have no function. Nobody wants this. Nobody. I sat in a design meeting once with a “Starchitect” who threw a crumpled-up piece of paper on the table and said: “This is my inspiration for the design, and I want the building to look like this”. When I responded with “Sure, but how are the apartments going to work on the inside?” he looked down at me and shook his head in disdain. Needless to say, the building doesn’t work too well, and nobody wants to live there.
If you look around New York today, you’ll see a lot of these buildings. And it’s no surprise that they are having difficulty selling units. People aren’t interested in living in an art project. People want a home.
There’s a reason why the majestic apartment buildings of Rosario Candela and Robert AM Stern are the most sought-after and valuable buildings in New York. They have floorplans and apartments that make beautiful homes, AND they are beautiful to look at from the outside. Developers and architects should pay attention. It isn’t that complicated.