location: Long Island City, NY
size: 1 million sf date: 2002

This project was produced while at STUDIOS Architecture as a closed competition. This block is a site in Long Island City. The developer’s program included 40,000 sf floorplates for large back offices for Wall Street and Midtown financial institutions. The developer and the City view the site as a gateway to Long Island City and an icon for the revitalization of this largely industrial area. In response, Studios “folded” the conventional high rise tower so that the side facing the Manhattan skyline is lengthened. The mass then breaks down into segments, and parts of the façade “slip” outwards, giving the whole building a crystalline quality. Internally the plan follows the “folding,” creating zones of long span office space toward the exterior.