Less is in at 11 North Moore: architecture review
Adjmi & Andreoli design a model of austere grace
May 30, 2014 04:35PM
By James Gardner
Rendering of 11 North Moore
Developed by VE Equities and designed by Adjmi & Andreoli, 11 North Moore promises – if we can trust the renderings – to be one of the must accomplished buildings to rise in Tribeca since gentrification swept the area some two decades ago.
Back then, it would have seemed unbelievable that there would ever arise in this area a massive structure, ten stories tall and stretching over one city block, that contained only 18 units. But such is the case at 11 North Moore, whose units range from a 1,900 square foot, three-bedroom apartment to one of 4,900 square feet with a private swimming pool.
There is an austere grace to this design, which continues to reveal some of the geometric elegance that Mr. Adjmi acquired in the studios of Aldo Rossi, but with none of the playful architectural allusions that he has employed in the past.
The overall concept of the building is a grid, defined in pale cast concrete that brings to mind what Rafael Vinoly is creating at 432 Park Avenue. The project occupies the entire lot and rises up like a solid block to the sixth floor, where a four-story setback rises. The first two stories are defined as a base by a darker trim that distinguishes those levels from the rest of the building.
The central eight bays are further defined by a paler shade of brown and rise into the domain of the setback in a way that shrewdly saves the design from the monotony that is always possible in an uninflected grid. At the very top is a small glass structure that quietly challenges, in its apparent fragility, the forceful solidity of the rest of the façade, even as it picks up a similar motif in the base of the building.
Overall, 11 North Moore is an object lesson in the best sort of professionalism and quiet competence.
