[Un] Standard Practices

July 14, 2009

It’s been awhile, but I’m back to offer the third installment of THINK, the blog for the Trespa Design Centre in New York.  With this entry, I want to expound on a newer building in the meatpacking district, which I recently had the opportunity to tour through the Center for Architecture, the Standard Hotel.  The project has received a variety of diverse reviews since its inception through the present, as it nears completion.

The building seems like a present gesture to Le Corbusier’s five points, using large expanses of glass and its massive concrete legs straddling the High Line.  There is, of course, an inhabitable roof space, although it resembles more of a sundeck lounge than a garden.  Making use of raw, unpolished materials, it fits right in amidst the brick slaughterhouses-turned-boutiques that surround it.

Where the Standard really excels is not so much in its form or appearance, but in the many rules it breaks.  It dares, even strives to be different.  It is the antithesis of the traditional hotel from the exclusive elevator video murals to the WC’s with better views than most apartments in Manhattan.  The building blends the boundary between public and private with its close proximity to the High Line, taking advantage of views out onto the park, as well as from the park into various spaces within the hotel.  The Standard manipulates many of the leftover spaces formed between the two structures, too, creating patios, overhangs, and reveals. 

Despite all of the criticism the project regularly receives, it is a fantastic achievement, nonetheless.  The presence of the Standard takes the neighborhood to new heights, no pun intended. 

If you have an opinion on the topic, I would appreciate hearing from you, especially on the following points:

Do buildings that break the unwritten rules of a neighborhood add or detract from its character?

Should private spaces be allowed to benefit so blatantly from public amenities?

What other projects come to mind when considering these issues?

Please email all responses or questions to z.brewster@trespa.com