In Washington Heights, North Manhattan, construction has begun on the Radio Tower & Hotel. Building with an area of 22 thousand m2 intended primarily for hotel rooms and offices, a small portion of the tower will be occupied by shops and event spaces. The work will last until 2021.
MVRDV approached their first major project in the USA with all the scrupulousness and attention to detail inherent in the Dutch. The dense asymmetric layout fulfills the main challenge posed by the client (local developer
Youngwoo & Associates) - to accommodate a large amount of usable space while remaining contextual. The "Lego" -model repeats the typical development of Washington Heights, but in its own spirit: as if the blocks were first divided into components, and then put back. The striking facades reflect the lively character of the area, inhabited primarily by Hispanics. The architects emphasize that each volume, painted in its own color, is proportional to a typical Washington Heights house, so there should be no pressing effect - just a continuation of the city, but in a perpendicular plane; workshop co-founder Winnie Mas even called Radio Tower & Hotel a "vertical village."
One of the most populous parts in New York, Washington Heights has long needed a similar project: tourists and business travelers (the latter come, in particular, to
Yeshiva University and Presbyterian Hospital) are currently served by only two hotels with 50 rooms each. MVRDV specialists took care not only of the guests of the city, but also of local residents: for them, for example, on the first level of the skyscraper, there is an inner courtyard where there is a coffee shop and a garden. The rooftop has several terraces overlooking Manhattan for weddings and parties.
The site itself, on which construction is underway, is located between the Hudson and Harlem rivers, among the dense traffic flow: a few streets from the future complex is
The George Washington Bridge, which connects Manhattan and the Bronx, and I-95, which runs north-south across the country.
