177 Astor Place Hotel – Herzog & de Meuron

Process

The site, used as a parking lot, is located in the very center of Manhattan.

For the new hotel experience requested by the client, Herzog & de Meuron and OMA proposed several combinations and arrangements of single towers.

In the initial design, the architects proposed waterscaping the public area.

The towers are bundled to form a compact volume reminiscent of a rock formation.

The metaphor of eroded natural stone amid the stone desert of the built environment continues in the cavelike designs of the rooms and the irregular window apertures.

1:1 plywood mock-up of a room erected near Basel.

The windows, eleven variations on the typology of a circle, are positioned at different heights depending on the use of the room.

The ground and lower floors are public spaces with 260 hotel rooms on the levels above.

Team

Partners: Jacques Herzog; Pierre de Meuron; Harry Gugger
Project Team: Mathis Tinner (Associate, Project Manager); François Charbonnet; Anja Ehrenfried; Stefan Segessenmann; Adrien Verschuere; Christopher Nicholas Pannett

Facts

In Collaboration With: Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland and Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Rotterdam, Netherlands OMA Project Team: Partners: Rem Koolhaas, Dan Wood Project Manager: David Moore Project Team: Hans Focketyn, Alain Fouraux, Stan Vandriessche, Fenna Haakma Wagenaar
Client: Ian Schrager Hotels, New York, New York, USA
Planning: This project was developed in collaboration with an architect licensed in the state of New York acting as the "Architect of Record". Herzog & de Meuron is not licensed to practice architecture in the state of New York.; Lead Design Architect: Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland; OMA, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Associate Architect: Architecture Research Office LLP, New York, USA; Associate Architect Early Phase: HLW, New York, USA; Structural Engineering: LERA, New York, USA; Quantity Surveyor: Gardiner & Theobald Inc, New York, USA; MEP Engineering: Arup, New York, USA
Specialist / Consulting: Facade Consulting: Israel Berger & Associates Inc, New York, USA; Facade Consulting: Emmer Pfenninger Partner AG, Münchenstein, Switzerland
Building Data: Site Area: 17'921 sqft, 1'665 sqm

Bibliography

Gerhard Mack, Herzog & de Meuron: “Herzog & de Meuron 1997-2001. The Complete Works. Volume 4.” Edited by: Gerhard Mack. Basel / Boston / Berlin, Birkhäuser, 2008. Vol. No. 4.

Nobuyuki Yoshida (Ed.): “Architecture and Urbanism. Herzog & de Meuron 2002-2006.” Tokyo, A+U Publishing Co., Ltd., 08.2006.

“Hotel Astor Place.” In: Fernando Marquez, Cecilia and Richard Levene (Eds.). “El Croquis. Oma Rem Koolhaas 1996/2006. Delirio y más. Delirious and more.” Vol. No. 131/132, Madrid, El Croquis Editorial, 2006. pp. 204 – 211.

“Cruce de Caminos. Hotel Astor Place, Manhattan.” In: Luis Fernández-Galiano (Ed.). “Arquitectura Viva. Corazón de Neón. Americanos y Europeos reinventan Nueva York.” Vol. No. 76, Madrid, Arquitectura Viva SL, 01.2001. pp. 60-61