ARO - 242 West 52nd Street

Situated in the dense theater district of Manhattan’s midtown west, the residential tower at 242 West 53rd Street demonstrates a keen awareness of its surrounding urban context, utilizing approaches in massing, organization and exterior expression to create a thoughtful approach to contemporary urban living. The building responds to various site and zoning constraints, revealing solutions that maximize the residential adaptability through increased floor area, outdoor access and amplified views. Shaping of the form reflects changes in unit mixes, with larger units occupying the top of the building and smaller units occupying the bottom. Building amenities, located within the podium, take on a vertical hierarchy by locating the various amenities from short to tall around the tower, resulting in a series of cascading layers on the roofs above each space. A deceptively simple envelope pattern provides a singular graphic that emphasizes the shifts in building form, expressing its programmatic and structural challenges. The facade experience at the micro level is composed of a collection of details that give scale and proportion while animating the facade. Six module types shift the building skin’s two layers both in parallel and independently, creating opportunities for occupiable space and differentiating living experiences throughout the building.