Minervini Vandermark Architecture have sent us the 360 14th Street building they’ve designed in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Designed and built by a young emerging architecture firm to house their expanding design studio, this 4 story mixed use building has been instrumental in the revitalization of the industrial urban neighborhood it calls home. The 50′x50′ lot sits mid-block down a cobble street in the shadow of an iconic elevated ‘Viaduct’. The desire to create an ultra-modern, inviting work environment while celebrating the historical industrial context was a paramount objective right from the start. To that end the buildings final design has incorporated significant elements of the surrounding neighborhood. The upper two floors, which house a 3 unit residential component, are clad in corten steel, a brutally honest and simple industrial material used extensively on the adjacent pre-war viaduct structure. The corten has been allowed to weather naturally since being erected to bring out the beautifully vibrant yet protective rust. The skewed “pencil” columns supporting the buildings residential upper box playfully mimic the viaducts structural elements. In addition to reflecting their environs, the staggered columns evoke an idea of weightlessness. Its almost as if, in defiance of gravity, the box would float away were it not tethered to the ground by its mooring ropes. Acting as an anchor, or mooring post, is the 1 story residential entrance and garage box. This grounding element is clad in stack-bonded local brick to once again reflect the surrounding context. In its short lifetime this new building has quickly become a much valued and respected addition to neighborhood and has set the bar high for other neighbors soon to come….
from contemporist
