British architecture practice David Chipperfield Architects has completed an apartment block on the north-western edge of the Greenwich Village Historic District in New York. 

Named 11-19 Jane Street, the six-storey building, was built on the site of a former 1920s two-storey parking garage located on Jane Street. The street is characterised by a mix of red brick townhouses and larger apartment blocks, mainly dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively. 

David Chipperfield Architects reflected the character of the townhouses by integrating distinct articulation, modern touches and the use of colours and materials of the traditional façades.

The building mainly comprises basement parking, duplex townhouses, lateral apartments, and a penthouse with its own roof garden. 

"Mediating between the different sizes of the surrounding structures, the inserted volume both respects the scale of the street and reflects its architectural context," said David Chipperfield Architects.

The studio used red pigmented concrete on the ground floor to reflect the building's sculptural presence, while the upper storeys are clad in Roman brick, by using string courses, lintels and mullions in the same red concrete - this approach is envisioned to provide subtle colour variations throughout the building.  

"The five storeys that can be seen from street level offer a contemporary interpretation of the surrounding brick townhouses, with a distinct articulation of base, middle and crown," added the studio.

"The scale of the entrances, as well as the rhythm of the windows, combined with the use of mullions and string courses, reference the rich domestic architecture of the West Village."

"The building has a symmetrical composition, with the townhouse entrances recessed at either end of the ground floor," the studio detailed. "In the centre is the larger double entrance for the apartments and the garage." 

The block features the different styles of windows and doors for each element of the residential scheme. The two-storey townhouses, for example, have balconied French windows, while the lateral apartments on the two storeys above have broader openings divided by concrete mullions. 

The penthouse, situated at the top, has higher ceilings, and it is set back from the street. "It can be read as a simple post and beam structure, framing large windows that overlook a private garden," added the architects. 

The studio crowns the street front with a projecting cornice, which echoes the projecting string course between ground and first floors  and gives extra shadow and articulation to the façade. Red concrete is also used for the penthouse within the block.

The studio used restrained but solid materials within the block to complement the overall language. For instance, window and door frames are made of bronze, while communal areas are clad in terrazzo inside. 

In the interiors of the townhouses and individual apartments, the studio used Carrara marble and natural oak floors. The roof terrace and a rear garden are designed by Belgian landscape architect Peter Wirtz ensuring that all apartments have a connection to nature.

Ground floor plan

Floor plan

Floor plan

Elevation

Project facts

Project name: 11-19 Jane Street 

Architects: David Chipperfield Architects

Project start date: 2015 

Completion: 2021

Client: Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

All images © James Ewing/JBSA.

All drawings © David Chipperfield Architects

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