Curbed Awards '07: Architecture Part I

Whew, 2007 was a wild one, wasn't it? To honor the insanity that crept into all matters neighborhoodish and real estatey, we present the Fourth Annual Curbed Awards. This year, the awards will be presented in small batches through Monday. Today, we tackle the year in architecture.

Welcome to the Party Award
3) The husband-and-wife team of avant-gardists at Asymptote are no strangers when it comes to New York, but their first residential building at 166 Perry Street was greeted with all the pomp and circumstance of a visit by the pope.
2) 40 Bond was revealed in '06, but the Noho newbie from Swiss masters Herzog and de Meuron made its splashy entrance in '07. And, oh, those grills! Not a bad first effort.
1) International architecture star Shigeru Ban is famous for building things out of paper, but his first NYC project is a small tower of bodegas. Very expensive bodegas. Metal Shutter Mania captured us all.

The Get Some Sleep! Award
The trophy for the most overworked architect is a bottle of Tylenol PM, and it is currently en route to the offices of Karl Fischer Architect. It's hard to believe that Krazy Karl is based out of Montreal, when every week sees a new New York building unveiled bearing his mark. The dude has his own block in Williamsburg and over 60 Curbed mentions this year. And when he speaks, we listen. He even has his own fan club in Omaha!

Best Starchitect Collection
3) Hudson Yards: collect 'em all!
2) World Trade Center: Fewer starchitects-per-acre than Hudson Yards, but more prestigious.
1) West 19th Street: Nouvel. Selldorf. Ban. And a Gehry to lead them. Hottest new tourist destination come 2009.

Starchitect of the Year
Yeah, 40 Mercer ain't bad, but Jean Nouvel went even more big time in 2007. The vision mashine that is 100 Eleventh Avenue may have been enough to earn the big prize, but then came a little thing we like to call 53 West 53rd Street (right), seemingly out of nowhere. Bask in the glory of 75 stories of gallery space, hotel rooms, apartments and hot sexy swimmers. MoMA mia!
(to read more..)

image and text from: http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/26/curbed_awards_07_architecture_part_i.php

posted by midori mizu