Urban Pyramid in NYC (11 pics + video)

Danish architects BIG recently unveiled their design for an eye-catching, new residential building to be located in Manhattan, New York. The 600-unit project entitled West 57th introduces an entirely new residential typology to New York City that will add an inviting twist to the Manhattan Skyline. Striving for LEED Gold Certification, the building is scheduled to be comple in 2016.

The form of the building shifts depending on the viewer’s vantage point. While appearing like a warped pyramid from the West-Side-Highway, it turns into a slender spire from West 58th Street. The courtyard can be seen from the street and serves to extend the adjacent greenery of the Hudson River Park into the West 57th development.

"The building is conceived as a cross breed between the Copenhagen courtyard and the New York skyscraper," says Bjarke Ingels, Founder of BIG. "The communal intimacy of the central urban oasis meets the efficiency, density and panoramic views of the tall tower in a new hybrid typology. The courtyard is to architecture what Central Park is to urbanism: a giant green garden surrounded by a dense wall of spaces for living.”