NYRA Above the Town

OMA’s first New York towers opened for business a week ago Wednesday. Dancing 40 stories above medium-density Little Poland, Eagle + West (Greenpoint Landing Block D) extends the high-rise rhizome from Long Island City south across Newtown Creek with 745 new residential units. In playful contrast to the static tectonics of neighbors across the creek, the towers step and lean into each other across a 60 foot void. From the terraced mass, views of the cantilevers are geometrically thrilling. Views from underneath the gridded cantilevers bottoms frame Brooklyn with Superstudio-esque flair. 8’x8’ windows relentlessly punch through variegated concrete panels up and down each façade.

A very OMA exposed-truss two-story bridge connects the two towers, above exterior cooking stalls and putting green, housing pink terrazzo-clad interior pool deck and fitness gym. Naked poolside, the ungroomed gusset plates add a vintage feel to the Manhattan skyline views. The cantilevered tower’s structural gymnastics create large open lobbies and amenity spaces, styled with window seats, fluted marble panels, and oak-clad elevator banks and stair corridors. Affordable units populate the lower 7-story mass and the eastern 30-story tower in this 421A development. The riverside 40-story tower is 100% market rate, crowned by a delirious bachelor pad and 270-degree terrace.

Two Morris Adjmi towers will join the party to the south, across a trucking lot. But until 421A or another financial incentive is reinstated, new neighborhood development projects are on hold, giving a break to adjust to the influx of new residents.