An oversized Glass Mosaicby Eva Herrmann | 19.04.2012

Apartment building 100 11th

No other architect knows the game of light and shadow as well as French architect and Pritzker awardee Jean Nouvel. And no other would have the guts to suggest a façade with so many different window formats to his Principal. A curse for the construction company, but a blessing for the buyers of those 72 apartments, with sizes of between 83 and 434 square meters spread across 23 floors.

1,650 different Openings

Inspired by the famous glass window cycles of the Gothic 13th century cathedral Saint-Chapelle in Paris, Jean Nouvel creates an unusual expressive glass façade in 100 11th, New York, unrivaled in the world. 1,650 different openings – the only match for this is probably the famous Hawa Mahal, the “Palace of the Winds“ in Jaipur/India, a clever construction allowing the ladies from the harem to watch the huzzle and buzzle on the market without being seen themselves. This building here, however, is about seeing and being seen, too, but vice-versa, it’s about catching as much as possible of the various lighting situations, depending on the time of day and the season, and intensifying the framed view like with a telescope.

Poetic Glass Mosaic

Like with a glass mosaic, the various areas provide a poetic picture, an analogy to being alive, to density and things changing. Through the various formats, colors, angle of the façade, freely opened and firm elements and their various angles, the shell unfolds an impact of its own. Or to put it bluntly: an expressive form of expression for an exquisite audience.

During thefoundation stone ceremony,Jean Nouvel called the building a “vision machine”. A comparison of what could be called “visionary” in the year 2011 is still to be made. What cannot be called innovative at all, however, can be found at the back of the L-shaped building. While the window cleaners won’t know what to say about the window widths of 35 and 175 meters, the Northern and Eastern façade unveils an unimpressive brick wall. An homage to the industrial character of West Chelsea – you better hurry to at least catch a glimpse of it …