Richard Meier is going goth.
The Pritzker Prize-winning architect has designed his first-ever black building in New York City, a dramatic departure from his designs of the last three decades, which are mostly varying shades of white. Friend and client, developer Sheldon Solow, coaxed Meier over to the dark side with his design of 685 First Avenue on the East Side, a 42-story 556-unit residential building. The building will span 828,000 feet and feature a mix of rentals and condos, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The tower will be the first of four towers planned for Solow’s parcels, a project that has long been delayed due to environmental cleanup at the site and the 2008 economic downturn. All of Solow’s buildings are black, and Meier said Solow wanted this building to be the architect’s first.
Not only will this be Meier’s first black building in the city, it will also be his tallest and the first he’s built in the city since 2004.
The Real Deal sat down for a Closing interview with Meier in 2010. [WSJ] — Kathryn Brenzel