The design is a direct response to the building’s location. Situated at the sloping junctions of old, waterfront merchant streets and sliced overhead by the Brooklyn Bridge, the site itself is a reflection of Dumbo’s condition – an imperfect pattern of old and new elements brought together through a cohesive energy.
The intersecting layers and angles inherent to the site are folded into the building envelope, answering a complex shape that was dictated by the City itself. Viewed from a distance, a branching two story line cuts an iconic void pattern into the field of glass fins that wrap the building. More often viewed at a shallow angle, the fritted glass fins soften the building envelope blurring the edges and giving it a cloud-like presence.
60 Water Street includes 220,000 square feet of rental apartments (20 percent designated affordable housing), a three-level underground public parking garage, 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space along historic Water Street (across from Empire Stores), and a full-floor, 45,000-square-foot public middle school to serve 300 students.