Harry Kendall, partner at BKSK Architects, went before the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday and was approved to install a collection of artwork along 22 Bond Street, their condo project currently under construction. The hotel-cum-condo project is being developed by the Richport Group and Second Development Services, which revived construction after a boutique hotel development stalled. The re-conceived building has been shortened by 3 stories to 11, and will house just six palatial floor-through residences. The team envisions the development to be infused with artwork inside and out, and has proposed a number of exterior pieces along the facade and a decorative pavement along its Bond Street sidewalk. A mural was previously approved for the building's western elevation, but a presently vacant lot will soon have a new office building which will obstruct visibility of the lot-line wall. That project, 363 Lafayette, is from Ironstate and will be designed by Morris Adjmi. Yesterday, it was coincidentally also given the green light from Landmarks to move forward.
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To compensate for the loss of the mural, an amended proposal presented by Kendall specified a sculpture in the Bond Street vitrine (south elevation) by Roy Nachum called “Memory." The sculpture will be made of golden crowns and will not be visible from all vantage points, and will have a limited impact on the streetscape
Nachum will also be designing the vault-covering “braille” sidewalk on Bond Street that would communicate in braille a poem from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. That piece would commensurate on approval from the Department of Transportation.
The third art piece is a sculpture designed by Federico Uribe, called “Fly Mosca.” Made of re-purposed jet skis, the piece would be placed on the balcony of the last fully occupied floor (level 11).
Lastly, the team also wished to install architectural illumination to the Great Jones Street facade, and requested to work with Landmarks staff to hash out the details of the concept. The lighting on Great Jones will only be approved pending further studies, which will determine whether or not it will be intrusive to residents in the neighborhood.
Overall, the commission was pleased with the art installations and approved the application, though did question the choice of the giant fly sculpture. Though the sculpture was not chosen by BKSK, Kendall justified the attention-grabbing pieces by stating that NoHo has a very artistic history and several buildings on the block convey this artistic spirit that 22 Bond hopes to be a part of. “What we see in this block in particular and throughout the NoHo district is an overlay of contemporary artistic endeavors," says the architect. The condo project will join other noteworthy buildings along the stretch.
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