Architect SOO K. CHAN’S LATEST RESIDENTIAL BUILDING provides expansive panoramic views of Manhattan’s High Line.
Sales have launched at Five One Five, a new luxury residential building in Manhattan’s West Chelsea neighborhood. Located at 515 West 29th Street, the building is the only property in Manhattan to be framed by the renowned High Line park on two sides.
The 15-unit development was designed by acclaimed Singaporean architect Soo K. Chan, founding principal of SCDA — a multi-disciplinary firm engaging in architecture, interior, landscape and product design. The building’s distinctive design and construction features, including an intricate exterior made of curvy glass fins that give the façade a rippling appearance, reflects Chan’s signature fluid style that seamlessly coalesces with its surroundings. Chan and SCDA have designed and built residences, hotels and museums around the world, with Five One Five being their second project in New York.
Forum Absolute Capital Partners, a New York-based, privately-owned real estate investment platform with approximately $400 million in equity under management, is the owner and developer of the project. FACP and CORE, New York City’s leading boutique real estate brokerage firm, are leading sales and marketing for the development.
“Five One Five is a truly remarkable residential development because it is one of the few buildings that overlooks the High Line with unobstructed views over the Hudson Yards plaza,” said Shaun Osher, founder and CEO of CORE. “The unique building design and generous layouts are sure to generate strong interest in this boutique project.”
Five One Five has world-class amenities that come with it, including a gym, 24-hour attended lobby, direct keyed elevator access to each residence, roof deck with a kitchen and ample storage. The development is located just steps from multiple transportation options, including the West Side Highway, the 7, A, C and E subway lines and access to interstate rail-transit via Penn Station.
Five One Five also includes a mix of two- and three-bedroom apartments, including a five-unit penthouse collection with expansive panoramic views of the High Line. All units feature bright, spacious Bulthaup kitchens with Gaggenau appliance packages and built-in multipurpose islands that are great for entertaining. Additionally, each unit features light oak floors, Molteni millwork and closet build-outs, door hardware by Franz Schneider Brakel, as well as Delta LED light fixtures and mobile-controlled Lutron Homeworks QS System for electronics, temperature control, shades and lighting. Prices at the 11-story building range from $4.3 million to $8.5 million.
Photos courtesy of CORE
REDS is a new electric vehicle — designed by former BMW Design Chief Chris Bangle — that is crafted for long commutes and sitting in traffic.
REDS is the alpha prototype of a new kind of electric vehicle that introduces a novel visual language for cars. Designed by Chris Bangle — former BMW design chief — REDS is a 2.97-meter-long city car built around a multi-layered, design-led space-use analysis. The car is conceived and crafted to get the most out of life in Chinese mega-cities, where a car is not in movement 90 percent of the time.
The China Hi-Tech Group Corporation, a commercial vehicle manufacturer, asked Chris Bangle Associates to lead a series of workshops on the future of electric vehicles in China in 2014. In 2016, CHTC began developing REDS for production with CBA providing the design. CHTC also registered REDSPACE, CHTC’s newly formed Chinese car company, to be the home of REDS.
In 2017, REDS was premiered worldwide in Los Angeles. Mr Wang Jinan, assistant president of CHTC Group and chairman of CHTC Motor, explained why they chose Los Angeles as the city to debut the new electric vehicle. “We want to know what people think about REDS and its evolution. Californians are opinion leaders in the future of mobility — this is why we present here real solutions for the real world,” he said.
REDS is an experience of layering and textual reading that challenges our notion of rhythm and perspective. At times, the interplay between elements radically changes the eye’s direction and forces the viewer to choose between perceptual interpretations. “This car is, for me, the demonstration that we can have something that is extremely emotional with immediate appeal, and at the same time highly functional and intellectually engaging,” Bangle said.
REDS represents a departure from the visual language that has been the stock and trade of car designers for generations, which is surfaces and forms that predictably blend into one another to create a contiguous whole. REDS exchanges this holistic approach to car design for one of abrupt transitions and ambiguous statements that oscillate between graphic and volumetric extremes.
The interior design of REDS arranges color and materials to enhance the idea of joyous space through images of light and shadow. Strong diagonals link the color statements from front to back in an anamorphic manner.
REDS has a reversed windshield, vertical doors and large roof. The shadowy overhang provided by the roof keeps the car cool. There is also space on the roof for a large array of solar panels — enough to drive the air conditioning without draining the battery.
The driver’s door has an armrest that is also a purse-bin, the air outlets in the instrument panel swivel 180 degrees to help defrost the windshield and the space behind the rear seat will hold a folding stroller.
The driver’s seat is a particular highlight, as it is able to fold flat or rotate 167 degrees, even when the doors are shut. REDS’ reversed windscreen allows the steering wheel to fold forward and give the driver’s seat space to change and orient itself backwards. In this position, the occupants can face each other, creating a convivial atmosphere and allowing them to enjoy each other’s company without being forced to speak over their shoulders.
The person in the passenger seat can enjoy the commanding view from the front and have their feet massaged by the built-in unit in the carpet or stretch out in the luxurious comfort of row two. REDS is also the first car that can actually claim to have a wrap around loveseat.
The mobility and shape of the seats promotes a socializing atmosphere around working, chatting, watching films or playing video games on the large 17 inch screen that emerges from the instrument panel.
Photos courtesy of Chris Bangle Associates