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Tuesday, 11 April 2006 | Levent OZLER
Rockwell and Becker: Modern Interpretation on the Inside
A Faithful Rehabilitation of the Outside
A Modern Interpretation on the Inside; A Faithful Rehabilitation of the Outside: Becker + Becker, David Rockwell and Rockwell Group Team Up, Setting New Standard of Design with The Octagon In New York
What do you get when you mix integrated architecture, utopian planning, preservation and the chicest of interiors with an historic landmark building dating back to 1839? You get Roosevelt Island's latest addition, The Octagon, a 500-unit luxury "Green" residential apartment complex.
The Octagon Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was originally designed in 1839 by Alexander Jackson Davis as the entry and administrative spaces for the New York Pauper and Lunatic Asylum. The building later served for most of its history as the Metropolitan Hospital, but after being vacated and then suffering two fires in the 1990's, only the 8 walls of the Octagon tower remained.
Bruce Becker, the Octagon's developer and architect, and President of Becker + Becker Associates, has enlisted the building trades, historic preservationists and environmentalists to develop a waterfront apartment community that helps bring to fruition Philip Johnson's utopian master plan for Roosevelt Island.
The existing structure is being fully rehabilitated with its earlier grand cupola to mirror how it appeared in the early 1900's. The original interior seven-story "flying" circular staircase was so mesmerizing that an entranced Charles Dickens wrote about it in his travelogue American Notes. The Octagon's spiral stair has been re-invented to serve the apartment community's common areas, which include a fitness center, screening room, clubroom, and gallery.
The certified historic rehabilitation of the exterior is being complemented by Rockwell Group's interior design. Rockwell Group, whose portfolio includes a number of New York City projects, including the recently-opened restaurants Nobu Fifty-Seven and Country, residential projects such as The Tate and One Carnegie Hill, and the cultural facilities Ertegun Hall of Fame at the Time Warner Center and the Elinor Bunin Film Center of Lincoln Center was brought in to provide a chic, modern design for the interiors.
"When I first learned of the project, I was struck by the dramatic, kinetic movement of the grand spiral staircase as the centerpiece of this restoration project," says David Rockwell, CEO of Rockwell Group. "Our design opens up the space organically, creating an experience that not only reflects the craftsmanship of the original aesthetic, but also updates it with a modern, warm feel that enhances movement within the space."
The largest array of solar panels in Manhattan will help to make the building 35% more energy efficient than other new buildings. Says Bruce Becker: "The Octagon was conceived as an eco-friendly 'green building.' We used locally produced materials to minimize energy expended in transport, and then recycled most of the construction waste. The building is free of materials containing formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds. And its indoor air will be tested regularly to ensure strict quality standards."
Becker's wife Kraemer decorated the model apartments using classic modern furniture purchased from catalogues and online merchants, such as Design Within Reach and Wisteria.com. "Many people who have signed leases are responding to the design and have asked us to replicate the furniture," says Becker. Kraemer also incorporated some personal touches into the decor, including her own artwork and items belonging to Becker's parents -- his father's Eames chair, his mother's mid-century sofa, for example -- who were both designers.
Becker + Becker's prior work includes the redevelopment of the Morrisania Hospital complex in the Bronx into affordable housing and childcare as well as the redevelopment of the Times Square Hotel into one of the country's largest and most successful supportive housing programs. Becker + Becker also planned the redevelopment of the historic waterfront in Nantucket Massachusetts. The firm has a 55-year history of planning, designing and redeveloping historic properties.
http://www.octagonnyc.com/
About Becker + Becker
Becker + Becker is a full service architecture, planning, preservation and development firm providing integrated services to private, non-profit and governmental clients. The firm also develops multifamily and mixed-use projects for its own account. The firm was founded in 1950 and has been directed by Bruce Redman Becker, AIA AICP, since 1987. B+B seeks projects that have a social value: providing housing, education and day care facilities and restoring historic buildings to new uses. B+B prides itself on developing creative solutions to complex challenges in land use planning, architecture, development and financing. B + B is headquartered in Fairfield, CT with offices in New York City.
Becker + Becker: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7483/
About Rockwell Group
Rockwell Group is an award winning, cross-disciplinary 160-person architecture and design practice founded by David Rockwell. Based in New York City, Rockwell Group specializes in hospitality, cultural, residential, healthcare, theater and film design. Recent commissions include the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame at the Time Warner Center; The Elinor Bunim Film Center at Lincoln Center; Jet Blue's Terminal 5 at JFK; Country Restaurant and the lobby of the Carlton Hotel (New York City); W New York and W Union Square (New York City); the Academy Awards' Kodak Theatre; the Broadway musicals "Hairspray" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"; and, numerous New York restaurants including Nobu Fifty-Seven, Bar American, and Town.
Rockwell Group: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7484/
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