The Best of the New New York Architecture

"For a while, in this century's early days, it looked as though New York would turn into an architectural Hall of Fame. The competition to rebuild the World Trade Center drew a posse of giants. Soon, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, and Bjarke Ingels made their first contributions to Manhattan. But the virtuosos who converged on New York rarely did their best work here, stymied by the demand that any one building subordinate itself to the grand urban collective."

"The decade has seen new buildings that feel more rooted and less alien than all that precious auteurism portended. The best demonstrate their New Yorkiness in deeper, less formulaic ways than the usual menu of blending in, mimicking olden styles, and matching cornice lines. They are sensitive to the glare off the rivers, the need for a shot of respite or spectacle, the twin appetites for losing oneself in the crowd and standing out in it."

Early in the century New York attracted star architects competing to remake the skyline, especially for the World Trade Center site. Many internationally celebrated designers produced modest or conventional projects in Manhattan because urban expectations required buildings to subordinate themselves to the ensemble. Big-icon architecture flourished instead in permissive global cities like Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, and Shenzhen. Over the past decade New York architecture shifted toward ensemble-minded, context-sensitive work. Recent buildings emphasize rootedness, respond to river glare, provide respite and spectacle, and balance anonymity and distinctiveness. Architects whose approaches align with corporate real estate trends have been more frequently realized.

Read at Curbed