David Adjaye’s concrete NYC skyscraper will have apartments starting at $650K

The British starchitect's first New York skyscraper looks to the past for inspiration

Given British starchitect David Adjaye's body of work—which includes the award-winning National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art—it's no surprise that his firm's first Manhattan skyscraper is anything but a boring glass box.

A new profile in the New York Times sheds some light on Adjaye's inspiration for the project at 130 William Street, and according to the architect, he didn't want to do "another curtain-wall glass building." Instead, the architect looked to the past—specifically, the masonry architecture that's found throughout the city. "Wherever I work, I'm always looking for a way to think about history, and also think to the future," he told the Times.

In practice, that translates into a pillar made of cast concrete, colored to look like "volcanic rock," according to Adjaye. Like the NMAAHC, it'll have panels that angle outwards; unlike that building, it'll be tall, rising 66 stories, or close to 800 feet. New renderings show what both the exterior and the interior of the skyscraper might look like when completed.

Adjaye, which is working with Hill West Architects on the project, is also responsible for the building's interiors; as he told the Times, "I really wanted to be able to control everything that I could." Each of the 244 apartments will have nitty-gritty details designed by Adjaye Associates, including custom faucets and shower heads; each unit will also have arched windows that recall that vintage vibe that influenced Adjaye so much.

Other perks of this skyscraper include its views—it's just a few blocks from the East River waterfront—as well as amenities like a private IMAX theater and a rooftop observatory. Adjaye is also designing a ground-level public park, which is apparently "inspired by the pocket parks of Midtown Manhattan created in the 1960s and 1970s."

None of that will come cheap, of course; studios will begin at $650,000, one-bedrooms will start just north of $1 million, and larger four-bedroom units will go for around $5.42 million. Sales are expected to launch later this summer, with Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group handling those. Construction on the tower is underway, with residents expected to move in by 2020.

• David Adjaye Designs a Tower for the Financial District [NYT]
• David Adjaye's Financial District skyscraper will be a concrete pillar [Curbed]