56 Leonard Street

Construction begins on Herzog & De Meuron's 56 Leonard Street in New York.

The Switzerland-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron breaks down the old image of the high-rise as a sleek, hermetically sealed urban object to propose instead a thoughtful and daring new alternative - the iconic American skyscraper re-envisioned as a pixelated vertical layering of individually sculpted, graceful private residences opening to the atmosphere.

56 Leonard Street will be a 57-story residential condominium building in the Tribeca Historic District of downtown Manhattan, where it will rise above cobbled streets and historic 19th century neighbors. The tower will house 145 residences, each with its own unique floor plan and private outdoor space, in a veritable cascade of individual homes that the architects describe as "houses stacked in the sky," blending indoors and outdoors seamlessly together.

The building's defining corner will be the site of a major commissioned sculpture by London-based artist Anish Kapoor. Fully integrated into the architecture, Kapoor's massive, reflective stainless steel piece - an enigmatic balloon-like form that appears to be combating compression from above - will be a new cultural landmark in Tribeca and the artist's first permanent public work in New York City.

The architects' intention is to preserve the celebratory spirit of traditional skyscrapers while introducing new structural possibilities and suggesting fresh ways for people inside such towers to relate to their city. Inspired by the permeability and spatial qualities of Modernist houses and the great American dream of a customized home, Herzog & de Meuron has replaced the usual extrusion of standardized skyscraper floor plates with a staggered progression of structural slabs turning slightly off axis by degrees as they ascend, creating constant variety among the apartment floor plans. This structural arrangement of floor plates will create an irregular flurry of cantilevered terraces up and down the building, making plays of light and shadow that give the tower a shimmering, animated appearance on the skyline and widely varying interiors.