Normandie Court is a large luxury residential complex which occupies an entire city block of the Upper East Side. Coinciding with the transformation of the 2nd Avenue corridor by the MTA subway expansion, the owners were inspired to redesign the exterior and landscape. They called on SWA/Balsley’s experience and vision to provide a complete redesign, which would attract the next generation of residents to the towers, but also provide an exciting refresh to the 1.5 acres of open space. Normandie Court will offer the public a large, redesigned street-level plaza and generous seating on custom seat wall planters, as well as a stunning 30-foot water feature. The arrangements of the planters invite both personal conversation and larger group social interaction, with many distinct areas to congregate and people-watch. The plaza will be “carpeted” in grey-toned linear pavers, which visually hold together the entire streetscape and upper residential terrace. Rather than separate the Privately Owned Public Space (POPS), the design incorporates that area, feathering the boundaries of public vs. private, and successfully blends the MTA structures into the ‘POPS’ plaza, offering an inviting pause from the surrounding city for commuters. The redesigned streetscape will provide an iconic cultural reference for this reinvigorated Upper East Side neighborhood.
101 Warren
Perched atop a two-story structure, towered over by a connecting residential high rise and surrounded by studio apartments, this unique urban pine forest stands in a bed of low-hanging fog and reaches to the clear skies above. One hundred and one white pines, planted in a loose formation of elliptical mounds, seem cast adrift in a sea of washed river stone. Dw...
SKY Tower
SKY is a luxurious 71-story residential tower whose new at-grade and rooftop landscapes figure prominently at the western extremities of this world-famous street.
SWA/Balsley’s designs for the project merge a crisp, contemporary geometry with a refined material sensibility. The residences’ motor court stands at the front door of an otherwise transparen...
Stanford Toyon Hall
Toyon Hall, a significant historic building originally designed by Bakewell and Brown Architects in 1922, is a three-story structure centered around a magnificent formal courtyard with arcades and arches. The purpose of the project was to preserve, maintain and enhance the building and site. Our scope of work included evaluation of existing site conditions and...
Tokyo Park Tower
A new luxury residential block in Tokyo’s Jimbocho District called for a series of discreet garden and courtyard spaces that would serve as urban sanctuaries from the busy street life beyond. Water dominates the landscape language in the form of spouts, pools, water slides, and channels. A lush overlay of evergreen shrubs and flowering perennials brings the se...