At 11 stories and 31 condo units, the small size of ODA New York’s newest completed condo tower at 15 Renwick St. works in tandem with its expansive outdoor spaces to create an insular environment with a suburban feel.
While New York City’s zoning codes limit the square footage that can sit beyond a building’s setback line, ODA has worked 8,300 square feet of outdoor space around the city's restrictions with the careful creation of private outdoor terraces on the upper levels. These terraces are bordered with glass windows and doors, which create indoor–outdoor connectivity and let in natural light.
The building exterior makes use of wood-grained window inserts and ground-floor copper panels to create the look and feel of a private suburban home, while a grid of dark aluminum fins along the exterior elicits a screen of privacy by casting shadow lines over the condo units. The interiors are modeled after British social clubs, with wood paneling, leather furniture, and Emperador marble detailing.
These systems, which encourage outdoor engagement and resident interaction, stem from ODA’s mission to “restore and improve our quality of living,” especially as New York City becomes more crowded. The tower is deliberately designed to stand in contrast with its contemporaries: Unlike the many ultra-modern, glass-on-glass “crystal towers” going up around New York City, 15 Renwick’s exterior design evokes Manhattan’s historical parameters for residential design, and takes a deliberate stand against the current trend of “cold modernism.”
