RISK - Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects
I have never attended an AIA National Conference before. The $650 price tag along with the cost of flights & accommodation usually mean that I simply cannot afford it. Fortunately, the Jack Hobbs McConnell Travelling Fellowship afforded me this opportunity and I was very excited to attend.
I entered the Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre and before me are some 1500 of my professional colleagues. It is quite surreal and even a little intimidating – some of my ‘architectural heroes’ are in the room.
The theme for the conference was ‘The changing role of RISK in architecture’. This also had me excited as increasingly I find ‘risk’ to be the biggest roadblock we face in Architecture and a major contributor to the erosion of our role in shaping the built environment. I was keen to hear from some of the world’s (and Australia’s) best and how they overcome these hurdles.
Following introductions from the Creative Directors, Hamish Lyon (NH Architecture – the Melbourne Convention Centre), Andrew MacKenzie (CityLab – influential consultancy firm) and Donald Bates (LAB Architecture Studio – Federation Square) the speaker I was most excited to see, Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects took the stage.
Based in New York, it was set up in 1996 by four partners (Gregg included) who all came from different careers and backgrounds prior to completing Architecture degrees. Gregg believes this is important because they approach design from a unique perspective. When reflecting on this in an interview by the Commercial Observer, Gregg says:
“I think that that opened up a way of being willing to freely adapt other modes of problem-solving from other industries and trying to bring them to architecture.”
I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. I look at what we have done here in the past and think of Einstein’s famous quote ‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ It has only been in more recent times the idea of collaboration has become part of the architectural vernacular.
In the meantime, SHoP has collaboration embedded within their DNA. It is something they have been doing for 20 years, in house. Not only do their staff bring architectural credentials to the table, but fine arts, banking, history, real estate, political science, and business expertise as well.
SHoP’s website captures this best:
We are a new generation of architects.
Since 1996, SHoP has modelled a new way forward with our unconventional approach to design. At the heart of the firm’s method is a willingness to question accepted patterns of practice, coupled with the courage to expand, where necessary, beyond the architect’s traditional roles. We come to each new project with open minds, an expert team, and a collaborative process that adapts itself specifically to the problem at hand. This freedom to be nimble allows us to effectively address a broad range of issues in our work. From novel sustainability concepts to next-generation fabrication techniques. From groundbreaking urbanism to the feel of a single room. Years ago, we rejected the distractions and inefficiencies of the past. We set out to prove that intelligent, meaningful, beautiful buildings can be designed and delivered in a new way—with an architectural process fine-tuned to the possibilities of the present, serving the goal of creating the finest architecture today.
We thrive on constraints.
A common misconception in the architecture world is that budgets, schedules, public process, and other real-world factors stifle creativity. We believe just the opposite—that true architectural invention resides in the creative response to real-world limits. In our work, we have found that greater engagement with a project’s specific constraints—budgetary or structural, cultural or contextual—results in greater design integrity. And greater creative freedom. Keeping it real is not just the most responsible path to take. It’s the one that leads to the best buildings.
We think in different ways, together.
Talented people come to our studio from all over the world. To work. To think. To solve problems together. Like our six principals—with backgrounds in fine arts, banking, history, real estate, political science, and business as well as architecture—the over 200 SHoPpers bring with them a host of abilities, experiences, and perspectives. We believe the strongest ideas arise from the clash and fusion of disparate ways of thinking. And we build every project team around that diversity.
The first project Gregg discussed was The Porter House. Located in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, The Porter House is the renovation and conversion of a six-story 30,000 sq. ft. (2,790m2) warehouse built in 1905 to residential condominiums with a new 20,000 sq. ft. (1,860m2) addition which added four stories to the existing building and an 8 ft. (2.4m) cantilever along the building’s southern exposure.
Aside from the iconic architectural solution, the interesting thing I took away was Gregg’s line ‘you need to double down...and share the risk with your partners’.
For SHoP, this meant putting in their own equity and not taking no for an answer. They wanted to clad the building’s new addition in zinc. When the contractor’s told them it would cost 50% more to do this for no reason other than they didn’t want to do it, Gregg’s team went to Europe and bought the zinc on the roll themselves. They then designed a modulised panel system to maximise the efficiency of the product which created the ‘tetris-like’ building form. In the end, it only cost 10% more from a building perspective, but in terms of the value this added to the final product, 22 multi-million dollar apartments, the calculated risk paid out big.
A common theme throughout Gregg’s presentation was SHoP’s ability to bring value to share a seat at the table with developers. He believes architects need to talk about and have an understanding of finance, political strategy and social responsibility. For SHoP it’s not just about providing a ‘wrapper’ for the building. They questions and create the opportunities.
The Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York is another example of how SHoP’s approach was able to create an opportunity from an exploratory phone call.
The story of this project spanned 10 years which included an original scheme designed by Frank Gehry. The GFC and changes to taxation laws (along with some reservations about the design fitting in within Brooklyn’s laid back persona), put the whole project in jeopardy.
On the back of a recommendation from David Childs, SHoP received a phone call from the project’s developer. After some initial napkin drawings, followed by many late nights to hit the tight deadlines, their weathered Cor-Ten steel clad, morphic stadium design was realised. The final result was a smart, successful, transformative neighbourhood intervention that embodies the spirit of its surroundings.
My favourite anecdote from this part of the presentation was when Gregg talked about SHoP's attempts to have the interior predominantly black to emulate the feel of a theatre fit for the drama that is the NBA. For months they tried, arguing against the white, blue and red colour scheme of the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets. One day, with part owner of the team Jay-Z at the table, it was suggested that the team change its colours to black. This received the seal of approval from Jay-Z and the team went from 27th to 5th in terms of merchandise sold.
Highlighting just how far they have come, the final project Gregg talked about in great detail was 111 57th Street in New York. Positioned centrally overlooking Central Park, this building is set to become the skinniest, tallest building in the world. At only 20 or so metres wide, it will soar some 430 metres up into the Manhattan skyline.
Aside from this mind-blowing feat, some of the dollars associated with the apartments are almost incomprehensible. Studio apartments within the Steinway Hall (as in Steinway pianos) will start at around $1m US, whilst the tower apartments will set you back $13m US for an entry level 3 bedroom configuration and peak at around $100m US for the most expensive apartments.
As is the case with all of SHoP’s projects the design aims to reference the existing qualities of the local site context. The aim with 111 57th Street is to bring back the quality, materiality and proportions of historic NYC towers, while taking advantage of the latest technology to push the limits of engineering and fabrication.
This is the description on the SHoP website:
The façade is designed to read at multiple scales and vantage points; the shaping of the terracotta that clads the east and west façades creates a sweeping play on shadow and light from the city scale, as the texture provides richness up close. A glass curtain wall along the North façade will take full advantage of the tower’s sweeping views of Central Park. At its base the tower is nestled into a courtyard wrapped by the existing landmarked Steinway Building. Set back from the street, the tower maintains visibility to the Steinway Building’s front façade and preserves the Rotunda space of Steinway’s main showroom.’
As is usually the case though a picture tells a thousand words. The rendered images of the building exemplify SHoP’s authentic architectural language, utilising materials in repetition to create visual interest, much like they did with the Porter House and Barclays Centre.
I came away from the Gregg’s presentation buzzing. I almost felt sorry for those that would follow over the next two days of ‘Risk’. I think from a programming perspective the Creative Directors could not have selected a better candidate to set the tone for the conference; it was inspirational and also showed us all something we could aspire to.
*All images taken from SHoParc.com
