125 Greenwich Street

Rafael Viñoly tower in the Financial District, 272 residences.

125 Greenwich Street, 10006

ALSO KNOWN AS The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly

125 Greenwich Street was designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, with interiors by March and White, on a narrow Financial District site. Two shear walls shaped like I beams run the height of the tower and carry the core, which removes all but four of the interior columns.

That structure is the fact that decides the apartments. The floor plates are close to column free and the perimeter is curved floor to ceiling glass with rounded corners, so nothing loads the outside wall and nothing penetrates it. Storage, millwork and anything heavy move inboard to the core walls, and a plan drawn on the assumption that a wardrobe or a bookcase can sit against a window wall has to be redrawn.

A glass perimeter over hard floors leaves the acoustic and the thermal work to soft materials. Upholstery, rugs and drapery are doing structural work in these rooms rather than decorative work, and a room specified without them will be bright, loud and cold at the glass.

Hexagonal mechanical floors sit between the residential volumes and act as wind breaks. They are also the levels where the stacks change, which is worth knowing before assuming a riser runs straight from one apartment to the one above it.

The tower is an argument that a slender site is a structural problem before it is a planning one. Solve the wind and the column free plan follows, which is the opposite order from how most apartment buildings of this size are drawn.

Within walking distance

Building facts

New York City Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, version 26v1. Tax lot 1000517502.