Leila Thackara

Developer/Architect: Blue Zees Real Estate LLC, New York

Project Manager: Aaron Campbell

The building is a certified Passive House mixed use development; 2 large penthouses and a commercial space at the ground floor. Both condos have terraces and the upper unit is a duplex with double height windows. The project employs continuous insulation throughout the entirety of the building envelope. The residential portion of the building is air tight with continuous insulation throughout the building envelope and high performance windows to manage solar gain. There is also a balanced heat and moisture recovery ventilation system. The doors for the residential units at 285 Grand Street (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) were designed to complement the industrial finishes and sliding parametric composition of the building facade.

Architect: Undecorated, Detroit

Developer: Prince Concepts, NY

A defunct radiator plant on Grand River Avenue, in Detroit's Core City neighborhood, was repurposed to house a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-influenced restaurant. Magnet has a modular layout. The long dining room features 14-foot-high exposed ceilings, with seating for about 80 at walnut tables and booths, some overlooking the courtyard, and a 32-foot-long bar area. Wood-fired cooking is performed in the open kitchen, where customers can see chefs smoking chickens over the grill and baking flatbreads in a wood-burning oven. The center bar is sunken into the floor so seated diners are placed at eye-level with their bartender. Nearly every surface is covered in dark blue tile.

Architect: William Schulz

Landscape Architects: Hollander Design

Spring 2014 | Maria Sieira

The studio was challenged to develop an institutional program for a school in Brooklyn, to be inspired by the goals of the STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) effort. My design leverages the idea that project-based learning can be the most fun and effective format due to its physical nature. A porous form with glass light wells of different sizes perforate the building, creating a range of small, intimate and larger open spaces to accommodate a range of activities and environments. Light wells act as acoustic and visual boundaries but also afford a degree of connectivity and transparency between different subjects, whilst ensuring outside space is easily accessible from classrooms. The interior program is raised above ground level to allow the full run of the site underneath for activities that require more space. Three of the light wells extend to the ground to form staircases. 

Spring 2015 | Critic: Alexandra Barker

Internation Space Programme (ISP) Members: Leila Thackara, Rob Meyerson, Lou Wright

El Paso supermarket is situated adjacent to the busiest border crossing point between Mexico and the US. The studio was concerned with design strategies for climatic and non-climatic controlled spaces, interior and exterior, in a desert context. The proposed design draws formal language from the adjacent Rio Grand Riverbed (which at one time crossed the site), employing the idea of "stream capture," redirecting or capturing pedestrian traffic from the border, down into the market below. The market itself is a hybrid between a Mexican covered market and a western style supermarket with 4 principal elements: Three climate controlled cores of varying temperature, an external covered market, a canopy roof which “flows” around the pavilions and a back of house which ‘plugs’ into these pavilions. The rammed earth (a vernacular material with a high thermal mass) pavilions serve as a series of microclimates. Dividing the program in this way (allowing the exterior market to be naturally ventillated) reduces the cooling load. 

Spring 2016 | Critic: Henry Smith-Miller

The studio explored the possibilities for redefining the site - the Brooklyn navy yard - which has a rich and varied history, rooted in maritime traditions and legally designated as the only industrial site as-of-right in New York City. The proposed scheme aims to promote connectivity between the boroughs and the rest of the world, establishing common ground and connectivity between land and sea. It also offers a different format for occupation, anticipating sea level rise and envisioning an alternative to the grid. A continuous flat surface already exists in the navy yard so there was an opportunity to create an alternative topography; something antithetical to the flat world of production. This surface 'flies over' and connects the docks and at points dips below the surface of the water affording a range of programmatic possibilities. The division of the surface into strips enables the structure to be self-supporting. 

The Elk Chair is a modern twist on a quirky classic - the Antler Chair. Composed of polycarbonate with a  reflective chrome frame it is sturdy and durable; fragile and majestic. Blending with its surroundings it has an illusory quality like a ghostly relic of history.

NDV Westfield office interiors | Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects, London