108 Delancey st

New York, NY

Type Major Alteration

Location New York, NY

Size 20.000 sq.ft.

Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood has a reputation for being “ahead of the curve” when it comes to trends. It’s stylish, rowdy, and eclectic, and known for having some of the best nightlife, dining and entertainment in the city. Tourists and residents alike fall in love with this free-spirited and welcoming pocket of the city, a mix pre-war walk ups and newer high rise buildings.

The existing 4-story building at 108 Delancey Street will soon go through a major renovation including added floors and a new metal and glass façade. The first two floors will be preserved while the upper two floors, which had only ever been partially completed, will be demolished and four new stories will be built in their place. The ground floor will feature 2,250 sq. ft. of retail space, while the upper floors will each feature 2,800 sq. ft. of commercial office space as well as a rooftop recreation space.

The design provides a simple yet elegant solution to maximizing the natural light needs for the office spaces without compromising the attractiveness of the new façade, as the intricate design details create a sense of depth that a flat glass façade simply couldn’t accomplish. The curtain window façade creates sense of continuity from the ground floor to top of the building, while the lighting on the façade creates sense of movement and breaks up the monotonous look.

As there is a significant amount of side frontage, particular attention was also paid to the design of the side lot line walls which feature an attractive Exterior Insulation Finishing System and multiple window openings.

The interior finishes and design details – exposed ceilings, subway tiles, white oak flooring – were carefully selected to honor the character of the Lower East Side.
The 22 ft.-wide lot has two means of egress requirements that had to be considered when designing the building, and creative solutions were even applied to the filing process, which ultimately allowed for us to apply a brand new façade to an old building.

The owner of the site also owns the adjacent building at 104-106 Delancey Street, which is also under construction and where the Mount Sinai Health System is a tenant. The heights of the two buildings were coordinated so as to give the option for Mount Sinai to easily expand into both spaces in the future. The owner intends to preserve the celebrated mural of the late Anthony Bourdain from the building next door, by artist Jon Leonardo, and bring it inside to the lobby of 108 Delancey so that it may continue live on.