520 West 28th Street
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Client: Related Companies
Location: New York, NY
Completion: TBD

Zaha Hadid has won her first commission in New York City: an 11-story condominium overlooking the High Line. The curvilinear building, typical of Hadid’s kinetic style, will rise on the site of a former scrap yard at 520 West 28th Street, just south of Hudson Yards. Hadid had previously vied for the High Line project, but lost out to Diller Scofidio + Renfro. This project will be an opportunity for the Pritzker Prize–winning architect to add her signature to a slice of the city that is rife with high-profile development.

“I think I have designed something that fits well into the city that is very New York, and yet will also help to transform the city going forward,” Hadid  

Strict zoning regulations proved a challenge to the design process. “It’s on a quite restricted site,” Hadid told the magazine. “You can’t really go wild.”

Marked by chevron configurations on the exterior, this 37-unit condo building features large individual terraces, a courtyard, and a roof patio. The double-height lobby features water jet–cut marble walls. The residences, some of which offer private vestibules and entrances, are spacious and airy, with 11-foot-tall ceilings and units ranging up to 5,500-square-feet. Hadid dubbed the split-level unit the “Don Draper apartment.”

The property is only a stones throw from the Hudson River, but is just on the outskirts of the warning zone on the new FEMA map. There’s been little comment from the firm on whether flood risk will affect the overall design.