BIG's High Line Towers Unveiled

The project at 76 Eleventh Avenue is the latest in a long list of high-profile commissions by name architects in Chelsea and the Meatpacking District. In addition to Gehry's office building for Barry Diller (one of the few office buildings amongst a playground of residential projects), the lots along the High Line include residential buildings – completed and in-progress – designed by Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid, Robert A.M. Stern, Norman Foster, and Isay Weinfeld.

With the Whitney designed by Renzo Piano open since May, Jeanne Gang's Solar Carve office tower moving forward, and Thomas Heatherwick working on a new park just steps from the High Line, Bjarke Ingels' arrival on the scene seems a bit overdue. Yet the twisted and leaning pair of towers promises to make a strong statement among the buildings striving to do the same.

According to New York YIMBY, where these renderings were spotted, "The project will total nearly 800,000 square feet, and will be split between two buildings. The western tower will rise 402 feet while its eastern counterpart will stand 302 feet, and both will sit atop an active base featuring a major retail component as well as a hotel."

HFZ Capital paid a hefty $870 million for the land between 17th and 18th streets earlier in April 2015, a couple months after it was reported that Rem Koolhaas was hired by The Related Companies on a project for the same site. It appears that Ingels has once again, like at the World Trade Center, ousted an older architect for a prominent commission. This one is expected for completion in 2018.