At the forefront of sustainability, the Visionaire blends luxury and green living in New York City
As the first LEED Platinum condominium tower on the East Coast, the Visionaire is home to luxury residences in in the heart of Battery Park City. With breathtaking views of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, and Lower Manhattan, this innovative building combines state-of-the-art sustainability features with the best of luxury urban living. A warm and contemporary presence in Lower Manhattan’s skyline, the tower consists of two interlocking forms evoking a curved boat-like shape that rises over Battery Park and the Hudson, its prow pointed south toward Liberty Island.
An iconic form in Lower Manhattan’s skyline
The Visionaire is Battery Park City’s most environmentally responsive residential building. Rising above the Hudson River and New York City Harbor, the 35-story tower and its 10-story base are a strong presence along the southwestern edge of Lower Manhattan. The Visionaire is the third of Pelli Clarke & Partners’ series of pioneering residential towers for Battery Park City, which also includes the Solaire and the Verdesian. These buildings prioritize the health of their inhabitants, vitality of their neighborhoods, and future of the environment.
Shaping a more sustainable future
Energy efficiency and indoor air quality are the most important and fully incorporated environmental features of the Visionaire. The tower is clad in glass and terra-cotta with integrated photovoltaic paneling. Innovative sustainable features are at the core of the tower’s design, most visibly in its form of dramatically bending façades of banded terracotta and sky-reflecting glass that animate the river’s edge. The tower’s form maximizes views, daylight, and natural ventilation, with light reaching deep into the interior spaces while high-performance glass minimizes solar gain and cooling demand. A high-efficiency cooling system with a low-temperature, low-flow chiller reduces the need for fans and pumps.
"The Visionaire rises up and bends outward from its sides to optimize views along the Hudson River and into the NYC Harbor, becoming an elevated and expressive vessel of sustainable urban living.” — Craig Copeland, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
More About the Project
Project Team
- Rafael Pelli, FAIA, LEED AP ↗
- Craig Copeland, FAIA, LEED AP, BD+C ↗
- Tobias Hahne, LEED AP, CPHD
- Heidi Kippenhan
- Beatrice Popoiu
- Noa Maliar
- Augustus Chan
Project Collaborators
- Architect of Record: SLCE Architects
- Structural Engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
- MEP: Cosentini
- Landscape Architect: Coen & Partners
- Environmental Design: Atelier Ten
Project Information
- Location: New York, New York, USA
- Client: The Albanese Organization
- Size: 424,224 sq. ft. / 46,450 sq. m.
- Height: 360 ft. / 110 m.
- Completion: 2008
- Certifications: LEED Platinum
- Firm Role: Design Architect
Awards
- 2008 Green Building Competition for New York City
- 2009 AIA New York and Boston Society of Architects Building Type Awards - Housing Honor Award
- 2010 Urban Land Institute - Award of Excellence
- Project Photography: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO
- Aerial Photograph of Roof Garden: © 2012 Alex S. MacLean / Landslides