A couple new tower designs that caught my brother’s eye:

First off, architectural powerhouse Werner Herzog’s first high-rise tower:

It’s a 57-story residential condominium at 56 Leonard Street in New York’s Tribeca Historic District in downtown Manhattan. The plans call for 145 residences, each with their own unique floor plan.

My opinion: not bad. Not sure if it’s anything special, though. It’s certainly no Bird’s Nest, that’s for sure.

The second tower is Rem Koolhaas’ first building in New York City. Crazy, eh? It’s as if the Chrysler Tower and Empire State Buildings were NYC’s Last Great Buildings before the current building boom.

It’s only a concept at this stage, but an exciting one nonetheless, for a 24-story residential building with units ranging from $7-50 million. The photo above highlights the hanging floors and the variable floor heights.

My opinion: smaller than Herzog’s contribution, but far more iconic. It’s just soooo much sexier. Proof positive that it’s not the size of the building that matters, it’s what you do with it.

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Interesting angle.