Dwell95
“THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS BUILDING IS not mine. It’s Joe’s,” Philippe Starck says of Dwell95, his latest New York monolith. “Joe” is Joseph Moinian, the CEO of the Moinian Group, who developed the property with Yoo, a company owned by Starck and English real estate magnate John Hitchcox.
Despite Starck’s humility, Dwell95—the first Yoo rental apartment building on this side of the pond (there’s another in Hong Kong)—was very much inspired by him. The marketing materials show Starck’s face (not Moinian’s or Hitchcox’s) staring down the Wall Street bull. And the amenities for Dwell95, located at 95 Wall Street, go hand in hand with Yoo’s philosophy of a “vertical village.” The building encourages community by providing breakfast daily in the cafeteria and allowing residents—who could normally never afford to live in a luxury high rise—to pay their rent with American Express cards. “I am jealous I didn’t think of it,” Starck insists.
Fair enough. But the interior designer has certainly thought of a lot of other things. He’s crafted the Louis Ghost chair for Kartell, a toothbrush for Fluocaril, a yacht for Beneteau, ergonomic eyewear for Mikli, underwear for Puma, a mouse for Microsoft, hotels for Ian Schrager, the apartments at 15 Broad Street— and that’s just the short list.
In the near future Starck will also be working on ecological initiatives with the Pramac energy group, creating windmills, electric cars, and green building materials that he hopes to use in his next project with Moinian, on West 42nd Street. And while they haven’t yet selected the name of that building (it’s set for completion in 2010), they have decided that 1,000 units will be rentals, with the top six floors being sold as condominiums. This hybrid of renters and owners in one dwelling was Starck’s idea, bringing together members of his evolving “cultural tribe.”
“We are half of the story,” Starck says. “The bacteria had no idea of what we are today and we have no idea of what we shall be in the next four billion years before the sun implodes and this world explodes. That’s why my scale of thinking is eight billion years. That’s why I only choose the projects which can help our mutation. Because if you don’t fit with that, by the time you design it, you’re obsolete!”
Dwell95, 95 Wall Street, 212- 742-9595; dwell95.com.
