Kusher puts home owners in driving seat with high-tech parking system

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 15, 2004

Forget valet parking. 123 Baxter, a new condominium development designed by noted architect Adam Kushner and under construction in Little Italy, will boast the first and only completely automated parking garage in New York City that parks and retrieves cars for owners automatically.

Owners who swipe their keycards as they board the elevators will find their cars waiting for them by the time they reach the lobby.

123 Baxter Street's self-park feature is only one of the several unique aspects of developer ADG Organization's new residential building rising on the site of a former parking lot, which is slated to open in 10 months.

To Kushner, of Kushner Studios, the 25-unit building is all about the spacial and urban experience and the movement between public and private spaces. One will enter the building through a round doorway (Kushner's Mouse Hole) into a tube-like wood lobby (Kushner's Habitrail).

Kushner believes in the timeless idea that a home begins with the concept of attempting to connect the idea of habitation and occupant with his natural world.--an obvious conundrum given typical urban constrictions, fiscal realities, marketing forces, etc.

There are only four residences per floor with two penthouses and a ground-floor triplex townhouse. Residences have curved walls "to provide a sense of randomness," said Kushner. Other unique apartment features include glass sinks, Internet refrigerators and stone countertops. "These are kitchen that are sympathetic to the urban condition," said Kushner.

By simultaneously exploring from "within" and "without" of the site, Kushner developed the idea of a "pinwheel" to guide the buildings design decisions. Each of the units slides counter clockwise about a central open-air core, allowing most of the units two direct, natural sources of light, air and outdoor spaces.

The idea of the pinwheel was also applied to the general situation of the building.

"The 'forces' of the adjacent facades of neighboring streets and courts were 'pinwheeled' onto the proposed facades of our project, giving us the raw templates from which to draw our inspiration," explained Kushner.

Private outdoor spaces have high walls. This is where the journey ends, says Kushner.

One moves from the urban public street to the privacy of your living space to the outdoor space, which is both private and public.

"You end where you began," said the innovative architect, who designs builds that have a narrative.