Coveted corner units will make up 80 percent of ODA’s Jenga-like Williamsburg towers

The coveted corner apartment is typically the hardest kind to come by, but that won’t be the case at 416-420 Kent, a new waterfront development in South Williamsburg that’ll boast 80% corner units once complete. Designed by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/oda-architecture" target="_blank">ODA New York</a>, the residential complex eschews the traditional blocky tower design for a Jenga-like appearance that maximizes access to natural light and views. Interestingly enough, the 857-unit development was commissioned by politician-turned-real-estate-developer <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/eliot-spitzer" target="_blank">Eliot Spitzer</a>.

The apartment will also include 77,000-square-feet of landscaped outdoor space.

The apartment will also include 77,000-square-feet of landscaped outdoor space.

ODA New York maximizes the number of corner units by using two standard floor plans that are flipped and mirrored around the tower’s central access to create three multi-dimensional facades.

The manipulated building facade includes cantilevered sections that allow for garden terraces.

“The vast majority of towers in NYC are extruded rectangles,” said the architects. “There are historical, contextual and practical reasons for this. As population density in New York increased, our habitats borrowed from the corporate archetypal towers and took on a similar two-dimensional structure. Our reliance on this big box concept created an inherent locational hierarchy with its shape - corner apartment, corner office, corner view etc. ODA challenged this hierarchy by designing a tower where every dwelling unit is a corner apartment.”

416-420 Kent by ODA New York

The coveted corner apartment is typically the hardest kind to come by, but that won’t be the case at 416-420 Kent, a new waterfront development in South Williamsburg that’ll boast 80% corner units once complete. Designed by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/oda-architecture" target="_blank">ODA New York</a>, the residential complex eschews the traditional blocky tower design for a Jenga-like appearance that maximizes access to natural light and views. Interestingly enough, the 857-unit development was commissioned by politician-turned-real-estate-developer <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/eliot-spitzer" target="_blank">Eliot Spitzer</a>.

The apartment will also include 77,000-square-feet of landscaped outdoor space.

The apartment will also include 77,000-square-feet of landscaped outdoor space.

ODA New York maximizes the number of corner units by using two standard floor plans that are flipped and mirrored around the tower’s central access to create three multi-dimensional facades.

The manipulated building facade includes cantilevered sections that allow for garden terraces.

“The vast majority of towers in NYC are extruded rectangles,” said the architects. “There are historical, contextual and practical reasons for this. As population density in New York increased, our habitats borrowed from the corporate archetypal towers and took on a similar two-dimensional structure. Our reliance on this big box concept created an inherent locational hierarchy with its shape - corner apartment, corner office, corner view etc. ODA challenged this hierarchy by designing a tower where every dwelling unit is a corner apartment.”

416-420 Kent by ODA New York