‘Nobody Goes to Rome, Looks at the Travertine and Says: This Is so 200 B.C.’

Originally from Denmark, architect Thomas Juul-Hansen has intended some of New York City’s inspiring luxurious landmarks. 

His signature technique to architecture and inside style and design can be observed during the metropolis, including 96+Broadway, wherever he led the exterior and inside structure. The new assortment of 131 condos on the Upper West Facet start off at $1.3 million. Sutton Tower, the 848-foot limestone setting up with 121 units in Manhattan’s ritzy Sutton Area enclave, will begin profits this tumble with selling prices envisioned to range from $2.5 million to extra than $18 million. A One particular57 penthouse developed by Mr. Juul-Hansen on West 57th Street, or Billionaire’s Row, not too long ago offered for $39.8 million.

Mr. Juul-Hansen’s eponymous total-support design firm will rejoice its 20th anniversary in 2023, and he claimed timelessness stays his goal.

“We depend on natural materials that have been examined through time to aid us carry an expression of structure that preferably leans toward timelessness,” Mr. Juul-Hansen explained. “That’s the target, to make a little something that doesn’t day. I do not want to make some tremendous amazing, trendy creating that appears to be so interesting nowadays, but the 3rd time you see it, you talk to, ‘Why? What’s the point of this?’”

Mansion World wide caught up with Mr. Juul-Hansen to come across out how he’s creating for world prospective buyers, why he avoids trends and what he considers luxurious.

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Mansion International: What is your structure philosophy, and does it improve based on wherever your initiatives are?

Thomas Juul-Hansen: My method to style, to some extent, is international. I’m fascinated in issues that purpose very well. I’m intrigued in honesty in architecture, the use of components and the expression coming from supplies. I’m intrigued in producing issues that are quiet, uncluttered, serene and tranquil. Which is an in general style philosophy that can be utilized any place on the earth, if a person decides to do so. 

MG: You’ve proven a foothold in New York, and now you have assignments in Miami, Los Angeles, London, Bangkok and far more. How do you balance remaining real to your aesthetic and allowing the vernacular to affect the design result?

TJH: When we work, no matter if it is in Bangkok, London, Miami or Washington, D.C., the initially detail I do is stop by the web site and invest some time there. Determining what the DNA of a specific website is what a large amount of it is definitely about. Some architects have a preconceived remedy to architecture. No matter whether they build in Frankfurt or Los Angeles, the architecture is the identical. I normally located that a minor little bit odd, or at minimum that is not how I strategy style and design. It is important to recognize in which you build and respect the place and your community. It is much more significant than just about anything else. As designers and architects, we have a civic responsibility to the inhabitants of the town to respect the town you are living in rather of building a monument to on your own, as some architects appreciate to do.

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MG: How does the community character use to your tasks in New York?

TJH: Even inside of Manhattan, which from a territorial standpoint, is a little portion of New York Metropolis, there are so several diverse villages within just the town. The Higher East Side is a completely distinct metropolis from the Upper West Side. The Economical District is a thoroughly diverse metropolis from the Decrease East Aspect. The Superior Line [park] is a distinct put. Each individual of these villages has their personal DNA. If one particular pays attention, you can come up with architectural alternatives that are vastly distinctive even within just the small island of Manhattan. That’s some thing we check out to strategy and include in the models that we do. 

MG: Have you noticed any approaches your do the job is evolving together with shifting needs created by your purchasers? In other words and phrases, are you adhering to any developments?

TJH: The answer to that is certainly no. Initial of all, we would go to terrific extremes to stay away from tendencies for the straightforward reason that trends, by default, have a quite constrained lifespan. The final factor that I want is for just about anything that I work on to have a minimal lifespan. The reverse of trendiness is timelessness. … Remember in the 1990s, in the dot-com growth, a good deal of things had this non permanent, plastic aesthetic to it. They scarcely managed to shut building just before it seemed dated. I keep in mind looking at that and wondering it was my nightmare. My nightmare is that I make investments my time and my blood and my heart and my soul into a little something and then it receives torn up two yrs afterwards.

MG: When doing the job on a venture, how do you guarantee you’re doing the job towards timelessness?

TJH: What we do is a great deal extra straightforward. We do the job with organic resources. We function with wood, stone and products that have confirmed them selves around time to not day. No one seems at wooden and claims, “This is so dated.” No person goes to Rome, appears to be at the travertine and says, “This is so 200 B.C.” We use travertine all the time.

MG: What is your particular definition of luxury?

TJH: If I experienced to boil it down, luxurious is about area and light. If you have a two-bed room apartment that is 800 sq. feet and the windows are tiny and the ceiling is very low, I don’t treatment how considerably you spend on the wall finishes. You could place gold and diamonds everywhere and for me, it will never ever truly feel magnificent. On the flip aspect, if you have a 2,500 sq. foot, two-bedroom apartment with 16-foot ceilings and tremendous, oversized windows with excellent all-natural light-weight and so on, I would argue that even if the partitions are white and the floors are basic wood, that could truly feel like luxurious. Light-weight is the vital to luxurious far more than anything else.

This job interview has been edited for duration and clarity.

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