A successful streetscape design means the landscape and building both connect to the greater fabric of the neighborhood. For Cirrus, the landscape takes its cues both from the building’s architecture, but also from the contextual and cultural elements that permeate the district.
On the street, a pattern of Ash and Dogwood trees are consistent with the landscape at the nearby Cornish campus, while the paving patterns mimic the shape of the building above. This ties the street together and grounds the building in the urban fabric. The Lenora Street planting also works as a bioswale, cleaning, filtering and absorbing the street’s stormwater runoff while lighted, color-changing benches placed in the landscape bring a playful mood.
Up above, a roof top oasis provides valuable amenities to residents. The area is divided into three zones of activity. At either end are distinctly different seating arrangements that act as extensions of the inside amenity spaces. The clubroom opens to a BBQ/bar with a lantern fireplace surrounded by seating that allows for several groups to gather, meet and enjoy the city view. On the opposite end, a more intimate area branches off the collaboration amenity space. The focal point is a large hearth built into the back of a stick formed concrete planter creating the optimal configuration for a large singular group.
Enjoining the two entertainment areas is a tranquil water garden filled with water lilies and water hawthorne. This garden, and the ipe decking that surrounds it, extends into a sheltered niche in the building where a basalt column surrounded by horsetail is revealed as the water’s source. This section includes a set of chain-link curtains, to minimize wind and drizzle. Combined with white stone, resin screens with embedded natural reeds, planters of ferns, and low, sectional sofas with TVs and heaters, the area exudes a calm Kasbah-like retreat.
Read more about the architecture and interior design for this project.