VIA 57 West

VIA 57 West is a rental apartment building at 625 West 57th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, developed by the Durst Organization. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, it takes the form of a tetrahedron that rises from a low corner to a peak at the northwest, wrapping a landscaped private courtyard, a hybrid of the European perimeter block and the Manhattan tower that its architects called a courtscraper.

The building sits at the edge of the West Side Highway with the Hudson River directly across, near Hudson River Park, the greenway and the piers at the Midtown waterfront. Columbus Circle, Central Park and the A, B, C, D and 1 trains at 59th Street are a walk east.

The building was completed in 2016 and won the International Highrise Award that year. Its sloping north face is lined with terraces, so many upper-floor apartments open onto private outdoor space, and the courtyard at its center was inspired by the garden courtyards of Copenhagen, a nod to the architect’s Danish roots. From the West Side Highway the building reads as a pyramid; from the east it looks almost like a conventional tower.

Its roughly 709 apartments include income-restricted units leased through the city’s housing lottery, and residents share an extensive amenity floor overlooking the courtyard. Helena 57 West, an earlier Durst rental building, stands on the same block, and Pier 97 and the Hudson River Park bikeway are directly across the highway.