For the last 2 decades we’ve seen enormous change in lower Manhattan. The area around here has been so heavily and quickly developed it’s nearly unrecognizable from how it looked in the 80’s and early 90’s. Seeing this has sparked many of our projects including New Bowery (Architecture>New Bowery at adamfriedberg.com) and the Empty Lots.

The Single Story Project is a more recently started one, linked to the Empty Lots in many ways, and coming from the idea of air rights. How are these structures still here?

Not long ago there were very few tall buildings downtown, and especially on the Lower East Side where there were zoning laws with height restrictions preventing them from going up. Now they are everywhere. Yet there are a few oddballs holding out, buildings that were different even before the new towers. Single Story structures in Manhattan, the most vertical city in America. Let’s look at them.

Rite Aid, 81 1st Avenue, NYC