Morris Adjmi Architects

This nine-story mixed-use building in the Tribeca North Historic District is a contemporary interpretation of the nineteenth-century masonry structures found throughout the area. Similar to many older warehouses, its clear tripartite division is defined by a series of recessed multi-story arches framing large, operable windows. 

Rather than traditional brick or stone, the building is clad with unadorned precast concrete panels. The rust-colored forms, though clearly contemporary, simultaneously evoke brick, cast-iron, and structural steel framing—materials and methods that are all characteristic of the historic district. 

Wider arches and an industrial-inspired canopy frame the street-level retail spaces, while the top floor is distinguished by smaller arched windows and a dark gray cladding that suggests a super-scaled cornice. The rounded masonry column rising up the corner of the building gives 408 Greenwich a sense of weight that anchors it in Tribeca's evolving context.