[Photo by Stephen Gebhardt via The Roosevelts]
BUILD just returned from the annual R&D trip to Manhattan where we caught up on design, culture, food, and all things modern. There are a wealth of new places to share, and we were sad to see a few favorites go. While we were in town, we sat down with AvroKO and Smith-Miller Hawkinson as part of our interview series for ARCADE Magazine — stay tuned for more here. Until then, here’s some NYC hot-spots to focus your design eyes on — many more on TML Manhattan.
Hotels
The new hotels staking out ground in Manhattan are some of the most design-forward spaces in the city. The Mondrian addition to SOHO by designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz is elegant and sexy while midtown’s Viceroy by Roman & Williams uses layers of deep, dark texture to develop an aesthetic of modern nostalgia.
Mondrian, 9 Crosby St, 212.389.1000
 Viceroy, 120 W 57th St, 212.830.8000
Brunch | Lunch
The High Line’s magnetism has brought a second Bubby’s further north, making a great brunch that much more accessible. Located smack in the middle of the most sought after neighborhood in Manhattan, Hundred Acres offers up a deliciously chic breakfast/lunch (if you can get in). But the real news is the opening of Gotham West Market, a community of culinary purveyors hand selected by the team of rock-star taste-makers at AvroKO.
 Bubby’s High Line, 73 Gansevoort, 212.206.6200
 Gotham West Market, 600 11th Ave (at 45th Street)
 Hundred Acres, 38 MacDougal St, 212.475.7500
Dinner
The new dinner spots in Manhattan are incorporating a welcomed grittiness into their designs; slick whites have been traded up for patinas and the weathered interiors weave a tasty narrative. Featuring prominently on the menus this trip were oysters, raw bars, whole roasted chickens and some culinary-forward takes on ramen — all delicious.
Atera, 77 Worth St., 212.226.1444
Beauty & Essex, 146 Essex St, 212.614.0146
 Chez Sardine, 183 West 10th St, 646.360.3705
 Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, 53 Great Jones St., 212.837.2622
Jefferies Grocery, 172 Waverly Place, 646.398.7630
 The Little Owl, 90 Bedford St, 212.741.4695
The NoMad, 1170 Broadway (at 28th St), 347.472.5600
Drinks
Clandestine “Speakeasies” accessed with covert passwords via trap doors in phone booths seem to be on the decline in Manhattan. On the rise are dark, heavily wooded interiors offering bespoke drinks meticulously made by bartenders who have been teleported from the 1890s. Waxed mustaches, suspenders and other props aside, the drinks are superb.
 The Daily, 210 Elizabeth St, 212.343.7011
 The Dead Rabbit, 30 Water St, 646.422.7906
Retail Spaces
The fashion houses and design shops are flexing their muscles more than ever in NYC, with branding packages that extend from the products to the interiors and even the envelope of the buildings themselves. The less is more aesthetic is being traded in for an environment of found object as decoration, with reclaimed lumber thrown in for good measure.
 Frye Shoes, 113 Spring St. Designed by Avroko
 Just Scandinavian, 161 Hudson St # 1B, 212.334.2556
Buildings
Manhattan is once again populated with tower cranes as new steel frames escalate in what seems like every neighborhood. Some of the new structures are carefully woven into the fabric as the next layer of urban infill while others are so out of proportion with their surroundings (even by New York standards) that they appear awkward and fragile.
 ONE57, 157 West 57th St, Christian de Portzamparc
 The Dillon, 425 W 53rd St, 212.586.5300, SMH+U, 2013
Architectural Obituaries
Over the last couple of years, there have been many unfortunate closures of modern favorites in Manhattan. While reinvention and looking to the future are the name of the game in NYC, we’ll miss these places.
Bar 89 at 89 Mercer Street designed in 1993 by architect Gilles DePardon of Ogawa/DePardon was a watering hole in SOHO well ahead of its time and included what may have been the coolest bathrooms in NYC.
The Jil Sander Showroom at 30 Howard Street was a showroom on par with the museums of NYC.
And last but not least, Pintailes Pizza at 26 E 91st Street may have very well saved our lives a few times. Their thin crust capicolla be missed.
Let us know what we missed, and cheers from Team BUILD
