F. J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc., the builder of choice for many of New York City's highly designed and technically sophisticated projects, and renowned Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava announced plans on May 3 for a new, visually striking, 835-foot-tall residential tower to be developed on the East River waterfront, just blocks from the World Trade Center site. Mr. Sciame is a resident of Muttontown.

Inspired by Mr. Calatrava's own works of sculpture and based on his formidable knowledge of structural engineering, the slender, soaring tower will be the architect's first residential project in the US. At present, the building is named after its address, 80 South Street Tower.

"The tower's breathtakingly unconventional design is expected to make the building another symbol of downtown Manhattan's resolute, indomitable spirit of recovery and resurgence," said Muttontown resident Frank Sciame, CEO of F.J. Sciame Construction Co., and its development arm, Sciame Development, Inc.

John Evans, vice president of Sciame Development, added, "This tower represents an opportunity to live in a work of art. We're confident that a building designed by Santiago Calatrava with only 12 exclusive townhouses in the sky will generate global interest."

Mr. Calatrava said, "I feel very fortunate to have been asked to design a tower for New York City, which is the home of the skyscraper, and to do so on such a beautiful and dramatic site. Frank Sciame has shown his determination to create an exceptional work of architecture for New York. I am grateful for the trust he has placed in me."

The tower's residences, described as "Townhouses in the Sky," will consist of modular, 45-foot cubes. Twelve cubes, each containing four floors, will be cantilevered from, and stacked along, the tower's vertical axis. The tower's base is envisioned as the new home for a cultural or other institutional user.

Mr. Sciame said, "As a result of the leadership and vision of Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, I firmly believe that over the next decade Lower Manhattan will increasingly find itself at the City's emotional heart and quickly emerge as New York's most dynamic neighborhood. This tower is an affirmation that the bold dreams of the public sector have engendered bold dreams in the private sector. We are proud to make an investment in downtown and visionary architecture."

The tower will contain 175,000 square feet of public cultural and private living space. As envisioned by the architect, each of the townhouse cubes may contain its own individual elevator. Original plans call for two-story living rooms, but Mr. Calatrava said that he would be willing to design interior spaces according to the new residents' requirements.

Fronting each cube's exterior, an expansive terrace garden will be formed by the roof of the cube directly below it. Mr. Sciame said, "This terrace will generate the visual effect of having, literally, a townhouse in the sky. If one wanted even more of a townhouse feeling, the design could incorporate a grand exterior stair leading from the apartment's terrace to an entrance at the cube's first level."

The design of 80 South Street Tower evolved from a theme that Mr. Calatrava began investigating some 20 years ago through a series of sculptures, in which marble cubes are stacked or suspended in space, held in place by taut wires. Mr. Calatrava has varied the number of cubes and their arrangement, creating different sculptural expressions out of the same basic elements. Watercolor drawings of the human body have also contributed to the series. Mr. Calatrava's studies of a turning torso yielded a sculpture in which marble cubes spiral around a steel support; and this sculpture gave rise to a design for a high-rise apartment tower in Malmö, Sweden, scheduled for completion in summer 2005. The design of 80 South Street Tower is a new idea within this theme. Twelve glazed cubes are cantilevered in ladder-like steps up the building's slender vertical core. The core and a pair of slim vertical spines stabilize the structure.

Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, Inc., said, "Downtown has the richest collection of architecturally distinctive structures of any place in our country. Frank Sciame's and Santiago Calatrava's exciting and dramatic building will immediately become one of the major icons on the city's skyline, but it will also be an important part-and a vivid example-of Downtown's emergence as the first great urban center of the 21st Century."

Madelyn Wils, chairperson of Community Board 1, commented, "Those of us who are advocates for Lower Manhattan have called repeatedly for residential use, cultural amenities, and exciting and beautiful design. This building does it all."

Frank Sciame has a 28-year history as one of New York's most prestigious construction management and development companies. The firm has completed several high-profile construction projects in downtown Manhattan including the award-winning Seamen's Church Institute, Millennium High School and The Museum of Jewish Heritage. The firm is in pre-construction for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, a new Academic building at Cooper Union, and The Museum of Arts and Design. Current projects under construction include Sarah Lawrence Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Thurgood Marshall Academy, and the Pierpont Morgan Library. The firm is especially noted for its collaborative work with some of the world's most famous architects. Sciame Development has completed a number of restoration projects in the South Street Seaport Historic District including 247 Water Street, The Captain Rose House and is currently re-vitalizing Historic Front Street utilizing $46 million in Liberty Bond financing. For more information visit www.FJSciame.com

Architect, engineer and artist Santiago Calatrava founded the firm of Santiago Calatrava S.A. in 1986. The firm, which currently maintains offices in Zurich, Paris, and Valencia, is known for projects that often entail major urban interventions and landscape development, such as museums, opera houses and concert halls, sports facilities, bridges, transportation projects, municipal service facilities and retail/commercial developments. Calatrava's first project in the United States, the extension to the Milwaukee Art Museum, was completed in 2001 to worldwide acclaim. Current projects include New York City's World Trade Center Transportation Hub (whose design was unveiled in January 2004); the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (designed for the 2004 Summer Games); Symphony Center (the new home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra); and new bridges for Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands; Petah Tikvah, Israel; Jerusalem, Israel; Redding, California; Dallas, Texas; and the Grand Canal in Venice. For more information visit www.80SouthStreetTower on the Internet.