Axis Mundi

Axis Mundi’s proposal for this residence envisages a mammoth crystalline boulder protruding from the dramatic escarpment of the Palisades like a rock crystal emerging out of an implacable basalt matrix. Shooting vertiginously upward from the Hudson River and extending from Newark, New Jersey in the south to Nyack, New York in the north, this remarkable geological feature commands unparalleled views of Manhattan, the George Washington Bridge and the rolling hills abutting the river to the north. Beginning with a rectangular vertical shape drawn from the many viewing towers dotting the riverfront, the form is then pushed and pulled out in parts, resulting in what appears to be a bulbous, faceted outgrowth from the cliffs. These moves are dependent on desired framing of certain views, the sun’s path across the sky and topological considerations. The final form is a glass-sheathed polyhedron with main living spaces—kitchen, dining and living room—on the entry floor and bedrooms accessed by a floating stairway on the upper floors.