The Standard Grill . New York — Roman and Williams

By contrast to the Brutalist concrete form of the Standard Highline building that rises eighteen stories above the High Line, the new restaurant, which is set beneath the High Line’s trellis, was designed in brick by Roman and Williams to respond to the context and history of its neighborhood. The scale, materiality and detailing all take into careful consideration the experience of the pedestrian at street level. Originally planned to be a glass trapezoid, in step with the footprint of the site, Roman and Williams fought to design the space to be rectangular, defying the path of the High Line – in essence, taking the ground floor away from the tower and giving it back to the streets, back to New York.