The Regatta, designed by Gruzen Samton • IBI Group, is located on Site 10 in the southern area of Battery Park City, and was the first of nine sites to be devel- oped in Battery Park City`s Residential Phase III. The primary architectural and urban design challenge was to take the best advantage of the naturally occur- ring drama of expansive space and sensational light offered by its adjacency to the Hudson River and New York Harbor. To accomplish this, Gruzen Samton • IBI Group designed the donut shaped courtyard building with double high duplex apartments facing the river and the south cove. The design of the Regatta achieves the owner`s goal of creating spacious apartments with unique layouts and spectacular views. Conforming to specified design guidelines pertaining to street wall requirements and height restrictions, the building is organized on nine levels with a setback for the top two stories facing the river. By executing an angled, saw-toothed edge on the northern side, away from the water, the scheme provides eighty percent of the apartments with notable harbor and river views. Sixty percent of the apartments are duplex units, most of which have double-height living rooms. The top two floors set back to fashion spacious, private terraces for the adjacent residences. A large handsomely landscaped courtyard, an extension of the elegant residential lobby, and designated areas for restaurant and retail use, comprise the street level. To bring natural light to the threshold of each apartment, the courtyard is surrounded on alternating levels by a glass-walled corridor. The architecture of the Regatta follows the unique design guidelines established to reinforce the zoning provisions in the special Battery Park City District. These guidelines mandate that buildings have masonry street walls, expressive roof lines and prominent cornices. These architectural elements insure that the Regatta and its neighbors will extend the existing urban fabric and harmonize in scale, color, form, and texture with this grand Lower Manhattan neighborhood.
