NEW YORK CITY
But there is a great deal more to these pictures than speculative musings. They also show the architecture of Manhattan in a literally new light, allowing the viewer to appreciate things often taken for granted. The shots of Midtown display to full advantage the effects of the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which mandated setbacks every so many stories to allow light to penetrate the street. That makes the buildings appear like Cyclopean staircases, or, as Rem Koolhaas put it, “a gigantic enlargement of the original Dutch gable house.” The tenement backsides of East Houston Street — exposed when the street was widened in the 1930s and the buildings on the north side were demolished — are ennobled, their fire escapes converted into lacy balconies. Here, as elsewhere, the vegetation, which in this case consists of London plane trees, becomes a misty, reflective tangle. - Luc Sante