The Corbin Building in Lower Manhattan, with its richly ornamented historic façade, is reimagined as a vertical mixed-use hub where living, dining, and public life dissolve into one another. Inspired by studies of natural morphologies—where layered growth patterns embody both continuity and transformation—the project develops a strategy of “dissolving,” guiding the integration of old and new, private and public, building and city.
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Gold 🏆 Winner
Global Future Design Awards 2025
Dissolving Corbin Building
Mixed-Use Architecture (Concept)
Firm/Individual
Zihua Mo
Architect/Designer
Zihua Mo
Design Team
Zihua Mo
Location
New York, USA
Country
United States
Photographer/Copyright
©Zihua Mo
Social Media Handles:
Website
N/A
The historic façade does not dissolve into a uniform glass layer. Instead, it bifurcates into a stratified envelope: heritage masonry advances as brick-and-terracotta planter bays, while the recessed balcony interfaces are glazed. The result is a three-dimensional living surface—Y-shaped, triangular balconies nestled between old and new—encouraging neighborly encounters and providing depth for urban gardens that bring food production onto the façade.
Food serves as the thematic and spatial connector, reflecting New York’s role as a global melting pot. At the ground floor, semi-outdoor dining zones and food stalls activate the street, while a central atrium links the indoor food court with the adjacent Fulton Center and its subway concourse. Public elevators and escalators extend this vertical sequence to a rooftop bar and garden overlooking the skyline.
Within the residential levels, private dining areas are minimized in favor of shared kitchens and expansive community dining areas, transforming cooking and eating into collective rituals that strengthen social bonds. These layers of interaction—balcony gardens, shared kitchens, community dining areas, food courts, and rooftop spaces—dissolve boundaries between private and public, creating a continuous spectrum of urban life. By merging heritage preservation, sustainable living, and vibrant community exchange, the project proposes a new model of mixed-use development: an architecture rooted in history yet oriented toward the future.
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