A Great Home is All About Context, Says Architect David Childs

Mr. Childs with his recent projects: One World Trade Center(top), 35 Hudson Yards(bottom) in New York City and 400 Lake Shore Drive(right) in Chicago. Composite: Photo courtesy of SOM © Greg Betz; Courtesy of Related-Oxford; Photo © James Ewing | OTTO; Image © Noë Associates | Boundary

Architect David Childs is chairman emeritus of architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and continues to serve as a consulting design partner on selected projects at the New York office. 

Mr. Childs is responsible for some of Manhattan’s most iconic buildings, including the Time Warner Center, One World Trade Center, and, more recently, 35 Hudson Yards, the tallest tower at the brand-new Hudson Yards development on the far West Side. 

Internationally, Mr. Childs, 78, has worked on the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, and the Changi international terminal in Singapore.

He started his career at SOM at the company’s Washington, D.C., office before moving to its New York City office in 1984. In Washington, he worked on the 1976 Washington Mall master plan and Constitution Gardens; the headquarters of the buildings for National Geographic and U.S. News and World Report; the Four Seasons, Regent and Park Hyatt hotels; and the expansion of the Dulles Airport main terminal. 

We caught up with Mr. Childs to discuss the value of a city-within-a-city, the luxury of simplicity, and more.  

Mansion Global: Describe your dream property.

David Childs: I would immediately think urban. But I also have a magnificent place in the woods, so it really depends. The ideal property is where you can enjoy yourself and immerse yourself in the activities you hold most dear. 

In the country, it’s about being able to enjoy the outdoors as much as the indoors. And it comes down to the fact that the property is unique to you. It allows you to express yourself and enjoy life.

MG: What does luxury mean to you?

DC: It doesn’t mean it has to be the most expensive materials or the latest technology. It has to enjoy a pride in its place—to be in an extraordinary neighborhood—either rural or urban, and crafted with tremendous care and precision.

For me, it’s about simplicity, not ornateness, but that’s more personal.

MG: What area do you think is the next hub for luxury properties?

DC: In the Far East, there are amazing luxury homes being built. Then there are more traditional places, like London. The most outstanding opportunities exist in New York City. America has plenty of wonderful spots—places like L.A. and Chicago—but, for me, New York is the greatest because it encompasses everything—culture, health services, residential amenities.

MG: Where are the best luxury homes in the world and why?

DC: If you’re in London, near places like Trafalgar Square or Mayfair. In New York, now it’s about people who look to amenities that they want. Central Park was thelocation. Hudson Yards will be, too.

You can have a luxury home everywhere, but it’s be dependent on the quality of the location.

MG: What’s your favorite part of your home?

DC: In my place in the heart of the high peaks of the Adirondacks, it’s my study, a little library of books. It’s a vertical space that’s very dramatic. You can contemplate work or what you saw in the woods during the day.

In New York, it’s also my study. It’s a very different, small room—all white and modern, books piled everywhere, with a big drawing board in the center.

In the Adirondacks, there’s also the great room, inspired by the great mansions of the Adirondacks, where everyone gathers. That’s true, in my New York apartment, in the living room, at a much different scale. That’s where people like to be.

DC: In New York, it’s a sense of collective space, where the rooms—whether the entry hall, the study, the living room, or the kitchen— all work beautifully together.

In the Adirondacks, which is a lot less modern, it’s about fitting into its context, or the mountains. People drive up and expect an all-glass house. But it borrows from all sorts of traditions—from Scandinavian to Adirondack-style. It couldn’t belong anywhere else. That’s good design.

MG: What’s the most valuable thing in your home?

DC: Probably my art. People come in and think I have too many pictures, prints and paintings and photographs. This isn’t a collection that a museum is longing for. But it’s a collection of hand drawings—ones that I’ve done, and some others have done, collectively it’s worth something, but it’s invaluable. It’s my life. It took 55 years to collect. It’s not one thing, it’s the collection.

MG: What’s the most valuable amenity to have in a home right now?

DC: At 35 Hudson Yards, there are so many different ones—from office to retail to condominiums to hotel. That’s what’s valuable and distinctive. You have all the city amenities all under one roof. That’s an urban ideal—you want to be where things are available.

MG: What’s your best piece of real estate advice?

DC: Investment is honestly the last thing you should be thinking about when buying a home. If it’s for a home, it’s about love. If you fall in love with it, you can tailor it and work with it and meld it into what’s you.

MG: What’s going on in the news that will have the biggest impact on the luxury real estate market?

DC: Politics don’t have an effect on NYC real estate, for example. But if there’s an economic downturn, people can’t afford their homes and that has an immediate—and who knows how long-lasting—effect.

MG: What is the best area now for investing in luxury properties?

DC: Hudson Yards.

Having healthcare, fitness, culture, gardens, all in one place. Each one is unique, but together, they’re extraordinary.

MG: If you had a choice of living in a new development or a prime resale property, which would you choose and why?

DC: I am an architect, so I may be biased about this.

I should say, if you fall in love with a beautiful Baroque building in Paris, that would be wonderful.

But generally I would say new, because if you have a developer who’s of quality, they’ve thought of everything and they cater to everything.

MG: What area currently has the best resale value?

DC: The first phase of Hudson Yards. You have the best facilities, and retail is like Fifth Avenue. The restaurants are amazing, too. If I were looking for something commercial, retail or residential, it would be on the original acres of Hudson Yards.

Source: LUCY COHEN BLATTER, Mansion Global

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