Interview about Spira Silva Mixed Use, winner of the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award 2025
The Spira Silva, in Williamsburg's redeveloped waterfront, envisions a vibrant, eco conscious future by integrating nature with urbanism. Unlike traditional timber buildings, the project utilizes twisted CLT panels for both aesthetics and efficiency. Interior spaces vary across floors, offering flexible configurations and adaptable layouts. The Spira Silva challenges conventional skyscraper design, fostering a welcoming atmosphere and promoting sustainable urban living.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThe idea behind Spira Silva’s twisted CLT system originated during our visit to a timber manufacturing plant in Spokane. Observing CLT production up close, we were struck by how standardized, planar, and repetitive the material typically is in high-rise construction. Yet, at the same time, we noticed subtle warping that naturally occurs as moisture content changes across the grain.This observation led us to ask a simple question: What if this natural tendency could be harnessed rather than corrected? From that moment, the design began with a single CLT panel, and we explored how controlled rotation and calibrated deformation could produce curvature without forcing the material. Through physical prototypes and digital simulations, that single panel evolved into a repeatable module capable of defining both structure and façade, eventually becoming the generator for Spira Silva’s entire architectural language.
Spira Silva’s form translates the qualities of natural growth into an urban high-rise condition. The tower’s twisting geometry emulates the tapering and expansion you find in organic structures, while the CLT surface gives the building a warm, tactile presence that contrasts with the industrial waterfront context.Placed along the Williamsburg shoreline, the twisted panels open and close strategically to bring daylight deep into the interiors, create terraces, and frame views of the river. In this way, the form and material work together to blur the boundary between natural and built environments, suggesting a future for Brooklyn where sustainable construction and biophilic design coexist at the scale of the skyline.
Because the twisting geometry needed to be both expressive and structurally feasible, parametric tools played a crucial role. We built a Grasshopper-based system that allowed us to control rotation angles, panel spacing, and curvature based on structural constraints and daylighting performance.This parametric model was linked to simplified structural analysis tools to evaluate panel bending limits, load paths, and lateral stiffness. By iterating between geometry generation and structural feedback, we achieved a balance: the panels twist enough to create the spatial and aesthetic richness we sought, yet remain within tolerances that CLT fabrication and on-site assembly can handle. The final form is therefore not arbitrary—it’s the outcome of a tightly integrated digital workflow.
The variation from floor to floor emerges directly from the twisting panels. Because the perimeter expands and contracts, each level naturally lends itself to different programmatic opportunities.We embraced this as a design strategy: office floors benefit from the wider, more open geometries to maximize daylight and flexible layouts, while residential floors take advantage of more intimate, sculpted interior zones. This inherent variation supports a true mixed-use environment, where the tower can house diverse activities without forcing a uniform spatial template. Instead, each floor plate becomes a response to the building’s changing geometry, creating a richer set of spatial experiences for occupants.
Working with twisted CLT pushed us far beyond conventional high-rise construction methods. One of the earliest challenges was ensuring that curved panels remained structurally viable and prefabrication-friendly. This required close study of grain orientation, lamination patterns, moisture behavior, and panel thickness.Another challenge was developing connections that accommodate slight rotations without overcomplicating assembly. These constraints ultimately shaped the degree of twist we pursued and informed the tower’s vertical structural rhythm. Rather than seeing these limitations as obstacles, we treated them as design drivers—letting the natural behavior of CLT define what was possible and grounding the final form in material logic.
The metaphor of living within a tree guided our decisions from concept through detailing. Trees grow through layered fibers, gradual rotation, and adaptive structure—qualities we translated into the building’s twisting CLT envelope.This metaphor also informed the interior atmosphere. The warm timber surfaces, carved alcoves, shifting volumes, and light filtering through layered panels are all meant to evoke the qualities of inhabiting a living organism rather than a mechanical tower. The goal was to create an environment that feels grounded, tactile, and organic even as it rises above the city.
Spira Silva’s placement along the Williamsburg waterfront was a deliberate decision shaped by both context and ambition. Located beside Domino Park in one of Brooklyn’s fastest-developing neighborhoods, the site offers high visibility, constant foot traffic, and a dramatic backdrop formed by the Williamsburg Bridge. But equally important, positioning the project directly on the East River allows the building to be experienced from Manhattan—inviting people across the water to appreciate its form, materiality, and contribution to the skyline.This visibility became especially meaningful given the project’s use of mass timber. Timber high-rises or timber construction remain exceptionally rare in New York due to code and fire-safety constraints, so part of the design’s mission was to reimagine how a timber skyscraper could enrich the city. The tower’s twisted geometry showcases its structural logic while opening views toward the river, park, and bridge, appearing as a warm, sculptural counterpoint to the steel-and-concrete landscape when seen from across the water.
Our early simulations tested how different rotations and surface angles affected solar exposure across the podium and tower. These iterative studies identified a geometry that maximized daylight penetration while reducing direct solar heat gain on the most exposed façades. At the same time, we had to constrain the extent of the twist to maintain structural integrity—so the final form represents a careful balance between daylighting/environmental optimization and structural efficiency.
Spira Silva demonstrates that mass timber can move beyond flat plates and rectilinear forms and become an active generator of spatial and structural innovation in high-rise architecture. By relying on a single repeated panel, twisted through controlled logic, the project shows how variation and architectural richness can be achieved through prefabrication rather than complexity.We hope the work encourages future developments to explore timber not just as a sustainable alternative, but as a material capable of redefining urban typologies—making tall buildings lighter, warmer, and more environmentally responsive.
The variation from open to enclosed spaces across the tower was intentionally crafted to support both individual comfort and community engagement. Large, open office zones promote transparency and collaboration, while the narrower, sculpted residential spaces create a sense of intimacy and retreat.
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