100 Norfolk Street
Rising like an inverted ziggurat on a narrow Lower East Side lot, 100 Norfolk Street showcases a bold cantilevered form enabled by DeSimone’s creative structural engineering.
The 12-story, 50,000 SF residential building stacks diagonally upward, with two-story exposed steel trusses supporting dramatic cantilevers—up to 42 feet—above the street and neighboring rooftops.
| Client | Adam America Real Estate |
|---|---|
| Architect: | ODA |
| Size | 12 Stories | 50,000 SF (4,645 SM) | 38 units |
| Office: | New York |
| Completion: | 2018 |
To realize this unconventional massing, we designed a system of sequential trusses that redistribute floor area skyward, allowing more than 60 percent of the building’s volume to sit above its midpoint. The southeast corner’s largest cantilever is stabilized by long-span trusses that span back into the core, minimizing column obstruction and maintaining clean interior lines.
Each truss was erected over existing buildings and required precise staging to ensure stability throughout construction. Long-span metal deck was used to reduce the number of connections and allow generous headroom across floors.
The building’s base incorporates remnants of a pre-existing industrial structure, retained due to zoning restrictions. We integrated the new foundation and lateral systems while preserving key architectural elements. Strategic use of air rights and cantilevering allowed the structure to expand far beyond its original lot line—converting a constrained midblock site into high-performance, visually arresting, and desirable corner residences.
