Lotus 315 is a 225,000 sf mixed use building located in East Orange NJ within New York City Metropolitan area. Project includes 30,000 Sf commercial space and 168 apartments with all unique layouts.

The L shape massing of the building connects neighbor building facades of the two streets seamlessly through a linear form with curved corner. Residential and commercial user approach to the building is separated and defined with different architectural massing strategies. On the residential entrance side, each floor is cantilevered gradually to create a canopy, whereas on the commercial entrance side each floor is setback to create a a gradual distance between the apartments and the commercial entries. This tiered design allowed for continuous terraces at each level which also provided apartments with varying depths to be stacked with additional study rooms for the deeper apartments. Also, similar tiered design strategy is used at the building ends to create terraces as well as privacy from adjacent driveways.

These massing strategies are tied together with a continuous ribbon like surface that creates the residential enclosure. Public commercial spaces and semi-public residential lobby and amenities are created by lifting up this ribbon surface at each end.  Each intermediate floor slab is treated with varying heights of continuous knee walls that terminate at or prior to the ribbon enclosure.  This gradual transition of bands allows for various transparency conditions throughout the facade and provides more visual significance to the ribbon surface.

Overall the design of the building achieves to create a mixed use environment that allows privacy, various amenities, unique and bright apartments with expansive outdoor spaces.