Manhattan West (in red above) is a 17‐story affordable rental building between 10th and 11th Ave. and 55th and 56th St. The building was designed in response to an RFP issued by the City of New York. The project strategy was to design a larger building than the RFP requested and to spend the extra rental income on better building materials and finishes than competing teams offered. This bold strategy required WQB and their collaborator, the firm of Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee, to prove that their design would fit the scale of its surroundings. The solution was an“I” shaped design, with a six-story street wall continuous with the Potemkin building(in light-blue above), and a midsection that spans the block and matches the height of some neighboring 17‐story apartment towers. The Kretchmer Companies, ELH MGMT, and the Dermot Company were the developers. The design was submitted in 2007 and has yet to be awarded.