Critics have called it "pretentious as a noun." Supporters call it "a necessary vertigo." At dusk, the building does something strange. Because of the double-helix core and the specific angle of the glass, the setting sun splits into two distinct beams that chase each other around the interior. For fifteen minutes, the entire structure glows like a copper filament. Tourists press their noses against the exterior, mistaking it for a new Apple Store. Locals walk by without looking up, because looking up has become too familiar—and too disorienting.
Brooklyn, NY — In the nexus of the Williamsburg waterfront, where the rusted bones of industry meet the glassine sheen of luxury condos, there is a building that refuses to stand up straight. It doesn’t loom; it coils. This is Helicals , a five-story, mixed-use anomaly that locals either call “the brain” or “that place that makes you dizzy if you look up too fast.” helicals williamsburg
Helicals Williamsburg is not a destination. It is a loop. Enter it, and you will eventually exit exactly where you began, though you will swear the sidewalk is leaning two degrees to the left. And for a neighborhood built on reinvention, that slight tilt feels like home. Helicals is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. No photos on the spiral. No questions about the basement. Yes, they validate bikes. Critics have called it "pretentious as a noun