The terrace garden is an extension of a new penthouse located in downtown Manhattan. Created on a raised structural system, wood pallets with embedded planters form an interesting composition of spaces. The vegetation frames views of the city and screens the parapet wall, while simultaneously screening the sound and sight of the traffic below. The wind animates the grasses to amplify the contrast between built and organic forms.Prism-shaped skylights rise above the grasses to illuminate the rooms below and function as glowing lanterns in the evening. The skylight effect repeats in the parapet wall, formed by an extension of the sloped window below. Here, grasses frame a view of the river. A vine-covered metal screen extends through the roof to reach another terrace on the roof above.