Archinect - News

These are the 10 most successful NYC architects of the past year according to TRD

2022-02-01T12:07:00-05:00

CRE publication The Real Deal has released its annual list of the ten most commercially successful firms in New York City’s high-profile building market. Most of our readers will recognize these firms as regulars in Archinect Jobs.

As the architects of record, these firms appeared in permitting documents for developments that totaled more than 13.5 million square feet in total area. TDR ranked the firms by the aggregated square footage of their business output.

SLCE took the top billing with 10 projects worth a total of 3.1 million square feet followed by Handel Architects, which had a total of five projects and 2.5 million square feet combined. The top two were followed by Perkins Eastman, which had six totaling 2 million square feet, including a planned 74-story development in Long Island City. Beyer Blinder Belle took the fourth slot with 1.4 million square feet and four developments, followed by Gene Kaufman Architects, which registered five with a total of 1.3 million square ...

Macy’s unveils $325M plan for public space and subway accessibility with new Herald Square tower

2021-05-11T17:17:00-04:00

It’s been two years since Macy’s first floated the idea of building a 700-950 foot office tower atop its Herald Square flagship, and it looks like the plan is getting closer to reality thanks to a $325 million private investment in transit accessibility and public infrastructure. This includes upgraded subway access, improved transit connections, ADA-accessible elevators, and a modernized car-free Herald Square and Broadway Plaza.

Renderings by FXCollaborative

Two options for the "new" Penn Station proposed

2021-04-22T20:35:00-04:00

Governor Cuomo has unveiled two new reconstruction options for transforming Penn Station into "a world-class, 21st-century transportation hub." New images released Wednesday afternoon show how transit officials hope to reinvent the dreary subterranean Midtown labyrinth into a modern, light-filled transit destination. The proposal lays out two distinct options, both of which would retain Madison Square Garden, but also require its purchase.

The designs are the work of FXcollaborative and WSP.

Brooklyn's tallest office tower tops out

2019-10-08T18:23:00-04:00

A new FXCollaborative-designed, 34-story office tower slated taking shape in Brooklyn has topped out ahead of its late-2020 completion date.

The 500,000-square-foot complex, located at 1 Willoughby Square (1WSQ), is billed as "Brooklyn's first ground-up office tower in a generation," and comes designed with oversized windows, column-free 14,500-square-foot floor-plates, and blue glazed brick exterior cladding.

Image courtesy of FXCollaborative.

The tower will be occupied by a school created in partnership with the New York Construction Authority and by the architecture firm itself; FXCollaborative has signed on as the project's anchor tenant. The tower's design was crafted in part by FXCollaborative partner Dan Kaplan as an "industrial loft for the 21st Century," according to a project website, an ethos that combines exposed structural elements, daylighting, and energy-efficient mechanical systems. The tower also features ample indoor-outdoor connections, including a series of ele...

Architects lobby for bird-friendly glass as NYC overhauls cladding regulations

2019-09-09T20:30:00-04:00

It is estimated that up to 1 billion birds die every year in the United States due to collisions with glass facades and buildings, according to experts at the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian.

This worrisome statistic has prompted municipalities to institute "bird-friendly" glass standards for certain types of buildings in cities as diverse as Minnesota, Oakland, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Toronto.

New York City is poised to become the latest municipality to try and reduce the number of bird collisions by adopting new rules that would require up to 90-percent of glass on new and altered buildings to be treated with films, coatings, and other decorative elements to ensure that birds can see and avoid the expanses.

FXCollaborative's Center for Global Conservation uses bird-safe glass. Image courtesy of David Sundberg/ESTO.

As the New York City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings continues to debate the proposed regulations, architects are speaking out...

See inside the Statue of Liberty’s new museum ahead of this week’s opening

2019-05-14T12:56:00-04:00

The Statue of Liberty is a universally recognized structure and symbol. But do most people know the story of its creation? Opening this Thursday, the new Statue of Liberty Museum aims to educate visitors about the history and legacy of the statue through immersive gallery spaces and artifacts. During a press preview last week, 6sqft toured the 26,000-square-foot museum and its landscaped roof, located on Liberty Island across from Lady Liberty herself.

All photos by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft.

Construction for new Statue of Liberty Museum progresses, opening date currently set for May 2019

2018-08-28T18:43:00-04:00

Since topping off last December, the new Statue of Liberty Museum continues to shape up ahead of schedule and is currently expected to open in May 2019. Last month, the Statue of Liberty Museum-Ellis Island Foundation launched a fundraising campaign that would help the construction of the new 26,000 square-foot space reach completion.

Rendering of the new Statue of Liberty Museum. Credit: FXCollaborative.

With FXCollaborative as architect and ESI Design in charge of exhibition design, the new museum will be accessible to more of the Statue of Liberty's estimated 4.3 million visitors annually. Below are a few recent construction photos that FXCollaborative shared with us:

Photo: Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.

The new museum will have a green roof, reflective glass exteriors, interiors and exteriors built with materials native to Liberty Island, as well as materials used to build the Statue of Liberty and Fort Wood, like Stony Creek granite, br...