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Archtober 2024: Check out these Buildings of the Day with architect-led tours in NYC next month

2024-09-25T11:34:00-04:00

Archtober is back for its 13th edition in New York City. The month-long event, organized each year by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with partner organizations, includes the always-popular Building of the Day spotlight, offering architects a unique close-up inspection of superlative new projects in the region with tours led by architects and other design professionals.

You can view the complete list of this year's sites below and use the Archtober Map to New York as your handy mobile guide.

Domino Sugar Refinery by Practice for Architecture (PAU). Photo by Max Touhey

Wednesday, October 2: 520 Fifth Avenue
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)

Thursday, October 3: Sportime Randall’s Island/John McEnroe Tennis Academy
Architect: Ricardo Zurita Architecture and Planning P.C.

Friday, October 4: Inwood Library
Architect: Andrew Berman Architect

Saturday, October 5: Bronx River Greenway/Starlight Park
Architect: NV5

Sunday, October 6: Brick House
Architect: Philip Johnson; Restorati...

Domino Square opens, completing Field Operations' Domino Park contribution in Williamsburg

2024-09-23T20:20:00-04:00

The completed and final piece of Domino Park at the redeveloped Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been unveiled after developer Two Trees Management opened the one-acre Domino Square to the public for the first time on Monday.

Image: Daniel Levin for Two Trees Management

The square extends the larger six-acre Domino Park design from Field Operations, establishing a 33,300 square foot public area between the completed One Domino Square residences and The Refinery at Domino office component to be used for public gatherings as a retail-lined extension of the urban realm.

Image: Daniel Levin for Two Trees Management

Brooklyn's Studio Cadena collaborated with Field Operations in order to create a distinct and alluring space that can be operated in all seasons. A lifted edge interior bowl fitted with corten steel enclosures is framed by tiered amphitheater-like seating and large planters in between the two buildings. On the other side, a retail arcade addresses the ...

Get Lectured: Pratt Institute, Fall '24

2024-09-16T08:19:00-04:00

The Pratt School of Architecture has shared its public lecture information as part of our Fall 2024 Get Lectured look at what’s in store for the new academic year.

The action begins with a panel discussion on the life and work of pioneering architect Debora Reiser on September 12th, followed by another concerning the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on September 18.

Another conversation with Lydia Kallipoliti on September 19th on 'Our Dirty Footprint' precedes the start of Climate Week NYC, which ends in the September 30 conversation 'Design Advocated' featuring Michael K. Chen and five other practitioners. Alejandro Echeverri presents a lecture on equitable design efforts in his hometown of Medellín on October 10. Following that, a conversation on the intersection of artificial intelligence and Indigenous design between Dr. Harriet Harriss and Vicki Weiner takes place on October 29.

Next, a lecture from Keller Easterling will be presented by the Master of Landscape Arc...

Win tickets to Beaux Arts Ball 2024: HEAT

2024-09-10T18:40:00-04:00

Next Friday, September 20th, the Architectural League of New York is hosting its annual Beaux Arts Ball. This year’s event will be themed HEAT and examine the challenges that climate change imposes on the built environment as its subject, asking those in attendance to imagine a better future relative to how the current "foundation of extractivism, carbonization, anthropocentrism, and technocracy are put under increasing pressure."

The event takes place inside the Turbine Hall of the new Herzog & de Meuron-restored Powerhouse Arts venue in Brooklyn beginning at 9:00 PM. The space will feature a special installation piece related to the theme designed by Olalekan Jeyifous, lighting design by Joel Fitzpatrick Studio, and a live set from DJ Tara. Be sure to dress festively and prepare to dance the night away!

Thanks to The Architectural League, Archinect is giving away five party tickets to five of our readers.

For a chance to win a ticket, leave a comment below naming your favorite rec...

Pratt's School of Architecture Fall programming features RUR, Deborah Berke, Curry J. Hackett, and return of Climate Week NYC

2024-09-06T12:48:00-04:00

This Fall semester at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture, check out the slate of upcoming events and speakers coming to Brooklyn as part of our look at what our Archinect Partner Schools have planned.

The term begins with a timely reflection on the influential seven-decade career of the late pioneering female architect Debora Reiser on September 12th at 6:15 pm in Higgins Hall. Featuring Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, Deborah Berke, and others, the event will stage a series of five-minute talks in celebration of her life in architecture and is followed by the kick-off of Climate Week NYC.

Deborah Berke. Photo: Winnie Au, courtesy Deborah Berke Partners.

That includes a September 23rd panel discussion hosted by the MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems and a September 28th walking tour of North Brooklyn. September will also see the start of Adaptations 2.0 Island(ing), which features a September 24th panel discussion from the Admiral's House on Governors Island. Pratt's ...

Archtober, NYC’s Architecture and Design Festival, Launches 14th Year

2024-08-21T13:48:00-04:00

Archinect has been a proud sponsor of Archtober since 2011

Archtober, a New York City-based platform that promotes the discovery of architecture and design through experiences and content, will celebrate the next installment of its annual festival from October 1–31, 2024. In collaboration with over 100 partners and sponsors across the city, the 2024 festival will gather events, exhibitions, resources, and activities across the five boroughs to raise awareness of the importance of architecture and design in New York City.

In recent years, Archtober has continued to grow and deepen its impact with the addition of an annual festival theme, which we launched in 2023. Our first theme, Bridging Divides, reflected a profound commitment to fostering inclusivity, innovation, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between individuals, communities, and the spaces they inhabit. This year’s theme, Tracing the Future, delves into the evolving landscape of NYC through affordable hous...

Brooklyn architecture firms are hiring! Here are 13 featured job opportunities

2024-08-16T08:28:00-04:00

Looking for new architecture career opportunities in Brooklyn? You're in luck! This week's curated employment highlight from Archinect Jobs features 13 exciting openings for architects, designers, project managers, and communications specialists in the borough. (Interested in the greater New York City area? See who's hiring here.)

To learn about specific job titles in the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. Also, follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, and interviewing skills and increase your chances of getting that next job.

SO – IL seeks a Designer
"You will be working as a team member and be expected to create new ideas both in collaboration and independently within an international design-driven studio. You will work as part of a team to design and produce drawings, convey architectural concepts, create renderings, build presentations and working models, and will report directly to the Project Leader and Principal...

Olalekan Jeyifous' reconstituted 'Unmonument' comes to Brooklyn with the Black Reconstruction Collective

2024-07-30T13:01:00-04:00

Next week, Brooklyn’s Weeksville Heritage Center begins the first of a new imaginative public art installations series from the Black Reconstruction Collective. There, the industrial ‘Unmonument’ will take center stage starting August 8 as the instigator of several other small site activations surrounding it. The aim is to challenge the conventional notions of what the collective says are the most frequently perpetuated ‘myths’ about power, permanence, and the collective experience of the societies that construct them.

As a memorial to the many liberated Black diasporic communities across the country, such as Weeksville, the installation highlights an important narrative within Black history and is augmented by programming from the multidisciplinary oral tradition incubator Black Discourse.

The Crown Heights rendition, reconfigured by Olalekan Jeyifous, precedes Sekou Cooke's Syracuse contribution in September; another from Felecia Davis in Bellefonte, PA, in December; and, next ye...

Selldorf Architects' first residential towers shine on the Brooklyn skyline

2024-06-28T11:40:00-04:00

Selldorf Architects recently debuted the studio's first two residential skyscrapers at the redeveloped One Domino Square site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

With an allotment of 398 new rental units and 160 total condominiums, the project boasts more than 700,000 square feet of usable space united by a seven-story podium with 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail spaces and another 40,000 worth of amenities offerings spread throughout three upper-level floors that connect via an elliptical central staircase feature.

Image: William Jess Laird

Both the 39-story mixed-use condominium tower and its 55-story rental neighbor feature an iridescent porcelain tile-clad facade designed to change color throughout the day as they reflect and shift to meet the evolving sunlight.

Image: William Jess Laird

Two 6,500- and 5,000-square-foot terraces at levels six and eight provide further space for private entertainment and relaxation for tenants and their guests, with a heat...

Studio Gang-designed agricultural education center in Brooklyn breaks ground

2024-06-07T15:22:00-04:00

Last weekend, the Studio Gang-designed Marlboro Agricultural Education Center (MAEC) broke ground in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood. The new 9,900-square-foot, $18.2 million project transforms the site of the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) Marlboro Houses into an education, job training, nutrition and urban agriculture hub.

The Center is being delivered as part of the New York City Department of Design and Construction’s Design-Build program. It aims to build on efforts to strengthen food autonomy and security in underserved neighborhoods. It also strives to empower young adults in these communities to engage with local, sustainable food production.

The Center will feature a rooftop greenhouse dedicated to hydro- and aquaponics. It will also include spaces dedicated to community activities and outreach, including a teaching kitchen, a pantry where produce grown on-site will be packaged before being distributed to neighborhood residents, and a multipurpose room that wi...

Pratt SoA Dean Quilian Riano outlines plan to address space challenges with proposed new building

2024-05-30T14:43:00-04:00

In a new letter to faculty members at the Pratt School of Architecture, second-year Dean Quilian Riano has outlined the need for some $71 million worth of deferred maintenance and other upgrades to the 155-year-old Higgins Hall in keeping with the new Local Law 97 mandate for net zero operating capacity by 2050. This includes $57 million for maintenance and upgrades, plus an additional $14 million to increase the electrical capacity.

Local Law 97 requires new energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits, with a goal of a 40% reduction by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. Additionally, Higgins Hall has maxed out its Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and electrical capacity.

As a result, Riano said, the school must expand into a new building to accommodate its growing student body. A Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) will now be issued to developers. This process will explore leveraging Pratt Institute’s air rights to build housing, including affordable housing, and deliver ...

SO – IL shares facade details of forthcoming Nine Chapel residences in Brooklyn

2024-05-28T15:37:00-04:00

SO – IL’s next NYC residential project is wrapping up for client Tankhouse. Their design for the 14-story, 53,820-square-foot Nine Chapel residences features a perforated metallic facade system that reflects both seasons and the sun’s position while creating a permeable veil for the loggias and front porch entrances for each home on Chapel Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

Image credit: Jonathan Hokklo

“The drama of the building’s exterior is apparent even from far away. The opportunity here was less about how we fit into an existing fabric, and more about how we define this little spot in the city,” Tankhouse’s co-founder Sam Alison-Mayne says of the design.

Image credit: Valeria Flores

“The undulated metal facade is designed, configured, and textured to allow for different experiences, depending on from which angle it’s viewed, and the time of day. When walking behind it, you can feel the air coming through. If you see it from the street, it reflects in various ways — all thanks to the q...

Studio Libeskind's refreshing social housing development debuts at the Sumner Houses in Brooklyn

2024-05-24T18:25:00-04:00

Studio Libeskind has inaugurated its new social housing development in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, called The Atrium at Sumner, after a three-year, $132 million construction. The 11-story, 132,418-square-foot development yields 190 total units, with an 8,309-square-foot community space located on the ground floor along Marcus Garvey Boulevard.

Image: Hufton+Crow

The building’s design features a dramatic interplay of opening and solids in a folding form finished in distinct optic white EIFS facade cladding that distinguishes it from the brick buildings on the 66-year-old NYCHA campus. A year-round interior garden gives name to the development, which features a host of amenities included to support aging-in-place alternatives for senior residents of the studio and one-bedroom apartments, 25 of which come fully adapted for those living with disabilities or who are visually or hearing-impaired.

Image: Hufton+Crow

The project came together through a consortium of stakeholders that includes the New...

ODA plans new residential development in East Williamsburg

2024-04-16T14:14:00-04:00

ODA has revealed plans for a new residential project under construction in Brooklyn that will deliver 336 units of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Their design for the Lorimer House and Copper Lofts in East Williamsburg calls for a triangular block-scale development connected by a bridge, surrounding three small interior courtyards and defined by curved corners that soften its form in response to the site's unique dimensions.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Other aspects of the project include a third-floor pocket park space that combines with an upper-level amenity lounge and a circular roof deck with landscaping to give residents a total of 26,000 square feet of outdoor areas. The building's facade is composed of brick with horizontal metal panels, vertical metallic piers, and a slab edge to create an appealing visual character completed by integrated planters, balconies, and recessed terraces.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Durukan Design has been tasked with comp...

Brooklyn group opposes new Tony Hawk-backed skatepark: 'Pouring concrete is Stone Age'

2024-04-08T11:58:00-04:00

The city has construction plans for Mount Prospect Park, once the site of a lookout station for George Washington’s army. About 40,000 square feet of the 7.79-acre park are to be turned into one of the largest skateboarding spots on the East Coast. Some nearby residents are fighting the plan. [...] They say the poured-concrete skateboarding facility would take up precious green space in a city that does not have enough of it.

A total of four skatepark designs are scheduled to be built in the Bronx and Brooklyn, courtesy of The Skatepark Project (or TSP). Costs for a new park at the contested Brooklyn location are about $100,000.

The Mount Prospect Park location calls for 40,000 square feet worth of concrete to be poured, leading to local protests recently. Hayley Gorenberg of the group Friends of Mount Prospect Park told the Times, “Paving green space isn’t acceptable to the community, and it’s not the way for New York City to look forward to a more resilient future. It’s backwards thinking.”

Tony Hawk is also involved in Peterson Rich Office and OSD’s new adaptive reuse design for the Shepherd Gallery and Art Center in Detroit.

Frida Escobedo reveals first American residential design in Brooklyn

2024-04-04T15:16:00-04:00

Frida Escobedo’s first American residential commission has been revealed as a block-scale condominium project in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The designer of the new Modern and Contemporary Art Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in which she has set up a working studio) will deliver the new Bergen development at 209,000 square feet for client Avdoo & Partners by 2025.

It will stand as the second building project in the New York market for Escobedo following her collaboration with Handel on the new National Black Theatre mixed-use development in Harlem.

Image credit: DARCSTUDIO

Escobedo had gained notoriety in Mexico for residential projects, including Mar Tirreno 86, which will now inform her latest design, calling for 105 units configurable in 53 different types and ranging from studios to five bedrooms. The facade of the building is angled such that it maximizes natural light from an east-west direction, with porous openings made along the street level to produc...

Developer behind SHoP-designed The Brooklyn Tower is facing foreclosure on $240 million loan

2024-04-04T12:20:00-04:00

Michael Stern, the developer of SHoP’s new The Brooklyn Tower (also known by its address at 9 Dekalb Avenue), is facing foreclosure over a failure to pay a $240 million loan that was extended by Silverstein Properties in 2019 to complete the 93-story project, according to reports from The Real Deal.

As TDR pointed out, Stern is also responsible for 111 West 57th Street, which has had issues with cost overruns and other legal setbacks.

Stern, a veteran of the city’s high-stakes recent luxury market, is known for making huge bets on his projects. Speaking for a 2020 Financial Times profile, FXCollaborative’s Daniel Kaplan said of his approach, “He’s commissioned some very good architecture. The thing that’s really interesting about him is that all the things people say you can’t do — or you can’t do for the money — he says, ‘Forget it!’”

The tower, which stands as Brookly...

'Grenfell: in the words of survivors' play comes to New York this spring

2024-03-21T13:36:00-04:00

A new dramatization of the deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy is being staged next month at the St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, after traveling from the National Theatre in London, where it premiered last summer.

Playwright Gillian Slovo’s interviews with survivors are the basis for the play’s verbatim dialog. Directors Phyllida Lloyd and Anthony Simpson-Pike will reprise their roles for the four-week run, beginning an opening night performance on April 13th.

A July review of the first adaptation from The Guardian called it “a masterpiece of forensic fury.” The New York Times’ Alex Marshall wrote about the play's proselytizing effects, framing it as a democratic and justice-driven “call for change.”

The aftermath of the blaze that claimed the lives of 72 people has indeed led to several proactive reforms, including a recent mandate concerning cladding remediation and the appointment of a new building safety regulator. Potential criminal charges stemming from the London Me...

Pratt Institute launches new Center for Climate Adaptation aimed at researching resiliency solutions for island cities

2024-03-13T14:28:00-04:00

Pratt Institute has announced the creation of the new Center for Climate Adaptation (CCA). The initiative is part of its alignment with The New York Climate Exchange, a consortium of research institutions that will use Governor’s Island as its hub for climate change investigations and education. David Erdman, an associate professor in the Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (GAUD) program, will lead the center as its first Director.

Pratt says the new CCA is aimed partially at protecting global island cities such as New York and Singapore. The focus expands on the United Nations Archipelago Agenda and will include experts taken from every subfield of architecture and urban design. Pace University and Singapore University of Technology and Design have signed on as academic partners in the initiative as well.

The school's President, Frances Bronet, stated: “The Center combines our deep engagement with the local community and global networks, and our collaborative approach to critic...

VolvoxLabs opens internship combining digital fabrication, media, and immersive environments

2024-02-14T17:58:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Graphics/Multimedia Editor at The New York Times, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Physical Design + Fabrication Internship at VolvoxLabs.

The role, based in Brooklyn, NY, calls for an individual who is “passionate about technology-embedded installations, digital fabrication techniques, parametric design, and exploring new technologies in fabrication.” Among the qualifications sought after in internship applicants are basic digital fabrication knowledge and shop skills, alongside knowledge of 3D modeling software.

TETRA / KINETIC SCULPTURE by VolvoxLabs

Why the role interests us

The open role at VolvoxLabs offers us the opportunity to explore the work of a studio grounded in the intersection between digital and physical space. With a team spanning artists and technologists, the studio has built a portfolio of contemporary art installations and immersive environ...

Four masonry cultural buildings by Architecture Research Office: Your Next Employer?

2023-12-04T12:56:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Massachussets-based I-Kanda Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Architecture Research Office.

From their studio in Brooklyn, the firm has built a portfolio that, in their words, “unites beauty and form with strategy and intelligence.” In September, we reported on the firm’s plans for the Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape in Upstate New York, while in May, the firm was part of a wider team behind the design of a Brooklyn high school campus with a hydroponics greenhouse and outdoor teaching spaces.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Junior Designer to join their Brooklyn office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four masonry cultural buildings by Architecture Research Office that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Dia Chelsea. Image credit: Elizabeth Felicel...

Glazed brick accentuates Shakespeare, Gordon, Vlado: Architects’ new Brooklyn apartment complex

2023-11-24T09:00:00-05:00

Shakespeare, Gordon, Vlado: Architects (SGVA) has offered an insight into their completed multi-family housing scheme in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Named The Garnet, the project is defined by a gray and black masonry facade punctuated by jewel-toned glazed-brick accents.

Image credit: Alexander Severin

Built on a 15,000-square-foot lot adjacent to the Fulton Street subway line, the scheme holds 103 apartment units above a 12,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space. A second-floor roof terrace seeks to strengthen the residents’ connection to the outdoors, adding to an overall mission of creating “housing that feels expansive and liberating, rather than constrained by its affordability.”

Image credit: Alexander Severin

From the outside, the eleven-story structure is clad in textured masonry with bright accents to form a “pleasant and visually engaging street wall.” A red motif first established on the facad...

The new Sunset Park Library & Apartments bookend New York City's push for affordable housing

2023-11-21T14:20:00-05:00

A unique project addressing the need for affordable housing and library services has debuted in central Brooklyn with the completion of the recent Sunset Park Library & Apartments renovation from Magnusson Architecture and Planning and Mitchell Giurgola.

The project establishes a new 49-unit housing development in addition to an existing single-story structure from the 1970s. The program entails adding a six-story, 50,000-square-foot residential component above the now 20,000-square-foot library, which is expanded to twice its original size. The new building stands at eight stories in total, topped by a 45-kW rooftop PV array.

Image courtesy Brooklyn Public Library

“The Sunset Park Library and Apartments is a crowning achievement that tackles essential community needs and affordable living at a time when New York must urgently address its housing crisis. This historic collaboration between the Brooklyn Public Library and Fifth Avenue Committee exemplifies visionary leadership and pru...

Archtober 2023: NYC's Building of the Day series is back with architect-led tours

2023-09-26T18:58:00-04:00

Archtober, New York City's annual month-long festival of Architecture and Design, is about to commence once again, featuring a packed calendar of exciting events and activities across the five boroughs.

Organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with a host of partners, Archtober is returning its popular Building of the Day initiative, which offers unique opportunities to explore nearly 30 outstanding buildings and sites through tours led by architects and other design professionals.

Check out the list of this year's sites below and use the Archtober Map to New York as your handy mobile guide.

Monday, Oct 2: Powerhouse Arts. Photo: PBDW Architects.

Monday, Oct 2: Powerhouse Arts
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron; PBDW Architects

Tuesday, Oct 3: High Line - Moynihan Connector
Design: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Field Operations

Wednesday, Oct, 4: One South First
Architect: COOKFOX

Thursday,...

Win tickets to Beaux Arts Ball 2023: SEA CHANGE

2023-09-18T13:32:00-04:00

It's that time of the year again as the Architectural League of New York prepares to host its big annual Beaux Arts Ball on Friday, September 29. This year's festivities are organized under the 2023 theme of SEA CHANGE, which the League describes as a "call to collective action" to celebrate "circularity, reinvention, and the interdependence of planetary ecosystems and the built environment."

Brooklyn Navy Yard will host the Ball again, featuring an immersive installation by local studio CO Adaptive and lighting design by Joel Fitzpatrick and Ken Farmer. DJ Lina will keep the dancefloor packed and rumps shaking.

Thanks to The Architectural League, Archinect is giving away five tickets to five of our readers!

For a chance to win a ticket, leave a comment below naming your favorite recent architectural project, social movement, or technological innovation that truly represents a sea change, and briefly describe why you chose it. Only your first comment will count. Each winner will rec...

Get Lectured: Pratt Institute, Fall '23

2023-08-29T11:56:00-04:00

*Editor's note: The date for Neil Brenner's seminar has been updated.

With classes back in session, it’s time once again for our Get Lectured series to look at what’s happening this semester at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in Brooklyn.

Events this year are organized to answer the essential question: “How do we live together and share our built environment?” under the uniting theme of “cohabitations.”

The school shares: “Across the SoA, our students, staff, and faculty work deeply in looking at the design, planning, and management of affordable and equitable housing, structures that serve the public, as well as how to improve public space design and use — all while considering environmental justice and social equity. cohabitations is a school-wide provocation to bring together the work of our community — across our four departments of the School of Architecture — around this question.”

The Fall term begins on Thursday, September 14, with a lecture from former Columbia GS...

NYC approves Olalekan Jeyifous and Amanda Williams' Shirley Chisholm monument for Brooklyn

2023-07-18T14:48:00-04:00

New York City is getting a new monument dedicated to the late pioneering Brooklyn congresswoman Shirley Chisholm following the approval on Monday, July 17, of a sculpture designed by artists Olalekan Jeyifous and Amanda Williams.

The piece is part of the city’s new She Built NYC initiative, a series of public art commissions created under the de Blasio administration that will install monuments to historic trailblazers in every borough over a proposed four-year timeline.

A previously-approved version of the monument, which will be the first ever to depict a woman in Brooklyn, was delayed through the pandemic and will now restart using a slightly refined design featuring a gestalt of imagery that combines Chisholm’s silhouette and the U.S. Capitol Building dome into one 32-foot latticed steel form. The artists say this combination “symbolizes how she disrupted the perception of who has the right to occupy such institutions and to be an embodiment for democracy.”

The 2019 'Our Desti...

Herzog & de Meuron’s Powerhouse Arts restoration opens in Brooklyn

2023-06-06T14:56:00-04:00

A crossover arts and manufacturing project from Herzog & de Meuron opened on May 19 following several years of construction that remade a former brownfield site into the new home of the non-profit Powerhouse Arts in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Coinciding with the ongoing cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, the project reused a Turbine Hall located at the site of Brooklyn's Rapid Power Transit Station from 1904 while adding new space in the shell of a reinstated Bolier House building that was semi-preserved in the process.

Nicknamed “The Batcave” by many of the city’s graffiti taggers after its decommissioning in the 1950s, the site was decontaminated as part of the New York State Brownfield Cleanup program prior to the firm winning the project's commission and then beginning its planning phase at the end of 2016.

Herzog & de Meuron says: “The industrial landscape and history of the site play a pivota...

Take a look inside Woods Bagot's lobby design for The Brooklyn Tower

2023-05-30T19:55:00-04:00

Woods Bagot has shared photos of their ongoing interior work inside SHoP’s supertall landmark The Brooklyn Tower (formerly known as 9 DeKalb), in anticipation of the record-breaking high-rise’s completion later this year.

The project was led by Principal Krista Ninivaggi of Woods Bagot’s New York studio. Their brief for a lobby space and an amenity program called for a seamless transition between the 93-story building’s interior and exterior facade, whose own design was inspired by the imagined “Metropolis of Tomorrow” first envisioned by writer and architect Hugh Ferriss in the late-1920s.

Photo by Adrian Gaut

An assembly of wood veneers and milled panels scaled to the facade's extrusions feature prominently among the building’s interior. Further details include stone cladding and a vaulted ceiling that harkens to the former Dime Saving Bank that forms the tower’s base. Overall, The Brooklyn Tower includes a total of 547 apartment units, a commercial gym, and four pools in addition...

CannonDesign is pitching in to help acclimate migrants to NYC

2023-05-15T14:52:00-04:00

A new project from CannonDesign aimed at helping migrants who were relocated to Brooklyn’s Red Hook Cruise Terminal in the past year is providing hope to advocates for inclusive design as the city grapples with a vexing crisis that’s only expected to grow with the end of Title 42.

The project was initiated by Blue Cottage of CannonDesign team member Kimberly Silver, a resident of Red Hook, who, in reaction to Councilwoman Gale Brewer’s charge to do more, worked with fellow CannonDesign staffers Steffany Brady, Dylan Coonrad, and Abbey Furlow to strategize a set of wayfinding design solutions that can help better orient them to the neighborhood and city. Together, they say three core “functions” can be achieved as a result of the project.

Using Silver’s observations of the area, TRANSIT activates street surfaces and other barriers surrounding the terminal with clear trail marker-like visual wayfinding directions to the subway and nearby bus stations.

Image courtesy CannonDesign

NEIGH...