Archinect - News

WXY opens beachfront community center for Rockaway, Queens

2024-04-30T17:28:00-04:00

WXY Architecture + Urban Design has opened its new Arverne East Nature Preserve and Welcome Center in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens.

The project forms the first phase of New York City’s first net-zero residential community with 1,650 new units. It was realized at 6,000 square feet and includes a community meeting room and space for the Parks and Recreation Department's Urban Park Rangers program and The Campaign Against Hunger.

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albert Vecerka/Esto

WXY Founding Principal Claire Weisz describes: "Arverne East represents a unique and innovative path forward for the Rockaways — one rooted in honoring local knowledge, collective power, and an ongoing practice of community stewardship. The sustainable and resilient architecture creates an inviting, accessible space to connect with nature — a promontory for everyone from beachgoers to community organizers to Parks Department staff."

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albert Vecerka/Esto

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albe...

Noguchi Museum appoints long-time staffer Amy Hau as its next director

2023-12-15T12:56:00-05:00

The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum has announced the appointment of Amy Hau as its next Director.

The appointment continues a more than thirty-year working relationship that first began in 1986 when Hau was hired as an assistant at the then one-year-old Long Island City, Queens institution.

Hau left the museum in 2015 to serve as the Managing Principal of New York’s WXY Architecture + Urban Design. Before that time, she had been credited with overseeing a restorative $23 million capital campaign and the development of a new master plan for the campus. Hau has held titles including Administrative Director, Assistant to the Executive Director, and Assistant to Isamu Noguchi during her first tenure and will lean on additional experience on Queens' Community Board 1 and several other local cultural groups in the execution of her new duties.

“Amy represents not only the profound legacy of the Museum but also embodies its dynamic, polyvocal future,” Spencer Bailey, the museum...

Denver has hired its first chief urban designer

2022-08-17T13:05:00-04:00

The City of Denver has hired its first chief urban designer. Following a nearly year-long search, Eugenia Di Girolamo was selected as the city’s first employee to focus exclusively on urban design.

Di Girolamo most recently worked as the deputy director for urban design at the New York City Department of City Planning and will now be tasked with establishing a long-term plan for how Denver will develop, with a focus on community engagement.

As reported by Westword, Laura Aldrete, executive director of Denver Community Planning and Development, wrote to city staffers in an email stating: “Eugenia will work collaboratively with policymakers, Denver residents, and the development industry to create public spaces and neighborhoods that, by design, promote inclusivity, resiliency to climate change, and improve public health and well-being. In this position, she will champion design excellence citywide, from how it feels to walk down the street in Denver’s neighborhoods to large-scale t...

Storm King Art Center announces $45 million revitalization

2022-08-05T18:43:00-04:00

Storm King Art Center has announced a $45 million capital project that will see the creation of a new welcome area, the construction of a conservation, fabrication, and maintenance building, and the advancement of the Center’s endeavors in landscape stewardship and environmental sustainability.

The undertaking aims to creatively improve and preserve Storm King’s 500-acre site in New Windsor, New York. The museum is working with a global team of consultants, including project partners heneghan peng architects, WXY architecture + urban design, and landscape architecture firms Gustafson Porter + Bowman and Reed Hilderbrand.

The initiative responds to the need to support continued growth in visitation and programming at the Center. According to a project announcement, the overall design and vision are guided by three core values: "A Gracious Arrival, Support for Artistic Vision, and A Sustainable Future." The development hopes to refocus on staff, artists, and visitors.

The new "Welco...

First phase of mixed-use affordable housing development atop former juvenile detention center site opens in the Bronx

2022-06-22T15:11:00-04:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the completion of the first phase of a five-acre redevelopment project called The Peninsula. The project will bring hundreds of affordable homes and community amenities to the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood. It is the site where Adams was held at 15 years old.

In 2011 the detention center was closed after 54 years in operation, and was notorious for its poor conditions. Today, the initial $121 million phase of the mixed-use development has been completed, including 183 affordable units for New Yorkers earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, with 18 homes specifically reserved for individuals who previously experienced homelessness. In addition, the building features a range of amenities, including a community room, a children’s playroom, a fitness room, and bike storage space.

The development includes a cultural arts center with a state-of-the-art black ...

Center for Climate Solutions on NYC's Governors Island proposed

2020-09-21T15:02:00-04:00

So it was, in a sense, good news that the nonprofit Trust for Governors Island released a proposal on Monday to rezone disused parts of the island, long set aside for economic redevelopment. It’s an aspirational plan, more than anything. The goal, which has been circulating for a while, is to incubate a new climate research center. Similar ideas have been advanced for decades on Governors Island.

Yankee Pier Plaza. Image courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design/bloomimages.

NYT architecture critic Michael Kimmelman on the recently announced plan by the Trust for Governors Island to develop a center for climate solutions, designed by WXY architecture + urban design, on parts of the island.

Western Promenade. Image courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design/bloomimages.

"Architecturally speaking, everything will come down to the details — and the as-yet-undetermined tenant(s)," Kimmelman writes. "Meanwhile, here’s hoping the rezoning passes city muster. Planning the future of New York is what we need now. It involves many steps. This is a small but useful one. We need more."

Southeastern Promenade. Image courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design/bloomimages.

Find details about the Trust's plan here.

Gensler, WXY, SITU, and others collaborate on 100-page guide for safe social distancing in schools

2020-06-03T14:20:00-04:00

Gensler, WXY, PSF Projects, PBDW, SITU, and Urban Projects Collaborative have come together with Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools (LAB) to develop a toolkit that explores ideas for how school layouts and operating procedures might change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, the guide is geared toward re-designing the entry sequences at schools to allow for increased coronavirus testing, required social distancing, and for the safe travel between home and school for children. The adaptations are also geared toward reworking the sidewalks and spaces immediately around school entrances in order to accommodate the long lines that will result as new, slower arrival procedures are implemented for students.

Previously on Archinect: "AIA updates pandemic re-occupancy design tools." Photo courtesy of Lincoln Barbour.

Additionally, the guide offers approaches for establishing social distancing within the classroom, ways of providing overhead covering for queuing students, ad...

BIG and WXY propose public realm improvements for Downtown Brooklyn

2019-12-27T16:29:00-05:00

A new plan by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership—a consortium of three business improvement districts—seeks to make room for all of those people by curtailing car access and installing protected bike lanes, colorful street furniture, and monumental gathering spaces.

Despite rapid population growth, Downtown Brooklyn seems to be missing the appeal for the increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists.

The newly unveiled Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Vision, developed jointly by WXY architecture + urban design and Bjarke Ingels Group in collaboration with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, proposes a number of public realm, streetscape & green infrastructure improvements for an entire neighborhood.

Gallatin Place reimagined. Image courtesy of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership

WXY replaces juvenile detention center in The Bronx with affordable housing

2019-11-11T21:00:00-05:00

WXY architecture + urban design, Body Lawson Associates, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) have broken ground on a $300 million redevelopment plan that will replace the defunct Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in The Bronx with up to 740 units of affordable housing and a slew of community-serving uses.

Phase one of the project, the phase currently under construction, aims to bring 183 units of affordable housing earmarked for "extremely-low," "very-low," and "low-income" families, according to New York YIMBY. Within the total, YIMBY reports, 18 units will be made available to people who have previously experienced homelessness.

The site is marked by a collection of public plazas and tree-filled passageways. Image courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design.

Ultimately, over 17,000 square feet of retail, 56,000 square feet of light industrial uses, and 53,500 square feet of community facilities will be included on the site of what once was a decrepit ...

Brooklyn Navy Yard reveals expanded master plan

2018-10-01T18:26:00-04:00

This week, the Navy Yard released new renderings and an expanded master plan that shows a 30-year plan for the complex. Developed with the multidisciplinary design firm WXY, the master plan includes three new buildings totaling 5.1 million square feet [...]. The plan also includes increased public access to the complex, including retail and open space, and improved wayfinding and circulation. The expected cost is $2.5 billion, coming on the heels of a nearly complete $1 billion expansion.

Curbed New York has a lengthy piece up about the recently unveiled new master plan for the 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard megadevelopment.

Rendering: bloomimages; Image via BNYDC/WXY architecture + urban design

Members of the public are invited to join a series of tours of new projects (including BLDG 77 & New Lab by Marvel Architects as well as S9 Architecture's newly opened Dock 72) and a presentation of the new master plan by representatives from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and WXY + architecture + design tomorrow, October 2, from 4 – 7:30pm. The event Anchoring Manufacturing: Brooklyn Navy Yard is presented by the Urban Design Forum and requires prior registration.

Rendering: bloomimages; Image via BNYDC/WXY architecture + urban design

Anable Basin proposal envisions a massive mixed-use district along the Long Island City waterfront

2017-11-14T14:49:00-05:00

The plastics company, Plaxall, announced on Tuesday a massive rezoning proposal to allow for a mixed-use district in Anable Basin, the area surrounding a 149-year-old inlet located in Long Island City. Since founding the company more than 70 years ago, the Plaxall family has purchased and rehabilitated properties in the neighborhood and currently manages over one million square feet of space. Achieved through rezoning, the proposal calls for 335,000 square feet for industrial uses, 4,955 housing units with 25 percent of them affordable, a 700+ seat public school and a new, elevated promenade. If the rezoning is approved, construction is anticipated to begin in 2020 with a completion date in 2034, but no official timeline has been set.

The Anable Basin rezoning would cover about 14.7 acres, with Plaxall owning about 12.6 already. The district would be bordered by 45th Avenue and 44th Drive to the north, Vernon Boulevard to the east, 46th Road to the south, and 5th Street and the East...

Michael Kimmelman in praise of NYC's new garage-and-salt-shed complex: "Best examples of new public architecture in the city"

2015-12-22T14:14:00-05:00

After years of noisy protests, the New York City Department of Sanitation’s new garage-and-salt-shed complex has opened in Hudson Square, on the northern edge of TriBeCa. [...] The garage and shed have ended up being not just two of the best examples of new public architecture in the city but a boon to the neighborhood, whether the wealthy neighbors have come around to it or not. I can’t think of a better public sculpture to land in New York than the shed.

Architects to the Rescue?

2013-09-09T14:19:00-04:00

Almost a dozen major architecture contests are underway. By calling in the pros, city and federal officials are casting a wide net for fixes. “We don’t have all the good ideas, and I don’t care who does have them,” Mayor Bloomberg said recently.

New York City and the feds are turning to design luminaries from the city and around the globe to help the five boroughs rebuild. But are the designers up to the task of saving the city from the next disaster? And will anyone actually follow their advice?

WXY & DLANDSTUDIO selected for QueensWay feasibility study

2013-08-27T18:49:00-04:00

[...] WXY Architecture + Urban Design and DLANDSTUDIO have been selected to lead a feasibility study and planning phase for the QueensWay in Queens, NY, after the Trust for Public Land and Friends of the QueensWay announced the competition winners on Aug. 20. Similar to urban revival projects like the NYC High Line, the QueensWay is a linear greenway park that will replace the abandoned 3.5-mile-long railway of the former Long Island Rail Road line—which has been dormant since 1962.

Additionally, the Trust for Public Land and Friends of the QueensWay are sponsoring the just-launched ENYA 2014 "Queensway Connection: Elevating the Public Realm" ideas competition that you can read about here.

The Brooklyn Tech Triangle as the next Silicon Valley?

2013-08-12T17:49:00-04:00

The Brooklyn Tech Triangle could become the next Silicon Valley -- if the strategic plan to bolster the emerging tech hub comes to full fruition. The plan was developed over a six-month period by a multidisciplinary team led by WXY Architecture + Urban Design and the Brooklyn Tech Triangle coalition (Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the DUMBO Improvement District, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation). The Tech Triangle is projected to bring immense growth to the local economy as soon as 2015.

In 2012, local tech and creative firms participated in a study conducted by the coalition that revealed the Triangle's potential for economic impact and innovation. The Triangle contains Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Key objectives in the strategic plan include enhancing workforce development, increasing availability of affordable real estate, improving infrastructure and transportation routes, and public-space creation. In summation, the plan aims to...

Grand Central Terminal Scheme by WXY Architecture + Urban Design

2012-10-23T19:12:00-04:00

A few days ago, we reported about SOM's and Foster + Partners' proposals for The Next 100, a design challenge for the future of the public realm around NYC's Grand Central Terminal.

Here is now also the entry by the third of the three firms that were selected to submit their visions, New York-based WXY Architecture + Urban Design.

Postcard night view

Project Description from the Architects:

WXY Architecture + Urban Design was one of three distinguished firms invited by New York City's Municipal Arts Society to create a vision for the future of the public areas around Grand Central Terminal and the surrounding East Midtown district. With deep experience in civic projects, the firm has proposed opening up more public space to city dwellers and visitors for enjoyment and reflection. The plan would also create inviting thoroughfares devoted to pedestrians and bicycle riders.

Tower looking up

“New zoning rules should trigger real transportation links to public space....