Archinect - News

Massive NYC development grinds to a halt

2021-02-08T16:38:00-05:00

Even more perilous, the promised second phase of Hudson Yards — eight additional buildings, including a school, more luxury condos and office space — appears on indefinite hold as the developer, the Related Companies, seeks federal financing for a nearly 10-acre platform on which it will be built. Related, which had said the entire project would be finished in 2024, no longer offers an estimated completion date.

The New York Times is reporting on the uncertain future of the $25 billion Hudson Yards mega-development in Manhattan’s Far West Side.

The starchitect-studded development is reeling from ongoing effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, as luxury condos remain unsold and commercial tenants go under. Additionally, tourist attractions remain closed and the development's centerpiece—Heatherwick Studio's Vessel—has been closed following its third suicide in less than a year.

The situation enveloping Hudson Yards is representative of the state of speculative real estate across the country, though the Manhattan project is perhaps the nation's largest single site. Developers, architects and the entire real estate vertical are rethinking the needs of cities in which dramatically more people are working from home, demand for office space is shrinking, and delivery services are bringing more food and products directly to our doorsteps.

New York's population drain heads for smaller regional cities

2020-09-08T12:32:00-04:00

Instead of a house with a picket fence and a front yard, many urbanites have opted to rent in newly developed apartment buildings or to buy condominiums in denser, walkable suburban communities, where apartments tend to be bigger and offer more outdoor space than comparable units in the city.

Sydney Franklin of The New York Times highlights the growing demand for dense—but not too dense—urban developments located in secondary cities by those fleeing New York City as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Franklin highlights a collection of recently completed low- to mid-rise apartment and condominium developments across the region, including the new Allure Harbor Point development in Stamford, Connecticut, a 435-unit multifamily tower fronting the city's harbor, as projects that could shape the region's near-term urban future.

CetraRuddy to bring 291-unit affordable housing complex to Brooklyn

2020-07-22T14:53:00-04:00

New York City-based firm CetraRuddy Architecture and a project team that includes the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects, and nonprofit housing developer CAMBA Housing Ventures have announced a plan to bring a 291-unit affordable housing complex to central Brooklyn.

The project aims to bring housing, supportive services, a design studio and exhibition space, recreational areas, and other neighborhood-serving amenities to the area as part of a larger, $1.4 billion housing and services project slated for the neighborhood.

The development, which is wrapped in grey and white bricks and features punched window openings, includes rooftop terraces and generously planted ground level spaces. Of the 291 units, 146 homes will be set aside for youth aging out of foster care, formerly incarcerated individuals, and formerly homeless young adults, according to an announcement from Governor Cuomo's office.

SO – IL's Florian Idenburg pens an op-ed opposing the boarding-up of museums

2020-07-06T18:13:00-04:00

Rather than fancy restaurants and gimmicky stores, lobbies could host outside organizations to convene and organize. The museum might act as a partner and participant, catalyst, and amplifier. Here, there are no bananas stuck to the wall, but ample meaningful information for an active audience. Guards would protect patrons over property. And during the next protest, lobbies could open up and transform into staging grounds, sanctuary spaces, and broadcasting stations for citizen journalists.

Architect Florian Idenburg offers alternative uses for boarded up museum fronts in New York City during the social uprising and protests and questions the corporate policies now running the museum's public interface on city's sidewalks.

"Amid the stream of information about systemic racism and demands for societal change filling my Instagram feed, a recent series of posts by my friend Lucie Rebeyrol stood out. She shared images of the glass-enclosed lobbies of three leading New York City museums—the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New Museum—hermetically boarded up with countless sheets of plywood."

A new network of pedestrian and cycling bridges could come to New York City

2020-07-01T13:29:00-04:00

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering, T.Y. Lin International, and Sam Schwartz Engineering have unveiled a proposal for a new bridge connecting Queens and Manhattan.

The so-called "Queens Ribbon" proposal is part of a larger set of pedestrian and bicycle bridges proposed by the design team that aim to bring expanded connectivity to the New York City and eastern New Jersey region. The Queens Ribbon bridge, according to the group, would be the first new bridge crossing into Manhattan's business district since 1909.

The design consortium that created the bridge proposals was formed, according to a press release, in the wake of COVID-19 to "develop transportation improvements that would not only be of value during 'normal' times, but would also provide a lifeline in future crises."

The statement continues: "During the COVID-19 outbreak, New Yorkers have been turning to walking and biking in great numbers. After 9/11, Super Storm Sandy, the 2003 blackout, and transit strikes, walking ...

Largest Gothic cathedral in the world to become COVID-19 field hospital in New York

2020-04-10T16:05:00-04:00

The vast interior of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan stood empty on Monday, the thousands of chairs that normally sit beneath its soaring ceiling and stained-glass windows removed to make room for a more grim sight: a coronavirus field hospital.

Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City tells The New York Times, “Traditionally, in earlier centuries, cathedrals were always used this way, like during the plague. So this is not outside the experience of being a cathedral, it is just new to us.”

Ruling could force developer to demolish top 20 floors of Manhattan luxury tower

2020-02-17T11:10:00-05:00

Developers SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America may be forced, under a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling, to tear down the top 20 stories of a nearly-completed 56-story luxury residential skyscraper in New York City designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects.

The New York Times reports that last week, New York Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry found that the property at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the city’s Upper West Side was being developed in excess of its allowed zoning. The judge ordered the New York City Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit for a tower currently under construction at the 200 Amsterdam Avenue site, as part of this revocation, the portions of the building that exceed the allowed zoning envelope for the site will have to be removed.

Previously on Archinect: “Stepped NYC tower designed by Elkus Manfredi heads toward completion.” View of the 200 Amsterdam tower. Image courtesy of 200 Amsterdam.

The exact building height and density allowe...

Stepped NYC tower designed by Elkus Manfredi heads toward completion

2019-12-06T16:12:00-05:00

An eye-catching stepped luxury residential tower designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects is nearing completion in New York City.

New York YIMBY reports that the 668-foot tower, 200 Amsterdam, topped out in August of this year. In the months since, the tower's crown has taken shape as its glass and Carrara marble-wrapped facade panels have continued they way up the spire.

A rendering highlighting the tower's stepped crown. Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects.

The 51-story tower is set to contain 112 residential units as well as a series of high-end building amenities, including an indoor swimming pool, virtual golf room, and children's play space, among other elements. CetraRuddy is leading the interior design for the project, which features a collection of 3-, 4-, and 5-bedroom units.

The tower is the latest stepped monolith to take shape in the city, as the SHoP Architects-designed 111 West 57th features a similar, though much taller, profile. Like the SHoP tower, 200 Amste...

Accessibility lapses at Hunters Point library continue to draw ire online and in person

2019-11-06T13:17:00-05:00

In the weeks following the much-anticipated opening of the Steven Holl Architects-designed Hunters Point Library in Queens, New York City, much of the public discourse regarding the structure has focused on a collection of accessibility and design oversights embodied by the library's design.

A recent article in The New York Times highlights several of these issues, which include the location of the library's adult fiction collections along a series of inaccessible terraced levels as well a relative lack of elevators in the facilities. According to the article, the complex, which was in the works for nearly two decades, is served by a singular lift, a condition that has made the building difficult to navigate, especially for patrons with disabilities and parents who have children. The arrangement has left many on social media with a sour taste, as suggested fixes, including having librarians access collections by hand for patrons, have been interpreted...

Sou Fujimoto unveils brick-and-glass tower in Brooklyn

2019-09-25T16:00:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled a proposal for the firm's first project in the New York City. The Collective, as the 10-story residential mixed-use development is known, is set to rise in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. When completed, the project will bring 440 housing units and a collection of co-working, dining, and public plaza spaces to the area.

Image courtesy of The Collective / Artefactorylab.

The three-building complex is faced with brick modules and features square-shaped punched openings as well as a series of all-glass enclosures designed to bring daylight and views into shared and amenity spaces. The Collective will bring a mix of unit types to the site, including 2- and 3-bedroom suites and studio apartments.

The complex is set to be built over the site of the former Slave Theater, a structure that once served as a community gathering and protest space. The Slave Theater that was torn down in 2016 after a protracted ownership dispute, according to Curb...