Archinect - News

Ida deaths highlight persistent flooding and housing issues in New York City’s low-lying immigrant neighborhoods

2021-09-03T14:50:00-04:00

As the fallout of Hurricane Ida comes into focus in both the Gulf Coast region and the Atlantic Northeast, one area of chronic concern has become ground zero for planning gaps that are increasingly deadly indicators of race and class in cities that number among the most expensive in the world.

The Hollis section of Queens in New York City, where 13 people were tragically killed in the flooding that gripped the city over the night on Wednesday as the unexpectedly intense storm bore down on the region, was particularly hard-hit relative to other neighborhoods in the borough of nearly 2.5 million.

Two people died in the basement of their 183rd Street apartment as storm waters collapsed walls and deluged buildings around Hollis. The neighborhood is prone to flooding and has been the subject of a multibillion-dollar sewage system upgrade that began in 2019 and is still undergoing construction, according to Mayor de Blasio.

Photos:183 Street was devastated by flooding last night. A mothe...

Construction on Queens' tallest building, Skyline Tower, is complete

2021-07-28T19:41:00-04:00

Construction is now fully complete on Skyline Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Long Island City and all of Queens. Addressed as 23-15 44th Drive, the 68-story, 778-foot-tall edifice is designed by Hill West Architects and developed by United Construction & Development Group, FSA Capital, and Risland US Holdings LLC. Yielding 802 residences designed by Whitehall Interiors and marketed by Modern Spaces, residences range in price from $500,000 to $4 million.

Each of the units feature panoramic, 360-degree views of Manhattan and the surrounding skyline. The Hill West Architects-designed building is a sleek, monolithic structure defined by its fully-glass façade. Its base and crown are composed of metal fins that enclose the parking space and roof parapet, respectively. Amenities include a 75-foot pool, two-level spa, lounges, fitness center, business center, outdoor terrace, and children’s playroom.

Previously on Archinect: New renderings released of Long Island City’s Skyline Tower, Queens’ soon-to-be-tallest

According to The Real Deal, about 41% of the Skyline Tower’s units are in contract, with sales reaching a record billion-dollar sellout. It’s the first condo in the borough to aim for a sellout of this figure.

Construction of New York City's first borough-based jail underway in Queens

2021-07-16T17:17:00-04:00

Construction on NYC's first borough-based jail is officially underway, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced. Work on the Kew Gardens, Queens facility marks the first major move to build four smaller and "more humane" jails in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. The $8.3 billion effort comes via the Borough-Based Jails Program, a controversial plan passed by the City Council in October 2019, aimed at closing the 10 jails now in operation on Rikers Island.

The new, approximately 105-foot-tall structure will include a 25,000-square-foot, two-level, multi-purpose community space, along with a 600-car public parking garage. The 866-bed facility will replace the current Queens Detention Complex, which is located adjacent to Queens Borough Hall and the Queens Criminal Courthouse.

The parking garage and community space will feature a partially planted green roof, solar panels, and on-site stormwater retention. This portion of the project is expected to qualify for LEED Gold certification for environmental sustainability.

The NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is managing the overall Borough-Based Jails program citywide. The Queens jail is being created by a design-build team consisting of Hunter Roberts Construction Group and architecture firms Marvel and Urbahn Architects. Work on the project is expected to complete in early 2023.

Procurement and early site preparation activities are ongoing for the other three Borough-Based...

AirTrain price tag rises to $2 billion as LGA overhaul takes shape

2019-07-02T19:13:00-04:00

“These are expensive projects. There’s no question. But if we are to reap the benefits of mass transit, we have to provide mass transit that is attractive to individual travelers and their families,” said Rick Cotton, the executive director at the Port Authority, without explaining the rise in cost. “Experience shows that rail mass transit is the most attractive alternative, and we’re committed to provided that.”

While the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey works to implement an $8 billion overhaul of LaGuardia Airport, costs for a planned AirTrain link connecting the airport to regional mass transit continue to grow.

According to AM New York, when first proposed in 2014, the two-mile monorail was projected to cost $450 million to build. Now, five years later, the cost has ballooned to $2.05 billion, a 356-percent increase. Officials have not explained the reasons behind the sharp increase, but have indicated that most of the increases will come out of the Port Authority's coffers.

Rendering depicting the forthcoming concourse set to open fall 2019. Image courtesy of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.

If completed as planned, the two-mile AirTrain line could connect the Willets Point Long Island Rail Road and the No. 7 subway to the airport, establishing the first public transit link to LaGuardia.

The cost increase comes as new renderings are unveiled for the LaGuardia Airport expansio...

Architecture firm Hou de Sousa creates a multi-functional outdoor educational facility for New York's Socrates Sculpture Park

2019-05-10T18:35:00-04:00

In 2016 the Brooklyn-based firm Hou de Sousa submitted a winning proposal for the Folly Competition held by the Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park. The goal of the project was to create a newly designed open-air education facility that would act as a permanent replacement to the previous facility which was severely damaged during a storm. Hou de Sousa created a structural space - frame design out of standard dimensional lumber. The structure's interconnections formed a structural space-frame which acts as a wall and roof system for the facility. Appropriately called Sticks, the project was intended to "ornamentally highlight the design strategies being deployed as well as prototypically demonstrate potential implementations of this construction method at future locations." Due to the facility's design success, the team has created an extension to the project called, Sticks II.

The New LaGuardia Airport: Not Functional, Not Inspiring, Not an Icon

2015-08-10T13:06:00-04:00

The published renderings that accompanied the announcement were not terribly reassuring, as they depicted a very long curved terminal with gangly tentacles raised over plane taxiways that hinted at torsos of praying mantises: an awkward rather than a graceful vault.

The Aluminaire House looks to Sunnyside Gardens as its possible new home

2013-07-25T18:31:00-04:00

Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey built the Aluminaire House in 1931 for an exhibition in New York City mostly out of mass-produced building materials donated by manufacturers. The project became recognized as an exemplary prototype of modern building forms and techniques at the time, while also introducing the idea of mass production and affordable home building in highly populated neighborhoods, a pressing issue that remains today. Over time, the Aluminaire House has been bought, relocated, redesigned, faced past threats of demolition, and even vandalized.

As explained in the press release below, the non-profit Aluminaire House Foundation, which was established to preserve the House, is currently aiming to relocate the structure to Sunnyside Gardens in Queens where it will be reconstructed to its original purpose for the first time since it was built.

The following article was submitted to us by Michel Schwarting...

Aluminaire house foundation, inc.
150-3 east main street ...