Archinect - News

SOM will deliver new $700 million climate center to NYC’s Governors Island

2023-04-24T15:18:00-04:00

A new 400,000-square-foot climate campus scheme for New York City’s Governors Island has been unveiled by SOM and Mayor Eric Adams at the close of a two-year competitive bids process for a project that is expected to support cutting-edge environmental research while creating green jobs and educational opportunities for future generations.

Image: SOM/Brick Visual, courtesy New York Mayor's Office.

Image: SOM/Miysis, courtesy New York Mayor's Office.

Stony Brook University is leading the New York City Exchange development, which will also add $1 billion in economic benefits to the city. The university will partner with a list of 15 schools and organizations, including IBM, Georgia Tech, and Oxford University, and offer space to 30 other entities from the non-profit sector, all with expertise that touches on the development’s core program areas of environmental justice, water rights, workforce development, education, and labor.

Image: SOM/Brick Visual, courtesy New York Mayor's Office.

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Lawsuit seeks to overturn NYC's Governors Island rezoning

2022-08-04T17:34:00-04:00

Mayor Eric Adams and the trust that oversees Governors Island have outlined a sweeping vision for its future as an innovation hub for climate education and research and an incubator for bold solutions. Teams from four universities are preparing final proposals, which are due on August 15th. But a pending lawsuit presents a potential hang-up for those plans and the parties are due in state Supreme Court on Tuesday morning.

Last year, the New York City Council voted to rezone the southern end of Governor’s Island, paving the way for 3.7 million square feet of new development, including office, hotel, and retail space. The plan also includes a move to establish a long-awaited climate research center. However, the rezoning also leaves a lot of room for more commercial development, which would allow for higher building heights and more car-oriented planning, a move that has been met with opposition.

Previously on Archinect: Center for Climate Solutions on NYC's Governors Island proposed

A lawsuit against the rezoning argues that it violates the original 2003 deed when the federal government transferred ownership of the island to New York City and State, which requires the preservation of the natural, cultural, and historic qualities of Governors Island. The Trust for the Manhattan piece of land has also advertised the use of historic buildings on the northern end of the island for multi-use development wh...

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.

Could NYC's Governor's Island hold the answers to fighting climate change?

2019-10-07T13:00:00-04:00

Since [...] the federal government turned control [of Governors Island] over to New York City, under the condition that it not be used for residential housing, it has been an island in search of a purpose [...] Now, the city has a new idea: transforming one of its last big chunks of developable land [...] into a “living laboratory” for coping with the effects of climate change.

The early stages of a plan to convert New York's Governor's Island into a self-funded sustainability laboratory have come to light.

The proposal bears some similarities to the Billion Oyster project, a decade-old proposal developed by an eponymous nonprofit and landscape architects SCAPE hat sought to transform the waters off Governor's Island with a 100-acre oyster reef that would filter and revitalize area waterways using living oysters.

West 8, Diller, Scofidio +Renfro, Rogers Marvel Architects, and Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects recently completed an 87-acre master plan of the island.

Check out the winning entry for the City of Dreams Pavilion competition for Governors Island

2017-03-13T18:01:00-04:00

The winner of the seventh annual City of Dreams Pavilion Competition has been announced: Cast & Place by Team Aesop (Josh Draper from PrePost/RPI-CASE, Lisa Ramsburg and Powell Draper from Schlaich Bergermann Partner, Edward M. Segal from Hofstra University, and Max Dowd from Cooper Union). Pending government approval and fundraising, the project will be realized on Governors Island and opened to the public this summer.

Each year, FIGMENT, the Emerging New York Architects Committee of the AIA New York Chapter and the Structural Engineers Association of New York team up to host the competition, which endeavors to promote “sustainability-oriented thinking”. Submitting architects are required to consider such factors as material sourcing and disposal (or reuse).

This year’s winning submission, Cast & Place “reimagines waste as a transformative resource for our New York City future,” states the press release. “Soil dredged from the East River, the material also used in the construction o...

"The Hills" park in NYC scheduled to open almost a year in advance

2016-01-25T15:14:00-05:00

The Hills on Governors Island will welcome visitors this summer — nearly a year ahead of schedule, it was announced last week — and add 10 acres of green space to the city, largely in the form of four artificial hills. Made of recycled construction debris and clean fill, the hills rise as high as 70 feet above the island...An unseasonably warm fall contributed to faster-than-expected construction times.

You can find more photos and renderings from the Governors Island's Flickr here and here.

Scroll down for a drone video of the park under construction.

More about public parks on Archinect:

Pershing Square Renew competition narrows down to four finalist teams

BIG unveils 28-acre master plan for Pittsburgh's Lower Hill District

Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces

Locals welcome The 606, a.k.a. Chicago's "High Line", but anxiety for its future remains

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Breaks Ground on West 8-Designed ‘The Hills’ Project at Governors Island

2013-07-29T17:51:00-04:00

Last week Friday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke ground on The Hills, a new public park land on Governors Island designed by Rotterdam-based landscape architects West 8. Made of recycled construction and fill materials, The Hills will rise 34 to 90 feet above sea level, and the summit of the tallest Hill will provide visitors with a 360-degree panorama of the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor and the Lower Manhattan skyline.