Archinect - News

Anish Kapoor completes 'mini-Bean' at Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard

2023-02-06T13:51:00-05:00

After years of delays, New York City finally has a shiny silver bean of its own. A new sculpture by Anish Kapoor—modeled after his famous Cloud Gate, known as the Bean, in Chicago—was officially unveiled this week. [...] Despite its resemblance to Cloud Gate, is different in several key ways, reported Tribeca Citizen in 2018. For example, while Chicago’s Bean is bolted securely to the ground, Manhattan’s mini-Bean is more free-flowing, able to move and shift depending on the weather.

The $8 million freestanding sculpture has been teased since 2008 when renderings for Herzog & de Meuron’s domineering 56 Leonard Street tower were first revealed to the public. It has a less-expensive twin at the MFA Houston and will get an official name later in the coming months, according to Hyperallergic.

“[It’s] small change for these people,” Kapoor (who purchased a condo in the building in 2016) said, speaking of developer Alexico Group’s private financing. “They should be giving something back already, and more, honestly.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by M I C H A E L T. Y O U N G (@mchlanglo793)

Meet Tribeca all-rounders Marvel: Your Next Employer?

2022-11-14T08:43:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based RIOS, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week, where we meet multi-disciplinary studio Marvel.

From their studios in New York City, Richmond, Virginia, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, the firm has produced several projects previously featured on our editorial. Last month, we covered Marvel's $26 million renovation project at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, while in September, we reported on the firm's housing prototypes for hurricane resilience. 2022 has also seen Marvel offer an update on their new Brooklyn Public Library, which was designed in collaboration with Gensler.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions in their New York City office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more about life at an architecture studio, we spoke with Marvel associate in urban planning Ishita Gaur for a behind-the-scenes look at the firm....

Watch this time-lapse construction video of Herzog + de Meuron's Jenga-like 56 Leonard in NYC

2017-06-08T12:43:00-04:00

With a series of jutting balconies and abrupt offsets, the Herzog + De Meuron-designed 56 Leonard, described by the architects as "houses stacked in the sky," is one of the more aesthetically adventuresome luxury condo towers to rise in New York City. This time-lapse video, replete with what the developers apparently feel is an inspiring musical soundtrack, shows the construction of the Jenga-like building over a period of a little under two years, from March 2014 to December 2016:

Work AC designs modern single-family home on top of one of New York’s oldest cast-iron façade buildings

2016-11-02T12:44:00-04:00

Built in 1857, 93 Reade St. in TriBeCa features one of New York City’s old cast-iron façades. WORKac just completed a renovation of the historic, 5-story building, adding a contemporary addition to the roof that skillfully hides behind the existing form.

The 2.5 level penthouse addition features an angled roof, designed to sit behind the roofline so that it disappears when viewed from the street, while gaining as much interior space as possible. Inside, three different levels are joined by an open staircase. Behind the structure, a patio and balcony offer views of the city skyline.

The renovation also included single-story apartments that make use of a partial-height volume to contain services, equipment and storage, “while a series of intricate spaces for gardening, sleeping, display and studying occupy the under-utilized vertical space above.”

WORKac collaborated with the digital sculptor Michael Hansmeyer to create new, 3D-printed capitals to replace the missing originals.

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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.

TriBeCa Synagogue’s Memorable Building and Stubborn Architect

2015-03-11T21:08:00-04:00

William Breger’s roster of memorable buildings is short: just one. But it is a building that has caught the public’s eye for three generations, that has accommodated, challenged and defined an ever-evolving religious community. Many architects die having achieved far less.

The architect, who could be difficult, objected to changes made years ago to “his” building. He was angered by the design of a mechitza, or partition, installed to separate women and men during worship. (Rabbi Glass had it changed.) He was infuriated when the original landscaped plaza by M. Paul Friedberg and Partners was paved over.

More recently, when he learned that a ground-floor reception area, designed by Claire Weisz, had been built without his knowledge, he warned Rabbi Glass that if he did not like what he saw, he would cut the synagogue off from any bequest.

What he found was a front desk that, with its shallow S shape, paid homage to his bow-fronted design. Rabbi Glass said Mr. Breger paid it a high compliment: “I don’t hate it.”

Architecture Firm Hijacks Tribeca Streetside Gumball Machine

2011-11-14T21:09:21-05:00

Tribeca Citizen noticed a curious high/low architecture marketing campaign this weekend while on a stroll around the neighborhood: a gumball machine from local firm KUSHNERstudios that dispenses a piece of candy and an architecture comic strip. We checked in with KUSHNERstudios about the guerilla marketing campaign, and apparently the machine has been up since January (whoops?) and at first dispensed flash drives with the firm's portfolio.

We're happy to see that KUSHNERstudios gets the word out not only through gumball machines but also by having a nice Firm Profile on Archinect.