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...

Manhattan’s first public beachfront opens at Gansevoort Peninsula, designed by Field Operations

2023-10-05T13:34:00-04:00

The 5.5-acre Gansevoort Peninsula has opened at Hudson River Park, the first public beachfront in Manhattan. The $73 million project was designed by Field Operations and includes a large sports field, boardwalks, promenades, lawns, a picnic area, and an ecological salt marsh.

Image credit: Barret Doherty

The southern edge of the park provides direct access to the Hudson River for non-motorized boats and views of both the river, the lower Manhattan skyline, and Day’s End, a monumental, site-specific sculpture by David Hammons. The adjacent beach holds 1,200 tons of sand with beach umbrellas, Adirondack-style chairs, and a misting feature for cooling down or rinsing off sand.

Image credit: Barret Doherty

A large picnic area with tables and benches overlooks the river, while a boardwalk with a Pine Grove draws people onto the site from the adjacent esplanade before connecting with the western esplanade where Manhattan’s Thirteenth Avenue was once located. Despite its waterside location, ...

Photos of MAD Architects' artistic nexus, The City of Time

2023-06-28T17:15:00-04:00

MAD Architects has shared new images of its recently completed temporary The City of Time installation for the Aranya Theater Festival in China.

The project, which ran from June 12th to June 25th in the seaside resort community, brought together 300 artists and 131 group works under one maze-like design that dissolved after standing on the beach for a period of 300 hours.

Image courtesy Aranya Theater Festival

Using verse and meter, the firm described its intentions for the installation as follows:

The City of Time,
Dissolves after 300 hours.
Revolving around an axis perpendicular to the sea,
It offers a spiritual roost for creators.

In real cities,
The need for functionality suffocates spiritual spaces.
Building a fanciful city by the sea,
Allows the substance of theatre and art,
To breathe natural life into this space.

Taking flight and transcending reality,
It is a place dedicated to time, human behavior, and nature,
Inspiring contemplation on our relationships with ourselves and the wor...

Gansevoort Peninsula Park: Manhattan's first public beach moves forward

2021-02-08T15:47:00-05:00

The Hudson River Park Trust is looking for developers to build its new Gansevoort Peninsula, a 5.5-acre park to be built on what was once 13th Avenue. [...] The Whitney Museum of American Art will also build one of the country’s largest public art projects on the southern edge of the peninsula featuring and installation called "Day’s End" by David Hammons.

According to Hudson River Park Trust planning documents, Manhattan's new $70 million Gansevoort Peninsula Park will include a "sandy beach area with kayak access on the south side, a lawn and seating area north of the beach, a large sports field, a salt marsh with habitat enhancements on the north side, a dog run and on its western side, picnic tables and lounge chairs."

Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust.

"As Hudson River Park moves closer to completion, we are excited to be in position to start construction on one of our signature projects this coming spring," said Hudson River Park Trust President & CEO, Madelyn Wils.

Last fall, Pier 26 opened as Hudson River Park's first new public pier in a decade.

Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust.

The James Corner Field Operations-designed Gansevoort Peninsula project is scheduled to open in spring 2023.

Artist Calvin Seibert races against time in building these modernist sandcastles

2016-11-22T18:04:00-05:00

Building “sandcastles” is a bit of a test. Nature will always be against you and time is always running out. Having to think fast and to bring it all together in the end is what I like about it...Once I begin building and forms take shape I can start to see where things are going and either follow that road or attempt to contradict it with something unexpected.

Professional sculptor Calvin Seibert builds “sandcastle” structures that look like they could be straight from the sketchbooks of architecture's modernist icons. Whenever he starts sculpting his next sand structure, he usually only has “a vague notion of trying to do something different each time”, and mixes various ideas and inspirations as he goes.

Here are a few of Seibert's sandcastles he has sculpted over the last few years.

All photos © Calvin Seibert. Used with permission.

You can find more of Seibert's sandcastles on his Flickr, or follow him on Instagram.

h/t Colossal

Rainforest in the desert? This new Dubai tower will have one. Oh, and an artificial beach, too.

2015-10-13T13:39:00-04:00

Dubai, the city of superlatives, is set to get a new tower on Sheikh Zayed Road that will have an artificial beach and a rainforest-like landscape development on top of the tower's podium. [...] The project consists of two towers, 47 storeys high with a combined five-storey podium and two basement levels, that will house the facilities. [...] Kieferle & Partner is the architect.

A few images of the two-tower development via ZAS Group's website, the lead consultant on the project:

Related on Archinect:

The BEACH to be reincarnated in arts competition for D.C.'s Dupont Underground initiative

2015-09-01T12:55:00-04:00

The wildly successful BEACH installation is down to its final exhibition days at Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum. Since opening on July 4, over 120,000 visitors both young and old "splashed" around in its bubbly waters, lounged about on the "shore", and perhaps saw a live band rock out in the 10,000 square-foot monochromatic ball pit, designed by Brooklyn-based Snarkitecture. Although the Beach closes on September 7, that won't be the last of it.

Recycling the Beach was always part of the plan. Even before the installation opened, representatives of the D.C.-based initiative, the Dupont Underground, proposed to transport, store, and re-use its building materials.

The Dupont Underground has set its sights on revitalizing an abandoned trolley station beneath the Dupont Circle neighborhood into a public venue for arts and design-oriented events. As part of their inaugural programming, the group will take the Beach's more than 650,000 anti-microbial plastic balls and its 6,000 ...

Waikiki Beach closed after heavy rains cause sewage spills

2015-08-25T14:31:00-04:00

Waikiki Beach closed on Monday after heavy rains caused by a tropical storm set off the spills. Tropical Storm Kilo caused 500,00 gallons of wastewater to come gushing out of manholes, making the waterfront unsafe for beachgoers. "Now's not the time to go swimming," said Lori Kahikina, Honolulu's director of environmental services. The beachfront sees about 4.5m tourists annually. It will be a few days before the ocean is safe for people to swim in again, Ms Kahikina said...

Snarkitecture's 10,000 sq ft indoor BEACH at the National Building Museum

2015-07-07T14:07:00-04:00

Following Bjarke Ingels Group's wildly successful BIG Maze last summer, one could only wonder how Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum would one-up itself this time around. Enter Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture, who envisioned the 10,000 square-foot indoor BEACH that opened on July 4 in the Museum's Great Hall.

Decked out in Snarkitecture's all-white aesthetic, the monochromatic installation has beach chairs and umbrellas on the "shoreline" and an "ocean" of nearly 1 million recyclable translucent plastic balls for visitors to "splash" in, facing a mirrored wall that creates the illusion of a vast expanse. The Museum commissioned Snarkitecture to design the giant ball-pit — which was first announced back in April — for the annual “Summer Block Party,” which consists of various public programming, exhibitions, and events.

'We see the commission as an exciting opportunity to create an architectural installation that reimagines the qualities and possibilities of ma...

National Building Museum turns to Indiegogo to fund upcoming BEACH installation

2015-06-02T14:17:00-04:00

Last summer, the National Building Museum in DC installed BIG's giant wooden maze in its atrium, and attracted over 50,000 visitors. Exactly a year later, the museum is planning another large-scale public installation to draw blockbuster attendance: BEACH, a playa-themed ball-pit for the museum's atrium. Brooklyn-based firm Snarkitecture is designing the enclosure that will house around 750,000 translucent balls, and a variety of beachy objects like beach chairs, umbrellas, and a snack shack. BEACH will open on July 4th of this year – that is, if the Museum can raise the money. Today, NBM announced that it was turning to Indiegogo to crowdfund $10,000 for the installation and related summer programming.

Snarkitecture's BEACH installation was first announced back in April, with no mention of the Indiegogo campaign. As an independent non-profit 501(c)(3), the Museum supports its exhibitions through admissions and outside contributions, but this will be its first crowdfunding effort. It...