1 John Street
Construction is underway at 1 John Street, a joint venture between Alloy Development and Monadnock Development, in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Situated on a waterfront site at the northern end of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the project will be the second residential development located within the park, following the Pierhouse. The 42-unit, 12-story condominium will offer two, three and four bedroom apartments designed by Alloy Development, founded by architect Jared Della Valle. For the design of the exterior facade, large windows set into brick follow a gradient in size, such that the ratio of solid to glass increases towards the top of the building. Beyond the waterfront views, the building's amenities include gym, bike storage, and landscaped roofdeck with cabanas. On the first floor, the building will house an annex of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, currently located in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
1 John Street is slated for completion in 2016 and will seek LEED Gold certification.
Looking east towards the Manhattan Bridge with the west facade of 1 John Street (center).
West facade from John Street.
Southwest corner from John Street.
Southeast corner from John Street.
West facade.
View from a northwest corner unit.
View from a northwest corner unit.
View from a southeast corner unit.
View of John Street Park under construction from 1 John Street.
Architects: Alloy Development; Developers: Alloy Development and Monadnock Development; Program: Residential, Retail, Cultural; Location: DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY; Completion: 2016.
626 First Avenue
Superstructure has reached the seventh floor at JDS Development Group's 626 First Avenue, a two tower, 800-unit luxury rental development in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. Designed by SHoP Architects, the 41 and 49 story towers slope towards each other, with a connecting sky bridge that houses an indoor pool and lounge. The two towers will be clad in glass curtain wall on the east and west facades, while the more solid north and south walls feature openings set amongst copper cladding. Situated next to the East River, both towers should have expansive waterfront views and the convenience of close proximity to the Midtown terminal for the East River Ferry.
Currently, only the tower at the northwest corner of the site has reached above ground with superstructure. The second tower at the southeast corner should finish foundations soon and start to rise. Construction is scheduled to finish by early 2017.
P.S. 281 at the southwest corner of the site from First Avenue.
P.S. 281 at the southwest corner of the site from First Avenue.
The northwest tower from First Avenue.
West facade of P.S. 281 (right) and the northwest tower (left).
The northwest tower (left) and P.S. 281 (right) from First Avenue.
North facade of the northwest tower from the plaza of Manhattan Place (Costas Kondylis, 1985).
Northeast corner of the site from FDR Drive.
Looking west from FDR Drive.
Southeast corner of the site from FDR Drive.
Detail of the northwest tower's structure.
Looking north from East 35th Street.
Looking west toward the site from the East River Esplanade.
Architects: SHoP Architects; Landscape Architects: SCAPE; Structural Engineers: WSP; Developer: JDS Development Group; Program: Residential, Retail; Location: Murray Hill, New York, NY; Completion: 2017.
Manhattan West
Curtain wall installation is underway at 450 West 33rd Street, also known as Five Manhattan West, where a 1969 Brutalist office building designed by Davis Brody is receiving a thorough modernizing from developers Brookfield Office Properties. Designed by Joshua Prince Ramus's firm REX, the makeover includes replacing the sloping precast concrete facade with glass curtain wall panels. The design of the panels includes a pleat above the 2008 NYC building code mandate of 6'-9" for an accessible path of travel, a height intended to avoid head strikes. Currently the building has a sloped facade of 20 degrees which would create areas of noncompliance at the building's perimeter, resulting in a large amount of unleasable square footage. Other options were studied and discarded by the architect, including a stepped facade that would suffer from snow and ice buildup. Not only will the facade see an overhaul, but interior spaces will be reworked as well, including a redesigned lobby, elevator, enhanced systems and new retail storefronts.
Five Manhattan West is part of the larger Manhattan West mega development, which will bring two additional office towers and a residential tower to the site. Excavation has begun at the site of the 790-unit, 702-foot-tall residential tower designed by SOM with SLCE as the Architect of Record. Construction could also be imminent at the 995-foot-tall office tower, 1 Manhattan West, as Brookfield recently secured a letter of intent from law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Northeast corner of the Manhattan West site.
Looking west from Ninth Avenue towards Five Manhattan West (center) and 10 Hudson Yards (left).
Detail of east facade curtain wall.
Southeast corner from West 31st Street.
Detail of east facade curtain wall.
Architects: REX (Five Manhattan West), SLCE (401 West 31st Street [Architect of Record], SOM (401 West 31st Street [Design Architect], 1 Manhattan West, Master Plan Architect); Landscape Architects: James Corner Field Operations; Developer: Brookfield; Program: Office, Residential, Retail; Location: Hudson Yards District, New York, NY; Completion: 2016 (Five Manhattan West).
Barclays Center Green Roof
Installation of the sedum for the green roof atop the Barclays Center arena has begun. The underlying structure has been under construction for several months, but with the arrival of spring the vegetation has started to appear. Sedum will be installed in four mixes that allow for year round vegetation.
Whitney Museum of American Art
Ungainly and awkward, the Whitney's $422 million, 220,000-square-foot new home asserts its presence at the High Line's southern edge. Renzo Piano's addition to the Meatpacking neighborhood is indicative of the district's decade-long transformation from working class industrial to trendy tourist destination. What started in the previous decade with the conversion of unused elevated train tracks into the High Line elevated park, has culminated in a major new museum for the city in a neighborhood now dominated by buildings from an elite group of architects.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, begun with a collection of artwork amassed by Gertrude Whitney in 1908, has called several places home in its first century of existence. Most recently the museum was located on the Upper East Side, in a building designed by Marcel Breuer in 1966, at the corner of Madison Avenue and East 75th Street. Breuer's building, with its stone clad, inverted ziggurat form, was also considered at its opening to be awkward and panned for its unusual massing. With time, the building gained acceptance but was never able to adequately hold the museum's vast collection.
The Whitney Museum by Marcel Breuer, 1966.
Many attempts were made to expand the museum at its Upper East Side location, with designs from Norman Foster, Michael Graves, OMA, and finally Renzo Piano. Given the scale of the neighborhood and the historic value of buildings on site and adjacent, large scale expansion plans proved too contentious to realize.
With the advent of the High Line in 2009, properties that surrounded the park gained new value and the exodus of industrial businesses in the area left behind many sites ripe for new construction. Realizing the futility of its expansion plans at the Breuer building, the Whitney brokered a deal with the city of New York for a site at the southern entrance to the High Line and occupied by a meatpacking business. While the business has remained on the northern half of the massive site, the Whitney's deal with the city allows them to acquire the remaining half should the business relocate elsewhere.
Program study models.
Massing study models.
Presentation model of final design.
The Whitney Museum by Marcel Breuer, 1966.
Piano's building is arranged with gallery spaces and other public functions in the southern half, while offices for the museum's staff, education programs, and other support spaces occupy the northern half. At the primary public corner, where Gansevoort intersects Washington Street, the Whitney engages the public at both street level and the High Line as the building's form folds skyward at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington Street, creating a multi-story volume enclosed by vast expanses of glass. Piano uses this element in conjunction with the more solidly clad galleries cantilevered above to subtly invoke the Breuer building's iconic massing, a motif that will reoccur throughout. The folded facade also evokes Diller Scofidio + Renfro's overhaul of Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hull (renovated, 2009), where a double height entry is also formed by peeling up the building's original travertine facade. For the Whitney, this space houses Danny Meyer's latest restaurant, Untitled. Stretching along the restaurant's Gansevoort Street frontage, the open kitchen visually dominates the space. At night, the scene from the street is reminiscent of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, with the patrons spread out along the bar and the glow of Robert Indiana's illuminated word "EAT" artwork hanging above.
Southeast corner of the Whitney (left) and the southern entrance to the High Line (right).
Untitled restaurant from Gansevoort Street.
Restaurant entrance off of Gansevoort Street.
View of the restaurant bar from Gansevoort Street.
Main museum entrance from Gansevoort Street.
View of the museum shop at the southwest corner from Gansevoort Street.
Museum visitors enter mid-block off of Gansevoort Street into a glass enclosed 6,000 square-foot lobby that is adjacent to a free gallery and a museum shop consisting of open shelving to maintain visual porosity. Galleries on the upper floors can be accessed by a grand stair or by one of four elevators, featuring commissioned artwork in the elevator cab by the artist Richard Artschwager. Glazing above the elevator entry at ground level allows the visitor to see the machinery needed to operate, continuing an oft used theme by Piano. The concrete and steel of the stair serves as another subtle reference to the Breuer building.
Main museum entrance from Gansevoort Street.
Museum lobby.
Museum shop shelving.
Special exhibitions are housed on the eighth floor, which currently features "America is Hard to See." The show serves as a means for the Whitney to reexamine American art since 1900 with works from their vast collection that has long gone unseen. The galleries at this level feature the typical white walls and reclaimed wide-plank pine flooring found throughout the museum. Because of its top floor location, Piano has designed the ceilings as a grid work that allows in light from the sawtooth skylights, resulting in a much brighter and inviting environment to wander the galleries than the Breuer building. There, the dark tones of the stone flooring and the concrete waffle ceiling gave the galleries a heavy and dark atmosphere. Although Piano's galleries are a sharp turn from the previous aesthetic, he continually references the Breuer ceilings with the varying take on grids created at each level of galleries. On some floors the ceiling grid is present but solid while other floors reveal the conduit and ductwork of necessary services in a modern building, a muted and vertical take on Piano's first museum, the Pompidou.
On floors six and seven reside the permanent collection galleries in spaces unmatched by their previous home. Now visitors can peruse the work in vast spaces that give the pieces enough real estate to stand on their own but still create a dialogue with adjacent works. With the added space comes spectacular moments of rest and reflection, where visitors can sit at one of two large walls of glass and take in the High Line in the morning light from the east facade or the setting sun from the west facade's window. Moments of connection to the surrounding neighborhood can even be experienced while in the midst of perusing the galleries, as slots of space cut through gallery walls leading to the facade's glazing.
Not to be outdone, the 13,000-square-feet of outdoor galleries and terraces provide additional opportunities to pause and reflect. Views of the city skyline serve as a backdrop to outdoor cafe seating and several large sculptures. On the fifth floor outdoor gallery, the Whitney has commissioned a site specific work by Mary Heilmann, Mary Heilmann: Sunset, which features colorful chairs scattered about the terrace that visitors can use. Also included is a projected film and panels of colorful shapes that mimic the stepping of the building's terraces.
At the northern half of the building, Piano has located the support space for the Whitney's staff, which has grown steadily in recent years. Like the galleries, these spaces are generous in size and provide ample light and views to the neighborhood.
With the opening of the Whitney, the city has gained another spectacular cultural destination. Yes, it's exterior is a quirky wrapper, more muscle than beauty, but the interior more than compensates with its spot on take on the contemporary museum. Piano expertly crafts a museum that accommodates the visitor with the right mix of galleries and leisure space, allowing the museum to coexist with, rather than be consumed by, the commercial program of contemporary institutions. Like the Breuer building, Piano's structure will likely be embraced by most over time, as visitors forgive its exterior clumsiness for the expertly crafted experience within.
Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Design Architect), Cooper Robertson (Executive Architect); Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates: MEP Engineer: Jaros, Baum & Bolles; Facade Consultant: Heintges; Landscape Architect: Piet Oudolf with Mathews Nielson Landscape Architect; General Contractor: Turner Construction; Client: Whitney Museum of American Art; Program: Museum; Location: Meatpacking District, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
12 East 13th Street
Construction scaffolding has started to come down at DHA Capital and Continental Properties' 12 East 13th Street in Greenwich Village, revealing its brick and glass facade. The former 8-story parking garage has been converted by CetraRuddy into eight residences, replacing the facade and adding a 4-story metal and glass penthouse.
A burnished orange-red Roman brick clads the 8-story primary street facade, punctuated by four bays of industrial-style windows grouped into vertical columns of two. The black metal spandrel that divides the windows contains a chevron motif inspired by a pattern from the original facade. With additional details like a depressed border of brick surrounding each window bay, the facade of the base building blends nicely with the brick and metal structures which surround it.
Northeast corner from East 13th Street.
Northeast corner.
North facade from East 13th Street.
Facade detail.
Northwest corner from East 13th Street.
Inside, most lower units occupy the full 4,816 square-foot floor plate while the upper floors feature a duplex and a triplex in the added penthouse structure. An open plan along the 67-foot street front accommodates living and dining spaces in one large great room. Industrial style black metal and glass sliding doors act as moveable partitions, allowing residents to close off the family room next to the kitchen. Existing steel columns have been preserved and featured in the living and dining area, complimenting the interior design's blending of modern and industrial. Much of the interior kitchen and bath cabinetry and door hardware have been custom designed by the architect and also reflect this aesthetic.
Living and dining space.
Living room.
Family room.
Move-able partitions and existing columns.
Move-able partitions and existing columns.
Family room.
Kitchen.
Bedrooms and accompanying bathrooms are located along the back half of the floor plate. Most units contain four bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as a powder room off the living space.
Powder room.
Powder room floor tile.
Secondary bedroom.
Secondary bathroom with custom white lacquer vanity including water resistant galvanized drawer fronts.
Detail of the water resistant galvanized drawer fronts.
Master bedroom.
Master bedroom.
Master bathroom vanity featuring rift-cut white oak cabinetry and a countertop of polished Calacatta Borghini marble.
Freestanding 6 foot soaking tub.
Master bathroom shower.
Custom door hardware in the master bathroom.
Half of the units will contain outdoor space, including an 807-square foot terrace on the third floor, a 1,760-square foot terrace on the ninth floor for the duplex, and space on the tenth floor for the triplex.
Amenities for the building include the much touted automated parking system that allows residents to enter the building in privacy while their car is parked robotically on the second floor garage. Additional amenities include gym, bike storage, and private storage unit.
Architects: CetraRuddy; Developers: DHA Capital and Continental Properties; Public Relations: M18; Program: Residential, Retail; Location: West Village, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
10 Bond
The terracotta facade installation at 10 Bond has reached substantial completion, with only the penthouse and ground floor awaiting their facade treatment. Selldorf Architects' 7-story, 11-unit condo in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan features shaped terracotta panels, with concave elements at the vertical piers and scalloped horizontal panels at the spandrels below the windows. Construction scaffolding is still up at the neighboring 372 Lafayette Street, a rental building by Morris Adjmi Architects. Both buildings are slated to finish sometime this year.
South facade from Bond Street.
Southeast corner from Lafayette Street.
Detail of southeast corner facade.
Detail of facade.
East facade from Lafayette Street.
Northeast corner from Lafayette Street.
Northeast corner of Morris Adjmi Architects' 372 Lafayette Street (right) and 10 Bond (left).
Architects: Selldorf Architects; Developers: SK Development, Ironstate Development and the Chetrit Group; Program: Residential, Retail; Location: NoHo, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
22-22 Jackson Avenue
ODA's jumble of concrete boxes in Long Island City, 22-22 Jackson Avenue, has topped out. The 11-story, 175-residential-unit mixed-use building is composed of an exposed concrete exterior wall, a growing trend in New York. A playful massing of concrete residential modules randomly extrude from the facade on the north and east facades, while the south and west facades are more conventional flat surfaces. Window installation is also underway on site, with progress reaching the fifth floor. The windows feature a maroon frame. Amenities for the project are housed in the two story base and include a lobby, lounge, library spaces, gym, indoor pool, and a landscaped courtyard on the 3rd floor roof deck.
Looking south from the 7 train subway station.
Looking southwest on Jackson Avenue.
Northeast corner from Jackson Avenue.
Northeast corner from Jackson Avenue.
Northeast corner from Crane Street.
Facade detail.
Facade detail.
East facade from Crane Street.
East facade (background) and the former 5 Pointz site (foreground) from Davis Street.
Southeast corner from Crane Street.
North facade from Jackson Avenue.
Northwest corner from Jackson Avenue.
860 Washington
Superstructure has reached the final floor, marking the topping off, at 860 Washington in the Meatpacking District. Designed by James Carpenter, the ten-story, 113,848-square-foot structure flanks the High Line park's eastern edge at West 13th Street. When completed, the low rise tower will bring eight floors of office space and two floors of retail at the base. Given the all-glass composition of the exterior wall on all but the northern facade, building occupants will have dramatic views of the High Line and the surrounding Meatpacking neighborhood. The building is targeting LEED silver and is projected to open in the third quarter of 2015.
Southeast corner from Washington Street.
East facade from Washington Street.
East facade from Washington Street.
Northeast corner from Washington Street.
South facade from the Standard Hotel plaza on West 13th Street.
Southwest corner from the High Line park.
Southeast corner of the Standard Hotel (far left), 860 Washington (left center) and the Caledonia (center) from the High Line park.
Architects: James Carpenter Design Associates; Developers: Property Group Partners with Romanoff Equities; Program: Office, Retail; Location: Meatpacking District, New York, NY; Completion: 2015.
Columbia University Manhattanville Campus
With exterior work wrapping up on the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, much of the progress since the last update is focused on the Lenfest Center for the Arts, the smaller, adjacent building. Also designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the Center for the Arts houses galleries, performance spaces, a screening room, and offices into an eight-story structure. Currently, the steel superstructure has topped out and installation of the exterior wall is underway. The structure looks to be clad in a unitized panel system of white metal and glass similar in appearance to RPBW's almost completed Whitney Museum at the High Line.
The third RPBW building in Columbia University's master plan for the Manhattanville campus, the Academic Conference Center, has yet to start up after the initial site demo completed. Located south of the Science Center, it will house a 400-seat auditorium and state-of-the-art seminar and meeting rooms inside a five-story structure.
Southeast corner from the 1 train subway platform.
South facade of the Science Center from the 125th Street subway station.
South facade of the Science Center from Broadway.
South facade of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
Southwest corner of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
Southwest corner of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
West facade of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from West 125th Street.
View of the Manhattanville Campus from Riverside Drive.
Southwest corner of the Science Center (right) and the Center for the Arts (left) from Riverside Drive.
View of the Manhattanville Campus from Riverside Drive.
Northwest corner of the Science Center (left) and the Center for the Arts (right) from Riverside Drive.
Northwest corner of the Science Center (left) and the Center for the Arts (right) from West 131st Street.
North facade of the Science Center (left) and the Center for the Arts (right) from West 131st Street.
North facade of the Science Center (left) and the Center for the Arts (right) from Broadway.
East facade of the Science Center.
Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Davis Brody Bond LLP (Science Center and Center for the Arts), RPBW with Dattner Architects (Academic Conference Center); Program: Education; Location: Manhattanville, New York, NY; Completion: 2016.
