Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe to Break Ground on New Festival Hall
Rendering of new Festival Headquarters. (Courtesy WRT)
The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe, entering its 17th year of performances, will celebrate the groundbreaking of its new 10,000-square-foot headquarters on February 25th. The arts organization has purchased a former fire hydrant pumping station, built over a century ago, right near the Old City and the Delaware River waterfront. Partner Antonio Fiol-Silva of landscape architecture firm WRT (formerly Wallace Roberts Todd), will lead the renovation. The new headquarters will include a 225-seat theater, a rehearsal studio, a gastro-pub style restaurant, an outdoor plaza for performances and outdoor dining, administrative offices, and a permanent festival hub.
Situ Studio’s Valentine’s Day Installation Opens in the Heart of Times Square
Situ Studio’s Heartwalk installation in Times Square. (Courtesy Times Square Alliance)
Just in time for Valentines Day, today the Times Square Alliance and Design Trust for Public Space officially opened Situ Studio’s Heartwalk, a heart-shaped installation constructed of salvaged boards that once made up the boardwalks in Long Beach, Sea Girt, and Atlantic City, to the public. Heartwalk is the winner of the 5th annual Time Square Valentines Day Design competition, taking its cue, in subject matter and materials, from the “collective experience of Hurricane Sandy and the love that binds people together during trying times,” according to Times Square Alliance. Check out the installation “in the heart of Times Square” through March 8, 2013.
Alloy Development Proposes Modern Take on Brownstone Brooklyn
55-57 Pearl Street. (Courtesy Alloy Development)
Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood is home to many a loft, but few, if any, townhouses make up the neighborhood streetscape. Curbed reported that boutique development firm and architect Alloy Development plans on building five adjacent, 6-story houses at Pearl Street in place of a graffiti-covered garage. But these won’t emulate your typical 19th-century Brooklyn-style brownstone, they will include a single facade built of ductal concrete fins with wood on the ground level.
Brooklyn Group Calls for Designers To Raise the Fun Quotient of Atlantic Avenue’s Funderpass
Conceptual drawing of the F(underpass) prepared by Planning Corps. (Courtesy of Planning Corps/Eric Galipo)
Atlantic Avenue is one step closer to getting its Funderpass. The Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) just announced a Request for Proposals to redesign the space below the drab BQE underpass to create a more pedestrian-friendly connection between the shops and restaurants on Atlantic Avenue and Brooklyn Bridge Park. The RFP encourages respondents to “partner with another organization such as a lighting designer, landscape firm, or graphic design firm to broaden the expertise of the team you submit to us.”
Last December, AN reported that the Atlantic Avenue BID received a $75,000 grant from the NYC Department of Small Business Services for this project. The deadline for the RFP is February 26th, 2013.
On View> Christian Wassmann’s “5 Platonic Objects” in New York City
Christian Wassmann’s Soft Tetrahedron. (Courtesy of Sherry Griffin/ R 20th Century)
Architect and designer Christian Wassmann explores the interaction between geometric forms and the space we inhabit in a new exhibit, 5 Platonic Objects, presented at R 20th Century Gallery. The show features five objects—such as a pillow or vase—that are inspired by each of the platonic solids: tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron. Wassermann, born in Switzerland, opened up his own practice in New York City in 2006. His works runs the gamut from furniture and installations to architecture and interiors, which has included Robert Wilson’s Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation, East Village Radio, and an apartment and private showroom for Lisson Gallery.
The exhibition is on view March 5th through April 20th.
Another Brooklyn Service Bites the Dust: Long Island College Hospital to Close
Long Islnd College Hospital (Courtesy of Chris Morgan/Flickr)
It looks like South Brooklyn will have plenty of new condos, but perhaps a dearth of services. This morning, the board of trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) voted unanimously to close Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Cobble Hill. According to DNAinfo, Downstate Medical Center president Dr. John Williams told the board that the hospital “was losing money and draining the entire Downstate system.” Protests ensued at the public hearing from doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. The 200,000-square-foot campus could have a price tag of up to $500 million.
Luxury High Rises Could Sprout Among New York’s Public Housing Towers
The Alfred E. Smith Houses in Manhattan. (Manuel Menal / Flickr)
Luxury high rises could soon crop up right next to public housing. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), saddled with a $60 million deficit and a backlog of 420,000 repairs, is in quite a fix and has come up with one possible, and potentially controversial, solution to raise the money. According to a recent story in The Daily News, the over-extended agency is planning on leasing playgrounds, parks, and community centers within public housing complexes to private developers who would be allowed to build a total of 4,330 apartments.
New York City Council Gives Bjarke Ingels’ “Courtscraper” the Green Light
West 57th (Courtesy of BIG)
It took some negotiating, but New York City Council has approved Durst Fetner’s plans to build West 57th, a 750-unit residential development designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels. Crain’s reported that the 32-story pyramidal “courtscraper,” sandwiched between 11th Avenue and the Hudson River, will consist of 750 rental apartments, with an additional 100 units in a converted industrial building.
An early point of contention stemmed from what city council viewed as an inadequate plan for income-restricted housing, which will only be affordable for 35 years. While Durst Fetner didn’t budge on this issue, they did agree to donate $1 million to an affordable housing fund.
President Obama to Nominate REI CEO to Lead Interior Department
REI CEO Sally Jewell. (Courtesy REI)
President Obama is expected to nominate Sally Jewell, the President and Chief Executive Officer of national outdoor retailer REI, to succeed Secretary Ken Salazar as the head of the Interior Department.
Jewell, a former engineer for Mobil Oil and commercial banker, has run the $1.8 billion company for over a decade and has established herself as a strong advocate for land conservation. The Washington Post reported reported that she is one of the founding board members of Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and serves on the board of the National Parks Conservation Association.
The Department of the Interior manages and protects the country’s lands, water, wildlife, and energy resources, along with relations with tribal nations. As extreme weather patterns put climate change front and center of the policy debates in Washington DC, the Secretary of the Interior will take on an increasingly critical role this term.
Proposal Aims to Put Penn Station’s Move Back on Track
The James Farley Post Office. (Courtesy of Cristian/Flodigrip’s World/Flickr)
The plan to relocate Pennsylvania Station to the James Farley Post Office across the street has been slow in coming. The developers, Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, are now revisiting a previously-rejected proposal to move the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) to what will be Penn Station’s new home, called Moynihan Station—named after Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who first introduced the idea in the 1990s.
The New York Times reported that the college would theoretically occupy 1.1 million square feet of the building, and in return, the developer would take over BMCC’s campus downtown. But, it looks like government officials still have their reservations. Some progress has been made, however. The state has provided around $300 million for the construction of a new passageway and two new entrances leading to Penn’s train platforms. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed the plans for the renovation of the station.
A Touch of DUMBO in Williamsburg: Two Trees Envisions Office Space at the Domino Sugar Factory
Domino Sugar Factory. (Courtesy Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning)
The redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory has been a long and controversial process, but is showing signs of progress, or at least a slow but steady crawl to the next phase of planning. The Wall Street Journal reported reported that developer Jed Walentas of Two Trees Management wants to make room for office space in addition to residential units long proposed for the site. The Brooklyn-based firm purchased the 11-acre property last October for $185 million from Community Preservation Corporation Resources (CPCR).
New York’s Governor Cuomo is moving ahead with the buyout program he first introduced in his State of the State speech last month. The New York Times reported that Cuomo is proposing an ambitious plan to spend $400 million to purchase homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy, and clear the land for wetlands, dunes, and parkland that will “help protect coastal communities from ferocious storms” in the future. The buyout offer will also extend to homeowners who live in vulnerable areas at risk of flooding, but that were not affected by Sandy. Cuomo intends on paying for the program with part of the $51 Billion Emergency aid package passed by Congress, and then will look to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the remaining funding. In the meantime, Cuomo and his aids are waiting on the approval of federal officials. More details about the plan are expected in the next two weeks. (Photo: David Sundberg/ESTO)
Advertise on The Architect's Newspaper.
Archives
Categories
Architecture
Design
East Coast
Midwest
National
Planning
Shft+Alt+Del
Sustainability
Transportation
West Coast
