World Trade Weekly: The Steel Web of Snohetta
Photos by Tom Stoelker
Each week, AN plays tourist at the World Trade Center construction site. Here’s the latest.
Last night’s snowstorm was a dud when compared to the Boxing Day Blizzard. But a half hour walk around the WTC site reveals just how much extra work the weather can add to a day’s labor. By noon, workers were still shoveling out of the mess, removing snow laden tarps and generally slogging through the grayish black mess.
Sustainism to Debut at New York Public Library
Isms, isms, everywhere. It would seem that a movement is not validated until it gets an “ism.” This Wednesday “Sustainism” will be launched at the New York Public Library when authors Michiel Schwarz & Joost Elffers discuss their new book, Sustainism is the New Modernism (Distributed Art Publishers, $24.95).
Landscape Guidelines Landslide Debut
A capacity crowd overflowed into the aisles, up the stairs and out the door.
The line stretched down the block outside of the Center for Architecture last night for the release of High Performance Landscape Guidelines: 21st Century Parks for NYC. The document providing sustainable park guidelines was produced through a partnership between The Design Trust for Public Space and the Department of Parks and Recreation. The manual is the first of its kind in the nation.
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A Stroll Through Modernism with Ezra Stoller
Ezra Stoller TWA Terminal at Idlewild (now JFK) Airport, Eero Saarinen, New York, NY, 1962 Gelatin Silver Print © Ezra Stoller, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
An exhibition of architectural photographer Ezra Stoller’s work will open at the Yossi Milo Gallery tonight in New York and runs through February 12. A few of the photos are instantly recognizable, such as a photo of the Guggenheim lobby featuring women in pillbox hats standing in the foreground. But the gems of the show are those taken off the beaten path, like the roof of the Seagram’s Building or a parking garage in Miami.
Weekly World Trade Center Update
Photos by Tom Stoelker
As there are few visible changes on the facade, this week’s photos focus on the reinforced concrete at the base of the tower. With much media fanfare, the NYPD opposed initial designs for security reasons. The resulting redesign introduced a fortress-like base and core, which is now visible from the street level. Eventually, the concrete will be shielded behind a metallic scrim, not unlike the one seen next door on Seven World Trade. For now though, pedestrians can glimpse the exposed base to get an idea of the tower’s extraordinary strength.
World Trade Center Continues Upward Despite Blizzard
The chaos of the blizzard seems to have bypassed the site.
[ As the World Trade Center continues its ascent, The Architect's Newspaper will be checking in each week for signs of progress at one of the country's most exciting construction sites. ]
The blizzard did little to deter holiday crowds from flocking to the World Trade Center this week. With few office workers in town, hundreds of tourists crushed onto the slushy sidewalks of Church Street. From behind St. Paul’s Chapel, a cacophony of languages could be heard. Construction moved forward with few signs of delay or disruption from this week’s snow and by Wednesday afternoon the site was humming as usual.
Weekly World Trade Pic
Another row of windows and corner facets began to emerge this week.
[ As the World Trade Center continues its ascent, The Architect's Newspaper will be checking in each week for signs of progress at one of the country's most exciting construction sites. ]
The pre-holiday bustle reached a lull today at the World Trade Center site as much of downtown seems to have headed home. Even the cranes were moving at a sluggish pace; but they’re still moving. This week, the facets that form elongated triangular corners began to reflect the sunlight a bit more and another row of windows found their way onto the western facade. The holidays are taking hold, too: At dusk, sparkly lights that run the length of the cranes emerge like stars.
Fumihiko Maki Named AIA Gold Medal Winner
Fumihiko Maki Wins AIA's 2011 Gold Medal (Photo Imogene Tudor)
Fumihiko Maki was named AIA’s 2011 Gold Medal winner last Thursday, making him the 67th in that illustrious line. Maki began his career in the 1960s as a part of the group of Japanese architects known as the Metabolists who championed large biomorphic structures that could expand and change as needed. His more recent designs, such as the new Media Lab at MIT, present a decidedly fixed composition, though MIT retains the suggestion of interchangeable volumes. The concept did find its way into Maki’s thoroughly adaptable interior, as was noted during a walk-through by AN last spring.
Philly President′s House Impeached
The President's House Market Street facade suggests an executive mansion lost to time. (Photos Tom Stoelker)
It’s odd when the symbol of a building becomes more important than the structure itself. That’s certainly the case with the newly completed President’s House in Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia. George Washington and John Adams lived there when the city was still the nation’s capitol. Unlike Independence Hall, The President’s House didn’t garner importance over time. Actually, there wasn’t a physical structure left, just ruins hidden below ground a few feet from the entrance to Liberty Bell Center and discovered in 2002.
Council Approves Riverside Center
The Christian de Portzamparc designed towers, at right, approved by City Council today. (Courtesy Extell)
Today Extell Development got the green light from City Council to build Riverside Center on one of the last major parcels of land at the edge of the Upper West Side. Among several concessions made to the community, the developer agreed to sink $17.5 million into Riverside Park, build a 100,000 square foot school, renovate a recreation center on West 59th Street and build 500 affordable housing units (though much of it offsite).
The 3.1 million square foot project includes a series of towers designed by Christian de Portzamparc between 59th and 61st streets and will provide as much open space as Lincoln Center, the architect told AN last year. Portzamparc worked with landscape designer Signe Nielsen to break up an existing superblock and create a view corridor that extends toward the Riverside Park. Like most mixed-use projects, the developer said public amenities, such as grocery stores and the school, would fill the base of the towers.
Archi-Tectonic Cheer
Winka Dubbeldam shares cheer with fragrance consultant Christoph Legreves and lighting designer Matilde Alessandra as former AN staffer Matt Chaban looks on.
Architects, designers, and a few sharp Irish guys who knew someone at the door converged on the Tribeca Grand Hotel last Wednesday night when Winka Dubbeldam of Archi-Tectonics and Cinzia Fama-Agnolucci of CFA Design threw a bash in The Salon.
The Archi-Tectonics-designed space, provided a sultry backdrop to this family affair. Fama-Agnolucci’s mother kept watch from a low perch at the entrance as someone’s toddler made a beeline for Dubbeldam’s dog, who promptly snubbed her, preferring the company of a low-lying plate of hors d’oeuvres.
Slideshow> Weekly World Trade Photo Update
One World Trade is beginning to rival Seven. (Photo: Tom Stoelker)
The Architect’s Newspaper‘s main office is just two blocks from the Word Trade Center site, so we’re keeping a photographic eye on increasingly visible developments at the site. One World Trade will soon break the skyline and all throughout the site there are signs of vigor. Over the last couple of weeks, windows began to appear on some of the structures.
It’s hard not to be awed, regardless of how unfashionable that may be in an area where locals studiously observe a nonchalant protocol, as though the massive tower were just another visiting celebrity. So don’t mind us as we join the out-of-town gawkers and snap away.
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