The accounting methods that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie used to put the kibosh on new cross Hudson train tunnel were called in to question in a report released today, the New York Times reports. Christie said that the project, called the Access to the Regions Core (ARC), could run up to $14 billion, but independent Congressional investigators found that it would cost no more than $10 billion. He also claimed that New Jersey would foot more than 70 percent of the bill, but investigators said it would have been more like 14 percent. It should be noted that a constant Christie critic, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, commissioned the report. No matter, it seems to be no skin off the governor’s nose. NJ.com grabbed a quotable quote from the governor speaking in New York this morning at the George W. Bush Institute Conference on Taxes and Economic Growth: “So when they want to build a tunnel to the basement of a Macy’s and stick the New Jersey taxpayers with a bill of $3 to $5 billion over, no matter how much the administration yells and screams, you have to say no.”
Bjarke Gets A Tan: Twin Torquing Towers Planned in Miami
The torquing towers. (Courtesy Grove at Grand Bay)
After a loss in Chicago, Bjarke Ingel’s North American tour continues unimpeded as the design for his latest project, a set of twisting towers in Coconut Grove, Miami, was revealed at an invitation-only party in late March. Called the Grove at Grand Bay, the set of 20-story towers will contain a combined 96 luxury residences, 59 units in one tower and 37 in the other, on the three-acre site currently occupied by the once-hip-but-now-shuttered Grand Bay Hotel that once entertained the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince, and Pavarotti. Tenants of the new towers, however, are likely to be just as rich and possibly as famous.
Troy, Troy Again! Architects Revamping an Aging Waterfront
Troy Riverside Park set to open this summer (image courtesy of W-Architecture).
The design minds behind the waterfront destinations of West Harlem Piers on the Hudson River, the India Street Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and the Edge Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, have been chosen for yet another waterfront revamp. W-Architecture, a New York City-based architecture and landscape architecture firm, was selected to design and renovate the Troy Riverfront Park in Troy, New York, a $1.95 million project that’s part of the city’s plan to redevelop its Hudson River waterfront. Currently under construction, diseased trees are currently being cleared to open up views to the river and create a more sustainable and seamless connection to the city’s downtown.
Spur to Action: Philly Brings Elevated Park Plans into Focus
Proposed entry to the SEPTA Spur (image courtesy of Studio Bryan Hanes).
Philly is one step closer to creating an elevated park on an abandoned rail viaduct. Studio Bryan Hanes and Urban Engineers, two firms collaborating on the design of the SEPTA Spur phase of Philadelphia’s Reading Viaduct, have released new images of the reclaimed railway that bring the proposal into focus. The Spur represents a significant step in realizing the vision of the elevated park with a primary entrance from Broad Street that rises from grade to the elevated rail line. The first phase stops just shy, however, of the wider, more programmable space on the main Viaduct.
Sadik-Khan Serves Up Some Mumford
DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan in City College's Shephard Hall after the lecture. (AN/Stoelker)
Last night was a night of tough decisions. ArchNewsNow threw its tenth anniversary party at the Center for Architecture and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan gave the Mumford Lecture at City College—on opposite ends of town at the same time. Impossible to do both, our Publisher Diana Darling partied down with ArchNewsNow and we headed for the Mumford Lecture, sending hearty congratulations to ArchNews editor Kristen Richards. Despite missing the party, the trip Uptown was well worth it…
Exhibition Explores the Inner Workings of Proposed Low Line Park
A rendering of what the Low Line could look like under Delancey Street. (Courtesy Delancey Underground)
Let There Be Light: Low Line Exhibit
Mark Miller Gallery
92 Orchard Street
Through April 29th, 12-6pm
The team of innovators continues to push forward with a proposal for the Delancey Underground, transforming an underground trolley terminal into a public park for Manhattan’s Lower East Side. An exhibit detailing the proposal for the so-called “Low Line” will be running throughout April at the Mark Miller Gallery. The show entitled Let There Be Light was organized by Delancey Underground co-founders James Ramsey and Dan Barasch in an effort to engage the public directly with the ideas and innovations underpinning the project.
Willets Point to Rise from Ashes
The city's plans for Willets Point took a giant step forward with federal approval of highway ramps (Courtesy NYCEDC).
In Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby the billboard eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept watch over the ash heaps near Willets Point. For the past four years Mayor Bloomberg has had his eyes steadfastly fixed on the site and it looks as though he may realize his vision of the area as a mixed use development. Today Crain’s reports that a key part of the redevelopment plan, ramps connecting to the Van Wyck Expressway, was approved by the Federal Highway Administration.
Pictorial> Ennead Grows a Garage in the Bronx
Ennead calls the forked columned facade a "vertical garden." (Courtesy Ennead)
While it is more restrained than many of the high designed garages currently popping up in Miami, the new garage at New York Botanical Gardens, designed by Ennead‘s Suzan Rodriguez with Desman Associates, marks a distinct departure for bland lots frequently found around New York. The garage opened to the public last Friday and promises to sport a vertical garden on all four sides once the plantings catch on to and climb up the Greenscreen wire trellis. The trellis wire rests between ‘V’ shaped vertical columns that derive inspiration from tree-limbs. But one can also detect a modernist influence, perhaps Pier Luigi Nervi‘s George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal? The effort goes a bit beyond the call of greening duty, as its not actually located in the the gardens. It sits on a former industrial site across the street and over the bridge of the MTA’s North Harlem local line.
RAD & RED at Storefront for Art & Architecture’s Spring Fundraiser
Storefront Director Eva Franch & a red Woolworth Building. (Montage by The Architect's Newspaper)
The Woolworth Building just a few short blocks from Zuccotti Park—the spiritual home of the Ocuppy movement—was itself bathed in radical red last night to celebrate the iconic “red” work of Barbara Krueger and Bernard Tschumi. The two celebrated figures were being honored by the Storefront for Art and Architecture at their annual Spring fundraiser.
New York Urbanism Times
Speedbumps and stop signs make way for the proposed "Holly Whyte Way"--aka, Sixth-and-a-half-Avenue. (Courtesy NYCDOT)
Today’s New York Times is packed with urbanism stories, with three articles and two Op-ed pieces that made it to print. First, there’s Speaker Christine Quinn‘s exemption for Related Properties’ Hudson Yards project from the Living Wage bill. Then there are rumblings from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer‘s office that he isn’t pleased that NYU “seems to be backpedaling” on their 2.2 million square foot proposal. A source says the university may be able to get by on 1.5 million square feet. “When you propose a plan you know will overwhelm the existing community, you lose credibility with architects, planners and land-use experts, and you lose the heart and soul of a community,” the BP told the paper. But wait there’s more…
ONE Lab: Summer Session on Future Cities 2012
The Future Brooklyn Navy Yards Home of ONE Lab. (Courtesy Terraform ONE)
ONE Lab, New York School for Design + Science is a non-profit research and education collaborative that plans to begin year-round programming when the historic renovation of Building 128 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is complete in 2014. This innovative, interdisciplinary school currently operates out of the Metropolitan Exchange, a professional cooperative at 33 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. The co-chairs, Maria Aiolova and Mitchell Joachim of urban ecology thinktank Terreform ONE, seek to promote “research and education at the intersection of design and science.”
Video> The Hectic New York of the 1920s
For your afternoon enjoyment, check out this silent film from 1921 we spotted at the Urbanophile called Manhatta. The short film by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler documents city life in Lower Manhattan during a typical day, from the arrival of a ferry at the Battery Maritime Building to construction of skyscrapers to a Manhattan sunset. Our favorite scenes, however, are the chaotic streets (“Where the city’s ceaseless crowd moves on, the live long day.”) filled with people, cars, buggies, trolleys, elevated rail lines, and bikes all moving in the same shared space. Take a look.
Advertise on The Architect's Newspaper.
Archives
Categories
Architecture
Design
East Coast
Midwest
National
Planning
Shft+Alt+Del
Sustainability
Transportation
West Coast
