New York City: The Latest Architecture and News

The 65-story, winding glass skyscraper designed by BIG for New York’s Hudson Yards neighborhood, "The Spiral," is one step closer to realization, as developer Tishman Speyer has secured the necessary air rights for the structure, The Real Deal reports.

The $157 million deal was made between the developer and the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for 669,000 square feet of development rights, equalling $235 per square foot. After adding in the square footage acquired in two separate deals in 2015 and last year, Tishman Speyer has now spent $265 million to gain more than 1.23 million additional square feet of buildable space for the 1,005-foot-tall tower.

Two large-scale US cultural projects have, this week, announced major updates relating to the renovation of existing buildings – and both involve, to a greater and lesser extent, American business magnate, media mogul, and philanthropist David Geffen.

One—the Lincoln Center's Geffen Hall in New York City—has scrapped plans for a $500 million renovation to be led by Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects, while another—Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), for which a renovation is being led by Peter Zumthor—has seen a pledge by Geffen of $150 million toward its $600 million price-tag.

In the latest in their Daily360 series, the New York Times takes a look at this past weekend's demolition of the old Kosciusko Bridge on Newton Creek between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Built in 1939, the steel truss bridge had become a major bottleneck for traffic over the past 8 decades, prompting the state government to invest in a new cable-stayed design. The first span of that bridge opened in April, with a second span to be built over the path of the former bridge.

“This is an area that was polluted from the industrial manufacturing economy,” said New York State Governor Cuomo. “We’re cleaning it up, but I think the crown jewel is going to be that new Kosciuszko bridge.”

A new space has been given a retro makeover while a historic one is racing towards modernization as work continues on the transformation of Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Terminal into a luxury hotel and event space.

Just completed is the TWA Lounge, a satellite space for the hotel located on the 86th floor of One World Trade Center. Part gallery, part mock-up, the Lounge space recreates the look and feel of the original terminal down to the smallest detail.

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ODA New York’s design for Bushwick II, a high-end residential complex on the former site of Brooklyn’s Rheingold Brewery, is coming to life in the fast-growing neighborhood of Bushwick, New York. Developed by All Year Management, 123 Melrose is already being clad. Meanwhile, Rabksy Group’s development, 10 Montieth, recently topped out.

Together, the projects will cover three full city blocks, totaling 1.35 million gross square feet. Bushwick II will be the largest housing increase this neighborhood of Brooklyn has ever seen.

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Responding to the ever-growing demand for sky-high public spaces and the need for innovative environmental solutions, New York-based studio DFA has envisioned a 712-foot-tall prefabricated timber observation tower in New York’s Central Park that, if built, would become the world’s tallest timber structure.

Combining the principles of “architecture, recreation, resiliency, and tourism,” the Central Park Tower would rise out of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, the 106-acre man-made lake that encompasses one-eighth of the total park area and holds one billion gallons of contaminated water.

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Six months after preparatory site work was halted by legal action, plans for the Heatherwick Studio-designed Pier 55 park along the Hudson River in New York City have been abandoned.

Primary backer Barry Diller, chairman of IAC/InterActive Corporation, announced the decision yesterday, citing ballooning costs and gear-halting legal worries. Initially estimated in 2011 to cost $35 million, the project had reached a $250 million price tag due to the complexity of the design and unforeseen environmental and legal concerns.

The innovative Cornell Tech campus has officially opened on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. Master planned by SOM and featuring buildings and landscapes by Morphosis, Weiss/Manfredi, Handel Architects, and James Corner Field Operations, the campus represents a new vision of a campus for the digital age. Two years after breaking ground in 2015, the campus now houses some of the most environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient buildings in the world.

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In this episode of GSAPP Conversations, ahead of the opening of the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, co-curator Mark Lee (of Johnston Marklee) and Dean Amale Andraos discuss the theme of the show—"Make New History"—and it's relevance to the field today.

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Goodbye huddled masses, hello muddled cocktails.

This tongue-in-cheek tagline is one of a number quips featured on a satirical teaser site for what would surely be New York City’s most exclusive new development – a luxury community located within the city’s most famous symbol, the Statue of Liberty.

Created by New York comedians Connor Toole and Evan Krumholz, the trendily all-capitalized and unnecessarily punctuated “ONE|LIBERTY™” is a spot-on parody of the ever-growing number of ultra-luxury lifestyle developments popping up in the city – accurately lampooning the hyperbolic language and long amenity lists touted by developers and realtors.

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The long-awaited replacement for New York City’s longest bridge, the Tappan Zee, is set to open to the public on Friday, announced Governor Andrew Cuomo. After four years of construction, the first of the $4 billion dollar project’s twin two-span cable-stayed structures will welcome automobile as well as pedestrian and bicycle traffic for the first time.

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Studio Gang’s innovative fire station and training facility Fire Rescue 2 has topped out in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. A little more than year since construction on the 21,000-square-foot facility began, all of its major concrete elements are now in place, with the red glazed terracotta panels surrounding the building’s opening next to be installed.

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Construction has begun on Penn Station’s fast-tracked Moynihan Train Hall project has begun, announced New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press conference.

Located within the existing James A. Farley Building (across from the existing Penn Station entrance), the new 255,000-square-foot Train Hall will serve as a new concourse for Amtrak and Long Island Railroad passengers, while an additional 700,000-square-feet will be dedicated to commercial, retail and dining spaces.

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Designs have been revealed for a new 40-story skyscraper in New York City’s NoMad neighborhood designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects that will house the newest Ritz Carlton Hotel. Located at 1185 Broadway, the will be noticeable for its embrace of greenery, including wraparound vegetated balconies and large, open terraces with enough vertical height for several trees.

After receiving approval by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission last fall, Studio Gang’s expansion of the American Museum of Natural History is preparing to begin construction, reports New York YIMBY, as permits for the project have been filed with Department of Buildings.

To be known as the “Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation,” the expansion will consist of 245,000 square feet across six floors, approximately 80 percent of which will be located within the current museum footprint. Three existing museum buildings/wings will be reduced and adapted to accommodate the Gilder Center, which will house a variety of new exhibition and educational spaces, while enhancing connections to existing galleries. In total, approximately 203,000-gross-square-foot will be added to the Museum, already one of the largest natural history museums in the world.

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New York Yimby has uncovered a new rendering of the FXFOWLE-designed 3 Hudson Boulevard showing an updated design featuring a 300-foot spire that would make the building the tallest in the Hudson Yards complex, and one of the tallest in the city.

Reports indicate that the building, formerly known as the Girasole, would rise a total of 1,350 feet, placing it just below 432 Park Avenue’s 1,397 foot peak. Approximately 1,050 feet of the building’s height would be occupiable, with 1.8 million square feet of office space spread across 66 total floors.