New York: The Latest Architecture and News

Although the field of architecture continually changes with advances in technology and shifts in society and culture, there rest a few names that seem frozen in time, as their ideas will continually influence generations of architects to come. Of them, Louis Kahn has been revered as a master of the 20th century and soon, his memorial park design of the 1970s will finally be completed in New York. The memorial is named after FDR’s Four Freedoms speech from 1941 where he declares that “In the future days,….we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want–which, translated into universal terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants–everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world.”

More about Kahn’s design after the break.

New York’s MoMA will be featuring a new exhibition that focuses on architects’ social responsibility. The exhibition, entitled Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement, which will open at the beginning of October and run through January, will showcase 11 projects on five continents that “respond to localized needs in under-served communities.” These pragmatic solutions demonstrate how architecture can serve the greater needs of society. From a handmade school in Bangladesh, to a cable car that connects a single hillside barrio in Caracas to the city, these realized projects are infused with passion and a strong drive to uplift society through architecture. “Together, these undertakings not only offer practical solutions to known needs, but also aim to have a broader effect on the communities in which they work, using design as a tool,” explained the MoMA.

A list of the projects that will be included in the exhibition after the break.

With 600 participants from 43 countries, the Sukkah City competition has challenged designers across the globe to try their hand at making a temporary structure fusing a traditional religious festival with contemporary architectural strategies. We’ve shared several different proposals for the competition with you, but don’t forget that your vote at NYMag.com will determine which structure will be displayed until October 2, in Union Square.

New York’s Sukkah City competition was a great success, as both the winning entries and the other proposals developed creative and thoughtful spaces. Check out Studiometrico’s proposal for the competition which is more of a do-it-yourself sukkah. People can build their own space using a triangular module that folds over itself to provide a sheltered condition. Interested in the actual construction of the sukkah, the studio built a 1:1 scale prototype to test its feasibility and decided to present the idea to the Citizens of New York by telling the story of how it was built once upon a time, in a hypothetical place, by three imaginary boys.

More images and information about the sukkah, including a short video after the break.

Material Parametrics is a two-day intensive design and prototyping workshop (with an optional third day) to be held in New York City during the weekend of September 25. Over the course of two(+) days participants will examine the cultural as well as technological domains of associative practices within architecture and its related fields. Participants will iteratively develop parametric assemblies with an emphasis placed on material prototyping as a vehicle for design innovation.

Amidst finishing the second installation of the High Line with James Corner Field Operations, and beginning to design the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles, DS + R has carved out a little pocket of time to add the finishing touches to their redesign of Lincoln Center. According to the Times, the team has turned their attention to the smaller details of project, specifically the Center’s electronic infoscape. It takes a lot to stop a New Yorker, yet Reynold Levy, Lincoln Center’s president, told the Times, “We think this will cause them to stop in their tracks and really take a look. We are endeavoring to create a feeling, engender a mood, provide a sense of the drama and the beauty of what goes on in our halls. We want to attract passers-by, but we also want to surprise Upper West Siders.”

More about the new infoscape after the break.

Recently, we shared Visiondivision’s Cancer City project – if you haven’t seen it, be sure to check it out as the firm’s fresh outlook results in a new kind of landscape for the animals. Moving from designing a new metropolis for crayfish, the architects have switched gears for their latest project to create a sukkah for an annual Jewish harvest festival. The proposal is part of the New York competition for Sukkah City (be sure to view the finalists here), which asked participants to re-imagine the temporary pavilion by developing new methods of material practice and parametric design. For Visiondivison’s proposal, the organic pavilion changes the conditions for social interaction and behavior within a simplistic structure of compression.

More images and more about the proposal after the break.

Peaking above some contemporary New York favorites – such as Gehry’s IAC Building and Field Operations + DS+R’s High Line – Jean Nouvel’s 100 Eleventh Avenue adds yet another touch of character to Manhattan’s West Side. ArchRecord‘s great pieces on curtains walls gave us a better look at Nouvel’s textured glass curtain wall.

More about the curtain wall after the break.

Back in May, we told you about the Sukkah City Competition, which asked architects to reimagine the sukkah, a temporary structure built to celebrate the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

Check out this cool treehouse nestled into Maple trees near the Hudson River in New York designed by German-based Baumraum. Far from a child’s treehouse, this residence provides simple interiors with a touch of elegance. Constructed for a family with two children, the treehouse serves as an outlet for relaxation and is connected to their main residence via a slender wooden catwalk.

More images and more about the treehouse after the break.

The New York Office of Architecture for Humanity just announced the dates for FlyNY 2010, the second annual international kite design competition and showcase co-hosted by the City of New York Parks & Recreation. On the wings of a successful 2009 event, FlyNY 2010 will take place on August 21 from 10:30AM – 4PM on Pier I at 70th Street in Riverside Park South in New York City. FlyNY is one part design competition and one part Fly Day, with the overall aim of engaging design professionals and novices alike in a dynamic conversation about design.

Set on Manhattan’s West Side, participation in the August 21 Fly Day is free, open to the public and does not require a submission into the competition. The event will include kitemaking activities for kids and families, live entertainment and kite flying.

Designers, architects, artists and others are also encouraged to participate in the FlyNY Design Dialogue taking place Friday, August 20 6-8pm EST on Twitter. It will be a dynamic conversation which merges the FlyNY competition jury panel discussion with a broader, international design/architecture audience. Just log onto Twitter, follow @_FlyNY and tweet using the FlyNY will be posing design related questions and following along during the jury panel discussion.

For more information on the event, visit http://flyny.org/ or view the event page on Facebook. See images of last year’s event after the break.

We took a few shots of Foster + Partners’ latest addition to the Bowery – a new gallery to house the Sperone Westwater’s growing collection from prominent artists of different nationalities and ages. Sitting a few steps away from SANAA’s musuem, this new gallery’s CNC milled glass facade elegantly responds to its neighboring art museum. According to Foster, the gallery is “both a response to the dynamic urban character of New York’s Bowery and a desire to rethink the way in which the public engages with art in the setting of a gallery.”

Check out some photos after the break.

The Business of Aura is an exhibition hosted in two locations, Elga Wimmer Gallery and Broadway Gallery, curated by Kelsey Harrington. It includes painting, drawing, photography, sculptural prototypes, and installation. The show examines the potential of studio processes to produce aura.

Our director, David Assael, took some shots of Gehry’s latest creation – a wavy residential tower clad in undulating metal panels. While still in the construction phase, it is easy to get the overall idea of the structure. In person, the tower demands attention as its presence, due both to scale and materiality, is unmatched within its context. Throughout the day, the light plays upon the curves making the hard metallic color almost glisten. Some of Assael’s photos capture the tower in the early evening – the perfect time of day to see the reds and oranges of the setting sun against the building. What do you think of Gehry’s skyscraper?

More of Assael’s photos after the break.

Material Intelligence is a one-week intensive design and prototyping workshop to be held in New York City during the week of August 16-20.

Earlier last week, the City Council of New York City decided to move forward with Rafael Viñoly Architects’ master plan for the New Domino in Brooklyn. While the historic sugar refinery complex, with its familiar yellow signage, has achieved landmark status and will be preserved, the 11.2 acre-site will be outfitted with 2,200 new apartments – 660 of which are affordable housing – and four acres of public park space including a riverfront esplanade along the East River in Brooklyn.

More about the master plan after the break.