Archtober 2024: The best design tours to book during this year’s festival
It’s beginning to feel like Archtober. In its 14th year, the annual festival dedicated to architecture and design kicks off next month with the theme “Tracing the Future,” focusing on New York City’s evolving landscape through affordable housing, infrastructure projects, and sustainable design. Archtober’s Building of the Day series returns this year, offering architect-led tours of the projects across the city. Our must-visit list includes the sunrise-inspired Far Rockaway public library branch designed by Snøhetta, the new bike path and pedestrian space on the East Midtown Greenway, and Annabelle Selldorf’s first residential project.
1. Pier 26 Playground
This new playground in Hudson River Park makes learning fun and interactive. Designed by OLIN, Pier 26 Science Playground features two large-scale structures shaped like endangered sturgeon species native to the Hudson River, the Atlantic sturgeon and the shortnose sturgeon. The climbable fish let children explore fish “anatomy” and learn about other native wildlife. The playground sits within Pier 26, an ecologically-themed waterfront pier inspired by Manhattan’s natural shoreline, and next to the proposed Hudson River Estuarium. A tour of the play area takes place on Wednesday, October 9.
2. East Midtown Greenway
Late last year, the East Midtown Greenway opened, bringing nearly three acres of public open space, a new pedestrian walkway and bridge, and a bike lane stretching from East 53rd Street to East 60th Street next to the East River. The elevated park provides waterfront access for the first time since the construction of the FDR. The greenway includes a 20-foot-wide bikeway and a 20-foot-wide pedestrian zone with a pedestrian bridge on East 54th Street. As part of the festival, a guided tour will be held on Friday, October 11 at noon.
3. Far Rockaway Library
Far Rockaway’s new public library branch was worth the wait. After six years without a permanent location, the Queens Public Library opened the branch at 1637 Central Avenue this summer. Designed by Snøhetta, the library is twice as big as the previous location and features a sunrise-inspired glass facade and a central atrium that lets in lots of natural light. Snøhetta collaborated with Brooklyn-based artist José Parlá to design the mural wrapping the facade. Called “Style Writing,” the artwork features continuous written forms using words depicting daily life in New York City. Learn more about the new library during a tour on Saturday, October 12 at 10 a.m.
4. One Domino Square
Here’s a chance to see inside one of New York City’s newest developments. Architect Annabelle Selldorf’s first residential tower One Domino Square includes a 39-story residence with 160 condos, currently priced from $1.8 million, and a 55-story rental with 400 units on the Williamsburg waterfront. The project sits on the southern end of Two Tree Management’s redevelopment of the 11-acre Domino Sugar Factory site. Both towers flaunt a pearl-like porcelain tile facade that reflects the sky, “creating a continually changing, animated effect” on the exterior. The development will open its doors for a public tour on Tuesday, October 22 at noon.
5. Domino Square
At the foot of One Domino Square is a new one-acre public plaza that extends the green space of the super-popular Domino Park. Aptly named Domino Square, the green space was designed by Field Operations, which designed the existing waterfront park and other notable New York projects like the High Line. Taking up about a full city block, the new bowl-shaped park will offer year-round programming and events and will debut the neighborhood’s first waterfront ice skating rink this winter. Plus, a retail arcade designed by Studio Casdena frames the spaces and creates entry points to the park. Learn more about this new public open space during a guided tour on Monday, October 7.
6. Triangle Fire Memorial
The Triangle Fire Memorial in Greenwich Village honors the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, one of the deadliest workplace tragedies in United States history. Designed by artists Richard Joon Yoo and Uri Wegman and commissioned by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, the memorial was inspired by mourning ribbons traditionally draped on buildings during times of public grief and includes a textured stainless steel ribbon that descends from the 9th floor, where many victims jumped to their deaths, and splits at the top of the ground floor and hangs on both sides of the building. The names and ages of those 146 victims, most of whom were poor immigrant women and girls, are cut into this ribbon and mirrored onto a reflective panel. A tour of this new memorial takes place on Friday, October 18 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
7. Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center
This year the first National Park Service visitor center dedicated to the gay rights movement opened. The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, occupying half of the historic Greenwich Village bar, explores LGBTQIA+ history and the fight for equality, with programs, tours, art installations, lectures, and more. The 2,100-square-foot space was designed by EDG Architecture & Engineering and will be overseen by Pride Live and the National Park Service. Get a behind-the-scenes tour of the visitor center on October 27.
8. New York Hall of Science
Designed by Wallace K. Harrison, the New York Hall of Science’s Great Hall in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park is one of the few structures remaining from the 1964 World’s Fair. The impressive structure includes 100-foot-high undulating walls with thousands of cobalt-blue dalle de verre panels. A $25 million restoration project completed in 2015 repaired the building envelope, updated the interiors, and cleaned each glass panel; 50 new panels were installed by Willet Hauser Studios, which fabricated the original pieces in 1964. The Archtober tour on October 28 includes same-day free general admission to the New York Hall of Science.
RELATED:
