Architecture And Design

Brooklyn-based studio TA Dumbleton Architect designed and built their Bridgehampton WE Guest House in just eight months (h/t dezeen). In that short amount of time, the team converged the look of an old farmhouse with that of a New York City loft apartment, employing incredible double-height windows, an open 3,000-square-foot layout, and insulated stucco walls.
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Architecture And Design

July 7, 2017

An architect’s 1969 nuclear shelter plan shows a mini-Manhattan built thousands of feet underground

The 1960s Cold War years were America's peak fear/fantasy period as far as the threat of nuclear weapons being deployed. Related scenarios played heavily in science fiction works and frequently surfaced in art and writing. On occasion the line between sci-fi and urban planning tends to blur, at least in hindsight; such is the case for architect and city planner Oscar Newman's probably tongue-in-cheek vision of an enormous spherical underground replica of Manhattan located thousands of feet below the city itself, to be switched into action in the event of a nuclear event. Atlas Obscura reveals Newman's fantastical map to a subterranean metropolis where New Yorkers would wait out the fallout.
Head underground for a look-see

July 6, 2017

Art Nerd NY’s top art, architecture, and design event picks – 7/6-7/12

By Lori Zimmer

Art Nerd New York founder Lori Zimmer shares her top art, design and architecture event picks for 6sqft readers! Times Square is offering up some pretty cool art experiences this week including a late-night 3D movie and vintage telephone booths that have been repurposed to play stories from immigrants to our great city. The High Line is holding a live chess tournament where pieces are swapped out for visitors, and Chesterfield Gallery hosts a group of artists who have swapped paint for textiles. Photographs celebrating the “limitless beauty of blackness” opens at Brilliant Champions, and artist Andrea Fraser gives a free lunchtime talk at SVA. If you’re out in the Hamptons, take some art with your beach time at Market Art + Design, and finally, rumor has it that the Kosciuszko Bridge will finally be imploded.
Details on these events and more this way

City seeks to revoke access to office rooftops made for employee mingling

Rendering of L&L Holding Company’s planned rooftop terrace at 390 Madison Avenue

July 5, 2017

City seeks to revoke access to office rooftops made for employee mingling

Update 7/31/17: The Post reports that the DOB recently sent landlords a draft memo clarifying that, aside from minor details, terraces are allowed "as open passive recreation space." To give workers a comfortable and conducive work space, some companies have outfitted their offices with amenities like on-site fitness centers, free coffee and outdoor space. However, the city’s Department of Buildings has launched a campaign to stop or delay these rooftop terraces on office towers, claiming the spaces can only be used for plants, not people. As the New York Post reported, DOB may not approve office terrace plans and may even rescind already approved plans.
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July 3, 2017

Escape to a Bali retreat that’s no further than the Hudson Valley

If you're looking to get out of town but you're uninspired by the usual country inns, historic schoolhouses, and rustic log cabins, this unusual Hudson Valley vacation property could be just the tranquil escape for you (and up to nine of your closest friends). The Hudson Valley Bali House Retreat in Rosendale, New York combines a country setting with details that were inspired by vacations in Bali and Thailand. Built using materials imported from Indonesia, this exotic compound makes visitors forget they're only about 90 minutes from Midtown.
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July 1, 2017

$3.85M waterfront estate designed by McKim, Mead & White is just 30 minutes outside NYC

Renowned architecture firm McKim, Mead & White hardly ever disappoints--they are, after all, the firm behind the original Penn Station--and this Westchester property now for sale lives up to the firm's reputation. Located at 10 Sheldrake Road in the town of New Rochelle, this waterfront estate is known as "Four Chimneys" and was built in 1938. The exterior is a graceful brick, Georgian architecture surrounded by 1.65 acres of landscaping. On the interior, a renovation included converting the ballroom into a gym, installing an infinity pool on the edge of Sheldrake Lake, and building an indoor half-court for basketball. (Don't worry, there are some lavish and historic interior details that remain on display, too.) To live 30 minutes outside of Manhattan on this impressive estate will cost $3.85 million.
You have to see the interior

Just one ‘CityTree’ unit purifies air at the same rate as 275 trees

Photo courtesy of Green City Solution’s Instagram

June 30, 2017

Just one ‘CityTree’ unit purifies air at the same rate as 275 trees

Nearly 90 percent of residents in cities around the world breathe polluted air, which is the single largest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organization. To address this global problem, Green City Solutions created a mobile installation of specific moss culture that has large surface leaf areas and that can remove pollutants from the air. As Curbed NY reported, this new mossy air filter has been installed in Oslo, Paris, Brussels and Hong Kong. According to the team, CityTree has the same effect as up to 275 trees but requires 99 percent less space and just five percent of the cost.
Find out more

June 30, 2017

Four architecture teams envision NYC’s driverless transit future

With NYC residents owning fewer personal vehicles than any other city in the U.S., it’s no surprise that it may soon become a major hub for autonomous transportation. To ensure the future efficiency of driverless vehicles in such a densely populated area, Blank Space and the City of New York created a Driverless Future Challenge to solicit visions for the future of autonomous transit. According to Archinect, participants from over 25 countries sent proposals, which have now been narrowed down to four finalists. Their ideas include a plug-and-play public square, curbside pickup system, a rideshare platform for the outer boroughs, and a local food delivery service.
Find our more about each proposal and watch the project videos

June 29, 2017

Upper West Side penthouse masterminded by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass asks $19 million

This Hotel des Artistes apartment, now on the market, comes with an incredible interior decor story. Bloomberg notes that it belongs to the French-born entrepreneur/photographer/art collector/playboy Jean Pigozzi, who purchased it in 1986. Soon after, he enlisted Ettore Sottsass, designer and founder of the Memphis Group, to redesign it. Sottass, at the time, was at the height of his fame, and ended up designing every nook and cranny. (He passed away in 2007, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a retrospective of his work this summer.) As Pigozzi told Bloomberg, "He designed 100 percent of everything... Every table, every sofa, every book shelf, every sink, every doorknob." He even helped Pigozzi expand the design into the adjacent duplex that he purchased a few years later. Now, the fabulous penthouse is on the market for $19 million.
Take the grand tour

Historic Gramercy townhouse from Bob Dylan album cover sells for $23M

By Annie Doge

An 1846 townhouse, once owned by former New York City mayor and publisher James Harper, has sold for $23.09 million in an off-market deal. The historic Greek Revival home located along Gramercy Park features sun-filled rooms, high ceilings, and elaborate crown molding, and it comes with a coveted key to the park. But the biggest bragging rights, as the New York Post learned, are that Bob Dylan sat on the stoop of the red-brick house for the cover of his album "Highway 61 Revisited."
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June 29, 2017

Art Nerd NY’s top art, architecture, and design event picks – 6/29-7/5

By Lori Zimmer

Art Nerd New York founder Lori Zimmer shares her top art, design and architecture event picks for 6sqft readers! If you’re staying in town for the Fourth weekend, be sure to flex your cultural muscle! Check out a mix of fine art and architecture twice this week- first catch a slice of the Vatican at Santiago Calatrava’s Oculus, then head to the Park Armory for a project by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & deMeuron. Spend some time in City Hall Park with Katja Novitskova’s new series of sculptures, then relax in the rarely-opened New York Marble Cemetery for a group show by Ugo Rondinone. Party it up on the cobblestone streets of Wooster for their annual block party, then grab a blanket and catch Brigitte Bardot on the big screen under the stars. Finally, experience Paris’ Urban Arts Fair at Spring Street Studios- and check out a book signing with me on Friday!
Details on these events and more this way

June 28, 2017

Watch MoMA PS1’s solar canopy art installation get installed

Every summer, New Yorkers are treated to kooky architectural innovation in the MoMA PS1 Courtyard. ( Last summer: this wild woven design from Mexico City-based architecture firm Escobedo Solíz Studio.) This year, Ithaca, New York-based architect Jenny Sabin takes the spotlight with her Lumen installation, a structure made of over one thousand digitally knitted photo luminescent cells that change color in the presence of sunlight. In honor of the installation opening this week, MoMA PS1 released videos in which the architect explains the development of her 500-pound solar-active canopy and shows off the construction and installation process.
Watch the videos here

June 27, 2017

Young Projects upended the traditional Brooklyn townhouse design for this Williamsburg renovation

You wouldn't guess it from first glance, but this property on the corner of Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg was originally a modest 1900s brick townhouse. Architecture and design firm Young Projects was tasked with modernizing and expanding the existing structure, for which they took a bold approach that they call "a radical break from Brooklyn’s traditional townhouse typology." The massive rear addition is clad in perforated, corrugated zinc, "subtly playing off the scale, proportion, fenestration and texture of the existing townhouse." The interior is just as dramatic, with a massive, curving staircase that wraps around a double height living room.
You have to take a look inside

Amazon has patented a drone skyscraper designed for city delivery

Image courtesy of the United States Patent Office

June 27, 2017

Amazon has patented a drone skyscraper designed for city delivery

The massive online retailer company Amazon, which recently acquired the grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.4 billion, is attempting to push even further into the future of internet commerce. The company has recently patented a “multi-level fulfillment center for unmanned vehicles," or in simpler terms, a drone skyscraper. As co.design discovered, while patents do not necessarily mean this tower will be created, the plan has detailed sketches showing a giant beehive from where drones would fly in and out.
See the design

June 27, 2017

Win a free pass to the New York Times Cities for Tomorrow Conference (Worth $995!)

By 6sqft

Cities for Tomorrow is back for its fourth year, and 6sqft has teamed up with the New York Times to give one lucky reader a free pass (worth $995!) to the event taking place July 10th–11th in Midtown Manhattan. Join creative visionaries and leaders in the real estate, urban planning, and political fields such as Momofuku […]

June 23, 2017

PHOTOS: First steel column installed at 1401-foot One Vanderbilt, NYC’s second-tallest skyscraper

With the installation of its first steel column, One Vanderbilt, soon to be New York City’s second-tallest skyscraper, officially began vertical construction on Friday. Banker Steel Company provided the 26,000 tons of domestically milled and fabricated structural steel for development, which included the first 20-ton column installed. According to the team, the construction of One Vanderbilt is three weeks ahead of schedule. SL Green Realty and AECOM Tishman say the supertall skyscraper will add to the modernization of East Midtown’s business district, as the office building will boast column-free floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and 360-degree views.
See more here

June 22, 2017

Own America’s oldest surviving log cabin for $2.9 million

By Diane Pham

History buffs and old house lovers will not want to miss this opportunity to gawk inside what is the country's oldest log cabin, a quaint oak construction currently seeking an incredible $2.9M. Known as the C.A. Nothnagle Log Home, the structure was built around 1639 by Finnish immigrants and is located just two hours outside of NYC in the town of Gibbstown, NJ. Although modest by today's standards, measuring 16 by 22 feet and boasting just a single room, the cabin's current owners say it's actually quite palatial considering cabins back then clocked in at only 12 by 12 feet on average. Now, is it worth the price tag?
see more inside

June 21, 2017

Haunted Gothic mansion is a $2M fixer-upper in Westchester County

By Dana Schulz

Just an hour north of Manhattan along the Hudson River in Irvington, New York sits Strawberry Hill Manor. The Gothic Revival mansion was built in 1850, and if its brooding gables and turrets and crumbling interiors weren't spooky enough, there's the fact that the original owner, John Thomas, was standing and admiring his new home when the pitchfork he was holding was struck by lightning, killing him. But if this haunted tale and the fact that the 13,000-square-foot residence is quite the fixer-upper don't deter you, Curbed tells us that the Manor is for sale for $1,995,000.
Get a look around

June 21, 2017

$1.3M Arbor Close Tudor is a reminder of the 1920s ‘garden city’ movement

Just adjacent to the historic "secret" enclave of Forest Hills Gardens, Queens–a rare planned community founded in 1909–is the even more well-kept secret of Arbor Close. These garden-filled idylls share the same covenant to maintain their early 20th century "garden city" charm. Like its neighbor, Arbor Close consists of 1927-era Tudor rowhouses and apartment buildings with central gardens. Though it doesn't happen too often, one of those rare homes, an elegant, unassuming Tudor at 111-27 75th Road, is for sale, asking $1.275 million.
See more of this charming townhouse

June 21, 2017

Modern Catskills treehouse uses angular geometry to connect with nature

By Dana Schulz

It might seem contradictory that hard, angular lines and pronounced geometry could enhance the organic nature of this forested Woodstock, NY location, but UK-based designer Antony Gibbons managed to pull the juxtaposition off seamlessly with his Inhabit Treehouse. Gibbons told Inhabitat that the small family home "still blends into the surroundings with its timber materials,” which includes cedar from the surrounding Catskills Valley for the facade and a reclaimed pine interior, where he used the sharp angles to frame out views of the nearby mountains and lake.
See it all right here

Top architects and engineers present solutions for NYC’s soon-to-explode population

June 21, 2017

New ArchiMaps app lets you explore cities by their important buildings