Architecture And Design

January 30, 2017

Pier 55 offshore park may be flatter than originally proposed

Despite the fact that the 535 concrete piles that will support the planned undulating base of the Pier 55 offshore park have already been erected, the Hudson River Park Trust is now looking towards a flatter design. The Architect's Newspaper obtained a copy of a permit modification request that the group submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers that reduces the park's overall size slightly from 2.7 to 2.4 acres and replaces many of the hollow pentagonal pots that would have sat on top of the columns with "a flat structural base sandwiches between the piles and the landscaping."
Find out the reason for the major change

Architecture And Design

Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP Five gets its bright pink trim

Final rendering of HAP FIVE (l), Construction progress as of January 27; CityRealty

January 30, 2017

Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP Five gets its bright pink trim

By Michelle Cohen

Construction is progressing at the very Karim Rashid-esque HAP Five residential project at 329 Pleasant Avenue in East Harlem, CityRealty reports. The building's frame has been enclosed in glass and its balconies are getting the hot-pink trim chosen by neighborhood residents after a bolder color scheme was nixed. HAP Investment Developers has specified that the project will be rental apartments instead of condos; the 21,500-square-foot, eight-story new project will offer 20 apartments including studios and one- and two-bedroom units created by the award-winning designer, all of which will have open kitchens and offer access to either a balcony, terrace or backyard.
New construction photos, this way

January 27, 2017

SL Green says One Vanderbilt will bring in $200M a year

By Michelle Cohen

SL Green Realty CEO Marc Holliday said Thursday that the midtown office tower One Vanderbilt is expected to pull in as much as $198 million a year in net operating income when complete in 2020 and fully leased, The Real Deal reports. That figure, in 2028 dollars, likely includes $42 million in admission fees for the building's planned observation deck and is based on the assumption that the tower will be leased out at an average of $155 per square foot. If realized, that figure would put the 1.7-million-square-foot, 1,401-foot-tall tower in a league with some of the the city's significantly larger trophy properties.
Find out more

January 27, 2017

Built for an aviation pioneer, this 1940 International Style mansion asks $40M

By Michelle Cohen

Known as the Sherman Fairchild Mansion, the extraordinary modern-fronted townhouse at 17 East 65th Street is one of those New York City sights that might stop you in your tracks in the middle of an otherwise sedate Upper East Side sidewalk. The current façade of this five-story home was designed by William Hamby and George Nelson in 1940 for brilliant and prolific aviation pioneer/inventor Sherman Fairchild (well-known architect Michael Graves was commissioned to design yet another facade for the home in 1979, but that version was never built). The 25-foot-wide, 9,440 square-foot modern townhouse has been on and off the market since 2014; it's currently asking $40,000. While the home's exterior is provocative and unique–especially given the Upper East Side location a block from Central Park–the interiors, which have undergone a thorough renovation by the current owner, noted Renaissance art dealer Martin Zimet of French & Company, are yet another surprise.
Take a look inside

January 26, 2017

Rem Koolhaas’ Gramercy condo reveals interior renderings, launches sales

By Dana Schulz

Right before the new year, the highly anticipated condo from Toll Brothers City Living at 121 East 22nd Street in Gramercy reached its full height, providing the first real views of its glassy facade and chiseled corner that resembles a giant crystal. And what makes the structure even more special is the fact that it's the first NYC project from Pritzker Prize-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas's firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).CityRealty now tells us that sales have officially begun, currently ranging from $1.5 million, 761-square-foot one-bedrooms to $4.7 million,2,402-square-foot three-bedrooms, and along with the launch comes the first set of interior renderings and some fresh looks at the exterior and amenity spaces.
More details and all the renderings

January 26, 2017

Bjarke Ingels’ ‘bold yet graceful’ High Line towers get new website and flashy signage

By Michelle Cohen

When HFZ Capital Group chairman Ziel Feldman needed a bold design for what will be Chelsea's largest development in more than a decade, he knew the very-visible, block-long site wanted nothing short of an architectural icon to house the future 950,000-square-foot mix of parking, retail and office space, a 137-room Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa and 240 condominium apartments. So it should come as no surprise that Bjarke Ingels' BIG was chosen to design what would be the firm's second Hudson River-front tower (after Via 57 West). Straddling the High Line and offering sunset river views, the two towers penned by the Danish wunderkind sit atop a four-floor base at 76 Eleventh Avenue, rising to 28 and 38 floors, respectively. CityRealty now brings us a collection of new views and a concept development slideshow of the $1.9 billion project recently published by BIG on their website.
See new images from the slideshow and some scintillating site prep

January 25, 2017

7 easy ways to feng shui your apartment

By Hannah Frishberg

As intangible a concept as feng shui may seem, it all comes down to the basic idea of having a space you're happy to come home to because its energy is positive. "Feng shui is an ancient philosophy about how you can improve your life and create a space that supports and nurtures you," explained Anjie Cho, a New York-based architect, author, and founder of online mindfulness design blog and shop Holistic Spaces. Indeed, adjusting your apartment in just a few small and informed ways can make all the difference in the look and feel of your unit and, resultantly, your own wellbeing. Ahead are some ideas you can apply to your space, straight from a pro.
First off, take that mattress off the floor

January 24, 2017

Slow cooking evolves with a sleek new design, better food and an app called Oliver

By Tracy A. Marciano

If you don't have your nonna cooking for you, good news is here. Slow cooking, which first appeared kitchens in the 1950s, has been redesigned for a new generation of chefs. The updated crock pot, or "Oliver" as it's been named, uses a new setup that releases ingredients slowly and churns out better results than the brown mush we've all come to expect from the gadgets.
Read more about Oliver

Construction update: Google’s Pier 57 expansion gets glassed

Pier 57 now showing some skin; Photo: CityRealty

January 24, 2017

Construction update: Google’s Pier 57 expansion gets glassed

By Michelle Cohen

Work is moving along at the waterfront development that is rehabilitating and revitalizing Pier 57, Manhattan's new "SuperPier;" newly-installed, canted glass panels can be seen along the pier’s rows of exterior columns, CityRealty reports. The $350 million transformation of the former freight terminal, a joint venture by Young Woo & Associates and RXR will include 250,000 square feet of offices for Google, a 170,000-square-foot food market curated by Anthony Bourdain and provide an elevated two-acre park with a rooftop movie and performance amphitheater. The project's design is being handled by Handel Architects and !Melk Landscape Architecture and Urban Design.
Check out new construction photos

January 23, 2017

There are more skyscrapers in NYC than in the next 10 cities combined

By Michelle Cohen

Given our growing obsession with skyscrapers–and our growing collection of them–we're pleased to find that New York City has more skyscrapers than the next 10 skyscraper-boasting cities–combined. The infographic from highrises.com (h/t TRD) shows that NYC has 6,229 high-rise buildings, while Chicago has just 1,180, and second-most-populous Los Angeles a mere 518.
See how the cities stack up

Architecture And Design

SPACE T2: A 1959 hunting shack transformed into an off-grid studio by Steven Holl

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Space T2 is a minimal artist studio located in Rhinebeck, NY. Steven Holl Architects built the off-grid cabin using what remained of a 1959 hunting shack, dressing the exterior in a sleek black wood skin while keeping the interior core a cool and contrasting white. The tiny abode rests on a handful of stilts that have been embedded in the sloping earth below.
Learn more about this former shack

January 20, 2017

‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ screenwriter lists Chelsea townhouse with a private yoga studio for $7.1M

By Michelle Cohen

Built in the 1830s when this quiet, tree-lined residential block was home to well-to-do families, the four-story, 3,600 square-foot Greek Revival townhouse at 240 West 21st Street has seen a lot of change through the years. From its beginnings as an impressive residence for a successful engraver (h/t Daytonian), the home has been a boarding house, apartments and, in more recent years, the well-designed and thoroughly updated home of screenwriter/directors Leora Barish and Henry Bean (Barish wrote the screenplay for the cult favorite Madonna film "Desperately Seeking Susan" and the more recent "Basic Instinct 2;" Bean wrote and directed the award-winning film "The Believer"). The Chelsea townhouse, on the market for $7.1 million, is once again a comfortable single-family home boasting several terraces and a big, bright garden-facing yoga studio.
Come on in, there's plenty of room

January 19, 2017

Perfectly preserved Victorian with a dreamy wraparound porch asks $785K in Hyde Park

By Emily Nonko

It's hard not to crush on this Upstate Victorian, perfectly preserved since its construction in 1879 (h/t CIRCA). Located at 21 Curry Lane in New Hyde, both the architecture and location impress: the white house, with its original slate roof and wraparound porch, sits on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It's a 15- minute drive to the Metro North station in Poughkeepsie for city dwellers, and it's $785,000 price tag is quite impressive.
See the grounds and interior

January 19, 2017

New renderings and photos show Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 uplands are almost complete

By Emily Nonko

You won't need to see more than a few renderings and photos of new park space slated for Brooklyn Bridge Park to feel ready for summertime. First posted by Curbed from the park's landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, renderings show the final design for one of the last undeveloped sections of the park between Montague and Joralemon streets. Known as the Pier 5 uplands, the hilly green space will be comprised of a stepped lawn, shaded grove, waterfront seating and new entrance off Joralemon Street. A sound-dampening berm will reduce noise from the nearby roadways. And it's all on track to wrap construction right before summer.
More images and details this way

January 19, 2017

$10.5M Federal-era house in Brooklyn Heights was Truman Capote’s muse

By Dana Schulz

When he penned an essay about his neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in 1959, it was this wood-frame house at 13 Pineapple Street that inspired Truman Capote. "Cheerfully austere, as elegant and other-era as formal calling cards, these houses bespeak an age of able servants and solid fireside ease; of horses in musical harness," he wrote, referencing the 1830 Federal-era home that was around the corner from his personal house. The Wall Street Journal reports that, for the past 26 years, the residence has been preserved by a couple who were drawn to its grey shingles as a reminder of the old houses in Nantucket they love. But now that their children are grown, they're looking to downsize and have listed the storied property for $10.5 million.
All the history right this way

January 17, 2017

Ding uses your smartphone to revolutionize the doorbell

By Rebecca Paul

While smart home technology includes everything from turning on the heat to monitoring air quality, the simple job of a doorbell has been oddly overlooked until the arrival of Ding. A collaborative effort between the London-based startup and creative consultancy MAP (an arm of the industrial design studio Barber & Osgerby), the smart doorbell is a three-part system made up of an exterior button, indoor Wifi speaker (cleverly named Chime), and a corresponding iPhone app. When visitors come to the door, Chime functions as a normal doorbell, but the app allows residents to communicate with whomever is at the door remotely.
READ MORE

Click here to enlarge infographic

January 17, 2017

128 tall buildings were constructed in 2016, a world record

By Michelle Cohen

We've just been looking at the amazing growth of the skyscraper in its early years, and now ArchDaily informs us that 2016 was a record year for tall buildings throughout the world. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced in its 2016 Tall Building Year in Review that 128 buildings 200 meters/656 feet or higher were completed in 2016, beating the previous year's record of 114 completions. Of those buildings, 18 nabbed the spot of tallest building in their respective city, country or region; 10 were classified as supertalls (300 meters/984 feet or higher). And it looks like we're on a roll...
Find out where the supertalls are rising and what the future might hold

Architecture And Design

January 17, 2017

$8.8M 20-room limestone Park Slope mansion was built in 1905 for a furniture tycoon

By Michelle Cohen

Even in the land of many mansions otherwise known as north Park Slope, 106 Eighth Avenue is, as the listing says, a rare Brooklyn treasure. Built in 1905 for furniture tycoon Henry Wallace Partridge, this Beaux Arts mansion built to accommodate "family, full time employees and guests" spans 8,000 square feet and 20 rooms, including seven bathrooms and nine fireplaces. Maintained with care, this extraordinary home has retained original details throughout, including hand-painted frescoes and a Tiffany stained glass atrium. It's currently on the market for $8.789 million (still far below the 17,500-square-foot Low mansion at 3 Pierrepont Place for $40 million), and awaits more family, full-time employees and guests to reimagine it for the 21st century.
Take the grand tour

January 16, 2017

TBD Architecture designs Tetris-like artist studios for an Upstate couple

By Rebecca Paul

TBD Architecture + Design Studio took on the challenge of designing two conjoined artist studios for a couple on the same property as their home in Watermill, New York. The creative housing is nestled amongst a cluster of trees at the edge of the site, and the double-studio structure is made up of two intersecting volumes each designed to accommodate the specifics needs of their respective artists-- a collage designer and a ceramist.
Learn more about this property

Architecture And Design

January 16, 2017

‘Ten & Taller’ exhibition maps the rise of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers from 1874 to 1900

By Michelle Cohen

Though it might seem that each recent generation attempts to take credit for the rise of the futuristic "skyscraper," buildings that rise ten floors or higher were born with the Gilded Age. "Ten & Taller: 1874-1900," on view through April 2017 at the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City examines every single building 10 stories and taller that was erected in Manhattan between 1874 through 1900 (h/t Curbed). Beginning in the mid-1870s, the city's first ten-story office buildings rose on masonry to 200 feet high with spires that stretched 60 more feet. By 1900 New York City could boast of 250 buildings at least as tall; the world’s tallest office building was the thirty-story 15 Park Row; framed with steel, it soared to 391 feet. As technology brought elevators and new methods of construction, the vertical expansion was becoming a forest of tall towers.
Follow the city's march skyward

January 16, 2017

This renovated historic townhouse in Mott Haven is only $800,000

By Michelle Cohen

File this one under things you won't find in Brooklyn: This pretty, totally modernized 2,828 square-foot Queen Anne row house at 418 East 136th Street in the Bertine Block Historic District offers four bedrooms with room for more, and four stories of townhouse loveliness, all for the well-under-a-million price of $800,000. Caveats apply, of course: It’s a narrow house at only 14 feet wide, and single-family so no rental income if you live there. But The Bronx is the place to be if you’re looking for townhouse living for under a mil.
Take a look

January 13, 2017

Natalia Geci’s clever furniture system was inspired by Marie Kondo’s de-cluttering principles

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Like many organizationally challenged folks, Argentinean designer Natalia Geci was inspired by Marie Kondo’s bestselling book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Following the author's principal of only holding onto items that bring us joy, Geci created a freestanding, multifunctional furniture system to not only encourage de-cluttering, but to display these prized possessions.
Learn more about LYNKO

January 13, 2017

Own Frank Lloyd Wright’s horseshoe-shaped ‘Tirranna’ home in New Canaan, CT for $8M

By Dana Schulz

For the first time in 20 years, Frank Lloyd Wright's "Tirranna" home in New Canaan, Connecticut is on the market. The Wall Street Journal reports that the home, which Wright built just before his death in 1959 on a 15-acre wooded estate, has been listed for $8 million by the estate of its long-time owner, the late memorabilia mogul and philanthropist Ted Stanley and his wife Vada. Though the couple renovated the horse-shaped home, they maintained its original architectural integrity, preserving classic Wright details like built-in bookshelves, cabinets and furniture, as well as other unique features such as a rooftop observatory with telescope, gold leaf chimneys, and sculpture paths that wind through the woods.
See it all right here

January 13, 2017

Pieces of Thomas Heatherwick’s massive, climbable ‘Vessel’ arrive at Hudson Yards site

By Michelle Cohen

Back in September, Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross finally unveiled the large-scale artwork that would anchor the central public space within Hudson Yards. As Ross revealed, Thomas Heatherwick was chosen to design the piece, and it would cost an incredible $150 million to build. Dubbed "The Vessel,” the climbable sculpture would rise 16-stories—150 feet tall, 50 feet wide at its base and 150 feet wide at the top—and consist of a web of 154 concrete and steel staircases with 2,500 steps, 80 landings and an elevator; the piece, in fact, so massive that it could comfortably accommodate 1,000 visitors at a time. The sculpture was to be constructed in Monfalcone, Italy before being shipped to its home on the Hudson River. And now CityRealty reports that parts of what Ross once called "New York's Eiffel Tower" have officially arrived at the site and await assembly.
More photos this way

January 12, 2017

Queens houseboat asks $59,000 for 400 square feet of watery serenity

By Hannah Frishberg

Set sail for home in Jamaica Bay on this $59,000 houseboat, now for sale. According to its listing, the 400-square-foot model is good for year-round living and is equipped with central cooling, carpeted floors and wonderful waterfront views. Plus this "single family" vehicle has one bed, one bath, a very large covered deck and "great solar potential"—not to mention you've got the ocean as your playground. The listing says the houseboat, a 2007 Custom Flo-Lodge, was hauled a year ago across the Verrazano Narrows to its current docking point at Far Rockaway's Marina 59, and has been floating there ever since.
Yo ho a pirate's life in Queens

Architecture And Design

Pier 55 offshore park may be flatter than originally proposed

Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP Five gets its bright pink trim

SL Green says One Vanderbilt will bring in $200M a year

Built for an aviation pioneer, this 1940 International Style mansion asks $40M

Rem Koolhaas’ Gramercy condo reveals interior renderings, launches sales

Bjarke Ingels’ ‘bold yet graceful’ High Line towers get new website and flashy signage

7 easy ways to feng shui your apartment

Slow cooking evolves with a sleek new design, better food and an app called Oliver

Construction update: Google’s Pier 57 expansion gets glassed

There are more skyscrapers in NYC than in the next 10 cities combined

SPACE T2: A 1959 hunting shack transformed into an off-grid studio by Steven Holl

‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ screenwriter lists Chelsea townhouse with a private yoga studio for $7.1M

Perfectly preserved Victorian with a dreamy wraparound porch asks $785K in Hyde Park

New renderings and photos show Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 uplands are almost complete

$10.5M Federal-era house in Brooklyn Heights was Truman Capote’s muse

For $1.75M, your own private oculus with skyline views on the Upper West Side

Ding uses your smartphone to revolutionize the doorbell

128 tall buildings were constructed in 2016, a world record

$8.8M 20-room limestone Park Slope mansion was built in 1905 for a furniture tycoon

TBD Architecture designs Tetris-like artist studios for an Upstate couple

‘Ten & Taller’ exhibition maps the rise of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers from 1874 to 1900

This renovated historic townhouse in Mott Haven is only $800,000

Natalia Geci’s clever furniture system was inspired by Marie Kondo’s de-cluttering principles

Own Frank Lloyd Wright’s horseshoe-shaped ‘Tirranna’ home in New Canaan, CT for $8M

Queens houseboat asks $59,000 for 400 square feet of watery serenity

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