Neighborhood Tours

Lower East Side Coastal Resiliency Project will get fast-tracked with an updated design

A previous rendering by Bjarke Ingels Group of ESCR, courtesy of the Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency

October 1, 2018

Lower East Side Coastal Resiliency Project will get fast-tracked with an updated design

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In July, Rebuild by Design released an RFP for a stewardship partner for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), a  reconstruction of the 64-acre, 1.5-mile East River Park, a flood protection system conceived in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. ESCR is the first of three phases in Bjarke Ingels' Big U, a series of self-sufficient flood zones stretching from West 57th to East 42nd Streets. Under the city's new mandate, construction on ESCR, which spans the loop from Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side to East 25th Street, will begin in spring 2020. Roughly 70 percent of the design will be updated, allowing flood protection to be in place one year earlier, by summer 2023, with the entire project wrapping up six months sooner. According to a press release from the Mayor's Office, the updated $1.45 billion design will also "raise the entire East River Park, with the flood wall at the water’s edge integrated with the bulkhead and esplanade that does not obstruct views to the water."
More details on the updated plan
Where I Work: Chef Bill Telepan takes us inside a ‘farm-to-classroom’ hydroponic garden
September 25, 2018

Where I Work: Chef Bill Telepan takes us inside a ‘farm-to-classroom’ hydroponic garden

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In his first year as the Director of Sustainability at the Institute of Culinary Education, Chef Bill Telepan has immersed himself in the school’s indoor hydroponic garden, an agriculture system that uses LED light in a climate-controlled environment. Over 50 different crop varieties are grown at any time in the garden, providing culinary students access to herbs typically not found fresh in NYC. "As a chef, you taste things in your head and can put them all together, sort of mentally, and then prepare it," Telepan said when asked about the benefits of the garden for students. Throughout his career, he's been committed to using fresh, seasonal ingredients from local greenmarkets. He has worked in France under famed chef Alain Chapel, owned his own Upper West Side restaurant (Telepan) for a decade, and currently runs NYC seafood spot Oceana. Telepan gave 6sqft a tour of ICE’s hydroponic garden and told us how he became the institute’s first ever sustainability director, or as he describes it “a culmination of everything I’ve done as a chef and a person."
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Design studio proposes underground paths and an elevated ‘shelf’ across Park Avenue

Rendering via JCW Studio

September 20, 2018

Design studio proposes underground paths and an elevated ‘shelf’ across Park Avenue

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To revitalize the drab medians of Park Avenue in Midtown, a design studio suggests building an elevated, multi-functional shelf to create more public space and ease pedestrian traffic. Studio JCW's proposal, called Big Shelf, would be installed on every median of Park Avenue between 46th and 47th Street, according to designboom. The proposed design is meant to reflect a similar structural facade as the many skyscrapers around it.
More here
At this five-acre Hamptons getaway, a grass roof and infinity pool camouflage with the landscape
August 30, 2018

At this five-acre Hamptons getaway, a grass roof and infinity pool camouflage with the landscape

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This five-acre waterfront family getaway on the Hamptons' Peconic Bay was designed by Manhattan-based firm Mapos with the intention of being sustainable and timeless (h/t Dezeen). The site's existing tree arrangement was maintained at the request of the family, who were particularly taken by an old Sycamore. So as to not disturb the existing fauna on the property, it was also decided that only unfinished materials would be used in the home, including steel and concrete – painted sheetrock was strictly out – and allowed to naturally patina.
See the whole property
Financing secured for the second phase of Hudson Yards park

Phase 1 of Hudson Park & Boulevard via Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

August 9, 2018

Financing secured for the second phase of Hudson Yards park

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Financing has been secured for the extension of Hudson Park and Boulevard at Hudson Yards, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday. The first phase of the park developed with the extension of the 7 subway line to 34th Street and opened in 2015. The extension, which is part of a $500 million investment, includes a three-acre park that will run over an Amtrak rail cut from West 36th Street to West 39th Street, between 10 and 11th Avenues. This addition expands the parkland at Hudson Yards by 75 percent.
More here
East Hamptons’ mortality-fighting Bioscleave House could be yours for $2.5M
July 23, 2018

East Hamptons’ mortality-fighting Bioscleave House could be yours for $2.5M

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In East Hampton, the mortality-fighting Bioscleave House (aka the Life-Span Extending Villa) has returned to the market for the second time in its existence and is asking $2,495,000. Combination experimental art installation and dwelling, the 52-colored Cubist four-bedroom was commission by Italian art collector Angela Gallman from the late design duo Arakawa and Madeline Gins for $1.25 million in 2007, according to Curbed. As 6sqft previously explained, "the duo’s design philosophy is to combat mortality by creating architecture that makes people use their bodies in unexpected ways, challenging them to maintain equilibrium, in turn stimulating their immune systems."
It offers alleged eternal youth
First phase of Bjarke Ingels’ BIG U storm protection system begins planning process
July 18, 2018

First phase of Bjarke Ingels’ BIG U storm protection system begins planning process

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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild By Design contest sought proposals for flood protection systems. Among the seven finalists was Bjarke Ingels' and One Architecture & Urbanism's BIG U, a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment. Now after five years, the first phase of the 10-mile barrier system is getting underway. Rebuild By Design and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) have released an RFP for a stewardship partner for the BIG U's East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), a $335 million reconstruction of the 64-acre, 1.5-mile East River Park. With construction expected to kick off in spring 2019, the partner will "explore stewardship models with funding mechanisms that could enhance the long-term operating budget while addressing issues of equity."
All the details
Army Corps proposes constructing hurricane barriers across the NY Harbor to stop flooding
July 9, 2018

Army Corps proposes constructing hurricane barriers across the NY Harbor to stop flooding

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Via US Army Corps In response to intensifying hurricanes that have hit the New York and New Jersey coastal region in recent years, the U.S. Army Corps is proposing a handful of measures to reduce the risk of storm damage. The proposals include constructing barriers, either in-water or land-based, and floodwalls that would stretch over 2,000 square miles across New York Habor to protect the area's waterfront neighborhoods. The barriers, already being used in cities like Stamford, Conn. and London, would have gates that remain open to let ships pass, but close when a hurricane is advancing (h/t WNYC). After completing a study that looked at nine high-risk areas, including 25 counties in NY and NJ, on the Atlantic Coast, the Corps this month will present the proposals at public information sessions across the two states.
More here
NYC is the focus of Bjarke Ingels’ ‘Humanhattan 2050’ vision for protecting cities from future storms

Image via BIG

June 19, 2018

NYC is the focus of Bjarke Ingels’ ‘Humanhattan 2050’ vision for protecting cities from future storms

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In 2014 6sqft reported on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rebuild By Design contest to develop ways to shore up the city from future flooding. Among the short list of winners whose projects will receive funding was "The Big U" from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment, with over a third of the $920 million in prize money to go toward its development. Now BIG is making a bigger splash with a similar vision now on display at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Observer reports. Called "Humanhattan 2050," the project, created for the Biennale, which the firm calls "an academic exploration in urban environments and resiliency" could someday represent the first effort to keep cities safe while creating a new, improved social space along the waterfront.
Take a look
Bjarke Ingels reveals off-grid tiny house in the Catskills
May 17, 2018

Bjarke Ingels reveals off-grid tiny house in the Catskills

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Bjarke Ingels is everywhere. Literally. Three weeks ago, we wrote about his new design for 2 Penn Plaza. Two weeks ago, we wrote about his amazing XI sales gallery experience with the stage designer Es Devlin. Last week, it was his new role as Chief Architect at WeWork. And now, BIG has just announced Bjarke built an off-the-grid triangular tiny house in the Catskills with designer and interior architect Soren Rose. (Does this rockstarchitect ever sleep?) Bjarke Ingels Group shared with 6sqft this exclusive set of photos of the mini modern abode, which blends the A-frame architecture of the upstate area with a Nordic aesthetic.
Lots more details and renderings ahead
Nation’s largest offshore wind farm proposes Sunset Park factory

Via Wiki Commons

April 27, 2018

Nation’s largest offshore wind farm proposes Sunset Park factory

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Move over Chicago, you’re no longer the only windy city - Brooklyn is about to get its own wind. Deepwater Wind, the nation’s leading wind-power developer, intends to build an assembly hub in Sunset Park to support the nation's future largest offshore wind farm 30 miles east of Montauk (h/t Brooklyn Daily Eagle). This project is part of Governor Cuomo’s ambitious “Clean Energy Standard,” which intends to generate 50 percent of the state's electricity supply from renewable sources by 2030. The Brooklyn factory is expected to generate $80 million in economic activity and create hundreds of jobs for the area.
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New renderings unveiled for Tribeca’s educational, eco-focused park at Pier 26

Rendering via OLIN

April 26, 2018

New renderings unveiled for Tribeca’s educational, eco-focused park at Pier 26

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The Hudson River Park Trust and landscape architects OLIN have released a fresh set of renderings of the Pier 26 transformation, a project aimed at turning the Tribeca pier into an ecological park. As Curbed NY learned, a portion of the pier will have a wooden deck, with the western end rising up to 15 feet high in order to look at the wetlands. The pier's eastern side will include a large lawn and an indigenous tree-filled forest. The revamp of Pier 26, projected to cost over $30 million, is scheduled to wrap up in the fall of 2020.
Find out more and see all the renderings
Turn an easy-care houseplant into a dramatic climbing garden

Photo courtesy of Jamie Song

April 25, 2018

Turn an easy-care houseplant into a dramatic climbing garden

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6sqft’s series Toolbox Tutorials shares step-by-step guides for simple, affordable DIY projects. This week, plant experts teach us how to make an easy, indoor climbing garden. Have a project you’d like to share? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Bold botanical wallpapers are all the rage. But with a little sunlight and some patience, apartment dwellers can create a graphic pattern that literally climbs the walls (or ceiling!). The humble pothos (Epipremnum aureum), a staple of office and mall decor thanks to its easy-care nature, is the ideal trailing specimen to train indoors. It grows quickly, it thrives in indirect light, and its heart-shaped leaves aren’t accompanied by clinging parts that could damage surfaces (and bite into your deposit refund). Read on for instructions on creating and maintaining your own climbing garden from some of Instagram's top plant lovers.
Get the DIY tutorial
A public floating food forest will come to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer

Swale in 2017, photo via Subhram Reddy.

April 23, 2018

A public floating food forest will come to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer

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A 5,000-square-foot edible perennial garden will travel to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer, offering up New Yorkers the chance to harvest fruits and vegetables on top of a barge. The floating food forest, Swale, docked in Manhattan last year and featured an apple orchard surrounded by garden beds. This year, the 130x40 foot barge will set up along the Sunset Park waterfront between May 5 and July 1, and be free and open to the public on the weekends.
Details here
This $4M Park Slope Passive House is as green and efficient as it is chic and livable
April 9, 2018

This $4M Park Slope Passive House is as green and efficient as it is chic and livable

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Though it would be an enviable Brooklyn townhouse even without the certification, this unique  home at 331 8th Street in Park Slope got a complete Passive House retrofit in 2013. It's a shining 21st century energy-efficient example; better yet, the home's many period details were preserved. Asking $4 million, the 3,675 square-foot three-story home has wood molding, original doors and slate mantles across four bedrooms, three full baths, a powder room and a fully finished basement. A total of four outdoor spaces multiplies what we love about townhouse living.
Take the tour
An eco-conscious pavilion made of scaffolding and moss could bloom in Times Square

Rendering via Sam Biroscak/ Design Pavilion 2018

April 6, 2018

An eco-conscious pavilion made of scaffolding and moss could bloom in Times Square

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New York City has 280 miles of scaffolding, totaling more than 7,700 sidewalk sheds in front of 7,752 buildings. Described as pervasive eyesores and sunlight-blockers, scaffolding has an unflattering reputation in the city. Artist Sam Biroscak is looking to change the public perception of these sidewalk sheds, by highlighting it as an "under-appreciated" urban element in his conceptual design. Dubbed Mossgrove, Biroscak's project would create an architectural pavilion in Times Square made of two materials seen as nuisances: moss and scaffolding. The proposal calls for the installation be built during NYCxDESIGN, a nine-day event featuring interactive installations and talks. The theme of this year's Design Pavilion will be "From This Day Forward" (h/t Untapped Cities).
See the design
‘Pixel Facade’ concept creates flexible, green office towers designed for millennials

Image © Mengyi Fan

April 5, 2018

‘Pixel Facade’ concept creates flexible, green office towers designed for millennials

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Pixel architects, Oliver Thomas and Keyan Rahimzadeh, designed “pixel façade,” a flexible biophilic façade system for the next generation of offices, acknowledging millennials strong desire to be happy in a conducive, natural workplace. Inspired by a Metals in Construction competition challenge, the duo designed a hypothetical building in Williamsburg with a strong connection to nature to house tech startups. Thomas told designboom: “the idea was to propose conceptual but realistic ideas for built products for the future.”
Find out more
MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program winner adds elements of ‘Hide and Seek’ to summer courtyard

Rendering: MoMA PS1 courtyard featuring ‘Hide & Seek’ by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine.

March 6, 2018

MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program winner adds elements of ‘Hide and Seek’ to summer courtyard

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The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 have announced that the 2018 winner of their annual Young Architects Program is 'Hide & Seek' by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine, in collaboration with Clayton Binkley of ARUP. Opening in June, the winning construction, a "responsive, kinetic environment that features nine intersecting elements arrayed across the entirety of the MoMA PS1 courtyard" will serve as a backdrop for the 21st season of Warm Up, MoMA PS1’s outdoor seasonal music series.
Find out more
How COOKFOX Architects outfitted their Midtown office with wellness technology and outdoor space
March 2, 2018

How COOKFOX Architects outfitted their Midtown office with wellness technology and outdoor space

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Midtown offices of architecture firm COOKFOX. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! When COOKFOX Architects started looking for a new office space three years ago, it was a no-brainer that they'd incorporate their signature biophilic tools, but their one non-negotiable requirement was outdoor space to connect employees directly with nature. And though the firm has come to be associated with so many contemporary projects, they found their ideal space on the 17th floor of the 1921, Carèrre and Hastings-designed Fisk Tire Building on 57th Street. Not only did it offer three terraces (that the team has since landscaped with everything from beehives to kale), but the large, open floorplan allowed the firm to create their dream wellness office. 6sqft recently took a tour of the space to see how employees utilize the space day-to-day and learn more about how COOKFOX achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Gold status by incorporating natural materials for finishings and furniture, temperature control systems, lighting that supports healthy circadian rhythms, and, of course, plenty of connections to nature despite being in the middle of Midtown Manhattan.
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Conceptual proposal envisions futuristic mixed-use NYC project with micro units and drone landings
February 21, 2018

Conceptual proposal envisions futuristic mixed-use NYC project with micro units and drone landings

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Although Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last year new mandates to force building owners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a way to fight climate change, a Dallas-based architecture firm has taken the idea of sustainable design to the next level. During last month's International Builder's Show, Humphreys & Partners presented a conceptual plan for a mixed-use project on Manhattan's waterfront. In Pier 2: Apartment of the Future, the architects tackled major issues prevalent in many cities, like affordability and energy efficiency (h/t Curbed NY). The futuristic proposal includes two towers with modular and micro-units, which would boast futuristic amenities like artificial intelligence, drones, home automation and more.
More this way
RPA report envisions New Jersey’s Meadowlands as the first ‘Climate Change National Park’

Via ORG Permanent Modernity/Regional Plan Association

February 14, 2018

RPA report envisions New Jersey’s Meadowlands as the first ‘Climate Change National Park’

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Released last fall, the Regional Plan Association's (RPA) Fourth Plan includes 61 recommendations focused on improving and expanding the area's deteriorating infrastructure, transportation, and affordability, much of which revolves around climate change and its transformation of the region. According to the report, more than one million people and 650,000 jobs are at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels. In the plan, the RPA ambitiously recommends that the New Jersey Meadowlands, 21,000 acres of low-lying wetlands, becomes a national park as a way to mitigate impacts of climate change (h/t Curbed). Designating the region's largest wetland as a national park would restore the natural habits, protect nearby communities, and create a recreational space, becoming, the report says, a "Climate Change National Park." The Meadowlands National Park would adapt and grow with climate change by drawing and redrawing the boundaries of the park as coastlines change.
Find out more
Largest timber-constructed office building in the nation planned for Newark’s waterfront
February 5, 2018

Largest timber-constructed office building in the nation planned for Newark’s waterfront

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Lotus Equity Group announced on Monday plans to bring the largest mass timber office building in the United States to the Newark waterfront. Michael Green Architecture has been tapped to design the 500,000-square-foot office building made with a wooden structure for Riverfront Square, a massive mixed-use development proposed for the Broad Street corridor of the Jersey neighborhood, according to the Wall Street Journal. The building will rise in three separate sections to six, eight and 11 stories tall and have a concrete foundation. Its columns, exterior panels,  elevators, stairwells and floor systems will be made of mass timber. Interiors will boast exposed wood with a facade covered in metal panels, brick or wood.
Find out more
For $2.8M, a sustainable Tribeca loft with wall tiles made of recycled car parts
February 2, 2018

For $2.8M, a sustainable Tribeca loft with wall tiles made of recycled car parts

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Even at first glance this architect-designed loft in Tribeca's City Hall Tower at 258 Broadway seems to have all the best elements of downtown loft living: Beneath 14-foot ceilings, walls of windows wrap the space for views of City Hall Park and the neighborhood below, and a mezzanine level offers more sleeping and living room. But this $2.8 million co-op's secret superpower is sustainability, from walls of recycled post-industrial denim insulation and sound isolation to 100 percent VOC-free YOLO paint.
Have a look around this amazing loft
A pavilion made of metal grain bins will debut this summer on Governors Island

Renderings courtesy of Austin+Mergold in collaboration with Maria Park, and consulting engineers Chris Earls (Cornell) and Scott Hughes (Silman)

February 2, 2018

A pavilion made of metal grain bins will debut this summer on Governors Island

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"Oculi" is the latest winner of FIGMENT’s City of Dreams competition, an annual design contest challenging architecture and design firms to build a pavilion out of recycled materials to be assembled and displayed on Governor's Island. Last summer, visitors to the island were graced with a pavilion made out of more than 300,000 aluminum cans (the number of cans used in NYC in an hour), melted down and cast into cracked clay. This year, the competition is highlighting metal grain bins. A design by the firm Austin+Mergold, in collaboration with Maria Park (of Cornell University) and consulting engineers Chris Earls and Scott Hughes, will reuse old metal grain bins for a pavilion that establishes a visual connection between urban and rural ways of life.
Read more on the winning proposal
A public waterfront park is finally taking shape at Greenpoint’s first skyscraper

Rendering of The Greenpoint via +TOM

December 14, 2017

A public waterfront park is finally taking shape at Greenpoint’s first skyscraper

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The Greenpoint, a 40-story waterfront rental and condo tower and the neighborhood's tallest building, topped out in February, launched sales in July and now, is a few months away from getting a public 275-foot long promenade at its waterfront site. After nearly a decade of delays, the Brooklyn walkway, the first of its kind to be privately built in Greenpoint, will open in the spring. According to the Wall Street Journal, the park will total 29,500 square feet, including a 4,000-square-foot playground with lots of trees and colorful oval panels above.
Find out more
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