Search Results for: architecture firm

We can't deny that we're big fans of LEGO bricks here at 6sqft. They incite within us welcomed nostalgia for a simpler time when our love for design and architecture was just budding. However, now that our taste has evolved we can see how the brightly colored squares may not be complementary to a more adult interior aesthetic. The folks at the Tokyo architecture firm Kengo Kumo and Associates agree and have reimagined the classic LEGO with a minimalist Japanese twist. Their new blocks, also known as Tsumiki, are shaped like an inverted V and made from wood certified by the Forest Stewardship.
More on the blocks

January 10, 2016

A New York Minute With Architect Andre Kikoski

By Alyssa Alimurung

Last month, 6sqft kicked off a fun new series called A New York Minute, where we ask influential New Yorkers spitfire (and sometimes very random) questions about their life in the big city. Want to nominate yourself or someone you know? Get in touch! When 6sqft last heard from Andre Kikoski, he was itching to fly off to Niseko, Japan with his son for a ski trip; but it looks like the vacation may be on hold. Andre heads his own architecture firm, Andre Kikoski Architect, where they are currently working on a Nolita condo at 75 Kenmare, due to open in 2017. He's been living in Manhattan since 1995, making his way uptown from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side. 6sqft shot him a few questions to find out more about his own New York experience.
Andre's NY minute this way

Where I Work

January 7, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Governor Cuomo’s $3B Penn Station Overhaul

6sqft asked readers yesterday if Governor Cuomo would finally be able to get the Penn Station overhaul off the ground, after various news outlets reported that he would be announcing a plan to do just this. The majority of you said it wasn't going to happen, but it looks like the long-envisioned project has just gotten one step closer to reality. During a press conference yesterday at Madison Square Garden, the Governor revealed that he'll be heading up a major revamp of Penn Station, which he called "un-New York," according to Gothamist. The more than $3 billion redevelopment has been dubbed the Empire Station Complex, and a request for proposals will go out this week, due back in 90 days (not good news for the decade-old deal with developers Related Cos. and Vornado Realty). As expected, it includes the long-stalled Moynihan Station project that will convert the adjacent Farley Post Office into a large waiting area, similar in size to the main room at Grand Central. This will increase the size of the nation's busiest transit hub by 50 percent and will connect to the current station by a network of underground tunnels. Though several options are on the table for a redesign, the renderings released by the Governor's office show a glassy and light structure that's quite unlike the current space that Cuomo described as "dark, constrained, ugly, a lost opportunity, a bleak warren of corridors… a miserable experience and a terrible first impression."
More details and renderings ahead

December 31, 2015

Lofty Duplex Carved Out of an UES Limestone Mansion Asks $3.975 Million

35 East 68th Street, located between Park and Madison Avenues on the Upper East Side, is one of those buildings that is not to be messed with. It's a 13,000-square-foot Beaux Arts mansion designed as a private residence for Harvard-trained physician Dr. Edward Kellogg and grain fortune heiress Mary Dows by Carrere & Hastings–the same architecture firm behind the New York Public Library. Since the now-landmarked building was completed in 1901, it has maintained its elegant, carved limestone facade. The interior, however, is a different story. Somewhere along the line the mansion was converted into a co-op apartment building, split into eight units. Seven of the eight co-ops were on the market this February for $34 million, but it looks like a sale never happened. Now this three-bedroom duplex is up for sale on its own.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

December 30, 2015

Victorian Home With Luxury Renovations Asks $7.5 Million in Yorkville

There's an interesting background behind this Victorian townhouse located at 142 East End Avenue within the Henderson Place Historic District in Yorkville. It was developed with other townhouses in the late 19th century by developer John C. Henderson for "persons of moderate means." These days, you'll need a lot more than moderate means to afford one–last year, a neighboring townhouse that had undergone a two-year gut renovation was on the market for $7.5 million or $25,900 a month. This one is also priced at $7.5 million, though it's been on and off the market since late 2012 asking anywhere from $6.5 to $8.5 million (h/t Curbed). The townhouse (once owned by a testifying forensic pathologist in the O.J. Simpson trial) was also gut renovated, with the interior all luxury while the exterior retains its original masonry detailing and modest brick façade, designed by architecture firm Lamb & Rich. Interior details include Italian tile flooring, Brazilian teak hardwood, four private outdoor spaces and a grand stainless steel staircase with walnut finishes.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

December 9, 2015

The Penn Station Atlas Wants to Make the Awful Space Less Confusing

"The concept behind this project is simple but powerful: a user-centric atlas of a complex space – a unique set of maps designed to help anyone easily find the best way to their destination in Penn Station." Designer John Schettino realized that even though he traveled through Penn Station every day, he'd still find himself lost in the labyrinth that has become one of New Yorkers' most loathed destinations. So he studied maps of the underground station and observed how people interacted with the space to create the New York Penn Station Atlas. The project uses 2D and 3D models that make up a set of maps to show general layout, key locations, and routes for getting from one point to another. Schettino, with a boost from the Municipal Art Society, hopes all these resources will become available for electronic devices at no cost.
Plenty more details this way

December 4, 2015

Truffles Privé Redefines the Meaning of Eclectic With an Opium Bed and Lockers for Booze

Located in northern Tribeca, just across from Hudson River Park on the border of Soho, the Truffles Privé is a 7,000-square-foot private club attached to two large full-service apartment buildings. Back in 2009, this exclusive and beautifully decorated club helped to rent 90 of the 291 apartments in just six weeks after being on the market with no advertising. The interior design was the result of a collaboration between interior architecture firm Povero & Company and the design team lead by David Cafiero. The details that make up this interior are an eclectic combination of intelligent curation and out-of-the-box creativity.
Take a look around

December 1, 2015

Tribeca ‘Inverted Warehouse Townhouse’ of Concrete, Glass and Corten Steel Asks $20M

By Michelle Cohen

Behind the unassuming facade of an 1890s Tribeca warehouse at 75 Warren Street (once home to the Rumsey Pump & Machine Co.), this five-story, 10,000-square-foot modern-industrial home is the kind of townhouse you don't see every day, at any price. Introduced as "the most architecturally significant townhome to come to market downtown in over 20 years," this unique residence saw a complete redesign by innovative architecture firm Dean/Wolf, known for their ability to use architectural constraints as powerful generators of form, that took five years and a budget of $4.5 million. The house departs from the more commonly seen eight-figure townhomes and penthouses in two main ways. First is the inverted layout and second, the designers used innovative forms like Corten (weathering) steel panels, hung and layered with frameless art glass that floats through three floors, illuminating unexpected places; a glass-wrapped courtyard/terrace at the home's core that becomes a prism; a 23-foot skylit ceiling; and double-story bookshelves that hang into the den from the fourth floor.
See all this and more

November 12, 2015

This 1890 Park Slope Townhouse Screams ‘Ultra Modern’ Inside and Out

You don't seem 'em like this everyday in Park Slope! This townhouse at 473 11th Street may not look it, but it was built back in 1890. It's undergone a major transformation, both inside and out, by the architecture firm Redtop Architects. The project added extra square feet, brought in lots more light, dramatically opened up the floor plan, and modernized each room. Simply put: It looks nothing like its 1890s past. It's no surprise that historic Park Slope townhouses command some of the highest prices in Brooklyn, but what about the super modern ones? This property will cost you just as much as its older counterparts, with a price tag of $4 million.
See more

Distinctive Homes

November 10, 2015

Architect Lee Mindel Lists Penthouse; Chinese Finger Trap-Like Hotel Proposed for Hudson Yards

By Diane Pham

Remember this $10.7M sculptural penthouse featured on 6sqft? Turns out the owner is architect Lee Mindel. [WSJ] Here are all the marketing stops Extell is pulling to attract foreign buyers to One Manhattan Square. [BB] Blackhouse Development has tapped L.A. architecture firm M-Rad to design a wild 740-foot tall hotel at the Hudson Yards. “Imagine a hotel that can move […]

Real Estate Trends

November 9, 2015

Noroof Architects Transformed This $1.6M Historic Bed-Stuy Home With Modern Appeal

By Michelle Cohen

No matter how lavish, developer and flipper renovations rarely hold a candle to the custom designs executed by architects for their clients' homes–even more so when the architects are the clients and the homes are their own. This unassuming townhouse at 702 Monroe Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the market for $1.635 million, is a prime example. In this case, the innovative pair behind architecture firm noroof (they received national recognition for their "Slot House" and specialize in designing small spaces) worked their creative and practical magic on a comparatively compact historic Brooklyn townhouse with a unique front porch and a lot of potential charm. Based on love and respect for the porch as a gathering, sheltering and enhancing element, they've named the resulting project "porchouse," an elegantly-designed home with a clean, modern interior that's perfect for family living–with plenty of curb appeal.
See how the magic happened

October 29, 2015

Times Square’s Marriott EDITION Hotel Breaks Ground, Will Boast 76,000SF of Food Space

Earlier this week, the five-star Marriott EDITION hotel, slated to tower over Duffy Square, broke ground. The 39-story, 517-foot tall building is being developed by a partnership between the Witkoff Group, Howard Lorber’s New Valley LLC, Winthrop Realty Trust, and Maefield Development. Going by the invented address of 20 Times Square (701 Seventh Avenue), the 370,000-square-foot tower will be the first hotel to rise directly along the Square's "bow-tie" area since Gary Barnett opened the W Times Square in 2000. Taking full advantage of its coveted, highly-trafficked location, the project will contain 76,000 square feet of retail and food and beverage space, as well as an outdoor roof terrace. Its six-story podium anchors the northeast corner of 47th Street and Seventh Avenue and will be wrapped by a 120-foot-tall, 18,000-square-foot LED display, which according to the Witkoff Group, "will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced in the world today."
More details and renderings ahead

October 29, 2015

Animated Video Illustrates the Dire Need for New Hudson River Tunnels

People are getting fed up with the century-old, crumbling Hudson River tunnels. One Jersey resident even went so far as to hire an architecture firm to design a sky bridge connecting Jersey City to Battery Park City. But grand visions aside, the state of the infrastructure is serious. To illustrate this point, but make it a bit more simple to digest, the Regional Plan Association has released a three-minute animated video called "Tunnel Trouble" that, as Crain's puts it, "shows a hellish commute for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak riders if new tunnels are not built." The narrator states, "they are the biggest bottleneck in the metro region's transit network, causing delays that ripple up and down the northeast corridor."
Learn more and watch the video

Transit

October 23, 2015

Port Authority Announces Design Competition to Replace Hated Bus Terminal to the Tune of $10B

The chance to reimagine one of the most loathed buildings in Manhattan certainly must be appealing to designers, so it's likely the Port Authority will receive a lot of submissions for their newly announced international competition to replace the current bus terminal. Crain's reports that "The operator of the nation's busiest bus terminal approved a plan Thursday to move ahead toward replacing the overcrowded, dilapidated 65-year-old facility, with a goal of deciding on a final design by [September 2016]." It's expected that the project will cost between $7 and $10 billion and take several years to complete.
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

October 15, 2015

Pollution Cleanup Park Taking Shape at Gowanus Canal

The Gowanus Canal isn't the first place that comes to mind when one thinks about lush waterfront parks, but that's exactly the vision behind the long-planned Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, an 18,000-square-foot public space that will be built with engineered soil to absorb (hence "sponge") stormwater that would otherwise pollute the canal, as well as plants to break down toxins and floating wetlands. It was first conceived back in 2008 by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Susannah Drake, principal at the landscape architecture firm DLANDstudio (who's also responsible for the Queensway). Now, seven years later, DNAinfo reports that state officials announced on Tuesday that construction has officially commenced on the $1.5 million project at the notorious Superfund site. The park will sit on city-owned land at the point where Second Street dead-ends at the canal. Workers are on site, digging out five feet of contaminated soil that will be sent to a special facility that handles toxic materials; during the next 90 days, the metal walkway will be installed; and plants will arrive in the spring.
More on the park and the Gowanus Canal cleanup

Architecture And Design

October 12, 2015

Specht Harpman Transforms an Awkward 425-Square-Foot Apartment Into an Open Space Oasis

Buying property in NYC sometimes requires a little imagination, as it did for this Upper West Side micro loft, first purchased for $95,000 by its current owner Huxley Somerville back in 1994. Somerville, who is a managing director at a commercial mortgage-backed securities division, had almost gone to school to study architecture, so he was able to recognize the potential in this awkward 425-square-foot brownstone apartment. Finally in 2009, after living abroad and subletting the place for many years, Somerville teamed up with the architecture firm Specht Harpman to turn his open-space vision into a reality.
See the transformation

Turkish Consulate’s New Tower Across From UN Finally Moves Ahead, Offices and Apartments Planned

Concept design by Chelsea Atelier

October 9, 2015

Turkish Consulate’s New Tower Across From UN Finally Moves Ahead, Offices and Apartments Planned

After more than three years on the drawing board, the replacement tower for Turkey’s Consulate General and Permanent Mission to the United States at 821 First Avenue is finally moving forward. First announced in 2012, the proposed project, known as the Turkevi Center, has commissioned Perkins Eastman as the architects of record. The building will house new offices for the consulate, and diplomatic residences for permanent staff and visitors above.
Find out more here

October 3, 2015

Affordable Housing Lottery Launched for Bjarke Ingels’ Epic Pyramid, VIA 57 West

Applications are now being accepted for the 142 affordable apartments in Bjarke Ingels' tetrahedron-shaped rental building dubbed VIA 57 West, aka "the Pyramid Building." By downloading applications here, you and 141 other lucky families may have the chance to live in a future landmark that is already turning out to be the most audacious rental building ever built in the city. The massive, half-block-long development will contain a total of 709 units, of which 20 percent will be deemed affordable. Subsidized rents range from $565/month studios for single-person households making between $19,222 - $24,200 annually, to three-bedroom apartments going for $1,067/month for three- to six-person households.
More construction shots and the full pricing breakdown

September 24, 2015

Bright Harlem Apartment Features Transformative Rooms and Is Wheelchair Accessible

6sqft often covers space-saving design and multi-functional furniture, but it's not everyday that we get to share interior design and architecture that has the potential to significantly impact someone's quality of life. However, the renovation of this 1,500-square-foot Harlem apartment, led by the architecture firm Ten to One, is a great example of this type of universal design. The apartment was designed to provide distinct access for a family member who is in a wheelchair. The redesign features clever architectural detailing that gives each room the ability to blend together or be separate and surfaces that can act as figures or enclosures. It also introduced a system of walls and ceilings that cut through the existing structure to expose new depths.
Check it out

September 18, 2015

SHoP Architects Are Bringing a Wooden Condo Building to Chelsea

In March, an Austrian architecture firm announced plans to build the world's tallest wooden skyscraper in Vienna. They noted that by using wood as opposed to concrete they'd save 3,086 tons of CO2 emissions. Then, a study showed that timber buildings actually cost less to build. These benefits really must have stuck with SHoP Architects, who are developing plans for a ten-story residential building in Chelsea, overlooking the High Line at 475 West 18th Street, that will be made entirely of wood, according to the Wall Street Journal. SHoP's project came via a competition hosted by the United States Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council, that asked architecture firms to design buildings at least 80 feet tall that employed wood construction technologies. SHoP's design, dubbed 475 West, won the competition along with a 12-story building in Portland. The firms will split a $3 million prize to "embark on the exploratory phase of their projects, including the research and development necessary to utilize engineered wood products in high-rise construction."
More on the project here

August 27, 2015

Ultra Minimal Long Island Home Blurs the Lines Between Indoor and Outdoor

If you're going to live in the middle of nature in Amagansett, a hamlet on the south shore of Long Island, you want to be reminded of the beautiful outdoors as much as possible. That seems to be the inspiration behind this home built by the architecture firm Levenbetts, who designed this property for a couple and their teenage children. It's been dubbed the 36SML House and was designed as three connected wings—a wing for the couple, another wing for their kids, and yet another one for guests. A driveway cuts through the middle of the home, and there's a roof deck (with amphitheater seating!) on top. Each wing of the house also creates separate courtyard spaces to accommodate parking space, a vegetable garden, and a play area with a swimming pool. Thoroughly impressed by the exterior?
Now check out the interior

August 25, 2015

Construction Ramps Up on Far West Side Mega-Rental at the Foot of Bjarke’s Ski Slope

Site excavation continues on TF Cornerstone's (TFC) mammoth 42-story rental development at 606 West 57th Street between Eleventh Avenue and the West Side Highway. Midtown's 57th Street has become synonymous with superlative titles, with the tallest, the thinnest, most expensive, and, arguably, some of the most exciting high-rises the city has seen in decades. At the far west end of the two-mile thoroughfare, TFC has joined in on the megalomania with a 1,028-unit, 1.2 million-square-foot rental building that will become the second largest apartment building in the city after Moinian's SKY project a few blocks south.
More details ahead

July 22, 2015

Soak in Views of Morningside Park from this $1M Classic Six Co-op