Building Tours

Join us for a tour of the AIANY Design Award-winning Davis Center at the Harlem Meer, the largest project in the history of the Central Park Conservancy. This project explores and celebrates the intersection of History, Landscape, Recreation and the City. Setting the stage with the demolition of the former Lasker Rink, the Davis Center reconnects the building to its topography and its Central Park North setting. A glass and stone pavilion defines the eastern edge of a monumental outdoor room containing a new seasonal pool, rink and green.

Tour Guides:
Susan Rodriguez, FAIA, Principal, Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture • Design
Christopher Nolan, FASLA, former Vice President for Planning, Design and Construction, Central Park Conservancy
Carl Gruswitz, AIA, CPHD, Senior Associate, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, LLP

About the Tour Guides:
Susan T Rodriguez the lead architect of Central Park’s new Davis Center at the Harlem Meer, designs at the intersection of architecture and the public realm to create buildings and spaces that distill the essence of cultures and communities. Her award-winning work is recognized internationally for its contribution to the vitality of cities and landscapes and the institutions they serve. She founded Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture · Design in 2017, combining over thirty years of design leadership with a passionate belief in the power of architecture to affect change and improve the quality of life for all.

Christopher Nolan is the former Vice President for Planning, Design and Construction of the Central Park Conservancy. As the chief landscape architect for the Central Park Conservancy, Nolan oversaw a team of planning and design professionals responsible for all restoration and constructions projects in Central Park. He is the principal at Studio Nolan Landscape Architects and Planners.

Carl Gruswitz is a Senior Associate, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, LLP in New York City. With Mitchell/Giurgola Architects as Executive Architects, Gruswitz was the Project Architect on the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer.

Across New York City and the United States, libraries remain one of the last free and accessible places for communities. They provide several levels of support—from educational resources and language courses to cooling centers during heatwaves and hubs for food and supply distribution. No longer places to only check out books, they are essential sites of social infrastructure.To more effectively operate as a “third space” and to better connect with the communities they serve, libraries are turning outward, creating outdoor areas for gathering, programs, and study.

SCAPE has been at the forefront of this initiative by designing a series of immersive outdoor reading rooms and plazas that have become integral to the contiguous streetscape, ushering in a new era for New York City infrastructure. Recognizing these spaces as vital social beacons, SCAPE understands that they must be resilient for an evolving future. Their teams have worked with both Brooklyn and Queens Public Library systems to create lush, richly-detailed civic spaces that function as immersive landscapes while connecting the buildings to their urban and ecological contexts.

In celebration of the NYCxDesign Festival, on May 14th, join SCAPE Senior Associate, Daniel Hernandez, for an overview of the firm’s library work plus a walking tour of the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center with Brooklyn Public Library’s Environmental Justice Coordinator, Acacia Thompson. Starting at 6 PM, attendees will learn how community engagement, learning initiatives, and ecological context informed the landscape with an inside look at the design process. Following the talk, participants will then be invited to explore the three-tiered library branch and experience design details first hand while also learning about the library’s unique environmental education programming.

The AIANY Building Science Committee is excited to present a tour of 95 Madison by FXCollaborative, located north of Madison Square Park at 95 Madison Avenue and 29th Street, Manhattan, NY, 10016. This designated landmarked commercial office high rise building is being converted to mixed use residential with 65 apartments, office spaces on the 3rd floor, and retail on ground and second. The project gained unanimous approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission through its sensitive approach to restoration and expansion of the bulk. By reconfiguring the core, the team bypassed typical seismic retrofitting limits and created additional gross area for new rooftop units. Despite the building's SHPO eligibility, the owners proceeded with a primary goal of meeting minimum energy codes.

Tour guide Tim Sudweeks will discuss strategies for converting historic and Landmarked structures to multi-family use, give an overview of improving the performance of existing historic masonry facades including detailing with improved thermal performance, discuss variations in air and vapor barriers for various façade claddings and identify advantages and challenges in integrating contemporary building systems into a historic structure.

This will be a hardhat tour, and attendees must bring their own personal protective equipment (hardhat, safety boots, goggles, and construction vest). This program will have extremely limited registration so please do not hesitate to register as soon as possible.

Project Team:
Client: Sunlight Development
Design Architect: FXCollaborative
General Contractor: Woolly Mammoth
MEP Engineer: HRM Engineering
Structural Engineer: HPL Engineering PC
Façade Consultant: Walter B. Melvin Architects
Façade Consultant: Hatfield Group Engineering

Tour Guide:
Tim Sudweeks, AIA, AA Dipl, LEED AP, CPHP, FXCollaborative

About the Speakers:
Timothy M. Sudweeks is a Senior Associate at FXCollaborative with over 25 years of professional experience in commercial, office, and residential sectors, and is known for his work on sustainable design and repositioning projects. Sudweeks's expertise includes Passive House standards, exterior detailing and design, residential design, green roofs, repositioning projects, and New York City Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC) compliance. He is the office-wide Documentation Standards Specialist, responsible for the quality of FXCollaborative’ s documentation, including graphics, content development, technical guidelines, templates, and standards. Sudweeks is a registered architect in New York and a member of the AIA. He is also LEED AP Accredited and certified as a Passive House Designer.

Step into a hidden corner of New York City’s past with a rare opportunity to explore the Amateur Comedy Club (founded 1884) building and Sniffen Court. Tucked away at 150 E. 36th Street, this mid-19th-century mews feel like a secret world within the city. Its ten brick carriage houses, arranged around a quiet courtyard, form the Sniffen Court Historic District, a unique example of 1850s design listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the tour, you’ll discover the Amateur Comedy Club, which transformed two of these carriage houses into a theater in 1918. As the oldest continuously operating theatrical club of its kind in the country, the Club offers a glimpse into history through its Green Room, Prohibition-era liquor lockers, and remarkable collection of theatrical art and memorabilia.

Guests will also enjoy refreshments and a surprise performance.

The same tour will be offered three times on the same date:
•       Tour 1: 10:00–11:45 AM
•       Tour 2: 12:00–1:45 PM
•       Tour 3: 2:00-3:45 PM
Register at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/amateurcomedyclub/2162247

Meet at 150 E. 36 St. (bet. Lexington & Third). There is no signage on the door.
Questions? [email protected]