August 1, 2012
by: Linda G. Miller

In this issue:
• SoHo Cafe Sparkles
• A Place for Student Urban Farmers to Flourish
• On the Avenues…
• Upper Manhattan Gets a New Restaurant and Cafe with Riverviews
• The Third Section of the High Line is on a Fast Track


SoHo Cafe Sparkles

Diller Scofio + Renfro’s “Light Sock.”

Adrian Wilson

Tom Dixon’s “Ball” chandelier.

Adrian Wilson

Café Kristall, adjacent to the Swarovski Crystallized store in SoHo, recently reopened after a redesign by Christian Wassmann, International Assoc. AIA (a 2012 New Practices New York winner). Cherry wood arches define the different areas of the Austrian-cuisine restaurant. The arches, as well as other elements that involve touch such as handrails and door handles, are a reference to the hexagonal shape of mountain crystals. Austrian touches include Thonet chairs originally designed by Adolf Loos for the legendary Café Museum in Vienna. All of the chandeliers are selected from the contemporary collection of Swarovski Crystal Palace, including two sphere-shaped ones designed by Tom Dixon. In front of an intimate dining niche with a mirror installation designed and custom-made by the studio, hangs a fixture designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. [An earlier version of this article reversed the photo captions. The above reflects the correct order.]


A Place for Student Urban Farmers to Flourish

Courtesy Handel Architects

Here and below, the green deck system is added in sections and sits directly on the columns below the roof.

Courtesy Handel Architects

Courtesy Handel Architects

Located atop the Robert Simon School complex on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the 3,000-square-foot Fifth Street Farm Project, designed by Handel Architects, is about to take root. Due to the weight of the soil, the firm developed a design that perches a green deck directly onto the columns below the roof, similar to the way most rooftop mechanical equipment is handled. This required “stubbing-up” a select number of columns from below, as well as designing a pitch pocket waterproofing detail to wrap the base of these short columns, and building a steel framed deck to rest on the columns. The simple and standard deck construction that rests on these columns serves as a foundation for anything from planters to a greenhouse. The system can be easily replicated in other buildings where the roof slabs are not designed to carry the weight of a farmable green roof. The project also includes a kitchen with a solar oven, a greenhouse, free play lawn, large meeting space, compost area, and a weather station. In addition to providing the many benefits that green roofs offer – mitigating heat island effect, reducing storm water run-off and providing areas of refuge to increase natural bio-diversity – the retrofitting is also intended to allow teachers to weave cultivating plants into the curricula of different classes and areas of inquiry, ranging from science to art.


On the Avenues…

Courtesy Perkins Eastman and Bonetti/Kozerski

Courtesy Perkins Eastman and Bonetti/Kozerski

Courtesy Perkins Eastman and Bonetti/Kozerski

Perkins Eastman and the interior design firm Bonetti/Kozerski have collaborated with the in-house team at Avenues: The World School to create the school’s flagship 205,000-square-foot New York City campus opening this fall. Located in West Chelsea, the reinforced concrete building, designed by Cass Gilbert in 1928, has been transformed into a 10-story vertical campus organized with maximum space efficiencies and collaborative learning as programmatic priorities. The first floor includes a parents’ center, coffee shop, and the school’s major music support facilities. The second floor is dedicated to the Early Learning Center classrooms, while the third floor contains two dining halls and a studio workspace for the Upper School. This floor, directly adjacent to the High Line, features a high ceiling and light-filled space. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors are the Lower School, the seventh and eighth floors are for the Middle School; and a portion of eighth floor plus the ninth and tenth floors are the Upper School. The ninth and tenth floors also house a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art athletic and fitness space that includes locker rooms, weight and aerobic training spaces, and a full-sized gymnasium – plus access to a half-acre rooftop with play areas. STV is providing engineering and construction management services.


Upper Manhattan Gets a New Restaurant and Cafe with River Views

Courtesy Andrew Franz Architect

Courtesy Andrew Franz Architect

La Marina, a new café and restaurant designed by Andrew Franz Architect, recently opened. Covering 75,000 square feet of Hudson River waterfront just south of the Cloisters, the design is inspired by working maritime buildings. The project, a cluster of open, casual structures adjacent to a sandy beachfront, employs simple forms and materials such as roofs clad in corrugated COR-TEN steel, planted walls, reclaimed wood siding for the enclosed buildings and fencing, and native grasses. By separating the buildings, which include a full-service restaurant and several bars, and a casual waterfront lounge, patrons have more views of the river and beyond. Set to open next year is a marina and launch area with a 22-slip dock.


The Third Section of the High Line is on a Fast Track

11th Avenue Bridge: the primary pathway slowly ramps up, creating an elevated catwalk that will raise visitors approximately two feet above the level of the High Line. Display gardens on either side of the catwalk separate the primary pathway from the linear bench seating running along the railing on either side of the bridge. A new stair will bridge over the railing, providing visitors with sweeping east-west views as they enter and exit the High Line.

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York and Friends of the High Line

Beam Exploration Area: the railway’s concrete deck will be removed, revealing the framework of the High Line’s original beams and girders, covered with a thick rubber safety coating, and transformed into a unique feature for kids to explore the High Line in a new way.

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York and Friends of the High Line.

Rail Track Walk: the rail yards section contains planting beds featuring Piet Oudolf’s naturalistic landscapes that border a pathway embedded with the High Line’s original tracks.

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York and Friends of the High Line.

The City of New York has acquired the title to the third and final section of the High Line from CSX Transportation – bounded by West 30th and West 34th Streets to the south and north, and 10th and 12th Avenues to the east and west. The design process for the third section began in December when neighbors and supporters at a community input meeting shared ideas with the design team: James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf.

This Just In…

The Drama League announced it will open The Drama League Theater Center, located on the lobby level of the historic former AT &T Building in Tribeca. Designed by FXFOWLE, the project, scheduled to open later this year, incudes a new laboratory/development space, an administrative suite including computer workstations and conference space for artist use, flexible multipurpose space for educational programming and special events, a box office, design capability for sound/projection/video, and a variety of new programs.

The Design Trust for Public Space has released “Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Future of Urban Agriculture in New York.” It is a comprehensive survey of the city’s urban agriculture movement and provides a roadmap for public- and private-sector partners to leverage existing programs and expand urban agriculture citywide.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announced the selection of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects/Davis Brody Bond joint venture to design the new U.S. Embassy Compound in Mexico City. The project is the first solicited under OBO’s Design Excellence program. The team was selected from a shortlist of six firms that included: AECOM, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Morphosis Architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and The Miller Hull Partnership.

cultureNOW (winner of the 2012 AIA Collaborative Achievement Award) has produced BostonNow for its Museum Without Walls App. It contains 600 sites of recent and historic buildings and public art collections in the area, over 100 podcasts recorded by Boston architects, artists, historians, and civic and cultural leaders, plus self-guided tours. An exhibit, “BostonNOW: Maps to Apps” opens August 9 at the BSA Space.

On view through October 21 at Socrates Sculpture Park is “Curtain,” the winner of Folly, a competition organized in collaboration with The Architectural League of New York that drew 115 submissions. Conceived by architects Jerome Haferd and K. Brandt Knapp, the winning project combines architectural structural framing with mutable plastic chain link partitions and enclosures. The competition was organized in collaboration with The Architectural League of New York.

The Yale School of Architecture Gallery presents “With Palladio Virtuel,” a new analysis of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The exhibit is conceived and designed by Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey Professor in Practice, and Yale School of Architecture critic Matthew Roman. It represents the culmination of Eisenman’s 10 years of study of Palladio’s villas. The exhibition is on view August 20 – October 27, 2012.

BROWSER UPGRADE RECOMMENDED

Our website has detected that you are using a browser that will prevent you from accessing certain features. An upgrade is recommended to experience. Use the links below to upgrade your exisiting browser.