In this issue:
· Space Used as Teaching Tool in New School
· Village Gate Opens Doors Again as Le Poisson Rouge
· W Creates Wow Factor
· Hotel Uses Small Site to Let In Light
· Stony Brook Wirelessly Paves Way for High-Tech Research
· New Smells Emanate from NJ
· Events Set Sail in Atlantic City

Space Used as Teaching Tool in New School

Green Beginnings Academy & Arts Center.

Karl Fisher Architect

Karl Fischer Architect, with interior designers and project coordinators DIA/WRKS and Wonder Works Construction and Development, have begun work on the Green Beginnings Academy & Arts Center, a pre-school located at the luxury multi-family development, Clinton Greens on West 51st Street. The school will use 8,000 square feet of space on the ground level and second floor to accommodate up to 100 students from six months to five years of age. Upon completion, the school will be one of a handful of pre-schools in the U.S. that subscribe to the Italian Reggio Emilia philosophy of teaching. Working with this educational approach, physical space is a primary element, and art is an integral part of the curriculum — many Reggio Emilia schools have dedicated art rooms staffed by full-time art teachers. The school is expected to be open for the Spring 2009 semester.

Village Gate Opens Doors Again as Le Poisson Rouge

Le Poisson Rouge.

Robert Wolsh

Architectural design and acoustic consulting firm Walters-Storyk Design Group has completed a redesign the former Village Gate, transforming it into a new club, Le Poisson Rouge. The club functions in three distinct configurations: fixed stage with table seating for 250 patrons of jazz, rock, and big band ensembles; an open dance space for 550 on a 23-foot-diameter hardwood sprung floor; and a performance-in-the-round setting, with a movable center stage, for acoustic, blues, or classical music. The club has two elevated VIP opera boxes and two private entrances as well. In addition to the flexible performance space, the club has two cinema-sized screens with surround sound. A fully soundproofed lounge adjacent to the performance space can hold approximately 130 guests.

W Creates Wow Factor

W New York.

BBG-BBGM

BBG-BBGM has completed the renovation of the W New York at 541 Lexington Avenue, the hotel’s the first renovation since it opened 10 years ago. According to the architects, guest rooms and specialty suites have been infused with what they’ve coined wow. Each room was designed as a modernized interpretation of nature using scale, transparency, and graphics. Beds wrapped in zebrawood, are the focal point of the rooms, and wow design elements include custom-designed headboards with backlit, sensual photos in silhouette. Duplex suites have a double-height ceiling, a second-story loft bedroom, dark hardwood floors, and custom-designed, backlit acrylic panels featuring abstract tree forms. The extreme suites include wraparound outdoor terraces, teak flooring, oversized daybeds, and solid raw cedar cocoon chairs.

Hotel Uses Small Site to Let In Light

Linden Hotel.

Lang Architecture

Construction recently began on the Linden Hotel, a 16,000-square-foot, 38-room hotel in East New York, Brooklyn, designed by Lang Architecture. To maximize the small site, an atrium opens the building to light and views. Stairs and bridges span the atrium, providing access to guest rooms and a breakfast area on the lower level. The building is constructed from an interlocking polycarbonate system combined with expanded metal mesh to form an intermittently transparent, translucent, and opaque curtain wall that will change character throughout the day.

Stony Brook Wirelessly Paves Way for High-Tech Research

CEWITT.

Jeff Goldberg/Esto, courtesy Mitchell/Giurgula Architects

Construction has been completed on the Mitchell/Giurgola Architects-designed Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) at Stony Brook University on Long Island. CEWIT is a $250 million government/industry/academic partnership leading the next wave of the wireless and info-tech industries. The 100,000-square-foot facility will operate as a research center focusing on wireless networking and traffic management, effective bandwidth utilization, pervasive and high-speed computing, radio and digital communication, 3-D visualization, ad-hoc networks, digital signal processing, cyber security, wireless reality, computer vision, networks, virtual reality, bioinformatics, expressive networks, data mining, and computational neuroscience.

The structure is a mix of flexible, open lab space and supporting offices. Incubator space for private industry initiatives has also been incorporated, in addition to a clean room, an anechoic chamber, and a large multi-purpose space. The new center is part of a statewide economic strategy to make NY — and specifically Long Island — an innovative, global hub for the high-tech industry. The center is intended to anchor the new campus and district, where private/public partnerships can aid the design and production of new industry-leading products and concepts.

New Smells Emanate from NJ

Givaudan.

Montroy Andersen DeMarco

Montroy Andersen DeMarco completed the 150,000-square-foot East Hanover, NJ, corporate campus for Givaudan, a Swiss-based flavor and fragrance company. Five years in the planning, the $28 million renovation features the company’s two-building concept — one for commercial and corporate offices and the other for fragrance development. Instead of building a new facility (the initial plan), Givaudan relocated in an office building that had been constructed with a “split plan,” which solved many of the design challenges. The two- and three-story buildings, for offices and development respectively, are connected with a centrally located lobby atrium. “Odor booths” — areas completely impermeable to external odors — were constructed of a specially designed metal-and-glass partition system. Green elements include open plans, natural lighting, energy-efficient Low-e glass and fiber-optic lighting, sustainable bamboo flooring, and an automated climate monitoring and control system.

Events Set Sail in Atlantic City

Event space in One Atlantic.

mUSE Architects

Designed by mUSE Architects, One Atlantic is an independent event venue in Atlantic City that stretches 300 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. Floor-to-ceiling windows maximize ocean views from every room. The project includes 10,000 square feet of interior event space and a 2,500-square-foot terrace. The main space offers views of the ocean and Atlantic City skyline. Reflective sail-like coffered ceilings, natural cork flooring, limed oak wood, and sheer gold drapes are intended to create a maritime feel. The venue is expected to open its doors in summer 2009.