In this issue:
· Delta to Fly into the 21st Century at JFK
· NYCEDC, WXY Start Projects in the Bronx & Brooklyn
· FIDI’s New Pop-Up Café
· The Bronx’s Little Italy Gets Modernized
· Senator Edward M. Kennedy Honored with Institute at UMass
· Shipping Containers for Public Art

Delta to Fly into the 21st Century at JFK

Terminal 4.

Courtesy SOM / ARUP

Delta Air Lines, the Port Authority of NY and NJ, and JFK International Air Terminal announced plans for a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed expansion of Terminal 4 (the firm designed the existing Terminal 4, which opened in 2001). The project includes the expansion of Concourse B, with nine new international gates; a passenger connector between Terminals 2 and 4; and expanded baggage claim and customs and border protection areas. Terminal 3, built in 1960 and designed by Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton for PanAM Worldport, has been deemed functionally outmoded and beyond repair; it will be demolished and the space used for aircraft parking. Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2010.

NYCEDC, WXY Start Projects in the Bronx & Brooklyn

Fordham Plaza (left), and WNYC Transmitter Park.

WXY architecture + urban design

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) recently released the conceptual master plan, designed by WXY architecture + urban design, for the redesign of Fordham Plaza in the Bronx. Adjacent to the Fordham Road retail corridor, the plan is to create a hub for transit, culture, and retail. The plaza would also provide a venue for yearlong event programming, including movie screenings, concerts, and holiday markets. The new design aims to create a contiguous public space, enhance traffic flow, and provide access to commuter rail service.

NYCEDC and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation recently broke ground on a $12 million redevelopment of WNYC Transmitter Park along the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Designed by EDAW/McLaren Engineering Group/WXY architecture + urban design, the project is located on the site of former radio transmission towers. The design includes a pier with concrete platforms connected by aluminum bridges, a new overlook, a waterfront esplanade, and a pedestrian bridge built across an excavated historic ferry slip that will be restored as a wetland. The park will also include an open lawn with a children’s play area featuring a nautical theme.

FIDI’s New Pop-Up Café

Pop-up café.

Riyad Ghannam, AIA

Under the auspices of the NYC Departments of Transportation and Consumer Affairs, NYC now has its first pop-up café — a temporary curbside seating platform in the Financial District that provides both locals and visitors with a public space to sit, sip, and snack. CA-based RG-Architecture, which designed similar outdoor space in San Francisco, created the 84-by-6-foot wooden platform that is furnished with 14 café tables, 50 chairs, and landscaped with planters. Architectural services, which were requested by two adjacent restaurants, were provided pro bono. The Corten steel planters filled with English lavender, miniature boxwood, and turf lily were donated by Denver-based Bison Innovative Products.

The Bronx’s Little Italy Gets Modernized

Arthur Avenue Retail Market.

Papadatos Partnership

Renovation of the Arthur Avenue Retail Market in Belmont, Bronx, also known as the borough’s Little Italy, is underway. The design, by Papadatos Partnership, combines modern materiality with old world aesthetics by incorporating an “agora” motif, recalling ancient Greek and Roman markets. The 26,000-square-foot market was originally built in 1941 to give street vendors shelter from the elements, and became a center for sausage makers, bread bakers, cigar rollers, and florists. The project includes a total renovation of the exterior that will retain historic design elements. The interior, which has undergone minimal renovation over the years, will get flexible modular displays designed to adapt to both merchant and market conditions, enhanced public and gathering areas, lighting and electrical improvements, upgraded heating and cooling systems, and new plumbing — including modernization of toilet and food preparation facilities. The renovation is expected to be complete by December 2010.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy Honored with Institute at UMass

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate.

Rafael Viñoly Architects

Rafael Viñoly Architects has been selected to design the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. The institute will be located next to I.M Pei’s 1979 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and will overlook Boston Harbor. The facility will consist of approximately 40,000 square feet of program space, composed mainly of classrooms, educational exhibitions, and a representation of the Senate Chamber. Two triangular volumes define the entry to the building and geometrically connect the institute to the JFK Library; the entrance approach will be designed to incorporate components from each of the 50 states. The project will break ground in fall 2010.

Shipping Containers for Public Art

Anyang Public Art Project.

LOT-EK

LOT-EK recently completed the Open School for the 2010 Anyang Public Art Project (APAP) in the city of Anyang, South Korea. Positioned over the Hawoon Park pedestrian walkway along the Anyang River, the structure is made of eight shipping containers featuring different, but interconnected, spaces. At the ground level is an open-air amphitheater for public programs. The second story, lifted above ground on stilts, contains a large multi-purpose space for meetings, exhibitions, artist-in-residence studios, and a work place for researchers. A continuous public path, constructed of a cut and bent container, takes visitors from the lower amphitheater to a rooftop observatory.