by: Linda G. Miller
Curtains Up on Samuel H Scripps Theater in Hudson Valley
Studio Gang has completed the 26,000-square-foot Samuel H Scripps Theater Center for Hudson Valley Shakespeare (HVS), located on a 98-acre site in Garrison, NY. The Center’s indoor-outdoor setting is designed to immerse the audience and the actors in the landscape. Featuring a curved, timber-framed grid shell, the new theater provides improved rehearsal, performance, education, and amenity spaces; expanded accessibility for more diverse audiences; and technical additions that create new opportunities for HVS productions. Positioning nature at the forefront of the theater’s creative work, the stage’s proscenium arch frames iconic views of the Hudson Highlands. Adjacent to the 6,800-square-foot, 451-seat theater designed in collaboration with Fisher Dachs Associates is an additional 10,000-square-foot area with dressing rooms, a green room, wardrobe facilities, offices, as well as separate spaces for concessions and public washrooms. Landscape architect firm Nelson Byrd Woltz designed the master plan for the site. The landscape design replaces the site’s water-intensive former golf course with accessible paths winding through native meadows and picnic lawns that face the stage. The use of low-carbon mass timber, rooftop solar panels, rainwater harvesting and reuse, and restored native grasses and wetlands that support biodiversity, have put the theater on track to receive LEED Platinum certification and to become the first purpose-built, open-air theater in the United States to achieve this level of certification. The first season in the company’s first-ever permanent home begins on June 10 with Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
Issey Miyake Opens New Flagship Store in Manhattan
Designed by Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu (SO–IL), Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake opened its new flagship store at 45 Madison Avenue at 26th Street overlooking Madison Square Park in NoMad. The two-level, 13,000-square-foot store is located on the ground floor of the Cass Gilbert-designed 1928 New York Life Building, a designated New York City landmark. At its center stands a monumental, transparent staircase, constructed from large-format structural glass. Elements of the building’s original historic Beaux-Arts structure have been intentionally exposed and complemented by new custom aluminum and stainless-steel surfaces and fixtures. Expansive windows along three sides of the store invite natural light and connect the interior to Madison Square Park and the surrounding architectural landscape. At the rear of the store, a dedicated gallery space named MADO will host rotating exhibitions, brand collaborations, and special projects throughout the year. As the first gallery space within an Iseey Miyake store outside of Japan, MADO, which means “window” in Japanese, serves as an overseas platform for sharing the brand’s craftsmanship and cultural values. The brand opened its first flagship in Tribeca, famous for its undulating Frank Gehry with G-Techs-designed titanium interior, in 2001 and closed it in December 2025. Glass wall panels from the Tribeca store have been repurposed and transformed into tables for accessories and folded items. A titanium panel is displayed within space, a symbol of the enduring friendship between the late Frank Gehry and Issey Miyake.
In Glassboro, New Jersey, Rowan University Unveils Expansion
Influenced by the area’s preserved flora and fauna, Rowan University in Glassboro is located on the edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The existing 135,000-square-foot Chamberlain Student Center has been a destination along the landscaped greenway that runs parallel to a creek and weaves through the campus. Inspired by its location, the new 30,000-square-foot addition designed by ikon.5 architects features a mass timber roof structure that cascades down the sloping site, carving out an internal space that faces the greenway. Dubbed the “Agora in the Pines,” the expansion was envisioned by the university’s president as a central gathering space that would serve as a social and intellectual hub and offered a model of an “Ancient Agora” as a vision. The expansion includes a student commons, a 150-person event area, a suite for the Student Government Association, meeting rooms, an amphitheater, a café, and a collaborative workspaces for student organizations. A demonstration area allows students to present and discuss their work and research in an open forum. Overhead light monitors diffuse northern daylight throughout the center ensuring every space has access to natural light. The exterior columns and ceramic coating on the exterior glazing significantly reduce heat gain and are reinterpretations of their siting adjacent to the Pine Barrens. The irregular columns recall the Atlantic Cedar forest while the ceramic frit coating is a graphic reinterpretation of the pinecone. Native plantings populate the redesigned outdoor plaza and indoor amphitheater.
Ground Breaks on St. Luke Triangle Building Adaptive Reuse
Ground was recently broken on the St. Luke Triangle Building, a historic triangular-shaped building at the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in West Harlem, marking a new chapter for City Seminary of New York and their continued collaboration with GLUCK+. The circa 1910, 18,449-square-foot existing four-story masonry building will be adaptively reused and transformed into a learning and community hub. Two floors will be added to maximize the site’s urban potential, increasing the total square footage of the structure to 32,720. The design of the six-story structure transforms the building through light, openness, and community-centered spaces. A public gallery and prayer chapel open directly to the street. Middle floors house classrooms, offices, and a multi-story library. The upper floors hold a refectory, indoor courtyard garden, and a 200-person oratory overlooking the city. At the building’s north point, a glass-enclosed stair cuts through the historic stone facade, creating a visible vertical promenade that encourages movement, transparency, and engagement with the surrounding city. The mission of City Seminary of New York, a Harlem-based non-profit organization, is to seek the peace of the city through theological education. Beginning in 2004 with the programming and planning of a small storefront office, GLUCK+ has worked with City Seminary to address their expanding needs including Hope Campus, the organization’s main location. This is an architect-led design build project.
NoMad’s Gilded Age Emmet Building to Undergo Conversion
FXCollaborative is leading the design for the residential conversion of the Gilded Age Emmet Building at 95 Madison Avenue at 29th Street in NoMad into luxury condominiums for Sunlight Development. The 16-story Neo-Renaissance office, a designated New York City landmark, was originally designed by Barney & Colt and was built in 1912 to serve commercial tenants and provided the building’s owner, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, with a penthouse residence. Currently underway, the 150,000-square foot building is being transformed into 65 condominium units ranging from one- to five-bedrooms layouts, plus the exclusive Emmet Penthouse, office spaces on the 3rd floor, and retail on ground and second floors. Amenities will include a fitness center, sauna, children’s playroom, game room, virtual golf simulator, and a pet spa. Interior design firm Paris Forino is responsible the residences, amenities, lobby, and rooftop gardens. Work also includes the restoration of the structure’s ornamental Gothic Revival limestone and terra cotta façade, emblematic of the New York City skyscraper style at the turn of the 20th century. New windows will be added above two sets of doorways on the ground level to create a more cohesive appearance with the building’s commercial frontage. Behind the building’s ornamental crown, which will be illuminated at night is a rooftop addition and a series of new skylights are cut into the sloped roofline. The Landmarks Preservation Commission signed off on the adaptive-reuse project in 2024 and the building is expected to be completed in 2027. The AIANY Building Sciences Committee recently toured the building with FXCollaborative.
Arts Landing Opens in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District
Envisioned by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and designed by Field Operations, the recently opened Arts Landing is one of the most transformative projects in the Pittsburgh Cultural District in 25 years. The redevelopment initiative redefines the role of art and culture in civic life. Built on the site of a demolished Goodyear tire store and an underutilized lot in the city’s Cultural District, Arts Landing connects Downtown to the Allegheny River. The four-acre park will host festivals, performances, visual arts, community events, and everyday recreation and relaxation. The green space, planted with native grasses and shrubs features a central, curving lawn with a band shell, surrounded by playgrounds and meandering pathways including The Garden Walk will become a shaded, pedestrian-only promenade; The Flex Zone will have pickleball courts and a small running track; and The Backyard, will offer picnic tables and planters. Through the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a non-profit entity that runs several galleries downtown, Arts Landing opened with public works by ten artists that will be on display for at least one year. Some will remain on site for longer as new works will rotate into the civic space.
In Case You Missed It…
The Culture Ministry of France has selected the team of STUDIOS Architecture Paris, Selldorf Architects, and landscape architecture firm BASE to redevelop the Louve Museum. The “Louvre-New Renaissance” project includes new entrances on the museum’s eastern façade, expanded underground visitor and exhibition spaces, infrastructure upgrades, redesigned public areas, and a dedicated new gallery for the Mona Lisa.
Ground was broken on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Lincoln Center West Initiative, a major reimaging of Damrosch Park and the Amsterdam Avenue edge of the campus. Designed by WEISS/MANFREDI in collaboration with Hood Design Studio and Moody Nolan, the transformation reimagines the relationship between performance, landscape, and civic life, opening the campus to the city and creating new opportunities for community gathering and cultural exchange. At the heart of the project is The Baron Theater, Lincoln Center’s first freestanding theater in more than 50 years, set within a new landscape of groves, gardens, shaded gathering spaces, and flexible public plazas.
In the presence of President Bill Clinton, Anchor House, a faith-based, non-profit, intensive residential treatment facility broke ground on an Urbahn-designed upgrade and expansion in Crown Heights. Currently, the organization operates out of a four-story, 8,100-square-foot former residential brownstone. The expansion project calls for an 10,800-square-foot addition to be constructed on an adjacent lot. The renovation of the existing center will upgrade bedrooms and create new shared facilities and outdoor spaces for men recovering from addiction.