by: Linda G. Miller
Fifth Edition of Exhibit Columbus Showcases Community-focused Design Commissions
Themed Yes And, this year’s Landmark Columbus Foundation’s (LCF) Exhibit Columbus (Indiana), is transforming the city’s downtown into an outdoor gallery of site-responsive installations. Building on the city’s design legacy, the exhibition’s theme borrows its name from improvisational theater and affirms what exists while imagining what else is possible. Of the 13 installations on view now through November 30, 2025, four are winners of the Miller Prize, which honors two patrons (J. Irwin and Xenia Miller) who helped bring 20th-century architectural masterpieces to Columbus through public-private coalitions. Two New York-based firms are recipients of the prize: Ellipsis by AD—WO located at the former Irwin Block Building is an installation that excavates omitted histories while making space for the vibrant presences and emergent futures of Black and Indigenous communities in Indiana on a site left vacant after a fire. Lift by Studio Cooke John is grounded in the architectural legacy of Eliel Saarinen’s 1942 church, opening the sunken courtyard to new ways of connecting.
Public Design Commission Approves Design for 79th Street Boat Basin Dockhouse
The New York City Public Design Commission has unanimously approved Architecture Research Office (ARO)’s design for the 79th Street Boat Basin Dockhouse located on the Hudson River beside Riverside Park. This latest step in the approval process brings the project one step closer to being realized. The design of the new one-story, 3,800-square-foot dockhouse, which has evolved over the years to appear less conspicuous from above, meets FEMA’s flood-zone requirements, accessibility requirements, and is targeted to achieve a LEED Silver certification. The design draws inspiration from the city’s maritime vernacular, referencing similar forms in the historic 69th Street Transfer Bridge, the trusses of the George Washington Bridge, and a boat’s mast, rigging, and sails. Raised above the river on a grid of nine columns, the dockhouse features diagonal structural columns along the façade support the building’s green roof and creates a triangular pattern. With durable exterior materials of low-luster stainless steel, aluminum grilles, and bird-friendly glass, the façade takes on the qualities and color of the surrounding water and sky. The dockhouse will provide support facilities for the Department of Parks and Recreation’s 24/7 year-round operation of the marina. It will also contain bathrooms, showers, and laundry facilities for the public. Opened in 1937 as part of Robert Moses’s West Side Improvement Project, the basin is one of the few publicly owned and operated marinas within the city and is the only location in the city that allows liveaboards. The marina was closed by the City in 2021 due to safety concerns caused by damage that was sustained during tidal surges and rip currents associated with Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The marina’s revitalization project includes dredging the basin for the first time in decades, replacing the docks, adding more slips and creating access points for non-motorized craft. The project, which is expected to open in 2028, is a partnership between NYCEDC and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. ARO collaborated with Moffatt & Nichol Engineering and PS&S as serves the architect of record.
W New York Union Square Reopens After Renovation
Rockwell Group designed the W New York – Union Square when it first opened in 2000. So, when it came time to refresh the hotel, Rockwell Group was called upon to lead the design evolution of the hotel and the W brand. Housed in the landmarked former Guardian Life Building (originally built in 1911 for Germania Life Insurance), a grand Beaux-Arts style building, the design of the just reopened 256-room hotel combines contemporary gestures with the building’s historic architecture. The lobby is filled with a site-specific, large-scale, black-and-white line drawing by the British artist Shantell Martin. An asymmetrical curved stair, wrapped in botanicals, leads to the second floor where the ballroom has been reimagined as the brand’s take on a hotel lobby. Inspired in part by the grandeur and symmetry of Grand Central Station, plush modern gold- and blue-colored furniture in a variety of settings combines with historic elements such as white marble columns with Corinthian capitals, and double-height ceilings with original rosettes. A chandelier over the bar features petals that appear to be falling into the space. The Living Room Café, the first of its kind for W Hotels serves coffee by day and becomes a cocktail bar at night. Back on the first floor, the Seahorse restaurant, accessible from the lobby and from its own entrance on Park Avenue South, seats 125 and has a maritime theme with wood paneling and striped yacht-inspired floors. A surrealist 40-foot-long mural by the studio En Viu pays homage to the city’s fishing industry complete with mystical sea creatures. On the 17th floor, the hotel’s new rooftop bar designed by interiors firm AvroKO, has a retractable roof to allow for seasonality, while still offering city views. Nods to the city include custom light fixtures that resemble subway entry lamps, nightstands that are inspired by the art installation “Metronome” art installation on Union Square South, and the green and yellow tiles that line the wellness space recalling the nearby subway station; even the interior of the lift features cabs whose back-lit digital artwork is inspired by New York’s own Manhattanhenge.
New Queens Innovation Center is the Largest-ever NYC School Construction Authority Facility
Over 3,000 New York City high schoolers are going back to school at the new Queens Innovation Center Facility (Q472) on a three-acre site located at 53-16 Northern Boulevard in the Woodside section of Queens. Designed by the in-house team of architects and engineers, the new 289,332-square-foot, six-story, facility is the largest-ever NYC School Construction Authority project and home to four high schools in one building. Years in planning and construction, the building houses two new career-focused high schools (the Motion Picture Technical High School and Northwell School of Health Science) and two existing schools (Gotham Tech High School and P993Q). The building contains ninety-four classrooms, six resource rooms, a 550-seat auditorium, a modern library, a full kitchen complex with two dining areas, and a competition size gymnasium with bleachers and locker rooms. Students will also have access to art and music rooms, multiple science labs, a medical suite, guidance offices, two outdoor instructional areas as well as outdoor recreational space, plus dedicated spaces for community engagement. P993Q is a District 75 school that serves students with significant learning challenges and to serve these students the building contains eighteen special education classrooms with their own main office, two speech rooms, three additional resource rooms and guidance offices, as well as an occupational therapy room, physical therapy room, changing room, and multi-purpose room. As part of SCA’s Public Art for Public Schools the Queens Innovation Center features two large-scale site-specific woven paintings titled WEaving NYC and WEaving Queens by the artist Miguel Arzabe. Q472 is is one of nine new buildings the SCA plans to open during the 2025–2026 school year. For more information on the design, programming, environmental, and community factors involved, take a video tour of the building.
Boerum Hills Parking Lot to Become Affordable Housing Development
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced that a 11,500-square-foot vacant City-owned parking lot at 153 Nevins on the corner of Wyckoff Street in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn will be transformed into affordable housing, community space, and a job training center designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP) and developed by the local nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC). The project will consist of 70 units of housing and the inclusion larger (two- and three-bedroom) units is a priority. Some of the units will be reserved for formerly homeless families and individuals, while the remaining home will be available via NYC Housing Lottery. FAC’s partnership with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI) will utilize approximately 3,000 square feet of community facility space for classes and trainings for jobless and working poor in the neighborhood. BWI will employ graduates of their Brooklyn Woods training program to manufacture sustainable cabinets and architectural millwork for the project. The building will also feature a large community room on the ground floor which will open to a residential courtyard with play and seating areas. The design of the building was informed by the Nevins and Third Community Visioning Report and the goals outlined in the Request for Proposals (RFP), as well as with input from over 200 community members, local elected leaders, and community organizations. Community members emphasized that housing cost is a barrier to enter and stay in the neighborhood, and deeply affordable housing is needed for people facing housing insecurity.
In Case You Missed It…
Designed in collaboration with Woods Bagot, Convene, a hospitality brand that operates meeting and event venues and flexible office spaces has opened their newest venue in the city. The 72,000-square-foot Convene 30 Hudson Yards is located on the 24th floor of the Kohn Pederson Fox (KFP)-designed tower. The venue, whose design is inspired by the galleries of Chelsea, offers ten meeting spaces with a maximum of capacity of just under 1,500 guests. The centerpiece of the venue is a 780-person grand hall, the largest single event space within Convene’s New York City portfolio of 16 venues. Woods Bagot previously completed two projects for Convene in London.
The Neurodiverse City, led by WIP Collaborative, Design Trust for Public Space, Verona Carpenter Architects, and a network of disability advocates, is reimagining New York City streets, playgrounds, plazas, to better support neurodiversity. Guided by site-specific sensory audits and design workshops, The Neurodiverse City is testing a neuroinclusive design prototype created by WIP at a privately-owned public space in the Financial District beginning September 18 for a few weeks at 200 Water Street.
The next phase of Greenpoint Landing, a development along a 22-acre stretch along the East River will yield more than 1,000 new apartments. The next phase, “Block C” of the master plan, includes three mixed-income rental buildings designed by Handel Architects, and a waterfront public park designed by Field Operations. The three towers include a 40-story building with 503 units, a 30-story building with 298 units, and a nine-story building with 224 units.
The largest permanent artwork commissioned for St. Patrick’s Cathedral in its 146-year history will be dedicated on September 21, 2025. The painting by the artist Adam Cvijanovic titled What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding, soars to a height of 25 feet and depicts the arrival of immigrants to New York City in the 19th century and the present. The painting transforms the Fifth Avenue entrance’s vestibule within the largest Gothic Revival Catholic cathedral in North America.