MetaFilter posts tagged with NYC and architecture

The High Line, Transformed

zarq — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:56:34 -0800

The first stage of New York City's High Line redesign was opened to the public yesterday, and reviews are generally favorable. The city's newest park (whose concept is similar to Paris’s Promenade Plantée,) transforms an abandoned, above-ground, elevated freight train track into a nine block "lofty expanse of walking and green spaces that stretches 60 feet wide in some spots". It also provides visitors with a unique look at some of the city's architecture and layout. (Previously on MeFi) If you live in or are visiting NYC and would like to see the park, here's a handy guide of "things you should know", including location, directions and entry points. Here's what it used to look like.

The Past is Another City

Miko — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:26:31 -0800

Photos of 1940s New York City.

Sky-high gardens and rooftop oases

madamjujujive — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:24:05 -0800

Rich people's rooftops in NYC offers a fun birds-eye view into a few sky-high secret decks and gardens. Roofs are the new frontier for innovative urban architects, but they aren't exclusive to the wealthy. All kinds of people and organizations are starting rooftop gardens. See the impressive results that two Chicago denizens had growing heirloom vegetables on their roofs (2). Prior related posts: Green Roofs by dhruva Vertical gardening in architecture by loquacious A few more interesting rooftop garden projects: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Awards 2008 Chicago City Hall St. Luke's Medical Center Roof gardens at Derry and Toms, London, now The Roof Gardens, owned by Virgin Green roof art school in Singapore Green Roofs - directory and resources

"The rendering is a means to an end; the end is architecture."

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:53:57 -0800

Hugh Ferriss: Delineator of Gotham. Through his charcoal renderings of dramatic, imaginary skyscrapers in early 1900s New York City, Ferriss influenced the aesthetics of numerous architects with his bold compositions.

#7: Ten percent of all city space shall be open land where you can "touch the dirt"

salvia — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:26:49 -0800

"First we kill the architects..." Photographer Danny Lyon [1, 2, 3, 4] offers ten suggestions for New York City. Suggestion #6: "Leave the World Trade Center excavation exactly as it is and use the space as a freshwater pond planted with pink, white, and yellow lilies..." His essay is only one of many from names you'll recognize in a book called Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York. An associated exhibition opened yesterday [museum, NYT review]. Is New York City moving in the right direction? Is your city? [via] Footnotes: * It might also be interesting to see what others think about the direction of NYC. (Though only eleven people had expressed their opinion as of this posting.) * Background on Lyon's suggestion #7: he titled a collection of Polaroids of his children I Like to Eat Right on the Dirt.

Lost New York City

dersins — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:05:12 -0800

Randall's Lost New York City Collection "documents the destruction of many of New York City's 19th century tenement and other buildings, so that we can mourn the lost [and] appreciate the endangered." Gallery 1, 2. He also sells gargoyles, if you like that sort of thing.

There's water in them there tanks...

allkindsoftime — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:12:11 -0800

"The business is definitely an art, the men are craftsmen..."(YT) NYC's rooftop water tanks are a unique and often overlooked part of the city. Watch as one goes up (its worth the 10 minutes for the money shot at the end): "New York, is water tanks, yes."(YT) "New York, which has thousands of cylindrical wooden rooftop water tanks with conical roofs, couldn't exist without them." Its the only city with its own section under Wiki's water tower page.

The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis

smably — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:43:05 -0800

The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis. In 1978, renowned structural engineer William LeMessurier discovered a mistake in his design for the Citicorp (now Citigroup) Center. With hurricane season approaching, the skyscraper was in imminent danger of collapse. His handling of the situation has been praised as a "stunning example of good ethics in action" – but some disagree.

Oh, my! It's OHNY!

bodega — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:22:58 -0800

It’s NYC’s 4th Annual Architecture Week! These seven days included a weekend of free exhibitions: Five boroughs of interesting locations to see! Download MP3’s of "podcast tours" for selected sites. Missed it? Don’t worry, you can catch up.

NYC street furniture update

mathowie — Thu, 18 May 2006 15:09:03 -0800

New York City has been trying to revamp its street furniture for nearly a decade and last Fall, deals were struck between a British architecture firm and a Spanish outdoor firm in a 1 billion dollar deal. Recently the designs for public toilets, bus stop shelters, and (my favorite) a modernized clean newsstand were released.

2 Columbus Circle 'Shame Cam'

xowie — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:48:46 -0800

Shame Cam - 2 Columbus Circle.

The planning process has been surrounded by lofty, often sanctimonious rhetoric

gramschmidt — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 20:38:22 -0800

Why We Should Build Apartments at Ground Zero by Paul Goldberger:
In an ideal plan, most of Ground Zero would be devoted to housing, hotels, and retail space. Lower Manhattan currently has a range of housing options: the converted lofts of Tribeca, the converted office buildings of Wall Street, and the retro-style apartment complexes at Battery Park City. The one thing missing is experimental architecture. Ground Zero would be the perfect place for an inventive alternative to the prim, packaged urbanism of Battery Park City. [...] With several blocks to build on, Ground Zero provides an opportunity to think not in terms of single buildings that are stand-alone works of sculpture but of ensembles that fit together to make coherent streetscapes and complete neighborhoods – something modern architecture has rarely succeeded in doing, in New York or anywhere else.

Martin Filler in the NY Review of Books on books about the proposals for Ground Zero, including Goldberger's 2004 addition, Up from Zero:
Goldberger's establishment-friendly attitude toward architecture has always lacked a discernible moral center. Although here he displays less of the maddening equivocation that has been his most defining characteristic as a critic, the targets he picks are most often easy ones, and unlikely to bar him from the corridors of power.

Bring on the lawyers, SOM allegedly steals student's design

plemeljr — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 08:10:37 -0800

Thomas Shine, a former Yale student, is suing David Childs for copyright infringement Mr. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for copyright infringement over the design of the Freedom Tower located at Ground Zero. Shine alleges in his lawsuit that the proposed Freedom Tower was "strikingly similar" to his "Olympic Tower" design for the proposed 2012 Olympic Games in New York.

Batman was here.

riffola — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 17:54:32 -0800

Undercity reveals Gotham's secrets as uncovered by a guerrilla historian. [via Anil Dash]

Chinese Pop Posters

plep — Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:54:59 -0800

Chinese Pop Posters. More :- Guangzhou's racing track, patrolling despair, Cuba, under New York, Bombay bazaar, and Chinese rural architecture. All from the excellent Atlas magazine - more here.

A Love of Monsters: Gargoyles & Architectural Details in NYC

plep — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 10:39:52 -0800

A Love of Monsters: Gargoyles & Architectural Details in NYC. 'They crouch in the corners and lurk under windows. They curl around drainpipes and blend into doorways. They're so clever at hiding most folks won't see them at all. '
'But I know where the monsters live. I see them all the time. If your heart is understanding and your eyes remember wonder, then take a quiet stroll with me and see what you can find.'
Self-guided walks, too.

Libeskind plan chosen for WTC site

black8 — Thu, 27 Feb 2003 01:51:04 -0800

A complex of angular buildings and a 1,776-foot spire designed by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the plan for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, The Associated Press has learned. (via Salon)

Lower Manattan Redevelopment

callicles — Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:03:50 -0800

WTC Redevelopment Today at 1pm EST, the 7 proposed new plans for redevelopment of the former World Trade Center site will be revealed. Currently, they're carrying the announcements of the new proposals (with architect descriptions of their projects) live on wnyc.org on the Brian Lehrer Show.

KONSTRUKTOR

four panels — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 13:01:13 -0800

New Plans for the World Trade Center. Call Frank Gehry, and keep Eric Owen Moss far, far away.

warhol — Mon, 09 Sep 2002 21:02:12 -0800

Thinking Big - A Plan for Ground Zero and Beyond - from this past Sundays NY Times Magazine. Some months ago, when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation made public their plans, Metafilterians were, for the most part, underwhelmed. This new plan, from an impressive set of architects, goes far beyond the LMDC plans and really redevelops much of the surrounding region as well. There's certainly no lack of bold or controversial designs. I for one, think this is the best set of suggestions that I've seen so far. Delightfully bold.

dhartung — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 10:11:48 -0800

Six WTC site plans released by LMDC public-private partnership. Each idea revolves around a different conception of the memorial and is named for that, while showing variation in the structures that will be built around it. There are 3D renderings from above and from the south of the Battery, and skylines as seen from Jersey City, to show how the concept will fit into the existing neighborhood. None as imposing as the Twin Towers, but several include at least one distinctive structure that will rise above the nearest buildings, so Manhattan pedestrians can navigate again. All may be discussed Saturday in a public meeting at Javits Center, expected to attract 5000. I suspect that figure will be low.

BT — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 20:53:42 -0800

Things Fall Apart. Particularly in urban environments. Individually, the moments of entropy-in-action caught here may not mean much; collectively, they recite a visual poem about decay. A slightly melancholy site for you insomniacs out there. (By the way, you have to scroll right to get to the thumbnails.)

evanizer — Fri, 22 Mar 2002 05:19:58 -0800

The New York City I first saw in 1985 has partially disappeared, and vanishes more everyday. The New York of 50 years ago, the veneer of daily life in the city, is but a memory. The city of 100 years ago is a shadow, remembered by no one. But the past remains, if not in direct human memory, in "lampposts, advertisements, bridges, buildings, signs, and things you pass every day in the street that bear silent witness to the NYC that once was." What lies forgotten below the streets? The decaying splendor of an bygone age, as well as the deep roots that have sprouted and nourished the present, living city...

tamim — Sat, 02 Sep 2000 17:19:20 -0800

The latest troubles at Trump World Tower just reaffirms what the neighbors have been saying since day one.