All articles by Diane Pham

Diane is the founder and Editorial Director of 6sqft. After graduating from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Real Estate Finance & Development and a minor in Architecture, she enjoyed stints at SCI-Arc, the A+D Museum Los Angeles, Perkins Eastman Architects and Resolution 4: Architecture. She also previously served as Senior Editor of Inhabitat.com and spent several years as an analyst at CB Richard Ellis Investments in Milan, Italy.
Michelle Obama Loves the New Whitney; BIG’s West 57th Street Pyramid Gets a Name
May 1, 2015

Michelle Obama Loves the New Whitney; BIG’s West 57th Street Pyramid Gets a Name

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A cement mason worker is suing Tishman Construction, Silverstein Properties, the Durst Organization and the Port Authority after getting seriously injured while working at 1 World Trade Center. [CO] BIG’s West Side Highway pyramid/tetrahedron will be named “Via.” Huh? Read the explanation at the Times. [NYT] First lady Michelle Obama is “in love” with the new Whitney Museum, […]

Public Shaming: New Campaign Uses DNA to Recreate the Faces of Litterbugs
May 1, 2015

Public Shaming: New Campaign Uses DNA to Recreate the Faces of Litterbugs

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We've all seen those folks who callously toss their garbage into the street when there's a trashcan just ten steps away. While most of us usually remain hush and pick up the slack, there's a group out there that's fed up with litter and they most certainly aren't afraid to point fingers. As part of a campaign developed by Ogilvy to help clean the streets of Hong Kong, activists including Hong Kong Cleanup, Ecozine, and The Nature Conservancy joined forces to give a face—or literally, faces—to the problem plaguing cities worldwide.
find out more about this genius campaign here
VIDEO: Watch a 57-Story Skyscraper Go Up in Just 19 Days
May 1, 2015

VIDEO: Watch a 57-Story Skyscraper Go Up in Just 19 Days

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While New York City developers have been laser-focused on bringing us the world's tallest residential towers, the Chinese are in pursuit of another marker: building them the fastest. A 57-story skyscraper was recently completed in Changsha, Hunan Province in just 19 working days, erected at an incredible rate of three floors a day. Called "Mini Sky City," the construction is an assembly of 2,736 glass-and-steel modules fabricated off-site over the course of roughly five months. Though the tower may have come quickly, the offerings within don't fall short: the new high-rise boasts 19 atriums, office space for 4,000 people, 800 apartments, and is reportedly earthquake-resistant.
Watch the incredible video here
Awesome Attics: Inside the ‘Other Penthouses’ of New York City
April 30, 2015

Awesome Attics: Inside the ‘Other Penthouses’ of New York City

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New York City is abuzz with penthouse talk, whether it's the $100M blockbuster sale at One57, the unbelievable $150M ask for the topper at the Sony Building, or if it's all the chatter around just how much more folks are willing to pay to have these two letters in their address: PH. While we love playing the game "If I had the money..." as much the next person, we thought before we start daydreaming too far out of our financial means—or cursing the system altogether—that we'd pay homage to the city's "other penthouses," the ones far closer in reach. Okay, so they're really just tiny attics or additions, but what each of these little spaces lacks in floor area, they certainly make up in character. Check out some of the coolest, cutest and just downright amazing attic spaces we've dug up ahead!
NYC's Amazing and Adorable Attics This Way
A Record $11.9B Has Gone into Building New Condos, but Few Apartments Actually Produced

Norman Foster’s 551W21 under construction

April 30, 2015

A Record $11.9B Has Gone into Building New Condos, but Few Apartments Actually Produced

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The NYC luxury real estate market is as hot as ever and developers are scrambling to get in on the action. The Daily News reports that a record breaking $11.9 billion was poured into new developments last year, a 73 percent jump over the last 12 months, and up $5 billion over the previous record (source: New York Building Congress). While this rise may seem like great news in a city facing a serious housing crisis, the bounty going towards new construction isn't doing much to remedy it. The paper adds that though spending is way up, the bulk of the cash is being funneled "into delivering only a few massive high-end pads with luxe finishes targeted at the global elite."
Find out more here
$100M Homes on the Rise All Over the World; Will NYC Look as Good with a Dimmer Skyline?
April 30, 2015

$100M Homes on the Rise All Over the World; Will NYC Look as Good with a Dimmer Skyline?

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New York is not alone, a record number of properties around the world are commanding prices topping $100 million. [Bloomberg] The city’s first crowd-funded condo project has just launched sales. [NYDN] LES community activists are calling Extell’s new tower planned for 250 South Street “racist.” [DNA Info] New York’s plan to save energy may mean a […]

New Photos of the Second Avenue Subway Show Progress–and a Twist on the MTA’s Typeface
April 29, 2015

New Photos of the Second Avenue Subway Show Progress–and a Twist on the MTA’s Typeface

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When we last wrote about the Second Avenue Subway back in February, word was that Phase I was about 79 percent complete and still on track for its December 2016 opening. Earlier this week community members and MTA officials gathered once again to go over progress, with MTA Capital Construction President Dr. Michael Horodniceanu toting a slew of new photos and renderings of the line. While the new images certainly give us a better look at some of the exciting architecture taking shape deep below our streets—in fact, the southern section is now 82 percent complete, Horodniceanu relayed—several photos also reveal some fun updates to the NYC subway's famous lettering.
See more here
Feng Shui Affordable Housing Coming to Flushing; Bronx Man Squatting in a Barn Won’t Budge for Developers
April 29, 2015

Feng Shui Affordable Housing Coming to Flushing; Bronx Man Squatting in a Barn Won’t Budge for Developers

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Downtown Brooklyn’s Marriott Hotel will get a major makeover that includes a Navy Yard-inspired lounge and a bar stocked with local craft brews. [DNA Info] Inside the restoration of the gothic-style Bush Terminal International Exhibit Building on 42nd Street. [NYT] Garland Roberts, an Army veteran and a longtime activist, has been squatting in a condemned barn […]

A Family of Four Squeezes into This Tiny 640-Square-Foot East Village Apartment

Image courtesy of Dwell

April 28, 2015

A Family of Four Squeezes into This Tiny 640-Square-Foot East Village Apartment

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Couples shacking up in small spaces is nothing new, but this may be the first time we've seen more than two folks squeezing into a tiny pad. Featured on Dwell, this family of four in the East Village proves that home is where the heart is—not how big your house is. So how do they manage with a baby and a nine-year-old in just 640 square feet?
Have a look inside here
Go Inside the Historic Beekman; 520 Park’s $70 Million Penthouse
April 28, 2015

Go Inside the Historic Beekman; 520 Park’s $70 Million Penthouse

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Take a video tour inside the Beekman as it undergoes restoration and conversion into a boutique hotel. [Architect’s Newspaper] An anti-Extell rally took place this morning to contest the very tall tower going up right by the Manhattan Bridge. [Bowery Boogie] No surprises here: Aby Rosen and preservationists are at odds over the renovations proposed […]

Debt-Ridden MTA May Hike Subway Fares to $3.15
April 28, 2015

Debt-Ridden MTA May Hike Subway Fares to $3.15

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It might be time to trade in your metro card for a bike. Straphangers could soon see yet another fare hike if the MTA is unable to bridge its $15 billion budget gap. The NYDN reports that top transit officials are warning that the increase could ring in at as much as 15 percent, upping subway fares to $3.15 from $2.75. The agency tacked on 25 cents just last month to a single ride, much to the dismay of millions of commuters.
FInd out more here
2 World Trade Center May Ditch Norman Foster’s Design for a Bjarke Ingels Skyscraper
April 27, 2015

2 World Trade Center May Ditch Norman Foster’s Design for a Bjarke Ingels Skyscraper

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Norman Foster may lose out on yet another major project in Manhattan. The Journal writes that if News Corporation and 21st Century Fox decide to move into 2 World Trade Center, as previously reported, developer Larry Silverstein may drop Foster's design in favor of a new one by none other than starchitect of the moment, Bjarke Ingels of BIG.
Find out more here
VIDEO: Bjarke Ingels Discusses ‘Bigamy’ and Why Architecture Should Be Like Minecraft
April 27, 2015

VIDEO: Bjarke Ingels Discusses ‘Bigamy’ and Why Architecture Should Be Like Minecraft

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With news breaking that Bjarke Ingels could be re-designing 2 World Trade Center, we thought now would be a great opportunity to peek into the creative mind behind modern architecture's most mind-bending and whimsical new additions. In this short film created for Dezeen, Ingels explains his theory of "Worldcraft" (a play on Minecraft) which posits that we should tear away from status quo architecture and instead turn our most "surreal dreams into inhabitable space." The feature is quite poetic and also provides plenty of insight into Ingels's design process and his most recent works—including a trash-mound-slash-waste-treatment-center-slash-power-plant-turned-ski-slope for Copenhagen that releases its steam in playful puff rings.
watch the video here
Soho’s MoMA Store May Shutter Because It Can’t Afford the Rent
April 24, 2015

Soho’s MoMA Store May Shutter Because It Can’t Afford the Rent

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Soho's rapidly rising rents have just taken another victim, this time the neighborhood institution potentially being booted is the area's beloved MoMA Design store at 81 Spring Street. Crain's reports that the owner of the three-level, 14,500-square-foot space wants an annual rent of $2.5 million—that's three times more than what the area was asking when MoMA took up residency over 13 years ago.
Find out more here
Vasily Klyukin’s ‘Top Sexy’ Skyscraper Concept Shows Some Serious Leg
April 24, 2015

Vasily Klyukin’s ‘Top Sexy’ Skyscraper Concept Shows Some Serious Leg

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Just when you thought skyscraper design couldn't get any more out there, Vasily Klyukin's vision for a FiDi tower blows even the tallest of towers out of the water. Unquestionably a very eye-catching and provocative—if not downright weird—design, Klyukin's "Top Sexy Tower" concept is inspired by the stems of fashion models who can be found stomping across the streets of Manhattan.
Find out more, plus other photos here
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Take a Tour Inside the Brand New Whitney Museum!
April 23, 2015

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Take a Tour Inside the Brand New Whitney Museum!

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May 1st will mark a new era for the Whitney when its brand new home along the High Line swings its doors open to the public for the first time. A project that has been decades in the making, the $422 million structure designed by Renzo Piano is a game changer for a museum that had long outgrown its Upper East Side space. Boasting a whopping 220,000 square feet of column-free spaces, this glass and steel behemoth is a dynamic assemblage of shapes and angles, and perfectly outfitted to host the Whitney Museum's 22,000 works and then some. Though the museum won't officially open for another few days, this morning 6sqft joined a trove of celebrants at the pre-opening preview of the new High Line-hugging masterpiece. Take an exclusive photo tour with us inside ahead.
All the photos here
Billionaire Wins Deposit Back After Ditched Penthouse Purchase; LGA’s $4B Revamp Could Be Delayed Again
April 23, 2015

Billionaire Wins Deposit Back After Ditched Penthouse Purchase; LGA’s $4B Revamp Could Be Delayed Again

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A billionaire who canceled his purchase of a $27.5M penthouse at 1107 Fifth Avenue—which also happens to be NYC’s first-ever penthouse—will get his $2.75M deposit refunded to him. Carlos Rodriguez Pastor didn’t want to share his terrace with neighbors in the building. [NYDN] If the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn’t pick a winning […]

Living Green: Mapping NYC’s Newest LEED Rated Residential Constructions
April 22, 2015

Living Green: Mapping NYC’s Newest LEED Rated Residential Constructions

By

Happy Earth Day, friends! As climate change weighs heavy on many of our minds, it’s relief to know that there are developers and architects working hard to create a healthier, more sustainable built environment. Eco-friendly residential design has been on the rise in NYC over the last decade, with buildings today boasting everything from solar panels to greywater […]

The Times Critiques the Design of the New Whitney; Gorgeous Four on Degraw Townhouses Listed
April 21, 2015

The Times Critiques the Design of the New Whitney; Gorgeous Four on Degraw Townhouses Listed

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Architecture critic Michael Kimmelman reviews Renzo Piano’s design of the Whitney Museum. [NYT] Visualizing Manhattan’s income inequality in two charts. [The Atlantic] Writer and 6sqft contributor, Emily Nonko launches The Bed-Stuy Blog. [The Bed-Stuy Blog] 20 NYC institutions shuttered by rent hikes. [Curbed] The remaining three townhouses at the new development Four on Degraw in Boerum Hill, have hit […]

The Rise of Single People Hurts Affordable Housing

Photo: Barry Pousman

April 21, 2015

The Rise of Single People Hurts Affordable Housing

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NYC's affordable housing crisis makes headlines daily, but while most are quick to point to the exploitation and mismanagement of existing apartments as the root of the cause (which to a great degree it most certainly is), the Washington Posts asks us to consider the effect single folks have on a city's housing inventory. Today, more and more folks are living longer and marrying later (if at all), and living alone at any given age no longer carries the stigma it once did decades ago. 26 percent of modern American households consist of just one person now, compared to the 1940s when this number topped out at just seven percent. While this dynamic shift seems more like a cause for celebration (yay, we're evolving and defying convention) it does have some serious implications when it comes to available housing. "Our housing stock wasn't built for a society full of singles," says reporter Emily Badger.
more on the issue here
Extell’s ‘Poor Door’ Building Receives a Staggering 88,000 Applicants
April 21, 2015

Extell’s ‘Poor Door’ Building Receives a Staggering 88,000 Applicants

By
Poor doors be damned. It looks like the anger and public outcry swirling around Extell's new 50 Riverside Boulevard condo didn't do much to deter New Yorkers from vying for a low-income unit at the building. The Times reports that the development company received a whopping 88,000 applications for the building's 55 affordable apartments after they opened up the lines back in February. The overwhelming demand is most certainly a win for developer Gary Barnett, who found himself in the hot seat for creating a separate entrance for low-income tenants, away from the market-rate residents. When speaking to the paper, Barnett called the whole poor door ordeal a “made-up controversy” adding to that “I guess people like it. It shows that there’s a tremendous demand for high-quality affordable housing in beautiful neighborhoods."
So do poor doors really matter?
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