Architecture And Design

Always on the cutting edge–as with this genius furniture for small spaces–IKEA is introducing SYMFONISK, a collaboration with Sonos that mixes great design with wifi-enabled sound. The all-new sound collection includes a luminous table lamp and a slender, minimalist bookshelf speaker; both are wifi speakers. Even better: The speakers can be used with the Sonos system and controlled through the company's app.
More switched-on design, this way

Renderings revealed for Manhattan’s first public ‘beach’

Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust

July 25, 2019

Renderings revealed for Manhattan’s first public ‘beach’

The Hudson River Park Trust unveiled on Wednesday a preliminary concept for its plan to bring a public beach to Manhattan. The Meatpacking District site, known as the Gansevoort Peninsula, measures about 5.5 acres on the waterfront and formerly served as a parking lot for the city's sanitation department. The new park will feature a beach area with kayak access, a sports field, a salt marsh, and areas to picnic and lounge.
See the park

Architecture And Design

Stuyvesant Heights Historic District’s oldest home asks $1.6M after modern renovation

Listing images by Anton Brookes, H5 Photography; courtesy of The Corcoran Group

July 25, 2019

Stuyvesant Heights Historic District’s oldest home asks $1.6M after modern renovation

This charming 20-foot wide Victorian home at 47 Chauncey Street in Bed-Stuy is not only part of the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District—it’s one of the four oldest remaining rowhouses in the district, dating back to circa 1870. Last year, the two-bedroom home was sold in a pretty run-down state and has since undergone a gut renovation that brought modern finishes and conveniences to the historic property. It's now on the market for $1.599 million.
Take a look inside

A new seven-acre park will open under the Kosciuszko Bridge in Greenpoint

Rendering of ‘K-flex 2’ courtesy of Public Work

July 23, 2019

A new seven-acre park will open under the Kosciuszko Bridge in Greenpoint

Plans to build a new seven-acre public park under the Kosciuszko Bridge in Greenpoint are moving forward. Last month, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance unveiled designs for "Under the K," a linear public space that will feature four distinct spaces and stretch to Newtown Creek. Designed by Toronto-based architecture firm Public Work, the new park will feature access to the waterfront, public art installations, performances, and areas for recreation on land currently vacant.
Get the details

Architecture And Design

LPC approves Bjarke Ingels’ plan for a rooftop addition at a Brooklyn Heights landmark

Rendering via LPC

July 18, 2019

LPC approves Bjarke Ingels’ plan for a rooftop addition at a Brooklyn Heights landmark

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved plans from starchitect Bjarke Ingels to build a rooftop addition at a landmarked building in Brooklyn Heights. As part of a penthouse renovation of the 29th and 30th floors of the St. George Tower at 111 Hicks Street, Ingels would construct a fake water tower to hold a new elevator shaft, raise the roof deck, and add a pool. As first reported by Brownstoner, the Danish architect, whose firm is known for New York City projects like The Eleventh and the Spiral, presented his plan to the commission as a personal project. "I have a massive self-interest because I hope to make it my home," he said.
See the plans

July 17, 2019

This $2.2M Tudor home is part of the Upper West Side’s ‘hidden’ Pomander Walk

As one of New York City’s many hidden-in-plain-sight secret addresses, Pomander Walk is a gated 1920s community of Tudor-style mini-homes resembling an English village tucked away in the middle of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Asking $2.175 million, the landmarked three-story Tudor-style co-op triplex behind a private gate at 263 West 94th Street, landscaped with hydrangeas and rose bushes and framed by window boxes and enchanting views is part of a unique village-in-the-city community.
Get a closer look

Port Authority seeks ideas for JFK Central mixed-use hub from top designers and developers

Illustrative rendering of the developed northwest corner of the site courtesy of PANYNJ.

July 17, 2019

Port Authority seeks ideas for JFK Central mixed-use hub from top designers and developers

As part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's planned $13 billion transformation of JFK into a modern international airport, it was announced Tuesday that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is issuing a Request for Information for the design and development of JFK Central, a 14-acre mixed-use space at the airport's core at the Ground Transportation Center. The site offers designers and developers a blank canvas for creating a unique centrally located public space for travelers, employees and the community, offering commercial and recreational services.
Ideas and examples for the site, this way

City presents new design for its East Side Coastal Resiliency Project following community feedback

Preliminary design for Corlears Hook Bridge Landing

July 15, 2019

City presents new design for its East Side Coastal Resiliency Project following community feedback

The city unveiled last week an updated design for its plan to protect an area stretching from the Lower East Side to East 25th Street from flooding. The Department of Design and Construction (DDC) presented on Thursday its preliminary design for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) to Community Board 3, as Curbed NY reported. In response to concerns from residents about the closure of East River Park during the construction period, the city's updated design incorporates community suggestions, including a new amphitheater and an outdoor fitness area.
See the plan

An urban garden will grow on a Garment District block this summer

By Nicole Mondrus

One of the city’s busiest neighborhoods is getting a little slice of peace. The Garment District Alliance and the city's Department of Transportation unveiled a new street art installation Wednesday afternoon. The nearly 180-foot painting by artist Carla Torres, "Nymph Pond," takes up the stretch of Broadway between 37th and 38th Streets. The best part? The block with the mural is being temporarily set aside as an “urban garden” until the end of the summer.
See it here

$18M Beaux-Arts mansion is an Upper West Side architectural icon with Dakota views

Photo credit: Yale Wagner for Sotheby’s International Realty.

July 12, 2019

$18M Beaux-Arts mansion is an Upper West Side architectural icon with Dakota views

On the market for the first time in over 60 years, asking $17.995 million, this 20-foot-wide Beaux-Arts mansion stands among the most desirable blocks of the Upper West Side. Designed by the architectural firm Welch, Smith and Provot–the firm also designed the Duke-Semans Mansion on Fifth Avenue later owned by Carlos Slim–the six-story, 9,575-square-foot home at 5 West 73rd Street is one of the neighborhood's most architecturally significant houses; among its most compelling features are iconic views of another Upper West Side classic, the Dakota.
Take the grand tour of this grand home

Temporary “pop-up park” opens at future site of Willoughby Square Park

Images courtesy of EDC

July 10, 2019

Temporary “pop-up park” opens at future site of Willoughby Square Park

As plans for a permanent park at Willoughby Square go forward, a temporary green space at the same site has opened to the public. The 15,000-square-foot "pop-up park" will provide a green escape for the local community until the end of the summer in 2020, at which point construction will commence on the permanent, 1.15-acre park scheduled for completion by 2022.
More views and details

Architecture And Design

July 9, 2019

Where I Work: Harlem’s Focus Lighting illuminates the field of architectural lighting design

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Harlem office of architectural lighting design firm Focus Lighting. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! After spending many years designing theatrical lighting, Paul Gregory decided to transition into the world of architectural lighting. He started his career working on nightclubs and in 1987, founded his own firm in his neighborhood of Harlem. Eight years later, Paul and his team at Focus Lighting garnered international recognization for their work on the Entel Tower in Santiago Chile, the world's first automated color-changing building. Since then, the firm has grown to have 35 employees and nabs commissions such as the Times Square ball, Tavern on the Green, and the Waldorf Astoria (and that's just here in NYC). But through all their success, Focus has kept their offices in Harlem, now at 116th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, where their close-knit employees work collaboratively. The converted loft space has a unique light lab, similar to a black box theater, as well as a gallery space where the team can test out new means of digital architecture and video projects. 6sqft recently visited Focus Lighting to learn more about their fascinating work, tour the space, and chat with Focus partner and principal designer Brett Andersen and principal designer Christine Hope.
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The Wing will open new locations in Bryant Park and Williamsburg this year

Rendering of the new Bryant Park location courtesy of The Wing.

July 9, 2019

The Wing will open new locations in Bryant Park and Williamsburg this year

The Wing women-centric community and work space has announced the forthcoming launch of two new NYC locations this year. Along with news of a Bryant Park space–their first in Midtown–come renderings that reveal more of the thoroughly modern and chic-yet-welcoming interiors that have become the brand's signature. More news: A Williamsburg, Brooklyn location is on the way.
Renderings of the new space this way

Architecture And Design

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim becomes a UNESCO World Heritage site

Photo via Wiki Commons

July 8, 2019

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim becomes a UNESCO World Heritage site

Eight buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright have been named UNESCO World Heritage sites, including New York City's iconic Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The buildings were given heritage status by the organization's World Heritage Committee at a July 7 meeting (h/t Dezeen). Additional Wright creations named to the list are Fallingwater (Pennsylvania), Frederick C. Robie House (Illinois), Hollyhock House (California), the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House (Wisconsin), Unity Temple (Illinois), and Wright's homes and studios at Taliesin, Wisconsin and Taliesin West, Arizona.
Find out more

Two Trees exploring a new Williamsburg waterfront park and development next to Domino Park

Image via Google Street View

July 8, 2019

Two Trees exploring a new Williamsburg waterfront park and development next to Domino Park

Developer Two Trees has begun convening meetings with Williamsburg residents in the early stages of planning a future waterfront park and development in the neighborhood. As Brownstoner reported, the site under consideration is comprised of three lots owned by Con Edison on River Street between Grand Street and North 3rd Street, right between Grand Ferry Park and Two Trees’ popular Domino Park. The new park would thus connect the existing parks “and take a giant step towards creating a contiguous waterfront park that extends from the Navy Yard to Newtown Creek,” Two Trees notes.
More details

Architecture And Design

$20M first phase of Brooklyn’s new 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park opens

Photo by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo via Flickr.

July 3, 2019

$20M first phase of Brooklyn’s new 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park opens

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Tuesday the opening of the first phase of New York's newest park–and the largest state park in New York City. Brooklyn's 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park on Jamaica Bay offers hiking, biking, fishing and picnicking under the watch of a colorful mural honoring Chisholm by Brooklyn muralist Danielle Mastrion. Under a second $20 million phase currently being designed and expected to be completed in 2021, the park will include a grand entrance on Fountain Avenue, lawn patios, a patio overlooking Hendrix Creek and pop-up environmental education facilities. A native of the borough, Chisholm, a former representative of the 12th Congressional district in New York for seven terms, was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968; she ran for President in 1972 as the first African American woman to do so.
Find out more

Remarkably intact Renaissance Revival mansion on Riverside Drive seeks $8M

Listing images by Mike Tauber courtesy of Stribling at Compass

July 2, 2019

Remarkably intact Renaissance Revival mansion on Riverside Drive seeks $8M

Also known as the Carroll Mansion, this five-story, nine-bedroom limestone townhouse at 86 Riverside Drive just listed with a price to match it’s potential: $8 million. The nearly 8,500-square-foot Elizabethan Renaissance Revival home was built in 1898 by Clarence True, one of the most celebrated architects of the Upper West Side at the turn-of-the-century. Flooded in light from northern and western exposures, the gorgeous property has most of the original architectural details intact, though needing a little attention.
The full tour, right this way

July 2, 2019

Storied Westchester Skinny House seeks a buyer with a big heart and $275K

It's easy to see that the little red house at 175 Grand Street in Mamaroneck, NY, is no ordinary home just by looking: At a mere 10 feet wide, the Skinny House stands out for its size alone. As 6sqft previously reported, this unique dwelling, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has quite a tale to tell. The little house on a 12.5-foot lot was built in 1932 by Nathan T. Seely, one of New York’s first African American builders. Its story is one of ingenuity and skill, and it provided for its creator during hard times. In need of a new chapter and some real TLC, the house is on the market–for only the second time since its construction–for $275,000.
Get the skinny on this diminutive dwelling

The restored Belvedere at night, courtesy of the Central Park Conservancy

June 28, 2019

New lighting adds after-dark glamour to Central Park’s restored Belvedere Castle

As 6sqft reported, Central Park's Belvedere Castle is open to the public today after a comprehensive $12 million restoration effort. In addition to a restored facade, new clear-pane-glass windows, new mechanical and utility systems and a the re-creation of the wooden tower that was part of Olmsted and Vaux’s original design, the Central Park Conservancy has introduced nighttime lighting. As night falls, the Belvedere will be illuminated and visible from various locations in the park–most strikingly from across Turtle Pond.
Tips for visiting, this way

Rem Koolhaas’ OMA reveals New Museum expansion on the Bowery

Renderings via OMA/Bloomimages.de

June 27, 2019

Rem Koolhaas’ OMA reveals New Museum expansion on the Bowery

Renderings via OMA/Bloomimages.de The New Museum has revealed the first look at plans for its second building, designed by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. The design replaces an existing property at 231 Bowery that the museum acquired in 2008 with a seven-story, 60,000 square-foot building that will double the museum’s exhibition space, provide a permanent home for its cultural incubator NEW INC, as well as increased public amenities and improved circulation. As 6sqft reported when the project was first announced in 2017, this will be OMA’s first public building in New York City.
All the details

June 26, 2019

$4M landmarked Upper East Side mansion has Beaux Arts style and Tiffany Glass accents

The 25-foot-wide carved limestone mansion at 35 East 68th Street on the Upper East Side is a standout even on a block lined with historic architecture. The 13,000-square-foot Beaux Arts mansion, known as the Dunham House, was built as a private residence for physician Dr. Edward Kellogg Dunham and grain fortune heiress Mary Dows by Carrere & Hastings, the architecture firm who designed the Frick Collection and the New York Public Library. 6sqft featured this historic home in 2016. The two-bedroom duplex co-op is back on the market for $4 million.
Take the grand tour

June 25, 2019

Designed by Ai Weiwei, this $5.25M upstate retreat is perfect for art lovers

Described as “livable art” by listing agent Graham Klemm, the only private residence in the States designed by Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei has just hit the market for $5.25 million. Located on a sprawling property about two hours away from New York City in bucolic Ancram, the home was built in 2006 as a weekend retreat for Christopher Tsai, one of the artist’s biggest collectors. Weiwei collaborated with Swiss-based HHF Architects on the streamlined residence, designed to highlight the art it would house as well as the surrounding landscape. The current owners—who are also art collectors—bought the property in 2013 for $4.25 million.
Get the full tour

New renderings reveal amenities at Eliot Spitzer’s Williamsburg-waterfront development

Renderings courtesy of Citi Habitats New Developments

June 25, 2019

New renderings reveal amenities at Eliot Spitzer’s Williamsburg-waterfront development