Architecture And Design

Internationally renowned Chinese contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei was banned from leaving his home country for more than four years, but this past fall, a year after his passport was returned by police, he returned to New York with an unheard-of four gallery shows that all opened on the same day. As a metaphor for his personal travel ban--as well as the current political climate of the U.S., particularly as relates to immigration, and the global migration crisis--the Times shares news that Weiwei has been commissioned by the Public Art Fund for a major art installation opening in October. Titled "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors," the piece will be one of his most large-scale public art projects ever. He'll place 10 large fence-themed works and more than 90 smaller installations across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, all in an attempt to bring attention to "a retreat from the essential attitude of openness in American politics," as he explains.
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March 26, 2017

Distinctive 1969 modern Westchester County home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte asks $1.1M

Nestled in a wooded enclave in the tranquil town of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, NY, this striking midcentury modern house was built by noted architect of the day Roy Sigvard Johnson, who may have been an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, according to Curbed–and it's evident that he admired Wright's work. The house, one of several east coast modern gems, is unique inside and out, embracing the beauty of the land surrounding it. Most amazing are features–like a stone waterfall that ends in a heated Jacuzzi and a folded glass wall that wraps the home's stone paths and gardens–where nature and house meet. The 2,574 square-foot four-bedroom house at 543 Scarborough Road is asking $1.1 million.
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March 24, 2017

Stackable furniture line from Debra Folz Design makes storage stylish

There are all types of stackable furniture out there, and while many of them function perfectly well, they're not always the most design-friendly items in the room. Enter Stack. This new product line from the Providence-based design firm Debra Folz Design is a sleek, stylish and stackable addition to your home decor. The units are constructed as rectangular-shaped boxes that fit together through a series of grooves, each cut to accommodate metal rods.
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March 24, 2017

This $4M Riverdale mansion, known as the Esmeralda, was built in 1899 and still impresses today

By Emily Nonko

The historic mansions of Riverdale never fail to impress, and this gem is no exception. Built in 1899 and known as the Esmeralda, the home has maintained many of its historic details over the years. Throughout formal dining and living areas, as well as all nine bedrooms, you'll find finishes like hardwood flooring, oak doors, wood-beamed ceilings and fireplaces. The property also comes with an impressive degree of privacy, as you enter through a long, gated driveway. For this level of exclusivity and historic charm, the price tag is $4.129 million.
Take the grand tour

March 24, 2017

New renderings revealed for NYCHA’s raised earth Red Hook Houses by KPF

By Devin Gannon

When Superstorm Sandy hit the community of Red Hook, thousands of residents were left without power and basic necessities for over two weeks. The neighborhood’s infrastructure suffered substantial damage, with almost all basement mechanical rooms destroyed. In an effort to rebuild Brooklyn’s largest housing development, Red Hook Houses, post-Sandy, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) commissioned a project by architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF). Their “Lily Pad” design includes installing 14 “utility pods” that deliver heat and electricity to each building, as well as creating raised earth mounds to act as a flood barrier (h/t Archpaper).
Find out more here

March 24, 2017

Judge once again stops work at Pier 55 over environmental concerns

If you thought the roller coaster that is Pier 55 was over since construction began in November, you may not want to step off the ride just yet. Just yesterday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the City Club of New York, who took legal action against the $200 million Barry Diller-funded offshore park way back in the summer of 2015. As reported by the Times, Judge Lorna G. Schofield agreed with the group's claim that the Army Corps of Engineers had not conducted a sufficient environmental review on how the 2.4-acre park would affect fish and wildlife. She ordered that work stop at the site and called for a review of alternatives for building along Hudson River Park, a maritime sanctuary.
Get the whole legal saga

Philip Johnson’s Rockefeller Guest House, a ‘secret’ modernist gem on Manhattan’s east side

Screen cap via NYT

March 23, 2017

Philip Johnson’s Rockefeller Guest House, a ‘secret’ modernist gem on Manhattan’s east side

Just down the street from the now-closed modernist treasure trove and icon that was the Four Seasons in Manhattan's east 50s is a lesser-known architectural treasure. Philip Johnson’s 1950 Rockefeller Guest House is one of a handful of private residences the architect designed for New York City clients. The house is a designated historic and architectural landmark, but a subtle one that's easily missed on the quiet street–as the New York Times puts it, "the house doesn’t give up its secrets easily." Once you spot the home's brick-and-glass facade, though, it's hard not to be enthralled.
Find out more and take a video tour

Architecture And Design

March 23, 2017

Former Citicorp Center might lose Sasaki fountain as part of plaza redesign

Earlier this month, 6sqft revealed renderings of 601 Lexington Avenue's (the Midtown East skyscraper formerly known as the Citicorp Center) new "Market Building," comprised of an interior atrium to hold dining/retail space and a new outdoor plaza and terraces. Though the LPC landmarked the building this past December, the Architect's Newspaper has learned of a loophole in the designation regarding the privately owned public space, which could mean that amid the renovation, the sunken plaza and cascading fountain designed by Hideo Sasaki's firm--one of the iconic landscape architect's few remaining works--may be demolished.
The full story ahead

Architecture And Design

March 22, 2017

National Academy’s trio of palatial UES buildings drops price to $79M, gets new pics

Nearly a year ago, the National Academy Museum & School listed their three stunning Carnegie Hill properties for $120 million--two interconnected townhouses at 1083 Fifth Avenue and 3 East 89th Street and a 65-foot-wide school building on East 89th Street. Though the original listing touted the possibility to create an epic, single-family mega-mansion, there have been no takers, and the buildings are now asking a reduced $78.5 million (h/t WSJ). Along with the price chop comes fresh interior images of the townhouses and their palatial layouts, intricate moldings, dripping chandeliers, and regal spiral staircase.
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Kushner Cos. vision for 666 Fifth Avenue has Zaha Hadid design and $12B ambitions

As 6sqft previously reported, 666 Fifth Avenue owners Kushner Companies and Vornado Realty Trust have been seeking financing for a new skyscraper planned for the site of the Midtown office tower that Kushner purchased for $1.8 billion in 2007; Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group is said to have been considering a substantial stake in the tower. Though it was reported that the redevelopment could be valued at $7.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal now cites sources who say the value could be as much as $12 billion, and that a reported deal with Anbang may be far from a sure thing. That huge number represents the projected value of what Kushner envisions as a 1,400-foot-tall mixed-use luxury tower with a design provided by the late Zaha Hadid in 2015, nine floors of retail, a hotel and big-ticket luxury condos on its upper floors.
Find out more about the possibly maybe very big deal

Architecture And Design

March 21, 2017

Peter Kostelov transforms a dark uptown apartment into a multifunctional home with sliding furniture

Living in cramped New York quarters requires a specific approach to spatial planning that favors efficiency and functionality. In this previously dark uptown apartment with limited square footage, Russian Architect Peter Kostelov created a spacious, multi-functional home by combining a semi-open floorplan with a series of tucked-away furniture that can easily be pulled out or put away depending on which "room" the residents need.
See it all here

Swale floating park returns this spring with a new look

Photo courtesy of Strongbow

March 21, 2017

Swale floating park returns this spring with a new look

By Devin Gannon

With spring officially here, it’s the perfect time to visit your favorite park. While there are plenty to choose from, there’s only one that floats on water. As reported by Time Out, Swale, the collaborative floating food forest, which let visitors pick free produce last summer, is back with an updated design--"a blossoming apple orchard surrounded by garden beds filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables." In a collaboration with Strongbow, the newly designed barge will be docking at public piers from April through October.
Find out more here

March 20, 2017

Young Projects’ Tribeca loft explores solids and voids with nested prisms and an interior courtyard

This massive home, dubbed the Gerken Residence, occupies 6,000 square feet of interior space, plus a 1,500-square-foot rooftop garden, all located on the top floors of a historic Tribeca building. Designed by Young Projects, the unique loft's inner structure is comprised of three nested prisms that explore the relationship between solid and void. The floor plan also has various cuts strategically placed to hide and reveal the sky and city.
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March 20, 2017

Two Trees looks to local artists to help elevate everyday living

By 6sqft

Developers are increasingly using art as a way to turn their buildings into more than just stacks of expensive apartments. Many see adding sculptures or installations as ways to activate a place, making it an integral part of the urban experience. But while most are eager to jump on the biggest names in the business, there […]

March 17, 2017

Nimuno tape transforms any surface into LEGO-friendly territory

This fun product from the innovative design studio Nimuno takes our childhood LEGO obsession to a whole new level. Nimuno Loops are a flexible and cuttable plastic equipped with a block-friendly top surface and a reusable adhesive backing, allowing you to make any surface LEGO compatible.
find out more here

March 17, 2017

Oiio’s ‘Big Bend’ proposal for Billionaires’ Row would be the world’s longest building

By Devin Gannon

New York City Architecture firm Oiio has proposed a conceptual skyscraper that would curve at the top and then return to the ground, becoming what the firm believes to be the “longest” building to ever be created. As reported by dezeen, their "Big Bend" proposal challenges Manhattan’s obsession with supertall skyscrapers by substituting extreme height with length—stretching 4,000 feet from end to end. If they are able to design this building, Oiio hopes it could potentially provide a solution to the height limitations imposed by city zoning laws.
See the renderings here

Architecture And Design

March 16, 2017

Bid on a VIP tour of Yale with Robert A.M. Stern and other starchitect experiences

The Van Alen Institute announces their fourth annual Auction of Art + Design Experiences, offering a rare international sampling of curated events with leading names in the creative world. Like an omakase of "distinctive experiences" with some of today's most notable innovators in the architecture, design and culture spheres, the benefit auction, available via Paddle8, offers a Robert A.M. Stern-led VIP preview of the architect’s addition to the Yale University campus, an afternoon in the archives of Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro outside São Paulo, a workout at Medellín Sports Coliseum with its architect, Giancarlo Mazzanti, a visit to a collection of stilted Miami beach houses with architect Terry Riley, meditation studio time with Winka Dubbeldam and a tour of John Lautner-designed horror story homes in the Hollywood hills, to name just a few.
More cool experiences to bid on, ahead

March 16, 2017

54-acre estate with ponds, a cottage, and a 19th century colonial home asks $1.85M upstate

By Emily Nonko

This historic brick colonial is known as the Guilford Bower House, named after the Guilford Bower Farm established here in 1854 (h/t CIRCA). The former farm occupies 54 acres at 707 Albany Post Road, in the upstate town of Gardiner. The property has been restored "true to its beginnings," as the listing says, with stained glass details, pocket doors and tin ceilings. (The reno was so accurate, in fact, the property is now on the National Register of Historic Places.) For this grand, sprawling estate, it will cost you $1.85 million.
Take a look around

March 15, 2017

Marvelously mod prefab guest house was built in just two days time

While many vacation homes are the result of an elaborate design process and lengthy construction, this house located in rural New York was designed and then built using prefabricated elements in just a couple of days. The U.S. firm Desai Chia Architecture is responsible for the single-story rectilinear space, also known as LM Guest House. The 2,000-square-foot prefab oasis is located in Dutchess County (about two hours north of Manhattan) and situated on a rocky outcrop of land that overlooks a trout pond and farm.
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March 15, 2017

$1.8M Forest Hills home has an English garden, attic studio, and a unique history

It’s also more modern than you might think. In 1909, noted architect and urban planner Grosvenor Atterbury, employed with the firm McKim, Mead and White, was, with partner Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (son of the famous landscape architect) commissioned to plan a new community in Forest Hills, Queens. The result was one of the first–and most successful–uses of the prefabricated housing process that we’ve seen to date. These rarely-on-the-market homes–like this semi-detached brick townhome at 20 Ingram Street–have withstood the test of time, possessing both a timeless quality and, in this case, a fascinating sense of an early modern era long past but still somehow present in these unique rooms.
Get lost among the rooms and the garden

March 14, 2017

Rare East Coast Eichler home asking $490K shows off its unique modern design with new interior photos

The single-floor house at 130 Grotke Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY really is, as the listing boasts, a "unique home straight out of the pages of CA Modern Magazine." 6sqft previously covered the home–one of a trio of East Coast Eichlers; the four-plus-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot 1962 slate gray beauty is on the market for $489,900. Joseph L. Eichler, whose modernist tract homes can be found throughout Northern California as well as the Greater Los Angeles area, was one of the most prolific residential homebuilders of the mid-20th century. Today, his homes are “collected” by modern design buffs for their ahead-of-their-time design and anti-McMansion cachet.
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March 13, 2017

Modern-spotting: The lost Eichlers of Rockland County, New York

Yes, there are Eichler homes in New York! They are sometimes called "lost Eichlers," as most of noted mid-20th-century developer Joseph Eichler's homes exist in Northern and, to a lesser degree, Southern California. Three custom-built Eichler houses were constructed (and still stand) in the Rockland County, New York community of Chestnut Ridge, just north of Eichler's hometown of New York City. Joseph L. Eichler, whose modernist tract homes can be found throughout the Bay Area in Northern California as well as the Greater Los Angeles area, was one of the most celebrated residential homebuilders of the mid-20th century. His homes are enthusiastically “collected” by modern design buffs, and their renovations appear on the covers of design and home decor magazines like Dwell and Metropolitan Home.
Find out how a tiny East Coast enclave continues to enjoy the Eichler lifestyle

March 10, 2017

Renderings revealed for former Citicorp Center’s proposed new ‘Market Building’