Architecture And Design

In 2007, officials launched MillionTreesNYC, an initiative with the aim of greening New York City through the planting and care of one million trees. While the city surpassed its goal in 2015, planting 1,017,634 trees by the year's end, efforts to increase leafy canopy coverage across the five boroughs has not wavered since. With that said, if you're a New Yorker who feels that your street could use a bit more greenery (ahem, Sean Lennon), getting a tree planted on your block is much easier than you may think. By simply filling out a request with the New York Parks Department, you can get a tree planted, for free, so long as the plot you have in mind is suitable for planting.
find out more details here

March 10, 2017

First look at the undulating outdoor decks and pools at CetraRuddy’s Midtown West rental tower

Algin Management's 700-foot-tall Midtown West rental tower recently reached 35 stories of its total 62-story height and now its lower floors are receiving their "sexy facade of curved glass and aluminum panels," according to CityRealty. Located at 242 West 53rd Street (the former site of Roseland Ballroom), the building was designed by CetraRuddy, who said their curvaceous silhouette was imagined as "a contextual sculpture surrounded by space, creating apartments that captured the views on all sides." These curving forms are mimicked on the multi-level deck from Terrain Work, who have just shared renderings of these undulating outdoor spaces, including the open-air swimming pool, rock garden that doubles as a rainwater collection source, and multiple gardens and patio areas.
More details and all the renderings

March 10, 2017

Rare 19th-century Williamsburg townhouse offers gardens and river views for $4M

This four-unit, 19th-century townhouse at 52 South 6th Street isn't your average Williamsburg dwelling, if only because 19th-century townhouses are the exception in the trendy north Brooklyn neighborhood. This particular home, however, didn't get the memo and awaits with sunny interiors, gardens, and a waterfront spot where–according to the listing–you can watch the boats on the East River from your front porch, all for $4 million.
See what's happening in the garden

March 9, 2017

More renderings, details released for massive South Bronx waterfront development

Just two days ago, 6sqft brought you a brand new rendering of the second parcel at Somerset Partners and Chetrit Group's massive South Bronx waterfront development, and now, YIMBY has uncovered even more views of the full seven-tower, 1,300-unit residential project, along with some more specific details. The renderings come courtesy of Hill West Architects and also show the publicly accessible 25,500-square-foot public waterfront esplanade.
More details and another rendering

March 9, 2017

The Statue of Liberty will receive a $4.58 million makeover

A gift to perhaps the greatest woman in New York City, it was revealed on Wednesday that the Statue of Liberty will be receiving a $4.58 million facelift. The Post had the details on the plans which were approved by The National Park Service (NPS) earlier this week. The overhaul is expected to include the planting of 46 salt-tolerant trees, repairs to the statue's granite pavers, and the installation of about 1,650-feet of stainless steel fencing and new gates around Lady Liberty's base.
more details here

Architecture And Design

March 8, 2017

Watch a 3D-printed home get made in under 24 hours

By Devin Gannon

While many of us living in New York City search for months before finding that perfect apartment, there's now a way to get a brand new home built in under 24 hours. As reported by engadget, the San Francisco-based startup Apis Cor used a mobile 3D-printer to print out the concrete walls, partitions, and building envelope for a 400 square-foot-home in just less than a day, all for the pretty reasonable price of $10,314 (not including the property, of course). And while NYC doesn't have much open space for free-standing homes, the technology could potentially be used for various residential components or tiny home configurations.
Watch the entire process in action and see inside the tiny home

March 8, 2017

New rendering for the Sheepshead Bay condo that’s the tallest residential building in South Brooklyn

As 6sqft noted just over a year ago when the project was first revealed, a 331-foot tower isn't even news in Manhattan or much of western Brooklyn and Queens, but "in the once-sleepy waterfront community of Sheepshead Bay" it's quite the headline maker. The 30-story building from Perkins Eastman Architects will, in fact, be the tallest residential building in South Brooklyn. Just last week, developer AvalonBay Communities launched a new website with info on the project's rental component Avalon Brooklyn Bay, and now, Muss Development, who's behind the condo portion known as 1 Brooklyn Bay Condominiums, has revealed details on these 56 luxury, high-rise units, as well as a brand new rendering of the glassy behemoth and how it's set to dwarf its surroundings.
Find out more

March 8, 2017

Modern carriage house on an exclusive street of Brooklyn Heights tries its hand at $10M

By Emily Nonko

If you thought Brooklyn Heights only offered blocks of historic townhouses, think again: this carriage house at 6 Grace Court Alley, a private, one-block row that's made up exclusively of 19th-century residential carriage homes. And while the exterior certainly looks historic, the interior has been opened up, modernized, and filled with light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights. After last selling in 2011 for $2.7 million, it's now trying for a cool $10 million.
Step inside

Herzog & de Meuron will turn Gowanus’ graffiti-covered ‘Batcave’ into an art production factory

Rendering of Powerhouse Workshop via Herzog & de Meuron

March 7, 2017

Herzog & de Meuron will turn Gowanus’ graffiti-covered ‘Batcave’ into an art production factory

Despite its Superfund status, the Gowanus Canal has ushered in a Whole Foods, an artisanal ice cream factory, and more than one high-end residential development, but one vestige of its gritty, industrial days has remained--the so-called Batcave. Build in 1904 as the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's Central Power Station, the warehouse was taken out of service in the '50s, becoming in the 2000s a home for squatters, venue for impromptu dance parties, and unofficial street art display. But it looks like the former warehouse will now join the ranks of its Brooklyn-esque neighbors, as the Times reports that Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron will transform the space into an art production factory and exhibition space to be called the Powerhouse Workshop, though it will preserve the iconic graffiti
Get the whole scoop

Great Game Changers: How the Pan Am Building redefined Midtown architecture

By Carter B. Horsley

Perhaps the most detested Midtown skyscraper by the public, this huge tower has nevertheless always been a popular building with tenants for its prime location over Grand Central Terminal and its many views up and down Park Avenue. It is also one of the world’s finest examples of the Brutalist architecture, commendable for its robust form and excellent public spaces, as well as its excellent integration into the elevated arterial roads around it. However, there is no argument that it is also immensely bulky with a monstrous height. As shown in the photograph ahead, to its north, the building completely overshadows the Helmsley Building, an iconic product of Warren & Wetmore's Terminal City complex. The pyramid-topped Helmsley Building once straddled the avenue with remarkable grace, and as one of the city’s very rare, “drive-through” buildings, it was the great centerpiece of Park Avenue. But by shrouding such a masterpiece in its shadows, the Pan Am Building (today the MetLife building) desecrated a major icon that will unfortunately never recover from such a contemptible slight on a prominent site.
Read more about the significance of this building here

The best design museums in New York City

Lead Image: © Leong Leong Architects for their installation Past Futures, Present, Futures

March 6, 2017

The best design museums in New York City

New York is an international center for design. World-famous architects and designers have learned here, lived here, and worked here. And New York shows off the immense talent in the city and elsewhere with some of the world's greatest design museums. Here is a small sample of some of the best places to see the latest and greatest works, as well as where to dig when you're looking for inspiration from the past.
See our top picks here

March 6, 2017

Bjarke Ingels moves firm to huge new headquarters in ‘Scandamerican’ DUMBO

Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has just added heft to the big-name design, media and technology shift that has been setting up shop in Brooklyn. BIG, founded by noted Danish architect–and DUMBO resident–Bjarke Ingels, just signed a lease for 50,000 square feet at Two Trees' 45 Main Street building in the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood, with plans to relocate their Manhattan office at 61 Broadway to the new space, which is twice the size of the company's current NYC headquarters. As 6sqft previously reported, Ingels purchased a $4 million penthouse home at 205 Water Street with views of 2 World Trade Center back in 2015.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

March 1, 2017

Steven Holl’s ‘T Space’ is an art gallery tucked away in an Upstate forest

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Though it looks like this cedar cabin is floating above the terrain, the structure actually sits atop nine steel stilts. Architect Steven Holl employed the building technique to minimize the home's impact on the forested environment and likewise wrapped the construction in a cedar skin so it would meld with the trees. Known as "T Space," the minimalist art gallery is located on a privately-owned, four-acre woodland property in Dutchess County.
Learn more about this suspended woodland home

Architecture And Design

March 1, 2017

Lavish $65M penthouse unveiled at Robert A.M. Stern’s 70 Vestry

After selling the $50 million penthouse at the beginning of the year and celebrating the building's topping out last month, the Related Companies has unveiled the $65 million penthouse atop their Tribeca condo 70 Vestry, the largest apartment listed in New York this year. The massive, incredibly luxurious home is the crowning jewel of the Robert A.M. Stern-designed project, boasting close to 8,000 square feet of interior space designed by Daniel Romualdez and 3,687 square feet of private outdoor space across three levels and including a rooftop terrace. Benjamin Joseph, Executive Vice President at Related Companies, said in a press release, "A penthouse of this caliber has never before been offered in Tribeca, and may never be again."
See what all the fuss is about

February 27, 2017

Greenpoint creative hub gets a funky clay factory from design collective Assemble

London-based collective Assemble works across art, architecture, and design "to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made." They've employed this philosophy at their first U.S. project--a temporary clay-extruding factory in the courtyard of Greenpoint's A/D/O creative hub, known as "A Factory As It Might Be." As Dezeen explains, the firm first built only a steel roof on top of the brick walls, but after acquiring an industrial clay extruder and electric kiln and finding that of all the vessels and homewares being created the tiles were the most successful, they decided to use the ceramic tiles to create a colorful, geometric facade.
Find out more about the project here

Architecture And Design

February 27, 2017

Upstate waterfront hotel/restaurant with a quirky owner’s apartment asks less than $1M

By Emily Nonko

Now here's an opportunity to own something really unique, if you're willing to decamp New York City to run a historic hotel upstate. The Pleasant Beach Hotel, at 14477 Fancher Avenue in Fairhaven, has hit the market for $975,000. Less than $1 million will get you a nine-room hotel, as well as a bar, restaurant, private pier, and an attached owner's apartment. With incredible views out toward Lake Ontario, this hotel has been in business since 1910... and is looking for its tenth owner to carry on the traditions of the charming waterfront getaway.
Take the grand tour

February 27, 2017

$1.6M Washington Heights row house is on a hidden historic street across from Manhattan’s oldest home

In the heart of the Jumel Terrace Historic District in Washington Heights, already known for the Morris Jumel Mansion, the oldest house in Manhattan, the quaint row houses of Sylvan Terrace are tucked away on one of the city’s “secret” streets. The mansion is not only famous for being General George Washington's temporary headquarters during the Revolutionary War but for hosting dignitaries from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; in more modern times, "Hamilton” fans may know it as being the spot where the musical’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda penned songs from the Broadway hit. The historic row of houses, built in the 1880s, was restored by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; 16 Sylvan Terrace was further renovated by its current owners and is now on the market for $1.625 million.
Take a peek inside this historic row house

February 27, 2017

Maya Lin-designed Tribeca mansion lists for $35M

Despite the claim by some preservationists that the building looked like "a block of swiss cheese," back in June the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Maya Lin Studio's design of a contemporary mega-mansion in the heart of Tribeca's historic district. The plans call for a five-story, 20,000-square-foot home at 11 Hubert Street--including incredible amenities such as an 82-foot swimming pool, basketball/squash court, four-car garage, and an open-air courtyard--and, as the Post reports, the corner site has just hit the market for $35 million, though this doesn't include the $15 million it'll cost to actually build the house.
Find out more about this opportunity

February 26, 2017

Steven Gambrel turned a Park Avenue apartment into a sophisticated playground for pastel colors

By Rebecca Paul

When one thinks of a sprawling Park Avenue apartment, what comes to mind is typically muted colors, clean lines, and classic decor, but for this Upper East Side duplex, the Steven Gambrel and the designers at his firm S.R. Gambrel created a home that retains this sophistication while displaying a bevy of cheery pastel hues, geometric patterns, and unexpected accessories.
See the whole home

February 24, 2017

RAH:DESIGN employed modern home-building techniques to design this cool dog house

By Rebecca Paul

While there are many doggie-abodes on the market, the designers at RAH:DESIGN found themselves struggling to find something that fit with their carefully curated home decor. Instead of continuing their search, they decided to take matters into their own hands and launched MDK9 Dog Haus. Not only was it constructed using modern home-building materials, but it includes human-level amenities such as an overhang for shading, metal mesh siding for ventilation, wheels for easy mobility, and a built-in feeder.
READ MORE

February 24, 2017

J.P. Morgan’s 120-year-old ‘Great Camp Uncas’ in the Adirondack wilderness reduced to $2.7M

A standout even among the region's Great Camps, the secluded Camp Uncas was built in 1895 by Brooklynite William West Durant, who is credited with perfecting the iconic Adirondack Great Camp style. The compound's biggest claim to fame, however, is that it once belonged to financier J.P. Morgan, who purchased the 1,500 acre property from Durant in 1897; for the fifty years that followed, it served as a vacation home for Morgan and his family. Though the property has traded hands several times since, the appeal of its iconic architecture remains as compelling as its history. Designated as a national landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2010, this historically significant piece of the Adirondacks is for sale for $2.7 million, reduced from its original 2015 ask of $3.25M.
Explore this extraordinary historic property

February 23, 2017

Transformable Ollie chair unfurls with the pull of a string

If you've ever wished an ergonomic, well-designed comfortable chair would materialize when you need it, the Ollie Chair has your back. Ollie is a transformable seat that unfurls and retracts with no more than the pull of a string. Created by Brooklyn Navy Yard-based kinetic furniture company RockPaperRobot, the chair offers a portable, elegant and comfortable solution for today's office-anywhere work style–and its customizable cool design makes it a welcome addition to your decor.
So where can I get one?

February 23, 2017

High Line-style park proposed for a half-mile stretch of abandoned Staten Island rail

Although High Line Park visionary Robert Hammond recently expressed remorse for failing to develop a park that was "for the neighborhood"—not the ultra-wealthy that have infiltrated the blocks directly surrounding the elevated marvel—other cities continue to see nothing but financial opportunity in thrusting parkland upward. 6sqft recently reported on Newark, NJ, which will soon break ground on their own version of the High Line in hopes of revitalizing their long-burdened downtown, and now the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. (SIEDC) has announced that Port Richmond is angling for their own High Line magic atop .53 miles of abandoned North Shore rail line.
more details and photos here

Architecture And Design

Richard Meier’s mixed-use Teachers Village development is revitalizing downtown Newark

Residential Building VII, via Scott Frances

February 23, 2017

Richard Meier’s mixed-use Teachers Village development is revitalizing downtown Newark