A plan to improve the streets and public space of Downtown Brooklyn was unveiled on Thursday, as officials look to accommodate the area’s booming population. Created in collaboration with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Bjarke Ingels Group, and WXY architecture + urban design, the “Public Realm Action Plan” calls for fewer cars, more bike lanes, a bus-only lane, and more parks and plazas. As first reported by CityLab, the proposal takes ideas from already-implemented street redesigns, like the new 14th Street busway.  See the plan

Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group and Wildflower Ltd.

The star power involved with Robert de Niro’s planned production studio in Astoria continues to grow. The development group—which includes developer Wildflower Ltd, Raphael De Niro, and Jane Rosenthal—has just revealed a first look at the 650,000-square-foot facility designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. The $400 million project, called Wildflower Studios, will establish a hub for the creation of film, television, and other forms of entertainment, including augmented reality and virtual reality. The facility is expected to create more than 1,000 daily union jobs.

Get a first look at the renderings

Photo by Evan Joseph

Bjarke Ingels’ twisting towers at 76 Eleventh Avenue in Chelsea officially topped out this week, with the 36-story West tower reaching 400 feet shortly after the 26-story East tower hit its 300-foot height. The High Line-adjacent XI, located right across the street from Thomas Heatherwick’s bubbled condos at 515 West 18th Street, will offer 236 luxury condos, the first Six Senses Hotel location in the United States, commercial space, and a new public promenade that will extend from the park. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the XI’s slanted shape gives the illusion the two buildings are being pulled apart, allowing for all residents to have views of both the city and the Hudson River.

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Photos by Max Touhey

Bjarke Ingels Group has certainly lived up to its moniker BIG, with studios in New York, Copenhagen, and London, 17 partners, more than 500 employees, and roughly 50 projects currently in development. To keep up with this astonishing growth, the 14-year-old firm recently moved its U.S. headquarters to a vibrant new space in Dumbo’s 45 Main Street. The 50,000-square-foot office fits 250+ employees and boasts cool features like Brooklyn Bridge views, a private outdoor terrace, chromatized steel doors, and tons of furniture and lighting by Danish brand and BIG collaborator KiBiSi.

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As 6sqft reported earlier this month, Bjarke Ingels’ restoration of the landmarked Lord & Taylor building won’t alter the design of the original structure all that much. But one major update the Bjarke Ingels Group will bring to the 104-year Fifth Avenue department store includes a new roof terrace with multi-use areas and a glassy courtyard. The firm’s proposal, set to be presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday, reveals a new rendering of the rooftop as well as plans to change the iconic store’s signage.

Design updates here

While all has been quiet regarding HFZ Capital Group’s office tower in Nomad since December, new documents from the Department of Buildings documents filed on Tuesday reveal the project is still on track. CityRealty uncovered a ZD-1 zoning diagram online with a site plan, section, and axonometric drawing that mirror renderings released last year. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, the tower will rise from a through-block property at 3-7 West 29th Street.

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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild By Design contest sought proposals for flood protection systems. Among the seven finalists was Bjarke Ingels‘ and One Architecture & Urbanism‘s BIG U, a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment. Now after five years, the first phase of the 10-mile barrier system is getting underway. Rebuild By Design and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) have released an RFP for a stewardship partner for the BIG U’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), a $335 million reconstruction of the 64-acre, 1.5-mile East River Park. With construction expected to kick off in spring 2019, the partner will “explore stewardship models with funding mechanisms that could enhance the long-term operating budget while addressing issues of equity.”

All the details

Less than two weeks after HFZ Capital revealed the marble-clad interior renderings for Bjarke Ingels’ High Line-facing XI condo/hotel project at 76 Eleventh Avenue, they’ve now launched the official website. First spotted by Curbed, the site gives us our first view of the amenities such as the huge, glass-enclosed pool, as well as an up-close look at the “Bridge Lounge,” the swanky amenity space located within the development’s skybridge. The double-height podium bridge, which connects the asymmetrical, twisting towers, will have a retractable movie screen, private wine tasting room, bar, and library.

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Image via BIG

In 2014 6sqft reported on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild By Design contest to develop ways to shore up the city from future flooding. Among the short list of winners whose projects will receive funding was “The Big U” from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment, with over a third of the $920 million in prize money to go toward its development. Now BIG is making a bigger splash with a similar vision now on display at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Observer reports. Called “Humanhattan 2050,” the project, created for the Biennale, which the firm calls “an academic exploration in urban environments and resiliency” could someday represent the first effort to keep cities safe while creating a new, improved social space along the waterfront.

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Renderings via Dbox for HFZ Capital Group

Back in April, 6sqft brought you a new batch of renderings showing Bjarke Ingels and developer HFZ Capital’s XI (or the Eleventh) at 76 Eleventh Avenue ahead of a May 7 sales launch. The West Chelsea hotel-condo project is notable not only for being Ingels’ first NYC condo project but for its asymmetrical, twisting silhouette. Those renderings showcased the pair of towers and their sky-bridge, along with, for the first time, the central courtyard and an apartment interior. Now, as Curbed learned, we get a preview of the project’s interiors, clad in several different flavors of dramatically-veined creamy beige and white statement marble and pale chevron flooring with wood accents–and stunning NYC and river views in every direction.

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