Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park Photograph by Julienne Schaer

With this stifling heat wave New Yorkers are trying to brave,  it is hard to take refuge in the city filled with skyscrapers and traffic.   This summer, we are flocking to parks along the edge of the Island to relax amidst a sea of greenery, catching some breezes off the water while enjoying the amazing views of the skyline and different bridges.   This step marks an important part in our history, as prior to this, as Nathan Ward in an Op-Ed for the New York Times put it, we have shied away from “claiming our waterfront.”   In Ward’s article, he outlines the history of the waterfront, explaining that as the ports’ economy slowed down toward the end of the 1900s, the abandoned piers became “a ghost town between landlubbers and the water” where no one wanted to be, let alone live.   Within the past few years, we are beginning to discover the potential the waterfront has to offer.  And, areas that have been rundown and vacant for years are now getting green makeovers and contributing more and more feet of parkscape for New Yorkers to enjoy.

Whether you are closest to Governors Island, the West Side or perhaps Brooklyn, here’s the scoop on three fairly recent park developments we hope all can enjoy.

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© Studio One Eleven

Our friends from Studio One Eleven have just broken ground on Long Beach’s newest urban farm.  The design is an extension of the New City School, a charter campus within the Long Beach Unified School District, that will teach children important lessons about the environment and nutrition.”The need to grow locally, provide affordable organic foods, and reconnect people to the land is an issue we are very passionate about at Studio One Eleven. All of our projects…represent our interest in improving the natural and built environment while creating a better community,” explained Michael Bohn, principal of the firm.

More images and more about the urban farm after the break. read more »

© James Corner Field Operations

We’ve heard a lot about James Corner Field Operations particularly due to the High Line in New York.  But, now the firm is taking their talent across the world to China where they have just won the prestigious Urban Design Competition to design a new major city, Qianhai.  The firm placed ahead OMA/Rem Koolhaas, BLAU Architecture and Urbanism, Bjarke Ingles Group, and SWA among dozens of others for the win. read more »

Jeffrey Durkin, founder of Breadtruck Films, has documented the ongoing efforts of the architect + developer movement to revitalize San Diego’s urban waterfront.  In a city where a tree, let alone a patch of grass, is hard to come by,  architect Lindsay Brown has proposed a public park along the edge of the city to break the monotonous hardscape of buildings and highways that dominate the area.

More about the design, including renderings from the architect.

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The Spur

A few days ago, we shared some information about the second segment of Field Operations and DS+R’s High Line, including construction shots to show the progress being made. Today, we share renderings from the firms which illustrate some of the cool features we can look forward to seeing.  The second phase will include a “spur” – a framed space recalling the historical billboards that once attached to the railway, a “floating platform” which rests above the exposed girders, “Chelsea Thicket” – a dense stretch of trees and shrubs, a “flyover” where the walkway rises into the canopy of sumac trees, and of course, a grand lawn for lounging.

Take a look at the renderings after the break, and we’ve also included a video of the whole project to see how the pieces will come together.

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© Enea

Landscape “artist” Enzo Enea recently completed the Tree Museum in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland, right next to the brand new headquarters for Enea Garden Design designed by Miami based Oppenheim Architecture + Design (more on that soon!).

© Enea

The museum includes 50 different species on the site of a 14th century monastery, some of them 130 years old. These have been collected by Enzo himself for the past 17 years, sometimes rescuing trees threatened by construction or urban expansion. The collection includes over 2,000 species on an adjacent 2.5 acre park.

A delicate landscape work, using a series of local sandstone walls which frame the trees and generate zen like spaces to contemplate the beauty of the “exhibit”.

More photos after the break.

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Looking north toward the Hudson Yards

Field Operations and DS+R’s High Line has been enjoyed by many ever since its opening, but we’ve been waiting patiently for the next segment to be finished.  And, thanks to Curbed.com, we’re able to share some recent construction shots of the progress being made.

Check out more photos and more about the second phase after the break. read more »

Last week, we introduced Atelier Altern and their landscapping vision for the historic French town of Toulouse.  Today, we bring you their second chosen work for Amiens which is for the islands of the Hortillonnages.  The project, ‘On vous raconte des salades’, which translates to mean ‘to spin a yard’ is about the installation telling a story of forgotten varieties of salad.

More about the proposal after the break. read more »

The work of two young French landscape designers, Sylvain Morin and Aurélien Zoia, has been selected for Imaginez Maintenant, a summer national event where young landscapers experiment and share their ideas.  The designers have been chosen to work on two French heritage sites, one in Toulouse and the other in Amiens.  Today, we share their design for Toulouse, and next week, we’ll share their strategy for Amiens.

More images and more about the landscape after the break.

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© Miran Kambič

Architects: Enota
Location: Podčetrtek, Slovenia
Project Team: Dean Lah, Milan Tomac, Maruša Zupančič, Nuša Završnik, Zana Starovič, Anna Kravcova, Polona Ruparčič, Marko Volf, Sabina Sakelšek, Esta Matkovič, Darja Zubac, Dean Jukić, Nebojša Vertovšek, Tjaša Marinšek
Client: Terme Olimia
Landscape Architecture: Bruto
Structure: Elea iC
Climatisation & Plumbing: Nombiro
Electrical Instalation: Forte inženiring
Project Area: 9,990 sqm
Budget: 13,000,000 EUR
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Miran Kambič

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Designed by Office of Architecture in Barcelona, this urban landscape snakes along the Benidorm seascape in Spain.  The region is a popular attraction outfitted with high rise buildings, promenades, the bars, and the water.  Yet, OAB’s addition to the thriving seaside has created an identifying element which sets this area apart from similar places.

More images and more about the landscape after the break. read more »

© Creative Commons - Photo Credit: Melody Kramer

Inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, the Glass House by Philip Johnson, with its perfect proportions and its simplicity, is considered one of the first most brilliant works of modern architecture. Johnson built the 47-acre estate for himself in New Canaan, Connecticut. The house was the first of fourteen structures that the architect built on the property over a span of fifty years.

More on Johnson’s Glass House after the break. read more »

© Meng Yan

Architects: URBANUS Architecture & Design Inc.
Location: Shenzhen, China
Design Director: Meng Yan
Project Manager: Xing Guo
Designers: Ding Yu, Wu Kaimao, Liao Zhixiong
Client: Luohu Development & Reform Bureau, Shenzhen
Site Area: 6,870 sqm
Design Period: 2005-2006
Construction Period: 2008-2009
Photographs: Meng Yan

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Architects: studioMAS architects + urban designers
Location: Forest Town, Johannesburg, South Africa
Landscape Architect: Sonja Swanepoel, from African Environmental Design
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Mario Todeschini & studioMAS

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View from Consular plaza (rendering by Studio amd)

KieranTimberlake has been announced as the winner of the design competition for the new US Embassy in London.

According to a statement by the US Embassador in the UK, KieranTimberlake´s design “meets the goal of creating a modern, welcoming, timeless, safe and energy efficient embassy for the 21st century.”

Regarding the “safety” issues, KT’s design shows an interesting solution away from embassies from the early 90s surrounded by large walls with no urban considerations, using a park with a pond instead. The Embassy is no only an icon, but an urban piece “honoring the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for many civic buildings”, connecting the Thames embankment to the new pedestrian way to the south.

view from Embassy park (rendering by Studio amd)

“Viewed from the north at the proposed plaza, the embassy grounds will provide the prospect of an open park, a landscape of grasses rising gracefully to the new embassy colonnade, with the required secure boundaries incised into the hillside and out of view. Instead of a perimeter-walled precinct, the site to the north and south is a welcoming urban amenity, a park for the city that fuses the new embassy to the city of London. Alternatives to perimeter walls and fences are achieved through landscape design.”

The pure geometry of the cube is fragmented by a highly specialized ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluroethylene, used in several recent buildings) facade optimized to shade interiors from east, west and south sun while admitting daylight and framing large open view portals to the outside. If you take a closer look to the renderings from the inside you will notice that the ETFE foils include thin photovoltaic film that intercepts unwanted solar gain in certain angles. The scrim also renders the largely transparent façades visible to migratory birds to discourage bird-strikes.

More information and renderings about the Embassy after the break. I also recommend to read our interview with Stephan Kieran.

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© Marc Cramer

Architects: Affleck + de la Riva architects
Location: Montreal, Canada
Landscape: Robert Desjardins
Artist: Raphaëlle de Groot
Urban Lighting: Gilles Arpin
Horticulture: Sandra Barone
Industrial Design: Morelli designers inc.
Interpretation and Museology: Moitie-moitie inc.
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Marc Cramer

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Architect: Olivier Bourgeois
Location: Magdalen Islands, Qc, Canada
Visual Artist: Annie Landry
Carpenters: Gaston Bourgeois, Cyrice Boudreau
Fiberglass specialists: Les Entreprises Leo Leblanc & fils
Main partner: Arrimage
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Serge Boudreau, Olivier Bourgeois

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© The Berg

German architect Jakob Tigges has projected a new and visionary landmark in Berlin. He plans to build a mountain of 1,000 meters high called “The Berg”, which would become a never-before-seen tourist destination in the German capital city. Seen at Plataforma Arquitectura. More images and description after the break. read more »

© Ansis Starks

Architects: Substance
Location: Jurmala, Latvia
Type of Project: Reconstruction of Forest Park
Project Architects: Arnis Dimins, Brigita Barbale
Design Team: Guna Priede, Krisjanis Leitis, Ieva Dimante, Rihards Vietrins
Client: Jurmala City Council
Main contractor: TADERS
Park area: 131,108 sqm (13,1 ha)
Gross internal floor area: 541 sqm
Total cost: 4,1 M €
Project year: 2003-2005
Construction year: 2007-2009
Photographs: Ansis Starks

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Technology company Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) new “Lone Star” campus – located at 7171 Southwest Parkway in Austin – has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the largest LEED-certified corporate campus in Texas. The $190 million, 870,000-square-foot campus opened in January 2008 on a 59-acre tract in south Austin. Project elements include four four-story office buildings, three recessed parking garages and the Lone Star building, which features an employee fitness center, cafeteria, gourmet coffee bar, casual meeting space, outdoor decks and a gaming center with table tennis, billiards tables and video game consoles.

Austin-based Graeber, Simmons & Cowan served as the lead architect; Texas-based TBG Partners provided programming, site planning and landscape architecture services; Austin-based Paul Koehler Brown and Austin-based Jaster-Quintanilla served as the structural engineers; Austin-based Michael E. James &Associates served as the civil engineer; and Dallas-based Austin Commercial served as the general contractor.

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