New York: The Latest Architecture and News

New York City’s latest full-floor luxury apartments are officially for sale in Morris Adjmi Architects’ first ever residential tower, 30 E 31. At 500 feet tall and 40 stories, this building will feature 42 one- and two-bedroom homes with a duplex penthouse—with prices ranging anywhere from $1.65 to $12 mil. Located in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, the building's design draws from its Gothic context. On the facade, 6 columns emphasize the skyscraper's verticality and at the top of the building turn into a diagrid pattern reminiscent of a barrel-vaulted ceiling.

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In the US, pumpkins are the ultimate symbol of fall – from autumn holiday centerpieces to Thanksgiving pies to those infamous spiced lattes, the loveable gourd is near inescapable the time October rolls around. But using carved pumpkins as a building material? Now that is the sign of a true Halloween fanatic.

Since 2005, the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze has been doing just that to create dazzling displays on the grounds of Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. The event goes through more than 10,000 pumpkins (weighing 200,000 pounds!) each season to create environmental, intractable structures and sculptures inspired by the land art works of artists such as Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, Donald Judd, and Andy Goldsworthy.

Each year, the event has grown, inspiring bigger and more daring constructions. New pieces for this year include a Pumpkin Statue of Liberty, a 20-foot Pumpkin Carousel and a Plus-Sized Pumpkin Planetarium. Check out some images of the event below!

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Just one month after the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Pier 55 project in New York City was declared dead in the water, opposing parties seem to have come to an agreement that will allow the project to continue, thanks to the intervention of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The city of New York is connecting all 32-miles of coastline with public amenities, piece by piece. To link the East River’s greenways, the interdisciplinary practice, wHY has submitted an RFP to the New York City Economic Development Corporation for the 1.1-mile long coastal stretch.

The landscape and urban design workshop as part of wHY -- wHY GROUNDS, has tackled the linear site, stretching from 53rd to 61st street, encompassing 1.72-acres of public space. The site is exceptional with its views to Roosevelt Island, the Queensborough Bridge, the Queens/Brooklyn waterfront and down to Lower Manhattan.

Now open to residents, the first photos of the lobby and amenity spaces at Zaha Hadid Architects’ New York residential tower, 520 West 28th Street, have been revealed by developer Related Companies. Rising 11 stories next to the High Line in West Chelsea, the building houses 39 bespoke residences, interiors of which were revealed for the first time earlier this year.

Now, the building’s spectacular common spaces are complete, including a 75-foot-long skylight-lit pool; an entertainment lounge with complete kitchen; a fully equipped gym; a 24-hour juice bar; and a spa suite containing a hot tub, rain showers, treatment beds, a plunge pool, sauna and steam room. But perhaps the most unique feature is the 12-seat IMAX theaters, one of the first private IMAX theaters in the world. The space will be able to be reserved by residents for film watching, parties or video game tournaments.

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Brooklyn Point by Kohn Pederson Fox will hold the title of Brooklyn’s tallest building - although for a short while as the downtown developer craze competes for the next top spot. The mixed-use skyscraper is the final step in the City Point mega-development and is the first of Extell Development Company in the borough

After being in the design process for the past three years, construction of Brooklyn Point began this summer; it is only now that Extell is releasing the details of the tower in a new render that displays the extent of the façade.

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One of New York City’s original skyscrapers and the former largest office building in the world, the Equitable Building, is set to receive a $50 million renovation and restoration that will bring the historic structure up to 21st century standards.

Built in 1915 in New York’s Financial District by architect Ernest R. Graham, the 1.9-million-square-foot Equitable Building was a pioneer in the city’s skyscraper boom, spanning an entire Broadway block between Pine and Cedar Streets. A simple extrusion of the site footprint, the building was notorious for its overbearing relationship to the street – outcry over which eventually led to the creation of the city’s famous setback zoning laws.

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Adjaye Associates has unveiled designs for SPYSCAPE, a new museum and interactive experience that illuminates the world of espionage from historical secret intelligence to modern day hacking through a collection of rare artifacts, exhilarating storytelling and immersive personalized experiences.

Located a stone’s throw from Times Square in New York City, the 60,000-square-foot space will use architecture as a key element of the museum experience. Inspired by the spaces occupied by the world’s most significant spy organizations, the building interiors will resemble a small town, with a variety of spaces unfolding beneath a vaulted canopy. Circulation will lead visitors through a wide range of vantage points and perspectives, playing with perceptions and drawing you into the individual pavilions.

On October 15^th four languages, three countries, and three astounding architectural projects will be brought together through a series of events and workshops to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation seeks to commemorate the event with a full day program of activities entitled Drawing the Guggenheim. Visitors can explore and sketch the museums during a variety of public drawing exercises, architectural tours, films and family events at each of the Guggenheim locations.

Harkening back to the Art Deco structures of New York’s Financial District, CetraRuddy’s 45 Broad Street is set to rise in Lower Manhattan. After a groundbreaking ceremony in April, construction on the project has now begun. Once complete, the tower will top out at a peak of 1,115 feet (340 meters), making it the second tallest building in lower Manhattan (behind only One World Trade Center) and the tallest residential building south of the so-called “Billionaire’s Row” in Midtown.

The 65-story, winding glass skyscraper designed by BIG for New York’s Hudson Yards neighborhood, "The Spiral," is one step closer to realization, as developer Tishman Speyer has secured the necessary air rights for the structure, The Real Deal reports.

The $157 million deal was made between the developer and the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for 669,000 square feet of development rights, equalling $235 per square foot. After adding in the square footage acquired in two separate deals in 2015 and last year, Tishman Speyer has now spent $265 million to gain more than 1.23 million additional square feet of buildable space for the 1,005-foot-tall tower.

Two large-scale US cultural projects have, this week, announced major updates relating to the renovation of existing buildings – and both involve, to a greater and lesser extent, American business magnate, media mogul, and philanthropist David Geffen.

One—the Lincoln Center's Geffen Hall in New York City—has scrapped plans for a $500 million renovation to be led by Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects, while another—Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), for which a renovation is being led by Peter Zumthor—has seen a pledge by Geffen of $150 million toward its $600 million price-tag.

In the latest in their Daily360 series, the New York Times takes a look at this past weekend's demolition of the old Kosciusko Bridge on Newton Creek between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Built in 1939, the steel truss bridge had become a major bottleneck for traffic over the past 8 decades, prompting the state government to invest in a new cable-stayed design. The first span of that bridge opened in April, with a second span to be built over the path of the former bridge.

“This is an area that was polluted from the industrial manufacturing economy,” said New York State Governor Cuomo. “We’re cleaning it up, but I think the crown jewel is going to be that new Kosciuszko bridge.”

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During the month of October, a host of events will take place throughout the five boroughs of New York City as part of the month-long architecture and design festival, Archtober. The well-known Building of the Day series of walking tours continues with highlights including the Sea Glass Carousel, Freshkills Park, and the George Washington Bridge Bust Station.