New York: The Latest Architecture and News

Filmed in 1921, Manhatta reveals a typical day in Lower Manhattan in the early part of the 20th century. Painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand created this silent film to discover the relationship between film and photography, while exploring their love to the City. Just as it is today, the City is amidst endless chaos.

The contenders: NYU and the Greenwich Village community. Let Round 2 commence.

Almost two years after we first brought you news about NYU 2031, NYU’s plans for expansion in Brooklyn, Governor’s Island, and (most controversially) in Greenwich Village, and the fight has not only continued, but escalated. A debate, hosted by The Municipal Art Society of New York, two nights ago brought about 200 NYU affiliates and community residents together, but only spatially; there was a considerable lack of willingness to compromise from either camp.

NYU’s plan, thought up by Toshiko Mori Architect, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, and Grimshaw Architects, has ruffled feathers mostly for the fact of its bulk. The 2.5 million square-foot development (1.1 million of which would be underground) is the largest ever proposed for the Village, and has drawn criticism for its potential to diminish light, greenery, and open space in the neighborhood.

The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University will be holding the Interpretations: Promiscuous Encounters Syposium taking place Friday, March 23rd from 12:00pm – 8:30pm. Promiscuous Encounters, which is free and open to the public, has two main ambitions: first, to examine the fascinating blurriness and productive interplay between the critical, curatorial and conceptual capacities of architecture, including how and where they intersect and overlap and, second, to expand the definitions of what these terms mean in relation to theory and practice by reexamining the sites of criticality and their modes of operation. More information on the event after the break.

Planned for completion in 2014, the iconic United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ) is in the middle of a $1.876 billion refurbishment project, known as the Capital Master Plan, which seeks to update the aging building with a more safe, modern and sustainable work environment. Located on the 18-acre site that was donated by John D. Rockefeller in the 1950s, the Manhattan UNHQ was designed by an international team of eleven architects who worked together in a post-World War II world to create an landmark building through collaboration rather than competition.

Continue reading for more details on the Capital Master Plan. 

A carefully selected presentation of over 170 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries, Frieze Art Fair New York 2012 will take place May 4-7. Employing a distinct snake-shaped structure, Frieze New York will be designed by New York-based SO – IL architects. Sponsored by Deutsche Bank, the event will benefit from the same architectural approach that has made Frieze Art Fair, London one of the world’s leading art fairs. More information on the event after the break.

Today’s entrepreneurs are redefining what it means to be visionary in a slow economy. Using every available resource to create new assets, marketing through social media is becoming an important part of the strategy to reach our audiences.

Coordinated by the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, nycobaNOMA, and sponsored by Mohawk Industries, Inc., the B*Session event, The Business of Communication: Social Media and Content Marketing, will take place on March 21st at the Mohawk New York Showroom. More information on the event after the break.

BOFFO is currently accepting submissions through March 26th for art & design furniture, products and more to arrange at their Show House open May 1 – 24, 2012. The BOFFO Show House exhibition will bridge art and design through installation showcasing designers and artists in a residential setting with the goal of creating a profound and relevant experience representing modern living at a visually enticing Manhattan destination. For more information, please visit here.

This workshop is a two-day intensive parametric design workshop by Studio Mode / modeLab to be held in Brooklyn during the weekend of April 07-08, 2012. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, this workshop will engage both the conceptual as well as technical domains of applied parametric design.

The Design Criticism Department (D-CRIT) at the School of Visual Arts will be hosting the “Playful Experimentation and Criticism” lecture featuring Michael Meredith, co-principal and co-founder of MOS. With MOS being an architectural practice that was born out of playful experimentation, what does being experimental mean and how is this related to criticism?

Tonight in Brooklyn, New York – Architect, alumnus and longtime Pratt Architecture Professor Theoharis David, FAIA, will deliver a lecture which will be introduced by visionary architect Lebbeus Woods reflecting on David’s 43 years as a teacher through the work of his former students, many of whom have gone on to become accomplished architects and teachers. The lecture will be followed by an opening reception for “Built Ideas: A Life of Teaching, Learning, and Action,” an exhibition of models, photos, and concept drawings by David that will be on view at The School of Architecture through March 30. The Pratt’s Department of Exhibitions are also presenting “An Architect Drawing,” an exhibition of drawings and texts from David’s architectural experiences through September 28.

Tonight’s lecture is open to the public; however please note that seating priority is reserved for members of the Pratt community at 5:30PM and members of the public will be admitted at 5:50PM. Continue reading for more information.

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After Mayor Bloomberg, Cornell President Skorton and Technion President Lavie announced Cornell’s victory over Stanford to build an eleven acre state-of-the-art tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City, the team has now tackled their next step in choosing six high-profile architecture firms competing to design the schools first academic facility.

Selected from over more than 40 firms from the U.S. and abroad, the finalists include Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Morphosis Architects, Steven Holl Architects and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Continue reading for more information.

ArchDaily announced the winning proposal for the 2012 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program (YAP) earlier this month. In order to bring you full coverage of the annual competition, we are featuring the other four creative designs that competed against HWKN’s Wendy. Ibañez Kim Studio (Mariana Ibañez and Simon Kim) proposed a Mechanical Garden that enjoyed a unique partnership with artists and engineers in Philadelphia.

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CityVision magazine recently announced their CityVision New York competition, which invites architects, designers, students, artists and creatives to develop urban and visionary proposals with the aim of stimulating new ideas for the contemporary city. Globalization, environmental concerns, new economic and cultural politics, adaptability to the existing context combined with the use of vibrant ideas, original technologies and new softwares for representation are some of the key elements that should be taken into account to formulate the most original project proposal. The submission deadline is June 11. For more information, please visit here.

The Emerging New York Architects Competition proposal, ‘The Greenhouse Transformer’, which received an honorable mention, is a typology for urban farming with the purpose of creating environments for learning year round within the community of West Harlem. PRAUD‘s main goal is to integrate life cycle components of food production into a building that is also a catalyst for activity in the area and allows visitors to engage in the program in a more efficient way. More images and architects’ description after the break.

ArchDaily previously ran an article about the Manufacturers Trust Company Bank Branch at 510 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and interior designer Eleanor H. Le Maire, a building designated as protected under the Landmarks Preservation Commission with first the exterior in 1997 and later the interior in early 2011. But as recently as October 2011, the building was already listed under the 2012 World Monuments Fund in the 2012 World Monuments Watch as the current owners, Vornado Realty Trust, began compromising the landmarked conditions of the interior of the building as it was being adapted for reuse. With preservationists in an uproar, support for the protection of the building was enough to bring Vornado Realty Trust to New York State Supreme Court where a settlement was reached.

Read on for more details on the settlement and continuing efforts to protect endangered monuments.