some mighty towering manhattan news, i am surprised this was so far along in pre-development.

 

it's a new four building campus designed by david childs and richard meier. this area is just south of the united nations. it is not really accessible now, all i can think of that is there is a con-ed power plant. you can see some of it in the background from my old beekman hotel photo thread from last march:

 

http://img63.exs.cx/img63/2993/img08769yu.jpg

 

***so below it you see it is just at the rendering stage --i dk what to think yet except wow that's a lot of residential! what do you think?***

 

A model looking south (white); the United Nations is in the center, Trump in foreground.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/11/10/arts/10east.650.jpg

 

 

 

Dipping City's Toes Into the East River

 

By ROBIN POGREBIN

Published: November 10, 2005

 

The architects Richard Meier and David M. Childs have completed a master plan for four buildings, a park and an ice rink on part of a nine-acre site near the United Nations.

 

They say the designs, filed with the city last week as part of an environmental assessment statement, will restore a sense of the Manhattan grid to the edge of the East River. The project is part of a four-parcel property between 35th and 41st Streets that Sheldon H. Solow, the developer, bought from Con Edison for $630 million in a deal approved last year. Given the vast size of the parcel, architects and urban planners have been avidly following the project, which began with a design competition four years ago involving celebrity architects like Christian de Portzamparc, Peter Eisenman and Rem Koolhaas.

 

link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/arts/design/10east.html?8hpib

 

awesome...i always love more tall buildings/density!!!

no exploded tin factory this time. i almost forgot about this baby, it's gehry's thing for barry diller's iac/interactive corp offices --- they own internet companies like expedia and ask jeeves. ahem, yep its next to the highline. but most of all check out the wild angles of the pilings on the new construction shots below -- yeow thats craziness!

 

 

final product rendering----fyi all this stuff below is from curbed blog

 

the initial pit clearing from earlier in the year

 

 

here's the construction site today --- do the lean!!!

 

 

 

more on flickr:

 

 

Looks great.  But I just have to wonder if it will actually look anything like the rendering when made with real materials in real lighting.  In other words, will the building envelope really be all smooth and seamless and frosty like that, or does it just look good in the rendering?  I find myself wondering this more and more as I see all the increasingly crystalline and ethereal renderings that everyone is producing these days.

^exactly what i am wondering. its going up pretty fast now so we'll see soon. i'll take some shots when they get some frosty or whatever type cladding up on it and then we see if its exaggerated hype or not.  at least its not another stainless steel behemoth, i guess gehry is branching out in materials.

pretty cool new condo. the slight but unusual twist is that the architect is female:

 

 

 

447 West 18th Street

The live/work concept in loft living was an early hallmark of residential life in Soho and Tribeca. But as the art world moved north to West Chelsea, new apartments and conversions have tended to be configured as conventional living space. We were pleased to read in the Times recently that this 12-story condo planned near 10th Avenue in Chelsea will have four ground-floor duplex units that will double as live/work spaces, with sky-lit galleries below grade meant for production and display of art. Units will also have sliding walls to allow flexible open plans. The design by architect Audrey Matlock will have a curtain wall with horizontal bands of glass set at irregular angles, giving it the kind of striking abstract form we tend to like. The project, developed by Madison Equities, will have 47 units in all, including one, two and three-bedroom apartments. Occupancy is expected in March of 2007. The area is about to see a dramatic transformation, with Frank Gehry's IAC headquarters just two blocks away, and major residential projects planned along the coming High-Line park. To see more of Audrey Matlock's work visit her site linked below.

 

 

 

links:

http://www.newyork-architects.com/content/profiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile&architect=2060&lang=e

 

http://www.audreymatlock.com/indexnav.html

 

http://www.triplemint.com/triplemint/

 

i got a chance to take a few shots this afternoon. it's on the west side highway between two streets so these are from 3/4 way around it. more specifically, the building is right across the street from the chelsea piers and right behind the roxy nightclub. it's big and it's pretty wavy, i've never seen any constructionquite like it -- interesting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks...different.

a blurb on details of this today as construction progresses:

 

 

 

 

Gehry in Chelsea Update: 'Without a Compass'

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2006, by Lockhart

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Wall Street Journal turns its eye on one of Manhattan's great partnerships: the alliance between architect Frank Gehry and Barry Diller to build IAC's new headquarters on far West 23rd Street. We've seen the plans, and we've seen the construction progress, but oh baby, we ain't seen nothing like this paragraph:

 

The geometric façade has eight skyward arcs of glass that will mimic wind-whipped sails of boats making their way along the Hudson River, just across the West Side Highway. Besides reflecting both men's love of sailing, the design of the building in the West Chelsea neighborhood incorporates Mr. Diller's admission that IAC is forming itself without a compass for guidance. "We're making it up as we go along in the interactive [commerce] area, and because of the nature of interactive revenue, there are few rules," Mr. Diller says.

And with that, your daily dose of starchitecture bullshit is now complete. Per usual, you can thank us later.

· Gehry's New York Vision [Wall Street Journal]

· The Gehry Effect Revealed [Curbed]

· Gehry in Chelsea: Dining 'Neath the Lending Tree [Curbed]

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/01/11/gehry_in_chelsea_update_without_a_compass_.php

 

 

here's a current shot with a few more wobbly floors. a very strange construction site!

 

 

It looks like it is falling over.

Let us all speculate how much ice will build up on it, then fall onto pedestrians below.

I like it....reminds me of his bldg. in Cincy.....The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies on UC's campus.  As for the weird angles and that kind of thing; however The Vontz Center exterior is a more classical brick material not that other stuff.

^yeah whatever "that other stuff" is? i cant figure it out, but cant wait to see it. don't worry i'll have my camera over there when the first panel goes in so we can see what it is.

 

meanwhile, from today's highline newsletter:

 

 

TOPPING-OFF CEREMONY FOR FRANK GEHRY-DESIGNED IAC/INTERACTIVECORP HEADQUARTERS IN HIGH LINE DISTRICT

On January 18, IAC/InterActiveCorp celebrated the topping-off of its new Manhattan headquarters, designed by Frank Gehry. IAC/InterActiveCorp's CEO, Barry Diller, is a longtime supporter of the High Line project, and he expects that the new headquarters will play a central role in the future of the neighborhood. On January 11, Mr. Diller was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, saying that the High Line District, "is an embryonic neighborhood where we could be a participant... It'll be a wondrous environment to live, to work, to play." Located on a site between 18th and 19th Streets, on the West Side Highway, the IAC/InterActiveCorp headquarters has been designed by Mr. Gehry to evoke the sails of a ship, a reference to the nautical history of the area. The building is expected to open in March 2007.

 

 

There isn't a more over-rated architect in the world than this guy. He does absolutely nothing other than throw a lump of clay against a wall, push it around a little, then pass it on to his engineers to do all the work. I'm not sure what the world's fascination is with this guy, but I'm counting the days until everybody realizes what a mistake it was to let him have such a impact upon the world of architecture.

this former con-ed substation is the most famous of andy warhol's factories.

 

 

from triplemint:

Andy was famously good with real estate and made a mint on everything he bought.  The Factory had several different Manhattan locations during his heyday.  This former Con-Ed substation is an unusual T-shaped four story building with frontage on three sides: Madison Avenue, 33rd Street, and 32nd Street.  It has been bought and sold numerous times since the estate owned it after the artist's death in 1987, but no one seems to have been able to use it effectively.  The New York Post's Lois Weiss now reports that a partnership has plans to convert it into a 22-story luxury loft condo with 50 units.

 

 

 

 

 

this building was vacant for the last ten years and now has been torn down. an interesting 'fit' of a new condo tower will go in. here is the odd new building layout:

 

 

 

hey nice zen touches like this water wall too:

 

 

check out the developer website for a sharp 360 degrees of the new building in the space. clik on "floor plans" on the right side and play around with it:

 

http://www.sundarinyc.com/

 

 

****that is all. i just thought this had an interesting history. also, that the new building is so oddly shaped and the developer website shows that off so well.***

 

 

pataki and the city are calling for creative ways to put governor's island to use. so santiago caltrava came up with a way to get over there. too impractical to happen, but i like it -- it looks graceful.

 

 

 

Hey, Dreams are Free

FILE UNDER: Waterfront

 

Governor's SkywayWorking pro bono, Santiago Calatrava came up with drawings for a gondola that would connect Lower Manhattan with Governor's Island--with considerable help we imagine, from STV Inc. and Leitner-Poma of America. The sketches put a little glamour in the rather technical announcement by Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg this morning that the agency overseeing the island had issued a request for proposals.

 

-Matthew Schuerman

 

link:

http://therealestate.observer.com/2006/02/hey-dreams-are-free.html

 

Interesting design by Calatrava.  I would like to see how it looks with relation to the Manhattan skyline.

 

Here is a project that is also proposed for Governor's Island:  The New Globe Theater.  It would transform historic Castle Williams into a new version of Shakespeare's Globe.  I think that this would be a great tourist destination, especially if there is a transportation option like Calatrava's proposal.

 

http://www.newglobe.org

 

 

 

^ very interesting. i hadn't heard of that one so thanks.

 

here's another rendering angle of the gondola and some local reaction:

 

 

 

Santiago Calatrava Has Lost His Mind (More Evidence)

 

Thursday, February 16, 2006, by Lockhart

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Now in glorious 500-pixel-wide resolution!

· Santiago Calatrava Has Lost His Mind [Curbed]

· Big Ideas for Governors Island, Like a Gondola, Perhaps [NYTimes]

· Hizzoner Floats Gondola Rides to Governors Island. [NYDailyNews]

· Discussion of Calatrava Gondolas [Archinect]

 

 

Posted in Architecture, Manhattan: Tribeca & Downtown, Urban Planning

 

Reader Comments (5 extant)

 

1.

"Mr. Bloomberg and his top development deputy, Daniel L. Doctoroff, who were joined by the state's top development official, Charles A. Gargano, said they were open to just about anything with imagination, and within reason."

 

Translation: ferry service.

 

By Steen at February 16, 2006 10:04 AM2.

Can Calatrava design anything practical? He really should be designing amusement parks or something.

 

By cmiller at February 16, 2006 12:22 PM3.

Even more craptacular in higher resolution

 

By Dave at February 16, 2006 12:58 PM4.

Could he have been inspired by AT&T's Olympics commercial "Ski Lift"? I think so...

 

http://www.adforum.com/adfolio/reel_detail.asp?ID=59531&TDI=VDYwD6h6&PAGE=1&bShop=True&awid=

 

By D. at February 16, 2006 02:02 PM5.

Volleyball, anyone?

 

By meems at February 16, 2006 05:16 PM

 

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/02/16/santiago_calatrava_has_lost_his_mind_more_evidence.php

 

 

Personally, I think Calatrava is a genius...but most people just don't "get it" until they can actually see and experience his work.

 

The advantage of his gondola proposal is that it would be in continuous operation.  You wouldn't have to wait for a departure like a ferry.  It would also be a spectacular attraction.  If the project was built, I would definitely ride across it, as would anyone visiting Governor's Island.

 

 

i usually like the slender towers but this one seems to take the cake:

 

 

Courtesy RFR Holdings / Foster and Partners

A proposed office tower by Norman Foster, 610 Lexington Avenue, would

rise adjacent to the iconic Mies van der Rohe–designed Seagram Building.

 

 

Towering over Mies

02.16.2006

 

 

Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building may be getting a new neighbor, in the form of a slender, nearly 700-foot-tall highrise building from Lord Norman Foster. The project, spearheaded by RFR Holdings, is planned for the site of an old YWCA on the same block, at 610 Lexington Avenue at the corner of 53rd Street. To build the project, RFR is seeking to transfer unused air rights from the 1957 modernist icon in order to build a tower with 80 to 90 condominiums and a 45- to 50-room hotel.

 

The Seagram Building’s design has been heralded for its dramatic use of a large plaza which sets the building back nearly 90 feet from the sidewalk. As a result, the Seagram only uses part of its site. The building, at 375 Park Avenue, is not built to the maximum height allowable by zoning laws. RFR is a high-profile real estate firm headed by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs. The company owns the Seagram Building and the Lever House, among other properties in the city. The New York Post reported in January 2005 that Rosen and Fuchs paid $31.5 million for the YWCA property.

 

So far, the project has won approval from the Landmarks Preserveration Commission, a plan that stipulates maintenance standards for the Seagram as part of the transfer. The developers are now seeking approval from the Department of City Planning to waive a setback rule so that the tower could rise as one continuous slab, set back 10 feet from the street. Despite the fact that 610 Lexington Avenue will be nearly 200 feet taller than its neighbor, it is unlikely to cast shadows on the Seagram due to its slender shape and distance from the Mies building. RFR also insists that the tower will be barely visible from Seagram’s plaza.

 

“When you look at the Seagram building from 53rd Street, the form is that of a shaft and a bustle,” said Michael Sillerman, legal counsel to RFR, noting that Seagram looks like one slender tower but hides a complex at its base. “The process [transfering of air rights] allows us to mirror that bustle-and-shaft design.”

 

link:

http://www.archpaper.com/news/02_16_06_tower.html

 

This tower looks great.....and will fit in wonderfully with dynamic architecture of NYC. 

 

Man.....what I would give to hear of a 700' condo tower going up in Cincy.

it sure is getting bad remarks. hmm, i guess i'll have to see for myself.

 

 

 

 

The first pieces of architect Renzo Piano's facade for the new New York Times Company tower on Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street are starting to rise. You know what that means: time for a complete shitstorm at discussion message board Wired New York. Sample comments:

 

1) "The tubing will go up 750 feet. It will look terrible. The tower will look like a metal cocoon. This building could have been very nice if that dope Piano didn't try to be avante garde and cute with the facade. I initially regretted that it was not in a more prominent location (e.g., on 42nd St.). Now, I am elated that it's not."

 

2) "Have you seen the screens in person? They look horrible. When a 750/850 foot wall is covered with them, this 'building' will look like a fortress... NOTHING like it does in this rendering."

 

 

3) "I noticed today that the side portions of the tower (where the X's are located on the exterior) have bars on the inside. Therefore, what I thought would be transparent glass on either side of the central screen. Piano really likes bars."

 

4) "So we have a tower which is, at best, 'interesting' on sunny days and, at worst, fugly on cloudy ones? Didn't anyone else get the impression the tower would be, well, white? The overwhelming greyness still gets to me."

 

5) "NYTimes is like JLo. Initially, she/it did nothing for me, but eventually, she/it grew on me."

 

Curbed sez: really too early to tell, but color us dark gray cautiously optimistic.

· New York Times Tower [Wired NY]

· In Midtown, Renzo's NYT Symphony Rises [Curbed]

 

 

Posted in Architecture, Commercial Real Estate, Manhattan: Midtown West & Hells Kitchen

 

Reader Comments (3 extant)

 

 

1.

idiots. all of them. probably the same people who LOOOVE that banal piece of a hearst tower over up on 57th street.

 

By lovin' that renzo at February 22, 2006 05:02 PM2.

I used to live on that block, 41st and 8th, in the Sussex House. Before the New York Times condemned it (eminent domain), knocked the whole damned block down, and kicked all those poor students to the curb. I'm sure there's a story about it for curbed (like that segue?) as soon as I can think of something witty to write.

 

It was quite the block across from the Port Authority (students, crackheads, hookers, bootleg videos, etc etc). Like that time we couldn't go home because of an alleged decapitation on 42nd street (never made the media!) and the cops didn't believe humans actually lived in there at first. The security guard who found jesus and sold bootleg perfumes from his dorm. And how our back windows looked directly into Donna Karen's sweatshop. Alas.

 

By Former Student at February 22, 2006 05:24 PM3.

renzo piano is so over rated as an architect.. his tectonic abilities may be very skilful or at least interesting, but his form making is lack luster at best. what a mediocre building his sydney tower is, what a formal abomination his rome project is. am i surprised by the unflattering comments above, no.

 

... but still, this is new york, thank god one of the generic corporate offices didn't get their hands on this project. it would have been much more disappointing.

 

By rodger at February 22, 2006 05:58 PM

 

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/02/22/renzos_nyt_symphony_update_jlo_or_hell_no_.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

take a gander at this one o honored urban fans. an instant mini-city of over a thousand apts?

 

 

 

 

Silvercup West: Hollywood on the East River

 

Wednesday, February 22, 2006, by Lockhart

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Last summer, we scored a peek at a plan for Silvercup Studios' designs on the Long Island City skyline. Today, in glorious Richard-Rogers-rendered relief, gaze at the towers in their full glory. The expansion, dubbed Silvercup West, would include studio space, soundstages and stores galore, an "unnamed cultural institution" (hot!)—and over a thousand apartments that would presumably gaze at the Manhattan skyline from those towers. The project could be built in as few as two years, but still needs city approval; hearings start in April. On the site right now? Per the Post: "A 79-megawatt generating station, a city salt pile and the historic Terra Cotta Building, which the developers will restore."

 

It's a huge deal for the neighborhood, and posters on the QueensWest message boards are predictably hyped up. Notes one, "I guess the guy that is converting the shady motel to a boutique hotel is not as crazy after all."

· Silvercup West Discussion [QueensWest]

· Silvercup Studios Sets $1 Billion Complex [NYTimes]

· Silvercup Builder Going for East River Gold [NYPost]

· Silvercup West's Triple Towers [Curbed]

 

 

Posted in Architecture, Museums/Cultural, Queens: Long Island City, Real Estate Development, Retail

 

Reader Comments (6 extant)

 

By Jake at February 22, 2006 12:34 PM2.

To the West: Views of the City.

 

To the North: views of the 59th street bridge and the Ravenswood power plant.

 

Welcome to Queens! :)

 

Oh, and congrats to JRO for being quotes on Curbed.

 

Jake

 

By Jake at February 22, 2006 12:35 PM3.

If I am not mistaken the power plant in the present site is temporary. It will be relocated once the new project starts.

 

P.S. Curbed is finally getting more comfortable with LIC being the next hot spot. We could feel the love. :)

 

By JRo at February 22, 2006 12:43 PM4.

 

The grassy weed covered lot next to (south) the 59th Street Bridge is the site of ancient American Indian burial grounds. That's why nobody has built there yet.

 

By o at February 22, 2006 12:52 PM5.

I think Jake is referring to the power plant north of the Queensboro Bridge...the temporary one I think you're referring to is to the south of the Qns. Bridge.

 

---kyle

 

By kyle at February 22, 2006 12:52 PM6.

Kyle, (as usual) is right.

 

The one that is there is only there for a three year period (supposedly). Of course, I think it has been 3+ already.

 

There are three to the north. Two are the Ravenswood powerplants (one new, one old) and the Astoria one up past Astoria park.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=11109&ll=40.759676,-73.945713&spn=0.005997,0.010353&t=h

 

Jake

 

By Jake at February 22, 2006 01:02 PM

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/02/22/silvercup_west_hollywood_on_the_east_river.php

 

Is this Louisville?

The man has lost his goddamned crackers.

 

I give it three years until he's designing patio furniture for Target.

wow....over 1000 apts in one project....holy crap

Cool idea....weird when worked in with existing urban frame.

I wish I had a 800 foot tower in my city to complain about.

^I don't.

I do^

However, as always, the rendering looks beautiful.

Do I need to repeat my comments on honesty in rendering?

^Yes, I don't remember it.

I do^

 

lol - not yet! the big difference being this one is halfway built and the wacky louisville tower is mere theory at this point. so you got a long way to go there necro. a big tower idea is an all new experience to lou vul, but take our word for it as ohio is littered with unbuilt tower projects.

 

 

 

its the one to be built in red hook, brooklyn:

 

 

 

 

Ikea Red Hook Update: Dry Docks Soon to be Even Drier

 

Monday, February 27, 2006, by Lockhart

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

When we checked in with Ikea Red Hook a few weeks back, the site was notable only for the lack of change over the past 12 months. Now, though, the Brooklyn Eagle reports that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has green-lighted Ikea to begin additional work including "minor dredging, shoring up the deteriorating bulkheads — and, more controversially, removing two sunken dry docks." (Preservationists have voiced their disapproval of the dry dock fill plan for a while now. For those worried about the environmental impact of the changes, a handy press release from the Corps offers a list of why the move is in fact environmentally protective. Check it out after the jump.)

 

Details are sketchy on what exactly the move means for momentum of the Ikea project as a whole, but the Corps does point out that the move "is limited only to those activities that would be performed in waters of the United States and activities that may affect eligible historic properties within the Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction. The Corps jurisdiction only covers a small portion of the work proposed by Ikea." Developing, etc.

· U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Authorizes Ikea in Brooklyn [business Wire]

· Ikea Gets Army Corps Greenlight [brooklyn Eagle, PDF, via The Real Estate]

· Dock Comes Up Dry in Red Hook [Curbed]

· Ikea Red Hook Update: Now w/40% More Graffiti [Curbed]

 

From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers press release:

 

The Corps authorization is environmentally protective because:

 

-- Existing deteriorated piers and sunken dry docks will be removed which improves aquatic habitat by decreasing shading of the waterway.

 

-- The removal of the deteriorating timber piers and dry docks in a controlled manner eliminates the threat of damage to both recreation and commercial commuter and commercial petroleum product vessels.

 

-- Stabilizing the eroding shoreline in a controlled manner, ends sediment and debris from getting into the waterways and waters of the harbor.

 

Oh, phew! Now we know!

 

 

Reader Comments (15 extant)

 

 

1.

I surrender to the Big Boxes. Ikea, Home Depot, Starbucks, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, to you I say Thank You. I can now dress, eat, drink, and furnish my home exactly as they do in Podunk, KY.

All we need now is an Olive Garden on every block and we'll be set!

 

By New York City at February 27, 2006 04:56 PM2.

LOOK AT THAT CRYSTAL CLEAR BLUE WATER!!! IF I SQUINT I SWEAR I'M SHOPPING IN PARADISE BAY. HEY MOTHER FUCKER THATS MY PARKING SPOT.

 

By SEE IKEA JAMACA, MON. at February 27, 2006 05:09 PM3.

I was walking the dog down to Red Hook Fields and noticed that they had started to put up new blue construction walls around the site at Halleck street. I know there are lots of good reasons why Ikea is a bad idea, but I will be glad to see that area cleaned up. After all urban desolation may be pretty and all for the post-modernists, but its also a bit of a health hazard for the locals.

 

 

By dogwalker at February 27, 2006 05:10 PM4.

Valid argument but Ikea does fill a niche. This city has some really great firniture stores, but there seem tobe many expensive or ultra-cheap. Ikea and Home Depot do provide a middle-road that is underrepresented in NYC.

 

By Anonymous at February 27, 2006 05:11 PM5.

Just me or is a water front parking lot just about he most asinine use of the land possible?

 

By ryan at February 27, 2006 05:15 PM6.

Ryan,

It's not just you.

 

By ssc2000 at February 27, 2006 05:26 PM7.

Ikea Red Hook will be smart if they worry less about parking and more about serving the carless market of Manhattan and Brooklyn. I'm sure lots of people who balk at the bus to Elizabeth will be more inclined to a subway/walk trip to Red Hook.

 

By Bing Cherry at February 27, 2006 08:16 PM8.

Hey Mr. Cherry-

 

Which subway line will take people within walking distance of Ikea? Walking distance carrying huge boxes of flat semi-permenant furniture?

 

By Anonymous at February 27, 2006 08:27 PM9.

man, bklyn surface street traffic is fzucked for decades. til the petroleum and cheap, worthless furniture runs out.

 

By honking at ya at February 27, 2006 09:41 PM10.

There's a parking lot on the waterfront at the Costco in LIC. So it's not like it's been unheard of before. ;)

 

By Transic at February 28, 2006 12:01 AM11.

Ikea Elizabeth offers a bus service into Port Authority and has space underneath for smaller items. For larger ones, you have to get it shipped. I was just saying that this Ikea should also consider ways to make it easier for those without cars (i.e. a shuttle bus from a nearby station on weekends..etc). For me, I envision taking the subway and then walking to the Ikea, picking something out and having it shipped as I like to see something before I buy it, especially furniture.

 

If they just pursue those with cars, I don't think they'll do the business they need to.

 

By Bing Cherry at February 28, 2006 06:48 AM12.

Why should we be driving to NJ and paying the tolls and the taxes to NJ. I am for respecting the nabe and keeping intersting buildings. But I welcome Ikea.

 

By morty at February 28, 2006 09:01 AM13.

#11, good luck with that. The Ikea is going to be very far from a subway line. I would estimate a mile or more, through some interesting parts of the neighborhood. However, there is supposedly going to be a subway shuttle to downtown Brooklyn as well as a ferry from Manhattan. Not sure where but downtown I presume.

 

By Anonymous at February 28, 2006 09:39 AM14.

Personally, I don't care what Ikea does. I'm just speculating on how they'd best serve their main customer base which, IMO, is a Manhattan/Brooklyn clientele that wants ok-looking furniture that's cheap enough to throw out when they move.

 

I've been to Red Hook many times but I'm probably more comfortable walking longer distances than most people in the city would be. And I certainly agree that's too much to expect anyone to do with anything larger than a some plates or bowls from Ikea.

 

By Bing Cherry at February 28, 2006 09:46 AM15.

I dislike the idea of an IKEA in Red Hook, but the store, although large in structure, has only around 25 stores within the U.S. I'm sure more are on the way, but it is rather unique at this point. (maybe not in the North East) So people in Kentucky are not furnishing their homes with it at this point and even if they were and you don't like that style - don't shop there.

 

I personally follow what people who have lived in the neighborhood for more than twenty years have to say, and most want the IKEA for the jobs. You might not agree, but you have to respect the opinion of the ones who will live closest to the IKEA.

 

I agree the area could be used for better purposes and I really hate the thought of so much traffic, but it seems to fit in an area already inhabited by Hope Depot, Lowes, Pathmark & CostCo nearby.

 

Maybe the heavy traffic will finally bring a subway stop to Red Hook. I doubt it, but you never know. And perhaps the traffic will bring more business to the great small businesses in the area such as LeNell's, Baked, Pioneer, Liberty, etc...

 

By Columbia St. Resident at February 28, 2006 03:41 PM

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/02/27/ikea_red_hook_update_dry_docks_soon_to_be_even_drier.php

 

This "urban" Ikea looks just like the suburban ones.

Man I would love to have a 30 story tower goingtup in cleveland right now, let alone anything taller. Well I think we all would love it, well most of us at least. the tower looks nice, but it is alittle thin, but I guess it will be alright, the architects know what they are doing. :-D

Do you see what your nyc threads do mrnyc? They make people feel bad about their own cities.

 

 

 

Sort of just kidding.

This thread does not make me feel bad about cleveland. I love clevelands skyline, yeah it could use a couple more towers, well never mind, alot more. But we have what we have and we work with what weve got. So on that note, I am a lillte jealouse of NYC and thier crazy skyscraper construction, but its NYC what else would you expext from the U.S. super city. If we cant build em at least they can. and we can watch and one day vist and look at all their pretty skyscrapers and then go home to our cities with oud smaller skylines.

New York always gets the cool developments. I wish, as alot of us do, that we could get a fraction of the development that New York does. Come on New York share some, please, just a little, lol. :-D

we are getting some paneling up on this odd baby at last. these shots are hot off the press from wiredny, but i'll go take some shots of my own soon. i dont know what to think yet, i'll have to go see for myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the print on the glass

 

here's a quote from gehry on it:

 

Gehry also showed a slide of the new headquarters he has designed for Barry Diller's Inter Active Corp. near the Chelsea Piers in New York. Gehry said its giant glass panels were bent more than three inches to give the impression of sails. "Barry is a sailor, as I am," Gehry said. "He has a sailboat that'll be in the harbor in front."

 

the quote is from this article:

 

http://www.businessweek.com/print/innovate/content/apr2006/id20060404_384813.htm

 

and finally, fyi the local source discussion on this project link from wiredny:

 

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4131&page=14

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the update. It will be interesting to see how those panels get wrapped around those funky angles.

To all architecture students and/or practicing architects - I understand why some choose to put "prints" on the glass panels. DON'T. Just DON'T. I can't tell you how many potentially great shots have been ruined by that crap.

bring on the commentary......!  :-o

 

 

Bad Skin Mars Gehry's NYC Debut

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

While our parent site goes crazy for the skinning of Bernard Tschumi's ominously overhanging LES condo, Blue (the load-transfers on which, bt, just blow our minds every time we visit once-humble Norfolk Street), we would like to share similar news from the West Side: Gehry's IAC Building, famous for it's gorgeous bones, now has some insipid skin. Compare to the limpid renderings. Ouch.

 

Writes the photographer: "Has Frank been hanging with Steve Jobs? It looks like an iPod."

 

 

Full image follows.

 

 

 

Reader Comments (13 extant)

 

 

1.

is there not a building in Princeton with a similar frit pattern?

 

By old timer at April 5, 2006 05:15 PM2.

come on, that photoshop that is.

 

By Anonymous at April 5, 2006 05:22 PM3.

Don't know about Princeton, but it does share some similarities with the louis vuitton store in Midtown with those halftone windows. That thing is pretty ugly. I really don't like Gehry. He's a sculptor, not an architect.

 

By Devin at April 5, 2006 05:23 PM4.

Gotta getta Gehry!

Gotta getta Gehry!

 

Got a Gehry!

Got a Gehry!

 

Ha, ha, ha!

Ho, ho, ho!

 

Laughing ourselves all the way to our ruin.

 

Brave New World. By Design. That's the real message.

 

By Anon at April 5, 2006 05:49 PM5.

THIS REALLY IS ABNOXIOUS. The building sucks, the glazing is ugly as shit and Gehry has lost his marbles.

 

By 718 at April 5, 2006 06:27 PM6.

I think it looks fabulous - will be one of NYC finest buildings when complete. compare it to the mediocre crap happening at ground zero.

 

By brad pitt at April 5, 2006 08:41 PM7.

The fritted glass skin was done much more elegantly, at least 10 years ago, by Norman Foster on an office building near Heathrow Airport. Frank, stick to jewelry and perhaps something cheap for Target.

 

By Freddy Botchy at April 6, 2006 07:55 AM8.

hey brad: nothing is happening at ground zero.

 

By jolene at April 6, 2006 10:18 AM9.

nice to see that it's main use as fodder for car ads is already in effect.

 

By Anonymous at April 6, 2006 12:24 PM10.

you guys at curbed really suck

 

By Anonymous at April 7, 2006 08:24 AM11.

there is a spec office building in SF with that frit as well...right along I-80 in the middle of the city...it was ugly there, too

 

By martin at April 7, 2006 01:25 PM12.

give it a chance, once its all up with the curves it might look pretty cool, anything is really an improvement in the craphole area.

 

By Anonymous at April 7, 2006 04:24 PM13.

First we get the "Urban Glass House", now comes the "Urban Snow Globe".

 

By Not a starchitect at April 7, 2006 05:07 PM

 

 

link:

http://gutter.curbed.com/archives/2006/04/05/bad_skin_mars_gehrys_nyc_debut.php#more

Well, I'll admit the panels could pass for window tint on a bitchin Camaro, I'll kept the faith.

that building is in a weird place in chelsea.  its like the only thing there aside from some parking lots/garages.  i remember walking by it wondering if that was one of those crystal looking buildings or a gehry. 

 

interesting panels... Brave.  By Design.

The supports look crazy.  That facade is pimpin though.

some interior shots. the building won't be open to the public.

 

the hearst tower in manhattan near columbus circle

it's designed by "starchitect" norman foster

 

still under constructionhere's some interior shots

we may otherwise never get to see.

they were taken by a hearst employee:

 

 

 

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/04/21/hearst_tower_update_the_light_in_the_piazza.php#more

 

the "wierd white tint", is actually called a frit. it is a then ceramic coating applied to the glass, usually in a dot or hole pattern. the fade is created by changing the spaces between the dots.

# posted by Anonymous : 9:36 AM

 

 

so --- more "frit" is up:

 

 

 

 

link for more:

http://testofwill.blogspot.com/2006/04/skinning-iac.html