February 18, 2013
Left image via Vulture; right image via Curbed
Usually pop-ups are relegated to the tiny and the temporary, like Zaha’s pop-up hair salon or this hammam-turned-library in Bulgaria. But if the ambitious Hudson Yards development continues apace, come 2017 the city may bestow on itself one of its fanciest architectural toys yet: a 150-foot-tall giant glass box outfitted with a hideaway synthetic shell that can glide out and enclose a public plaza.
Like a modern-day Crystal Palace, the 170,000-square-foot Culture Shed—designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro and David Rockwell—will be an insta-venue that can house programming from all over the city, from Fashion Week to large-scale art installations to heretofore-unthinkable collaborations between the city’s artists, musicians, and performers.
“The Culture Shed encourages the city to shed those old definitions of culture,” Justin Davidson writes at Vulture. “It will operate the way the Forum did in Ancient Rome, as a neutral meeting ground where ideas can be incubated and influences exchanged.” Read more!
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November 20, 2012
image © Visualhouse
Midtown Manhattan has long been the site in mind for New York City’s greatest makeover yet, in the form of the Hudson Yards. The project consists of 48 city blocks and 26 acres of greenery stretched between 30th and 43rd streets vertically and spanning across 8th avenue to the West Side Highway. This massive development will include 20,000 housing units, 2 million square feet of retail space, another 3 million square feet in hotel ares, 12 acres of public space, a new public school, a subway extension, and a laundry list of world famous designers behind it all. Some designers who have already signed on include Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, David Rockwell, Elkus Manfredi and Thomas Woltz. Now add a number of developers, city officials, community boards, and pesky zoning laws and Hudson Yards is poised to be either the perfect plan– or perfect storm. Read more.
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August 23, 2012
Ana Bertuna, AIA, is vice president of design and construction for the New York-based real estate giant, Related Companies. She works on both commercial and residential projects and was heavily involved in making Time Warner Center a reality. Prior to joining Related, she logged 11 years at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Read more.
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April 1, 2011
Whether it qualifies as “New York’s Next Great Neighborhood” remains to be seen, but things do seem to be moving in the land of the Hudson Yards development. Last week Related and Oxford Properties launched a website for the “down and dirty rail yard turned 12 million square foot urban Elysium” and it reveals a few surprises.
For example, the inclusion of Werner Sobek, the German architect/engineer whose “waffling web of a five-level, 750,000 square foot retail hub” is front and center on the homepage.
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