In this issue:
· City Council Approves New Domino
· Flushing Commons Puts Local Businesses to Work
· Historic Loews Pitkin Makes a Comeback
· SFMOMA Hires Snøhetta
· Tschumi Encloses Institut with New Dome
· Postcards of Progress from Haiti

City Council Approves New Domino

Domino Refinery.

Rafael Viñoly Architects

The landmarked Domino Refinery complex will be preserved and adapted for residential, commercial, and cultural uses, including 30- and 34-story apartment buildings. Rafael Viñoly Architects developed the overall master plan as well as the conceptual design for all new buildings on the site; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners developed architectural concepts for the refinery; and Quennell Rothschild and Partners developed the landscape design. The master plan will transform the industrial complex into a modular, mixed-use, and multi-income residential development that emphasizes open space and public access to the river while preserving the refinery and its famed 40-foot-tall Domino Sugar sign. The project will create approximately 2,200 residential units, 660 of which will be affordable. The more than 223,500 square feet of retail will include a grocery store that will adhere to FRESH zoning standards in addition to approximately 143,000 square feet of community facility space. A nearly one-acre open lawn will anchor a new public waterfront esplanade.

Editor’s note: New Domino will be featured in OCULUS Fall 2010.

Flushing Commons Puts Local Businesses to Work

Flushing Commons.

Perkins Eastman

Also approved by the City Council is Flushing Commons, an 11-bulding complex in the northeast section of Queens, designed by Perkins Eastman and landscape architect Thomas Balsley Associates. The project has 1.5 acres of public outdoor open space to support community-sponsored cultural events and performances, including a 62,000-square-foot YMCA with a full-size gym/basketball court, running track, two pools, daycare, and a youth center; 36,000 square feet of community space; 760 apartments, including affordable units; and a 1,600-space parking garage. The project aims to transform the business community of Flushing with a comprehensive strategy to employ local businesses and residents to work on the project during and after construction. In addition, at the request of the City Council, the city will provide $6 million to support local businesses during the construction.

Historic Loews Pitkin Makes a Comeback

Loews Pitkin.

Kitchen & Associates Architectural Services

The grand carved staircase, the koi pond in the lobby, the domed ceiling depicting a starry sky, and seating for more than 2,800 are some of the attributes people reminisce about the Thomas Lamb-designed 1929 Loews Pitkin, in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The theater closed in 1969 and in the ensuing years suffered considerable interior damage. Now it is making a comeback as a mixed-use, eco-friendly project, designed by NJ-based Kitchen & Associates Architectural Services, that will offer more than 70,000 square feet of retail space and a new 90,000-square-foot charter school. A completely new interior will be constructed within the existing shell, but the original Neo-Classical and Art-Deco cornices, pilasters, and niches will be restored to their original condition.

SFMOMA Hires Snøhetta

SFMOMA.

Henrik Kam

After an international search and two-year planning process, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has selected the NY office of Snøhetta to be its partner in developing a $250 million expansion of its 1995 Mario Botta-designed building. Snøhetta will work as part of a yet-to-be-named collaborative team to create additional gallery space and interior enhancements to accommodate the museum’s growing collections and increased public programming. Initial design concepts for the project will be unveiled in spring of 2011. In addition to Snøhetta, the finalists for the project were Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Adjaye Associates, and Foster + Partners.

Tschumi Encloses Institut with New Dome

Institut Le Rosey.

Bernard Tschumi Architects

Bernard Tschumi Architects has been selected to design a new center for the performing arts on the 70-acre campus of the Institut Le Rosey, a boarding school on the site of the 14th-century Chateau du Rosey, near Rolle, Switzerland. The design proposes a low, stainless-steel dome enclosing an 800-seat concert hall that defines the site and spatially organizes the disparate parts of the program, including a black box theater, conference rooms, a learning center joined to a library, a teaching center, practice rooms, and social spaces featuring a restaurant, a café, a student lounge, and other amenities. A series of openings articulates the periphery of the dome, and a terrace cut into the center near the apex offers views of Lake Geneva. The building’s compact shape minimizes the exterior surface area and acts as a thermal shield reducing energy consumption.

Postcards of Progress from Haiti

HaitiSOFTHOUSE.

©2010 SOFTHOUSEgroup LLC

The SOFTHOUSEgroup, a design agency composed of four NY-based architects/designers and Pratt Institute professors (Lonn Combs; Rodney Leon; Mark Parsons; and Dragana Zoric, RA, RLA), has developed prototypes for HaitiSOFTHOUSE — transitional shelters designed to meet the evolving demands and needs of post-earthquake Haiti. Prototypes for a schoolhouse and a dwelling were recently constructed on a site maintained by the Haiti Rural Project near Port-au-Prince. Twenty more units are expected to be in place in the next few months, once funds are raised. Working with the NY office of Elgin and IL-based manufacturer Fabric Images, the structures are designed to resist hurricanes and earthquakes and can be easily assembled by a few people within a day. The various shelters serve as an active case study for implementation of transitional communities, and allow time for the development of more comprehensive, long-term sustainable strategies for permanent reconstruction in Haiti.