In this issue:
· Whitney Heads Downtown
· Ad Agency Fosters Creativity Through Design
· A Contemporary Take on Bond Street
· LEED Gold Restoration Preserves Texas Treasure
· R&D Goes Green in China
· A New Great Wall for China

Whitney Heads Downtown

The entrance to the proposed downtown Whitney Museum of American Art designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art

The Whitney Museum of American Art recently unveiled Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s design for a second 185,000-square-foot museum in the Meatpacking District. The six-story downtown museum will include 50,000 square feet of galleries, affording the Whitney to show more of its 20th- and 21st- century American art. The third-floor special exhibition gallery will be approximately 17,500 square feet, one of the largest free-span exhibition spaces in NYC.

Approximately 15,000 square feet of rooftop galleries will be situated on various levels of the building for dynamic outdoor exhibitions. The building also will contain an education facility, research library, conservation area, multi-use space for film and performing arts, 175-seat theater, study center, restaurant, café, bookstore, and a ground-floor exhibition gallery. The upper stories will spread beyond the building’s base, stretching toward the Hudson River to the west and stepping back from the elevated High Line park on the east. A cantilevered entrance along Gansevoort Street will shelter a public plaza steps away from the southern entrance to the High Line. Cooper, Robertson & Partners is collaborating on the project, slated to begin construction in Spring 2009 with an anticipated opening in late 2012.

Ad Agency Fosters Creativity Through Design

Dentsu America.

Chuck Choi

The New York office of TPG Architecture has completed the renovations to the global advertising agency Dentsu America’s NYC flagship office in Tribeca. The office, at 32 Avenue of Americas, is a landmarked 27-story art deco building designed by Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker in 1933, and built as the world headquarters for AT&T. The 40,000-square-foot office has an industrial loft-like aesthetic and features an open plan and glass-front offices. The client wanted a workspace that fosters creativity, so TPG developed solutions such as two brainstorming rooms, or think tanks, constructed on 30-inch platforms that appear to be suspended above the sunken staff area. LED lights are installed at the base of each structure to further enhance the floating effect. A raised café, compete with a 10-foot, 800-gallon Koi fish tank, offers uptown views.

A Contemporary Take on Bond Street

48 Bond Street.

Deborah Berke & Partners Architects

The Deborah Berke & Partners Architects-designed 48 Bond is about to be completed. Working with GF55 Partners acting as Executive Architect, the 11-story building in NoHo shares a cobblestone street with Herzog & deMeuron’s 40 Bond. Interpreting the neighborhood’s 19th century architecture, the building has zinc and glass at street level, segueing into a flamed charcoal grey granite and sheet glass. A contemporary take on the bay window, the building has narrow panes tilting out from the façade allowing for a play of shadows throughout the day. The building has 17 units.

LEED Gold Restoration Preserves Texas Treasure

The Nix House, before and after renovation.

Portico Residential LLC

New York-based Portico Residential, a real estate advisory and development firm, has been awarded the “Treasure of Texas” by Preservation Texas, a partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The award was for its work on the Nix House, a circa 1899 Victorian mansion designed by Texas architect Atlee B. Ayers located in the heart of San Antonio’s King William Historic District.

The restoration incorporated over 20 green design principles for greater energy efficiency and minimal environmental impact, most notably solar chimneys, non-vented roof/attic, rainwater harvesting system, and an upgraded utility grid. The project is expected to be certified LEED Gold for a historic home. Portico Residential’s president, architect and attorney and AIANY member Roy R. Pachecano, AIA, spearheaded the project with his father, both of whom are San Antonio natives. The house is currently for sale.

R&D Goes Green in China

Genzyme.

RMJM Hillier

RMJM Hillier, the North American division of U.K.-based RMJM Group, has been selected as design architect and laboratory planner for a 200,000-square-foot, $90 million Beijing research and development center for Genzyme Corp., one of the world’s leading biotech companies. Located in Zhongguancun (ZGC) Life Science Park, an area dedicated to academic and government research centers as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the new facility will be used for research and development activities.

Green features include a narrow foot print and four-story atrium to maximize natural ventilation; a living roof to reduce pollution from storm water runoff; a solar thermal system to provide a significant portion of the building’s hot water and reduce its energy consumption; low-flow fixtures; a high-performance exterior glass system to enhance natural light; and a sensored motorized blind system to control light and heat gain. The research and administrative portions of the building are connected via the atrium in which a series of horizontal bridges and staircases of varying heights and dimensions aim to promote productive and playful movement of people, light, and air.

A New Great Wall for China

GreenPix – Zero Energy Media Wall.

Simone Giostra & Partners Architects

New York-based Simone Giostra & Partners Architects has designed the GreenPix – Zero Energy Media Wall at Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympics. The project applies sustainable and digital media technology to a curtain wall and features the largest color LED display in the world, composed of 2,292 color (RGB) LED’s, comparable to a 24,000-square-foot monitor screen. The technology transforms the building envelope into a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring the day’s climatic cycle. Giostra, along with Arup, developed a new technology for laminating photovoltaic cells in a glass curtain wall and oversaw the production of the first glass solar panels by Chinese manufacturer SunTech. The wall will have its premiere performance in June showcasing videos, installations, and performances, organized by a team of independent curators, art institutions, and benefactors, lead by curator/producer Luisa Gui.