In this issue:

· El Museo Opens New Public Face to the Barrio
· Curves in All the Right Places
· New Life for Legendary Lobby
· Pratt Institute Collaborates on Third + Bond Interiors
· Portsmouth Teams Up for Education
· A List to Watch

El Museo Opens New Public Face to the Barrio

El Museo del Barrio.

Gruzen Samton Architects

El Museo del Barrio reopens this weekend after undergoing a series of renovations that began when Gruzen Samton Architects won a design competition to renovate the building in 2000, a design that won an award for Design Excellence from the Art Commission in 2003. Priority was to give the museum, located in the circa 1920 neolcassical Heckscher building, a more welcoming public face. The firm designed a new glass façade and redesigned the 4,500-square-foot courtyard with a metal canopy. Other improvements include modernized galleries, the new Carmen Ana Unanue Galleries, an expanded shop, and El Café, which will serve as a multipurpose programming space. The museum reopens with two exhibitions — “Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis” and “Voces y Visiones: Four Decades through El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection.” The renovation was funded through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, with support by local elected officials, and administered by the NYC Department of Design and Construction.

Curves in All the Right Places

One Jackson Square.

Situ Studio

One Jackson Square, a 35-unit luxury residential condominium containing one- to three-bedroom residences, two-bedroom duplexes, a penthouse, and retail on the ground floor, has opened. The building, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) with SLCE serving as production architect, steps down from 11 to seven stories north to south, to accommodate zoning laws and mediate neighborhood scales. Undulating, ribbon-like glass bands define individual floors; the fluid form of the façade, conceived as an eroded block of wood, is reprised in the lobby. Designed by KPF with Situ Studio acting as fabrication consultants, 65 13-foot tall bamboo panels with three-dimensional undulations form tables and seating areas. Working from KPF’s surface geometry, Situ Studio developed a digital parametric model that included all construction details and all building systems that interface with the bamboo wall. Each of the unique panels was then fabricated using CNC production techniques. Sustainable features include a series of green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and ample daylighting.

New Life for Legendary Lobby

Empire State Building’s new lobby.

Photography by Whitney Cox

As part of the Empire State Building’s more than $550 million capital improvements program, a team of engineers, architects, contractors, artists, craftsmen, and historians, led Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, project manager Jones Lang LaSalle, and EverGreene Architectural Arts collaborated for two years to restore the lobby to Shreve, Lamb and Harmon’s design intent — with modern enhancements. Guided by historic photographs, on-site forensic analysis, existing architectural elements, and even decades-old dirt patterns, the restoration team employed a 26-step process to recreate the Art Deco mural using the same techniques as the original artists from Rambusch Studios. The lobby, long hidden by 1960s “modernization,” was enhanced by new lighting designed to recreate its original intensity. In addition, special entrances and new traffic flow separate office tenants and their visitors from tourists visiting the building’s renovated observatories.

Pratt Institute Collaborates on Third + Bond Interiors

Third + Bond.

Rogers Marvel Architects; Marc LaRosa

Located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Third + Bond was designed by Rogers Marvel Architects as a modern adaptation of a traditional townhouse. The residential condominium consists of eight four-story townhouses with 44 residential units. Pratt Institute alumni, faculty, and students outfitted the interiors; the three-bedroom duplex features furniture fabricated in natural wood, glass, and metal, with home accessories by former Pratt faculty Eva Zeisel, industrial design professor and alumnus Bruce Hannah, architecture professor and alumnus Bill Katavolos, and alumni Harry Allen and Giovanni Pellone. The apartment is outfitted with GROW, an ivy-like solar and wind panel system designed by Pratt alumni and acquired by The Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection in 2008. Elements of the two-bedroom floor-through model include designs made from natural and recycled/recyclable materials. A project of the Hudson Companies, Third + Bond is scheduled to be complete in the Spring 2010 and is expected to achieve a LEED Gold certification.

Portsmouth Teams Up for Education

Portsmouth Middle School.

JCJ Architecture

After a series of public workshops to develop community consensus and unite the public behind a plan to maintain the historic Portsmouth Middle School building at its existing downtown location, the City of Portsmouth, NH, has commissioned JCJ Architecture, in collaboration with Portsmouth-based associate architect DeStefano Architects, to develop the design for the renovation and expansion of the 129,765-square-foot school. The design aims to protect the historic character of the 79-year-old building and fit into Portsmouth’s architectural and urban environment. With a 650-student capacity when completed, the school will support Portsmouth’s educational program and team teaching approach for sixth through eighth grades. Every floor will be organized to accommodate two teams for each grade level around a shared breakout space. The teams will also have three general classrooms, one science classroom, and a special education classroom. In addition, the plan will improve the facility’s energy performance, meeting the criteria of New England’s Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS). The three-phased construction project will be completed by August 2013, and will add 30,000 square feet to the school’s footprint.

A List to Watch

The Merritt Parkway.

Credit World Monuments Fund

New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch, calling international attention to sites in every type of environment, from urban centers to barren plains, threatened by war, natural disasters, urban sprawl, and neglect. The list includes 93 sites now at risk in 47 countries. In the U.S., there are nine sites listed — the Cultural Landscapes of Hadley, MA; Marcel Breuer’s Atlanta-Fulton Central Library; Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe Miami Marine Stadium; Phillis Wheatley Elementary School; St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans; Taliesen and Taliesen West; Taos Pueblo; and one in the Metro area — the Bridges of the Merritt Parkway. Completed in 1940, the Merritt winds 37.5 miles through the wooded landscape of southern Connecticut. Many of its 68 bridges, ranging in design from French Renaissance and Neoclassic to Art Deco and Rustic, may be at risk due to necessary infrastructure work required to maintain the thoroughfare. Click here for the complete list.