In this issue:

· Students to Till Soil in Brooklyn
· New Center Will Showcase Korean Culture
· Smart Medical Facility Has Heart
· More Art Pops Up on Construction Sites
· NYC Waterfront Revitalization Receives Funding
· NY-Based Landscape Architects Create New Destinations Nationwide

Students to Till Soil in Brooklyn

P.S. 216.

WORK Architecture Company

WORK Architecture Company has completed a design for the first Edible Schoolyard New York (ESYNY), founded by chef and organic food activist Alice Waters, which will be located at P.S. 216, in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The goal of the program is to create a space where schoolchildren plant, harvest, cook, and eat together, creating an interdisciplinary curriculum tied into regular academic subjects. At the heart of the project is the kitchen classroom, where up to 30 students can prepare and enjoy meals together. The design is a series of interlinking sustainable systems that produce energy and heat, collect rainwater, process compost, and sort waste with off-grid infrastructure. Part of P.S. 216’s existing asphalt-covered parking lot will be replaced by a quarter-acre organic farm, a kitchen classroom, and a mobile four-season greenhouse, all combined in a newly designed, self-sustaining educational building. The kitchen’s butterfly-shaped roof channels rain water for reclamation.

New Center Will Showcase Korean Culture

The New York Korea Center.

SAMOO Architecture

SAMOO Architecture, the NY studio of the Seoul-based firm, has won an international competition for the design of The New York Korea Center, a new home for the Korean Cultural Service. Located on 32nd Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, east of Manhattan’s Korea Town, the eight-story, 33,000-square-foot facility will offer spaces for exhibitions, performances, lectures, and administration. A multi-layered glass façade creates a screen wall that illuminates three sculptural figures within — composed of polished ceramic, rough terracotta, and milled wood, representing heaven, earth, and humanity. Layered behind the screen wall, display panels will convey a changing visual message to passers-by. At street level, exhibitions will focus on current popular trends in Korean culture, including music, movies, food, technology, and TV dramas. Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of the year and LEED accreditation will be pursued.

Smart Medical Facility Has Heart

The Milstein Family Heart Center at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia.

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

The six-story, 142,000-square-foot Milstein Family Heart Center at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia recently opened. Designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the $50 million LEED-Gold project features a curved glass curtain wall that acts as a counterpoint to the existing masonry buildings in the hospital complex. Called a “climate wall,” the energy-efficient, double-glazing construction offers views of the Hudson River and the Palisades beyond. Electronically-controlled vertical shades maintain a temperate internal environment and present a constantly changing façade. At night, strategically deployed lighting refracts through the glass envelope, which is suspended from the uppermost floor by a web of stainless-steel cables. The facility provides a full range of medical services including: diagnostics; ambulatory surgery; cardiac catheterization laboratories; medical practice suites; critical care units; and an education/conference center. The new building is connected to its neighbors by a series of inclined glass bridges that traverse the vertical space of the project.

More Art Pops Up on Construction Sites

“Walking Men 99.”

Maya Barkai/Courtesy ADA Art Consulting & Elinor Milchan

The Alliance for Downtown New York is installing five new works of public art this month at construction sites in Lower Manhattan as part of its “Re:Construction” program. The program, which began in 2007, helps mitigate the impact of construction sites by creating temporary artworks. The organization, with four arts consultants, identified artists to create installations at the sites. on a South Street construction fence, “Fence Embroidery with Embellishment,” by Katherine Daniels features ribbon-like stitches of green and white materials woven in geometric patterns to evoke stems and vines. At 99 Church Street, “Walking Men 99,” by Maya Barkai depicts 99 versions of the international “walk” symbol. Amy Wilson’s “It Takes Time to Turn a Space Around,” on a West Thames Park construction fence, is an ensemble of child-like characters in a storybook world. “The O2 Project,” by Elinor Milchan represents a garden of air bubbles at Fiterman Hall. And “Rendering Leonard,” by Helen Dennis tries to capture the city’s energy and flux at 56 Leonard Street. The Downtown Alliance received a $1.5 million grant in 2008 from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for about 30 projects over three years. Installation is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

NYC Waterfront Revitalization Receives Funding
The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance reports that the New York State Department of State, via the Environmental Protection Fund, has granted $23.8 million for waterfront revitalization projects, $8.9 of which will be directed for projects in NYC. In addition to borough by borough projects, the funds will go to citywide projects, including: the NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan: Vision 2020; Urban Park Rangers: Adapting to Climate Change in NYC; Catalyst for Neighborhood Parks: Reclaiming the Waterfront; and Community Eco-Docks. Click here for a synopsis of all the projects.

NY-Based Landscape Architects Create New Destinations Nationwide

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park BY Thomas Balsley Associates.

Image ©Sneary Architectural Illustration

NYC-based landscape architecture firm Thomas Balsley Associates, has completed the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in Tampa, FL. Formerly a lifeless riverfront site, the new urban park has performance lawns and gardens, water features and lighting displays, play areas, and a dog run. The park is framed by the new Tampa Museum of Art, designed by San Francisco-based Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects, and the Glazer Children’s Museum, designed by John Curran, AIA.

Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects is working on the master plan for Shoelace Park, a one-mile ribbon of parkland along the Bronx River, a project of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with the Bronx River Alliance. Work will include storm water and erosion control mitigation, streambank stabilization techniques, and control of invasive vegetation; the firm has already hosted a charrette with the local community.

Balmori Associates is working with H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture on the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), an international cultural and scientific center for conservation adjacent to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. The firm is transforming a parking lot into more than an asphalt desert with spines of research files, rain gardens, and braided pathways that will operate as an open-air botanical lab.