The New York City Department of Buildings has announced the eight finalists for the Urbancanvas Design Competition, a competition that was first launched back in June in an attempt to decorate the city’s construction sites. Participants were asked to create artwork that could be installed on fences, sheds, and other support systems such as scaffolds and cocoons while complementing the city’s varied streetscapes and promoting safety. Photo Courtesy Jiyoun Lee-Lodge These are two (top- “Bang” by Jiyoun Lee-Lodge & bottom- “...of Special Concern” by Chris Shelley) of the eight finalists chosen from over 100 design submissions for the Urbancanvas Design
Staten Island’s first new courthouse in more than 75 years, and the City’s first green courthouse, is rising in the St. George section of the borough. The $174 million project is transforming a four-acre surface parking lot and the former site of a 19th century Marine Hospital Quarantine Grounds into a civic center comprised of the courthouse, a public park memorializing the hospital’s former burial grounds and a 600-car parking garage. The five-story, 182,000-sq-ft facility will house the New York State Supreme Court and the Richmond County Criminal courts, consolidating outdated court facilities now spread across four locations. The Dormitory
Long before most people thought of green as anything other than a color, New York City began building sustainable buildings. Now the city is aiming to reduce its overall carbon footprint 30% by 2030 and for municipal operations by 2017. “That is a pretty tall order,” says Tom Paino, director of the sustainability unit at the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) of New York City. “We are looking at a broad spectrum of the city’s buildings to see where we can meet that executive order.” Mayor Michael Bloomberg has committed $100 million annually in capital funds to reduce energy
New York is a center of commerce, a hubbub of construction activity, even in difficult economic times, but it’s also home to millions of people. Mindful of residents and the city’s visitors, the New York Building Congress/New York Building Foundation’s “Construction for a Livable City” initiative aims to enhance the industry’s image and improve bystanders’ quality of life by making worksites more attractive and enhancing community relations. Photo courtesy Skanska USA Building Skanska USA Building has completed the first two phases of the Brooklyn Bridge Park project following livable city principles. Photo courtesy Bovis Lend Lease Bovis Lend Lease installed
It wasn’t long ago that a listing of major healthcare projects in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region would have at least one big job on the campus of every single large medical institution in the region. Related Links: Back to "Serious But Stable" Today, the list is thinner, and designers and contractors are looking to win smaller projects from these same institutions and scouting their master planning efforts to see what’s on the horizon – and how long it will take to get there. Here’s a sampling of the dwindling list of major jobs that are still ongoing, and a
The New York regional construction market’s dark journey since late 2008 has had its few bright spots – K-12 schools, higher education, massive ongoing transportation jobs – but few seemed as brilliant as healthcare. The vital signs were strong, with big projects churning along and expectations that the demographics of aging Baby Boomers and a growing population would keep the market humming. But beneath the veneer of vigor, multiple maladies have set upon the healthcare market, altering its short-term prospects and clouding its long-term outlook. And it all happened quickly, with economic pressures and the healthcare reform debate colliding, says
Related Links: Top Green Contractors Ranking Top Green Design Firms Ranking Just the Basics Tall Order Sustainable Justice Years after “green” became a buzz word for engineers, architects and builders, we’re still seeing advancements and breakthroughs on projects and programs across the region. It’s hard to find an affordable housing project that has not “gone green.” It’s even harder to find a public job that is not adhering to some sustainability standard. The pages that follow rank the region’s leading green design and construction firms while profiling some of the more innovative sustainability programs going on in the Tri-State region.
Related Links: Back to "Serious But Stable" Plenty of industry associations have spent their time in the past two years lamenting the sad state of affairs in the construction world, but the New York Building Congress didn’t start up its new healthcare committee this year with hand-wringing in mind. The new panel has already hosted four events with prominent speakers outlining the outlook for the healthcare market and providing a forum for discussing future trends, says Andrew Holwack, vice president at NYBC and the committee’s staff liaison. He says the group hasn’t ventured in the policy arena yet. “We’re serving
Funding sources and government programs are moving towards requiring green certification or mandating sustainable features for affordable housing grants. Developers are gaining a deeper understanding of how to build cost-effective, green affordable housing and why building green makes sense. “In a few years to say green affordable housing might almost become redundant,” says Bill Stein, principle, Dattner Architects, New York. “It’s become fairly mainstream at this point and required in whatever different way by just about every housing and funding agency,” says Chris Cirillo, vice president, The Richmond Group, Greenwich, Conn.“Tenants expect to see it, developers expect to do it
Ground has broken on the renovation of the 8-acre Schmul Park in Travis, Staten Island, the second major project in the development of the 2,200-acre Freshkills Park. The $6.5 million Schmul Park, named for the Schmul Family who donated a piece of their farm to the city in 1939 will include a new playground with a spray shower, handball and basketball courts, a lawn area, native plantings and a new green comfort station that features a rain garden. Schmul Park will serve as a gateway into Freshkills Park, the largest landfill-to-park project in the country. Upon its completion, Freshkills Park
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