One of the more famous urban legends holds that the head of the patent office quit in 1875 declaring in his letter of resignation “there is nothing left to invent!” What makes this tickle our fancy is the irony: with the advantage of more than a century we marvel at his shortsightedness. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Yet let’s look at some current urban realities. New York has one of the largest construction markets in the country and although Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been around for a couple of decades, for far too many owners, architects, and builders
Robert A. Olmsted, the first director of long-term planning for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a transportation engineer, builder, historian and industry mentor for more than 60 years, died on Aug. 16 in Manhattan. He was 85. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Olmsted—a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park—began his own industry career in the late 1940s as a Cornell University engineering graduate on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A protégé of Ole Singstad, the innovative structure’s chief engineer, Olmsted went on to work for other New York-area
New York based Spector Group, a city planning and design firm announced the opening of its newest overseas location in Mumbai, India. The new office comes less than a year after the opening of Spector Group’s Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates office and is located at 303 Kushal Apt, Shahaji Raje Marge in Ville Parle, in the heart of the Mumbai’s business district. Photo courtesy of The Boreland Group Spector Group’s new Mumbai office will be managed by principal Marc B. Spector from the United States offices. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Spector Group principal Marc B. Spector, who
The $74.8 million project to improve access on the Staten Island Expressway on a 1.9-mile section between Lily Pond Road and Clove Road has broken ground. Image courtesy of Federal Highway Administration The $74.8 million Staten Island Expressway Recovery project will improve a 1.9-mile section by widening overpasses and adding lanes and is expected to be completed by summer 2012. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The project which includes the addition of lanes and ramps, the widening of overpasses and the realigning and leveling of the highway’s steepest curves in order to help with its infamous traffic received the
Call it Underground Zero. In the middle of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, workers are performing an intricate balancing act with steel and concrete, excavating beneath an active subway line while a number of other projects progress around them. The top-down permanent underpinning of the subway tunnel will create much-needed space for a new nearby iconic transit station as well as other facilities. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" No. 1 subway line runs through a structural box on grade that traverses north-south about 1,000 ft across Ground Zero, just feet from a Port Authority of New York
AIA Newark & Suburban Architects, a section of AIA New Jersey and a Chapter and Region of the American Institute of Architects recently held its 17th annual design competition in which awards were given to the best architectural work from architects throughout the northern New Jersey area. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Honorable mentions were given to Solutions for Architecture of Newark for Hayes Park East-Community Center in Newark; Philip Kennedy-Grant Architecture of Bernardsville, N.J. for its design of a modern kitchen for a residence and for River House in Flanders, N.J.; Julia Buteux Studio of Madison, N.J. for
The New York City Department of Transportation has announced the start of a five-month study to determine the feasibility of using streetcars to connect the growing neighborhood of Red Hook which currently only has one local bus line with Downtown Brooklyn and its surrounding areas. The study is part of the DOT’s effort to find long term, sustainable solutions to the city’s transportation needs and is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign plan to improve mass transit. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The study is being funded through a Federal Transit Administration grant secured by United States Representative Nydia
The 2,300-sq-ft Louis Vuitton store located in Saks on Fifth Avenue in New York is currently being renovated by J. Tucci Construction of Bayside, New York and is scheduled to re-open this November. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The store which was constructed in 2003 is being renovated because of its low ceilings due to an old elevator system with a complex steel infrastructure. J. Tucci has set up a temporary store for Louis Vuitton to operate in while removing the old elevator system and adding in a new dumbwaiter as well as removing the concrete wall behind the
The New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Transportation have released a master plan for the redesign of Fordham Plaza in the Bronx. Designed by WXY architecture + urban design of New York, the plan seeks to turn Fordham Plaza into a pedestrian-friendly public space and world class transit hub by improving traffic circulation, transit access, expanding space for programming and increasing retail activity. Rendering Courtesy Of NYCEDC The DOT and the NYCEDC’s master plan for the redesign of Fordham Plaza is to transform the plaza into a pedestrian and environment friendly, world class transit hub. div
Ground has broken on a $12 million redevelopment of WNYC Transmitter Park along the East River in Brooklyn. Construction on the project which includes a pier at the end of Kent Street consisting of a concrete platform connected by aluminum bridges, a park, and waterfront esplanade is expected to be completed in early 2012. Rendering Courtesy Of NYCEDC The $12 million Transmitter Park will include a pier, a water esplanade and a park and is scheduled to be completed by early 2012. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" “Across all five boroughs, we’re working to bring our waterfront back to
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