As construction work went underway on New York City’s most famous new public open space – the elevated High Line conversion on Manhattan’s West Side – something a bit more exclusive was going up at the same time, quite literally straddling the new park. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Following its renovation, the Johnson Chapel has become the spiritual heart of New York City’s Trinity School, providing a space for meditation, reflection and worship for all students and faculty. Architects Butler Rogers Baskett studied various elements in the space and explored ways to synthesize building systems such that design elements
The new Performing and Fine Arts school in East Orange, N.J. is a project 30 years in the making that combined the best intentions of several individuals and organizations seeking to improve one of the most underprivileged African-American communities in the country. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Named after Oscar-nominated actress Cicely L. Tyson, the $143 million project first reached the concept stage in 2003. Complex site preparation conditions - including the demolition of the original, nearly century-old school, and several commercial and residential structures, which required the relocation of 180 families. An important objective on the project was guaranteed
An innovative erection scheme facilitated a $10 million project to widen and rehabilitate an existing concrete arch bridge carrying Country Route 3 (CR3) / Wellwood Avenue, over the Southern State Parkway in Babylon, N.Y. The nearly half-mile stretch of CR3 was plagued by traffic jams and accidents prompting officials to conduct an improvement study, which recommended widening the road 15-ft and providing two additional left turn lanes onto the ramps. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Two cast-in-place concrete arch bridges support the existing roadway. One was built in 1934 by Robert Moses as part of the original four-lane SSP and
With gale force winds, snow covered ground eight months out of the year, temperatures dropping below freezing and an unexpected storm costing millions in damages, the ahead-of-schedule completion of the Mount Washington Hotel & Resort improvement project was especially sweet for contractors Parsons Brinkerhoff/Hutter Construction and designers TRO Jung Brannen and Beaty + Brown. Related Links: Best Of 2009 “It was a very harsh environment,” said James Anderson, Parsons Brinckerhoff area construction manager. “In that type of environment, you’re fortunate if you can get in six months of ideal working conditions, so we were met with some real challenges since
Brooklyn Children’s Museum added a new $32.2 million facility with a bold design youngsters find inviting. Its glittering envelope of yellow ceramic tiles creates a striking attraction in the ethnically diverse residential neighborhood of Crown Heights. The building achieved LEED-Silver certification, making it the first green museum in the city. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Rafael Violy Architects of New York designed the 55,000-sq-ft addition for the New York City Department of Design and Construction, and Skanska USA Building of New York completed the project in November 2008. The L-shaped, two-story expansion adjoins the existing, belowground museum. More than 8
The $320 million, three-phase, multiyear Narragansett Bay Commission’s Combined Sewerage Overflow Program sought to eliminate sewer overflows into Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. “It’s been live 11 months and has captured 1 billion gallons of waste,” says Joseph Pratt, senior vice president of The Louis Berger Group of Providence, R.I., the project’s program manager. “It was just an overall success. It worked better than anyone thought it would.” Related Links: Best Of 2009 The project began in May 2001, wrapped up in October 2008, and the phase I facilities began operation on November 1, 2008. The system collects and temporarily stores
In June 2009 National Grid completed a $50 million project to clean up a former manufactured gas plant site polluted with toxic tars and chemicals in Sag Harbor. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Built in 1859, the plant, located in downtown Sag Harbor, operated until 1931. Production ceased after Long Island Gas Corporation purchased the site in 1929 and linked its gas distribution system to the company’s natural gas pipelines. LILCO subsequently dismantled the plant and gas storage facilities. But by-products of the operation, toxic tars and chemicals, polluted the soils beneath the site. National Grid, the current owner, and
Not only is the $24.1 million residence hall at Mount Holyoke the first new dormitory built on campus in more than 40 years, it’s also the greenest. Related Links: Best Of 2009 The new, sustainable home for 176 students at the South Hadley, Mass. institution was awarded a LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. “The main goal was just to get it certified, then the college wanted us to push for Silver since we had the funds,” says Stephen Killian, director of operations for New York-based Barr & Barr, general contractor on the project. “With some fine
New York Law School, founded in 1891, has become an integral part of the fabric of TriBeCa, an already well-developed part of Manhattan. So when it decided to undergo an expansion program, space was going to be an issue. Related Links: Best Of 2009 To address that, Detroit-based SmithGroup, Inc. with BKSK Architects, New York, designed the school’s new 209,000-sq-ft academic building to fit into a tight L-shaped site, placing five stories above and four levels below grade to house classrooms – including Socratic-form classrooms that required custom-built tables – as well as a 300-seat auditorium, a library, dining spaces
A $680 million phase of the massive, 13-year expansion of the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn was completed in February, increasing the plant capacity by 50 percent and improved wastewater treatment processing. Related Links: Best Of 2009 Newtown Creek is the largest of New York City’s 14 wastewater treatment plants serving over 1 million residents. Constructed in 1967, the plant was designed to treat 310 million gallons per day (mgd). The expansion, begun in 1998, will expand plant capacity to 700 mgd and bring Newtown Creek into com-pliance with the Federal Clean Water Act. This project phase,