#fxfowle

Each year, 4.3 million visitors descend onto Liberty Island, most of them with one goal: To get up close to Lady Liberty herself. Notably, few have access to the island’s museum and even less to climb into the statue.

Since September 11, 2001, accessibility to the museum has diminished as security tightened. That, however, has not deterred tourists, as visitor numbers continue to climb. Fortunately, a new, bigger museum building is on the way on the western side of Liberty Island and will add 26,000 square feet to the museum’s space.

Since September 11, 2001 accessibility to the museum has diminished as security has been tightened. That, however, hasn’t deterred Lady Liberty–loving travelers as visitor numbers continue to climb. Many who step off the ferries can only wander around the tiny island, not having tickets for the museum or the actual statue. “The idea was to make it possible for as many people to get in and experience the museum,” said Stephen Briganti, the president and chief executive of the private Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.

Terrace sketch showing the viewing platform initial design. (Courtesy FXFowle)

The new museum is due to open in 2019, costing $70 million. FXFowle’s design doesn’t intend to detract from Lady Liberty herself. “This complements the statue without competing with it,” he said of the museum in the New York Times. “Some people will say, ‘Why aren’t you building a much grander building?’ I say, we didn’t need a much grander building—the grander building is already there.”

Interactive displays from ESI Design will be on offer inside the museum. The firm has also worked on the American Family Immigration History Center on Ellis Island. Also inside will be the statue’s original torch which was replaced in 1986 on Lady Liberty’s centennial. 33 years on, that torch will be housed in a glass-walled space—a welcome change from its windowless home in the museum today.

Model. (Courtesy FXFowle)

15,000 square feet will be exhibition space dedicated to showcasing the statue’s history, legacy, and construction details. That’s eight times larger that the current space and could accommodate up to 1,200 visitors per hour, doubling the current capacity. Aside from capacity and space, the new museum will feature a gallery, “immersive theater,” bookstore, and space for administrative purposes.

The museum will also feature a green roof that doubles as a viewing area looking onto to Downtown Manhattan and (of course) the Statue of Liberty. “The museum’s defining gesture is the lifting of the park itself, extending vistas rather than ending them, and creating a new, naturalized habitat in place of a traditional building,” said FXFowle on their website. “The angular forms and spaces are shaped by expansive views and the irregularity of the water’s edge.” The firm also clarified their intention to use materials native to the island: Stony Creek granite, bronze, and plaster.

Designed by New York–based FXFOWLE, La Central is a one-million-square-foot, 992-unit complex on city-owned vacant land in Melrose that will be built under the auspices of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development in collaboration with private and nonprofit developers, as well as community-based social services organizations. The five-building complex, organized around a village green–type square, includes retail space, 160 units of supportive housing for homeless veterans and people with HIV/AIDS, plus a plethora of mixed-use projects: Television studios for Bronxnet, a new YMCA, and an urban farm “training garden” operated by GrowNYC. The area is alight with new development: La Central is adjacent to a Bjarke Ingels Group-designed police station, the future home of the 40th Precinct.

Ground floor plan. (Courtesy FXFOWLE)

At a September 8 meeting, the City Council Committee on Land Use approved five land use modifications to allow the development to move forward. The committee sanctioned the designation of an urban development action area for the parcels between Bergen and Brook Avenues; waived open space, yard, height, and setback requirements for the mixed-use development; allowed a C6-2 district to replace existing M1-1 and C4-4 districts; and applied Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) to the lots that will host apartments.

The complex will be the largest so far to utilize MIH, which requires developers to provide a certain number of permanently affordable units and is a key part of Mayor de Blasio’s plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next decade. Despite ostensible support in the council, MIH has faced opposition in practice: Last month, the City Council defeated a privately developed MIH project in Inwood.

Nevertheless, hopes for affordable housing development remain high at City Hall: “I believe La Central is a project that can truly help to move the South Bronx forward,” the mayor told the Daily News. The project is expected to be complete in 2017.

Facades+AM DC to focus on environmental concerns and the building envelope

Facades+AM returns to Washington, DC on March 10. (Alan & Flora Botting / Flickr)

On March 10, Facades+AM, the half-day spin-off of the popular Facades+ conference series, returns to the nation’s capital. (more…)

Rumored Financial District supertall by FXFOWLE gets a trim, but will the views make up for it?

(Courtesy DBox)

Rumor had it that the Financial District would be getting a 1,000-foot-tall tower on Trinity Place. This week, renderings were revealed for the FXFOWLE-designed building, and, at 500 feet, it’s considerably shorter than anticipated. As a consolation to supertall lovers out there, every unit will have water views.

(more…)