Archinect - News

James Corner Field Operations announces name change and restructuring

2023-09-11T15:53:00-04:00

James Corner Field Operations will be continuing under a newly-announced partnership renamed Field Operations after 24 years in reflection of what it says are the diversity, character, and experience of its new leadership team and staff members.

The newly branded firm announced its transition from a sole proprietorship and has named Sarah Weidner Astheimer, Richard Kennedy, and Lisa Switkin as new Partners. They join Founding Partner James Corner and new Associate Partners Megan Born, Isabel Castilla, Tatiana Choulika, Matt Grunbaum, Jayyun Jung, Veronica Rivera, Karen Tamir, and Hong Zhou in the new partnership model, which they hope continues the success built on projects such as the New York High Line and San Francisco Presidio Tunnel Tops, among many others.

“This new structure elevates some of the field’s most skilled and experienced professio...

London's Camden Highline proposal submitted for planning, set to open first phase in 2025

2022-05-19T18:51:00-04:00

London’s proposed Camden Highline has been submitted for planning. Led by the practice behind the New York High Line, James Corner Field Operations, and Camden-based firm vPPR Architects, the project will regenerate a disused railway viaduct to establish an elevated park that connects Camden Town to Kings Cross.

The master plan will create walking routes between local neighborhoods and inject needed green space across a mix of communities. It will feature gardens, walkways, seating areas, cafés, arts and cultural interventions, spaces for charitable activities, and play areas for children. The initiative also aims to boost the region’s biodiversity by providing wildlife habitats for birds, insects, and animals.

Previously on Archinect: James Corner Field Operations to lead design for new UK Highline

“We are extremely excited to share this design vision for Camden Highline,” said Lead Designer James Corner. “The design is intended to celebrate and amplify the unique characteristics ...

Meejin Yoon, Walter Hood, and Kathryn Gustafson among newly elected members of the 2021 American Academy of Arts and Letters

2021-03-08T13:14:00-05:00

The American Academy of Arts and Letters awards three architects and three landscape architects as new Academy members. Founded in 1898, each selected cohort becomes a part of an honors society comprised of architects, artists, composers, and writers. Once elected, they become members for life

Twenty-nine new members have been inducted as honorary members for their work and contributions. The Academy's board shares they are "committed to creating a more inclusive membership that truly represents America, and believes that expanding the Academy's membership will allow the Academy to more readily achieve that goal. The increase also reflects the growth in population over the past century. The expansion will be realized incrementally over the next five years."

Meejin Yoon of Höweler + Yoon Architecture

Meejin Yoon. Photo by Andy Ryan.

Founder partner of Höweler + Yoon Architecture alongside Eric Höweler, Yoon is also the first female Dean at the College of Architecture, Art and Planning...

James Corner Field Operations to lead design for new UK Highline

2021-02-16T13:49:00-05:00

Following the five-month search for a design team to deliver London's new elevated park, the Camden Highline has selected James Corner Feild Operations to lead the design team. The firm will work in collaboration with vPPR Architects and a number of other creative specialists including London artist Hew Locke, community consultation organization Street Space, and Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, among others.

For the first stages of the new project, the design team will consult the local community and key stakeholders to create an inclusive plan for the new walkway before advancing it through the planning process.

"Camden is such an extraordinary place, a vibrant, hip, and diverse community that will soon enjoy an amazingly unique, public green thread that ties its various communities together in ways both revelatory and transformative, said James Corner of Field Operations in a statement. "We could not be more excited to work with residents and stakeholders to create a one-of-a-...

Dive into James Corner's field of ICEBERGS, now at the National Building Museum

2016-07-06T20:07:00-04:00

Walk into the Great Hall of Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum right now and you'll find a glacial landscape of geometric "icebergs" floating before you. Landscape architect James Corner worked alongside the NBM to design the chilling scene, as part of the museum's 2016 Summer Block Party. In the past, the yearly series hosted Snarkitecture's monochromatic BEACH and BIG's gigantic maze.

Opening this past Saturday, ICEBERGS lets visitors catch a break from D.C.'s hot, humid summers. The installation is based on themes related to physical experience and landscape representation, according to James Corner Field Operations, welcoming visitors with an “interactive and playful space of respite and reflection”.

Encased in a large blue net, the installation comprises over 30 prismatic triangular pentahedrons and octahedrons constructed from translucent polycarbonate panels, and range from 16-56 feet in height.

Visitors can cool off as they lounge on chunky, triangular beanbags strewn a...

Cool off at James Corner's ICEBERGS at the National Building Museum this summer

2016-03-09T17:45:00-05:00

James Corner Field Operations is transforming the National Building Museum's Great Hall into a glacial landscape of ICEBERGS for the museum's annual Summer Block Party installation, following two wildly successful years with Snarkitecture's monochromatic BEACH and BIG's gigantic maze. Today, James Corner revealed their initial concept for the collaborative project.

ICEBERGS emphasizes the themes of landscape representation, physical experience, geometry and construction, according to the architects. Once the installation opens on July 2, people will get to wander through an immersive underwater-world of geometric icebergs, with the tallest "bergy bit" towering at 56 feet to the third-story balcony of the museum.

The 12,540 square-foot installation will be comprised of more than 30 prismatic triangular pentahedrons and octahedrons made from reusable translucent polycarbonate panels, with some hanging from the ceiling to appear as if they were floating. A "water line" suspended at 20 f...

James Corner Field Operations chosen to design National Building Museum's summer 2016 installation

2015-10-28T14:25:00-04:00

James Corner Field Operations (JCFO) has been selected to design the National Building Museum's Summer Block Party 2016 installation. The National Building Museum selected JCFO after the success of 2015's "The BEACH," an installation designed by Snarkitecture that allowed 180,000 Washington, D.C. museum goers to experience the beach via an ocean of one million translucent plastic balls (and a few monochromatic deck chairs). More information about the 2016 summer design, which main man James Corner said "will be an opportunity to explore something new and unexpected," will be released in the spring.

For more of Archinect's coverage of James Corner Field Operations:

• James Corner Field Operations’ Winning Design for Navy Pier Redesign

• Field Operations to Helm New Miami Underline Project

• James Corner Field Operations selected for Nicollet Mall redesign in Minneapolis

• "Eco-Gentrification," or the social ramifications of "urban greening"

...

Cornell Tech to build world's first Passive House high-rise on NY's Roosevelt Island

2015-06-12T18:20:00-04:00

Construction is slated to start this month on what-will-be the world's first high-rise residential tower built according to Passive House (PH) standards, considered the most rigorous criteria for reducing a building's greenhouse gas emissions. Passive houses, such as the building on the right in the thermogram below, release significantly less heat compared with a typical building (such as that on the left).

Touted as an "iconic marker" for Cornell University's new tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York's East River, the project will innovative design features such as:

A pre-fabricated metal façade that will act like a thermal blanket, insulating the structure.
A louver system, or the building's "gills," which will house the building's heating and cooling systems.
Low-VOC paint to limit off-gassing and improve air quality.
Exterior paint that "naturally shifts color from silver to warm champagne" when reflecting light.

According to figures released by the university, the building wil...

The Underline holds Public Interest Meetings in Miami

2015-04-17T23:44:00-04:00

Our vision is to transform the underutilized land below Miami’s MetroRail, from the Miami River to Dadeland South Station, into an iconic linear park, world-class urban trail and living art destination.

The Underline is a proposal to activate the 10 mile space underneath Miami’s elevated metro rail into an urban trail. This initiative was a collaboration between the organizers of The Underline nonprofit, The University of Miami School of Architecture, and Miami Dade County. Recently, James Corner Field Operations won a proposal to develop a master plan for the area. This is a continued involvement by the firm, as they already are developing strategies for the Lincoln Road area of Miami Beach, and developed Knight Plaza between the art and science museums in Downtown Miami.

Over the course of this weekend, organizers and volunteers of The Underline are putting together public meetings to gauge ideas from the locals of what they want for the future linear park. Holding interactive presentations, members of the community were asked to vote on preselected ideas by Field Operations, write in their own ideas, draw out ideas on maps showcasing the scope of the project, and open poste...

James Corner Field Operations Will Design a New Waterfront Park in Brooklyn

2014-10-20T14:43:00-04:00

Renderings for the waterfront park to be built alongside the massive housing development Greenpoint Landing have been released. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy ravaged the area only a few years back, so it comes as no surprise that locals were concerned with how developers would protect the area from future storms. James Corner Field Operations was chosen to address the problem, and the result is a resilient design that manages to enhance the structural integrity and aesthetic appeal of the existing riverfront.

James Corner Field Operations selected for Nicollet Mall redesign in Minneapolis

2013-09-23T20:21:00-04:00

The City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Downtown Council announced on Sept. 19 that New York firm James Corner Field Operations and its team have been selected to carry out the $40 million redesign of Nicollet Mall, a major cultural and commercial center in Downtown Minneapolis. The winning proposal, called the "Nicollet Walk", is a 12-block stretch that divides the Nicollet Mall into three sections: Live, Work, and Play.

James Corner presented his team's project at a public event last Tuesday with the two other finalists: Daoust Lestage of Montreal and Tom Leader Studio from Berkeley, CA.

Navy Pier remake adds urban park elements

2013-05-20T14:53:00-04:00

Some members of Chicago's design community have said privately that the Navy Pier project's parameters, which limited the scope of changes, stifled creative possibilities, even for highly regarded designers such as Corner. "Anything that makes it more parklike is all to the good," said eclectic Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman. "It can only go up, architecturally."

The Trash Heap of History

2012-05-01T19:35:00-04:00

As contemporary governments and citizens increasingly demand that reclaimed landfills be many things to many people — energy producers, social nodes, memorials — and also that they interface with local infrastructure, we would do well to study the historical precedent of Monte Testaccio... [whose] longevity and vitality make it an ideal model of what a landfill can become: an agent of civic engagement and an urban catalyst. This is the promise of landfill reclamation.

The reuse of waste and remediation of landfills have inspired some of the most innovative contemporary landscape and urban design projects. On Places, Michael Ezban looks back two millennia and explores Monte Testaccio, the great garbage dump of imperial Rome. In this enduring landform — "a mountain of detritus in a city of storied hills" — he finds a dynamic precedent for landfill reclamation.

James Corner Field Operations’ Winning Design for Navy Pier Redesign

2012-03-20T14:14:00-04:00

The team led by James Corner Field Operations has been selected as the winner in the international Navy Pier Redesign Competition. The Pierscape concept is part of the larger vision for Chicago's famous Navy Pier called The Centennial Vision, which seeks to make the "People’s Pier a truly iconic and world-class destination as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016."

The JCFO Team also included Terry Guen Design Associates, nArchitects, Leo Villareal, L’Observatoire International, Ed Marszewski, Fluidity, Patrick Blanc, John Greenlee & Associates, Chris Wangro, Billings Jackson, Buro Happold, Primera, HR&A Advisors, ETM Associates, Bruce Mau Design, and d’Escoto, Inc.

The winning proposal beat out stiff competition from the other four finalist teams, AECOM/Bjarke Ingels Group, Aedas Architects/Davis Brody Bond/Martha Schwartz Partners, !melk/HOK/Urban Lab, and Xavier Vendrell Studio/Grimshaw Architects.

Designs for High Line's Last Section Are Released

2012-03-14T01:40:00-04:00

Initial designs for the third and final section of the High Line were released Monday by Friends of the High Line. Section 3 will wrap around the striking stretch of rail yards at the center of the Hudson Yards project. The new stretch will pick up where the completed section ends at 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, continue west to 12th Avenue, turn north, and then head back east at 34th Street for about half a block.

Santa Monica's Field Operations

2011-06-15T18:59:53-04:00

Santa Monica’s $46.1 Mil Park Moves Forward. A crowd of about 200 Santa Monicans were on hand at the June 14 Santa Monica City Council’s consideration of the planned public parks to be placed in front of city hall. After a presentation by designer James Corner followed by a lovefest of public comment, the council proceeded with overall design plans and construction documents for Palisades Garden Walk, despite its $46.1 million price tag.

Now, I will quote myself when I said this to the journalist friend who asked my opinion on the proposal.

"The real critique of this park is not only the physical aspects of the complicated site but the "consumerist development" Santa Monica had adopted since the 80's on.
James Corner's park could be real useful if he understands this development policy that changed the personality of Santa Monica and somehow pairs its "gin fizz urbanism" with the real community "DNA" of Santa Monica as the "people's city." In short, if he can negotiate and balance it with consuming tourists and wealthy gentrification, then, perhaps, we would see a really good park for the money.
Without being nostalgic, Santa Monica could use a little inspiration from the old negative propaganda of intrepid developers, where it was regarded as "Peoples Republic of Santa Monica." Within the context of the late shiny developments, the city could now own this old misplaced adage and be proud of its progressive ...

A First Look at Section 2 of New York's High Line Park

2011-06-07T16:11:28-04:00

The High Line, New York City’s most exciting and innovative linear park, just opened its second section to the public – and Inhabitat was on the scene to bring you exclusive photos of the new extension! We finally experienced the Falcone Flyover, Viewing Spur, Chelsea Thicket and other exciting new features, and we descended from the experienced with our heads still in the clouds – read on for our exclusive first look at The High Line, Section 2.

Inhabitat has exclusive photos of the opening day of New York's high line park - hit the jump to see the new park in its entirety - from the Chelsea Thicket to the Falcone Flyover and beyond.