Archinect - News

ODA plans new residential development in East Williamsburg

2024-04-16T14:14:00-04:00

ODA has revealed plans for a new residential project under construction in Brooklyn that will deliver 336 units of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Their design for the Lorimer House and Copper Lofts in East Williamsburg calls for a triangular block-scale development connected by a bridge, surrounding three small interior courtyards and defined by curved corners that soften its form in response to the site's unique dimensions.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Other aspects of the project include a third-floor pocket park space that combines with an upper-level amenity lounge and a circular roof deck with landscaping to give residents a total of 26,000 square feet of outdoor areas. The building's facade is composed of brick with horizontal metal panels, vertical metallic piers, and a slab edge to create an appealing visual character completed by integrated planters, balconies, and recessed terraces.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Durukan Design has been tasked with comp...

PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino reopens Brooklyn's most iconic building to the modern workplace

2023-09-27T15:25:00-04:00

A landmark era of high-profile additions and architectural changes to the historic Brooklyn waterfront has ushered in a new chapter with today’s official public unveiling of the PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino office component at the 11-acre former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg.

The new, 15-story glass commercial space was constructed inside the building’s old brick masonry shell, offering tenants 460,000 square feet of Class A office space enhanced by carefully-inserted biophilic elements and marked by the firm’s attenuation to ascendant health and wellness considerations typical in modern workplace design.

Photo: Max Touhey

A 12-foot gap left between the new and old structures provides space for Field Operations’s 17-count in-house arboretum while standardizing a misalignment with the floors and helping to flood the bonetti/kozerski-designed office interiors with natural light and expanded access to vegetation throughout the day.

Photo: Max Touhey

A vaulted 27,000-s...

Biophilic installation begins at Brooklyn's Domino Sugar Factory, including 17 big trees

2023-04-10T14:55:00-04:00

In advance of the expected project completion later this summer, the Brooklyn-based developer Two Trees Management has shared images of its recent installation of the biophilic program inside PAU’s long-awaited Domino Sugar Refinery redevelopment in Williamsburg.

The installation comprises 17 30-foot trees, each weighing more than 10,000 pounds, that make up the core of the project’s indoor vertical garden component, which highlights the 460,000 square feet of new office space being created inside the iconic 19th-century waterfront structure.

Image © Wes Tarca

Each tree had to first be carefully hoisted above the roofline of the refinery and then “surgically” placed inside via a 12-foot-wide opening between the brick facade and envelope of the 27,000-square-foot all-glass office addition located further within.

Image © Wes Tarca

The overall $250 million project began in 2014 and includes the James Corner Field Operations-designed Domino Park segment i...

Brooklyn’s historic Domino Sugar Factory restoration lights up with signs of progress

2022-12-28T13:29:00-05:00

A beloved monument returned to the Brooklyn skyline without pomp or circumstance last night when the Domino Sugar sign was quietly relit atop the Thomas Havemeyer building’s new barrel vaulted glass roof, illuminating the Williamsburg waterfront for the first time in eight years. It also marked one last milestone in 2022 for redevelopment at the former refinery, which was last open to the public in 2014

Meanwhile, PAU’s portion of the $250 million Domino Sugar Factory project is nearing completion with the placement of the structural steelwork required to support the 27,000-square-foot glass addition slotted into its 140-year-old interior.

Image © Wes Tarca

New York YIMBY also reported that construction of the reinforced concrete core is complete as well. The tree-lined and column-free office portion is yet to be fully leased in spite of the space’s considerable marketability. The full restoration is expected to be ready sometime in the next year.

PAU Studio unveils updated plans for Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn

2019-08-14T16:30:00-04:00

When the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved the conversion of the 137-year-old Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the development quickly became one of the most talked about construction projects in the borough. Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), the architects responsible for the visionary renovation, will return this week to the LPC with changes for its previously approved design.

Domino Sugar Factory's waterfront park prepares for grand opening in Brooklyn

2018-06-06T14:25:00-04:00

A dramatic shift is underway on the Williamsburg waterfront: The ruins of the former Domino Sugar Refinery, a neighborhood landmark since the 19th century, are in the process of being transformed into an 11-acre megaproject. Four new buildings are on the way, as is a renovation of the massive factory building [...] Domino Park, a six-acre green space that hugs the edge of the development, opens on June 10.

Curbed New York documents the transformation of the former Domino Sugar Factory where one piece of the massive revitalization—the James Corner Field Operations-designed Domino Park—will open to the public this Sunday. (Prepare for spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline.)

REVEALED: New renderings of Domino Sugar Factory’s waterfront park and esplanade

2018-04-05T20:27:00-04:00

New renderings have been revealed for Domino Park, the 11-acre park and waterfront esplanade that will anchor the three-million-square-foot Williamsburg mega-development at the Domino Sugar Factory site, and they showcase everything from an urban “beach” to a better look at how preserved artifacts from the historic factory will be incorporated throughout. Designed by James Corner Field Operations (of the High Line fame), the park is scheduled to open this summer, ahead of most of the buildings.

Via James Corner Field Operations

First glimpse at the Domino Sugar Factory's new residential building, designed by SHoP Architects

2018-02-13T15:25:00-05:00

325 Kent by SHoP Architects is the first new structure to open at the 11-acre Domino Sugar Factory, which is being redeveloped by Vishaan Chakrabarti's Practice for Architecture and Urbanism.

Photo: Adrian Gaut.

Located at the Williamsburg waterfront, the residential building stands at 16 stories tall and is clad in a zinc facade on the upper floors and in copper on the lower floors. It features a large architectural opening that is capped by a 3-story bridge that contains the building's core amenities. The building accommodates 522 units, with 104 of them affordable to low-income residents.

Photo: Adrian Gaut.

Photo: Daniel Levin.

Outside, Leeser Architecture designed a 7,000 square-foot roof deck overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge, as well as a 2,000 square-foot courtyard on the fourth floor. At the front of the building, the Domino Park, designed by James Corner Field Operations, will pay tribute to the site's industrial h...

Vishaan Chakrabarti reveals new designs for Domino Sugar Factory

2017-10-04T11:09:00-04:00

Vishaan Chakrabarti‘s Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) has revealed a new set of renderings for the refinery building at the three million-square-foot Domino Sugar Factory mega-development in Williamsburg. The new plans are brighter and better connected than those previously approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

PAU design for the Domino Refinery. Image courtesy of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism.

News via 6sqft

"Humanitarian emergency": Michael Greenberg looks inside New York City’s housing crisis

2017-08-01T15:47:00-04:00

New York City is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency, a term defined by the Humanitarian Coalition of large international aid organizations as “an event or series of events that represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people.” New York’s is [...] a “complex emergency”: man-made and shaped by a combination of forces that have led to a large-scale “displacement of populations” from their homes.

"What makes the crisis especially startling," author Michael Greenberg continues in his latest piece for The New York Review of Books, "is that New York has the most progressive housing laws in the country and a mayor who has made tenants’ rights and affordable housing a central focus of his administration."

First look at Domino Sugar Factory’s 11-acre park and waterfront esplanade

2017-04-20T18:17:00-04:00

James Corner Field Operations will preserve 21 Raw Sugar Warehouse columns, nearly 600 feet of crane tracks, and 30 industrial artifacts, including 36-foot-tall syrup tanks that were used in the refining process, mooring bollards, and bucket elevators–not dissimilar from their efforts at the High Line.

Two Trees Management has revealed new details and renderings of the 11-acre park that will anchor their Williamsburg mega-development at the Domino Sugar Factory site. Domino Park, which will open in the summer of 2018, will have a new waterfront esplanade, six acres of parkland, and a wealth of preserved artifact.

Domino Sugar Factory reveals renderings of creative office building The Refinery

2016-10-28T12:23:00-04:00

The first set of renderings have been revealed for Two Trees' new 380,000-square-foot office building at Williamsburg‘s massive, under-construction Domino Sugar Factory complex. The images highlight how tenants can work with architects Beyer Blinder Belle to customize their spaces for “innovation” and “authenticity” in The Refinery. The interiors preserve the former industrial details, while incorporating creative perks such as suspended glass-and-steel office pods and an indoor skate park.

Brooklyn, say hello to your new neighbors!

2016-08-24T18:10:00-04:00

You’ve always wanted to call Brooklyn home. But it’s complicated. You’re not really the pioneering type. Brooklyn can be rough around the edges. Amenities are lacking. We understand. Industrial-chic finishes are important in life. So are 25-year tax abatements. And European-style, car-sized parking turntables.

Failed Architecture takes a closer look at Brooklyn's wildly sprouting 'developer architecture':

Photographs by Cameron Blaylock. Find many more examples of subtle contextualism over on failedarchitecture.com.

Festivities ensue at the Beaux Arts Ball 2014: Craft in New York

2014-09-25T17:35:00-04:00

The Architectural League of New York hosted another successful Beaux Arts Ball this year at Weylin B. Seymour's in Williamsburg, New York this past Saturday night. In spirit of the ball's 2014 theme "Craft", eight architects and designers collaborated with Nuit Blanche New York in creating digital art projections inspired by the gorgeous interior motifs and details of the historic Weylin B. Seymour's building.

Digitally carved onto the arches of the venue's central domed hall, the installation helped create a festive environment as hundreds of well-dressed guests enjoyed drinks and desserts, and danced the night away with music by pazel. It was a fancy occasion indeed.

Want more insight to the Weylin B. Seymour's building? Check out the ArchLeague's feature on the building's restoration.

Check out photos from the ball and the Benefactors Dinner below.

The Arch League announces 2014 Beaux Arts Ball: Craft, co-chaired by Tod Williams & Billie Tsien

2014-09-04T15:53:00-04:00

The time has come for The Architectural League of New York's annual Beaux Arts Ball, taking place at Weylin B. Seymour's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Saturday, September 20. The 2014 theme, "Craft", celebrates the value of artisanship in architecture and multi-disciplinary collaboration in creating architecture. This year's co-chairs include Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.

Drawing inspiration from the recent interior renovations of Weylin B. Seymour's — an 1875 George B. Post and Peter B.Wight-designed former Williamsburgh Savings Bank — nine architects and designers will work with Nuit Blanche New York to create digital projection interpretations that will highlight the "craft" of the building's interior design.

More event details from The Architectural League:

"[Weylin B. Seymour's ] exuberant interior decorations of tiling and mosaics, patterned wallpapers, frescoed domes, carved wood and stone, and bronze and gilt work, recently magnificently restored, will serve as inspiration for ...

In Brooklyn, Rejecting the Monotony of the Glass-and-Steel Look

2014-02-17T14:49:00-05:00

David Boyle did not build his house out of shipping containers to be hip, though he does live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He left the water pipes exposed not in pursuit of an industrial chic aesthetic, but to make them easier to fix. [...] Their goal, he said, was not style, but a place immune to the neighborhood’s rising rents, built out of materials cheap enough that it could inspire other urban homesteaders to do the same.

Editor's Picks #305

2013-03-05T11:42:00-05:00

vado retro summed up the design "a box within a box and one box the one inside, the inside box is at an angle. oh and there are trees" but Alex Gomez added "Although the facade is superficial, I feel it will succeed in attracting ‘qualitative and quantitative tourist flows in the area,’

News
Over at Bustler.net, Bernard Tschumi Architects unveiled the schematic design for the firm's first work in Italy: ANIMA, a new cultural center in the city of Grottammare. The project has been commissioned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno and the Municipality of Grottammare and is expected to be completed by 2016.

In the description of the project, it states: “Could one design a facade without resorting to formal composition? Could one design a facade that would be neither abstract nor figurative, but formless, so to speak? Our motivation in raising these questions was both economic and cultural: At a time of economic crisis, to indulge in formal geometries made out of complex volumetric curves did not seem a responsible option. The time of ‘Iconism’ seemed to be over".

vado retro summed up the design "a box within a box and one box the one inside, the inside box is at an angle. oh and there are trees" but Alex Gomez added "Although the facade is s...

Architect/Contractor Couple Builds Home Out of Shipping Containers in Williamsburg

2013-03-01T12:54:00-05:00

The couple bought a 20-by-40-foot piece of land at 351 Keap St. in 2008, trying to get ahead of the wave of gentrification they feared would soon price them out of Williamsburg. Initially, they planned to build a tiny home out of bricks and mortar, but when they put out a bid, it came back as potentially costing half a million dollars.

After doing some calculations, they decided to make it work with shipping containers.