The Skyscraper Museum is devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future. The Museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence. This site will look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
Lecture Series 2008
Nearly four hundred years after its founding, New York, the city that grew and grew through "creative destruction," is a mature metropolis. If New York were a forest, we would describe it as having reached its climax species in many areas, whether in skyscrapers built to their maximum zoning envelope, or in a prevailing belief in many neighborhoods that growth, at least in scale, is undesirable. New York of the future will likely look much the same as it does today-just as Rome, Paris, or London have set their essential identities.
Yet, as change and growth of population are certain, how can the city adapt and advance in the twenty-first century? Recognizing the need for a great majority of New York's buildings to be modernized, but not replaced, the Museum will examine "greening" the city by spotlighting a range of innovative projects that feature landmark preservation, adaptive re-use, reinvented industrial sites, and sustainable development.
Click here for a digital archive of the following lectures:
February 5, 2008 - Greening the Glass Box
March 6, 2008 - Bond Street Reborn
April 22, 2008 - Williamsburg Waterfront
July 22, 2008 - New Verizons
* * *
The first evening in our series, presented by The Skyscraper Museum and DOCOMOMO-New York/Tristate:
Greening the Glass Box
Preserving Midtown Modernism
February 5, 2008
In 1961, the gleaming new headquarters of Union Carbide crystallized the
image of corporate modernism transforming Park Avenue and midtown. Fifty
years later, such paragons of progress define an era, but their materials
and mechanical systems need an update. How does the 21st century "green"
the glass box?
A panel of experts address the challenges of renewing the monuments of Modernism to LEED standards while preserving their historic character. A case study of the retrofit of 270 Park Avenue by SOM and MEP engineers AKF will detail best practices. An examination of curtain wall technology, landmarking, and citywide sustainability expand the discussion into the realm of public policy.
Nina Rappaport, Chair, DOCOMOMO-New York/Tristate
John Farrell, Partner, AKF Engineers
Carl Galioto, Technical Partner, SOM/New York
Hormoz Houshmand, Vice President, Werner Sobek/New York
Laurie Kerr, Senior Policy Advisor on Sustainability,
City of New York, Mayor's Office
* * *
Bond Street Reborn
March 6, 2008
The coolest block in New York? A motley stretch of Bond Street, between Bowery and Layfayette,
east of the NoHo designated historic district, is now home to some of the most innovative
reinterpretations of 19th century New York architecture and the chicest apartments in the city.
Developers and architects of the super-hip properties will discuss their individual inspirations
and the synergy of the street, where modern design and historic character play with landmark status
and urban identity.
Deborah Berke, Deborah Berke & Partners Architects
Commissioner, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Donald Capoccia, Managing Director, BFC Partners
Romy Goldman, President, Gold Development
Tony Goldman, President & CEO, Goldman Properties
Harry Kendall, Partner, BKSK Architects
George Schieferdecker, Partner, BKSK Architects
* * *
Williamsburg Waterfront
April 22, 2008
The richly historic, once-thriving industrial zone of the Williamsburg waterfront is witnessing a rapid
transformation as a burgeoning residential neighborhood. New condominium developments, large and small,
such as The Edge, Northside Piers and Palmer's Dock, and Schaefer Landing, along with adaptive
reuse of landmark structures such as the Austin Nichols warehouse, offer an impressive range of
goals of sustainable urbanism: brownfield reclamation, public parks and waterfront access, a
percentage of affordable housing, and LEED-certified design and construction.
The presentations and panel will feature the developers of the major residential projects and public officials who conceived and crafted the rezoning effort in a discussion of what is going right and where there is room for improvement.
Shaun Donovan, Commissioner, NYC Department of Housing Preservationand Development
Stephen B. Jacobs, President, The Stephen B. Jacobs Group
Dan Kaplan, Senior Principal, FXFOWLE Architects, PC
Jeffery E. Levine, Principal, Douglaston Development
Tom O'Gara, Principal, JMH Development
Ron Moelis, Principal, L&M Equity Participants
Robert Powers, Powers & Company, Inc.
Philip Tugendrajch, E T Partners, LLC,
consultant to L&M/BFC Development, LLC
* * *
New Verizons
July 22, 2008
"New Verizons" looks at the high-value real estate portfolio of buildings erected for 20th-century telephone technology and how developers, architects, and engineers are retrofitting and re-positioning these properties.
Project teams presenttwo case studies:
375 PEARL STREET
Rick Cook, Partner, Cook + Fox Architects LLP
Douglas Winshall, Executive Vice President, Taconic Investment Partners
1095 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
Dan Shannon, Partner, Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects
Douglas Mass, President, Cosentini Associates
Frank Frankini, Senior Vice President, Equity Office Properties
* * *
Lectures began at 6:30 PM at NYPL Donnell Library Auditorium,
20 West 53rd St. between 5th & 6th
COST
FREE Museum & DOCOMOMO Members
$5 Students & Seniors
$10 Adults
Click here to become a Museum Member.
Payment may be made in cash at the door. 1.0 CEUs available. Please contact programs[AT]skyscraper.org or call 212-945-6324 with any questions.
With support from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
