Art Society Salutes Focus on Adaptive Reuse

Municipal Art Society of New York unveils its annual MASterwork Awards. Also, AIA-NY honors the year’s best designs.

Hearst Tower Again Honored

The Municipal Art Society of New York recently handed out its annual MASterwork Awards, giving top new building honors to Manhattan’s Hearst Tower – winner of various industry honors since it opened last year – while also recognizing three other projects completed in New York City in 2006.

The organization, which first started giving out the MASterwork Awards in 2001, also recognized the revamped Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan as New York’s Best Commercial Restoration.

This year, the society’s awards all ended up honoring projects that involved adaptive reuse efforts. The winners were:

• Best New Building: Hearst Tower, 300 W. 57th St.; Owner - Hearst Corp.; Development Manager - Tishman Speyer Properties; Architect - Foster + Partners

• Best Privately Owned Public Space: Fifth Avenue Plaza, General Motors Building, 767 Fifth Ave.; Developer - Macklowe Properties; Architect - Harry Macklowe of Macklowe Properties and Dan Shannon of Moed de Armas & Shannon

• Best Neighborhood Catalyst: Fairway Market, 480-500 Van Brunt St. in Brooklyn; Developer - Greg O’Connell, Kings Harbor View Associates; Architect - Susan Doban Architect

Local Projects Recognized by AIA

The New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects put the spotlight on 19 projects in New York City for its annual design awards, part of a slate of nearly three dozen projects from around the world that the association put on a pedestal this year.

Out of more than 400 submissions from architects around the world, AIA New York gave out 31 awards across three categories –  buildings, interiors, and projects – that recognized designs by New York City architects or exceptional work completed in the region.

Projects that won for designs completed outside of the New York area included efforts in Seattle, New Orleans, Washington D.C., and Lacoste, France.

The 19 New York City projects and their winning design firms included:

• Architecture Honor Award - Higgins Hall Center Section/Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Steven Holl Architects; 92 Jane Street in Manhattan, Steven Harris Architects; Hearst Tower in Manhattan, Foster + Partners

• Architecture Merit Award - Slot House in Brooklyn, noroof architects

• Interior Architecture Honor Award - Operable Boundary Townhouse Garden in Brooklyn, Dean/Wolf Architects; 23 Beekman Place in Manhattan, Della Valle Bernheimer

• Interior Architecture Merit Award - Bloomberg LP Expansion Floors 17-20 in Manhattan, STUDIOS Architecture; Heckscher Foundation for Children in Manhattan, Christoff:Finio Architecture; Alessi Flagship Store in Manhattan, Asymptote - Hani Rashid, Lise Anne Couture

• Interior Architecture of Interest to the Public Realm Award - New York Public Library Fort Washington Branch Children’s Room in Manhattan, Sage and Coombe Architects

11 Jersey Firms Named Safest

Nearly 20 New Jersey contractors won safety awards from the Building Contractors Association of New Jersey and the Construction Roundtable of New Jersey at a recent joint event – with 11 of the firms taking home the top safety honor for finishing 2006 without losing a single workday due to injury.

The awards,  handed out at the annual Safety Awards Program in Trenton, recognized 11 firms with the highest honor: Berkowsky & Associates of Cranbury; Clemens Construction of Philadelphia; Damon G. Douglas Co. of Cranford; Willard Dunham Construction of South Plainfield; Fitzpatrick & Associates of Tinton Falls; Albert Garlatti Construction of New Brunswick; Hall Construction of Howell; Henderson Corp. of Raritan; March Associates of Wayne; Joseph A. Natoli Construction of Pine Brook; and Vercon Construction of Westfield.

Five other firms received awards for finishing the year with a lost workday rate below the national average. They were: Bovis Lend Lease’s Princeton office; Epic Management of Piscataway; Fromkin Brothers of Edison; Torcon of Red Bank; and Turner Construction’s Somerset office.

Click here for more Association News >>