High Line Master Plan Progresses

The list of design teams competing for the chance to develop a master plan for the High Line on Manhattan's West Side has been narrowed to seven.

The city plans to convert the High Line, an elevated rail structure, into public open space. Each of the seven teams is led by an architecture, landscape architecture, or planning firm, or two or more firms joined in collaborative leadership. The teams are:

• Field Operations (James Corner); Diller + Scofidio + Renfro
  
• Zaha Hadid Architects; Thomas Balsley Associates
  
• Steven Holl Architects
  
• Latz + Partner; The Saratoga Associates
  
• Rogers Marvel Architects; Gustafson Guthrie Nichol
  
• OpenMeshWork.org: OpenOffice (Lyn Rice); Mesh Architectures (Eric Liftin); Work Architecture Company (Amale Andraos, Dan Wood)
  
• TerraGRAM: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; D.I.R.T. Studio (Julie Bargmann); Beyer Blinder Belle (Neil Kittredge)
  

A design team is expected to be selected by fall 2004.

Gannett Fleming Wins Award

The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York presented Gannett Fleming Engineers, P.C. with a Platinum Award in the 2004 Engineering Excellence Awards for its work on the Grass Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenwich, Conn.

Gannett Fleming provided the professional engineering services for the planning, design and construction management for the Phase II solids handling upgrades to the Grass Island plant from 2001 to 2003.

School Project under Design

Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, P.C. is designing renovations and additions to Chancellor Livingston Elementary School and Bulkeley Middle/Rhinebeck High School within the Rhinebeck Central School District, Rhinebeck, N.Y.

The $23.7 million project includes extensive architecture, engineering, and site design work. Chancellor Livingston, the district's only elementary school, will receive a new addition consisting of four classrooms and a multipurpose room. Bulkeley Middle School/Rhinebeck High School will receive an addition comprised of a new gymnasium, auditorium, and classrooms.

Additional renovation projects at each building include replacement and upgrades of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and upgrades for ADA and code compliance. Site work involves parking and drainage improvements at both sites, as well as a new track and soccer field at the middle/high school.

Design challenges at the middle/high school include integrating the addition with the original 1950 stone veneer construction. The project is scheduled for completion in 2006.

Princeton Firm Wins Engineering Award

Michael Baker, Jr. Inc., of Princeton, N.J., was the grand award winner in the 2004 Engineering Excellence Award competition, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Jersey.

The firm was honored for its design of the Route 21 viaduct replacement project located in Newark, N.J. The Route 21 viaduct provides a vital highway link between Newark, the Newark Liberty International Airport and other parts of northeastern New Jersey via I-78 and Routes 1 & 9 and 22.

Michael Baker also received an honor award for its work on the design of the one-way toll conversion at New Hope Lambertville Toll Bridge in New Hope, Penn.