New York Plans Governors Island Redevelopment

The city seeks proposals to redevelop 150 acres in New York Harbor. Also, the New School launches an environmental design studies program.

RFPs Sought For Governors Island

Plans to redevelop Governors Island in New York Harbor - a 172-acre isle that the federal government transferred to state control several years ago - may soon take shape, thanks to a Request for Proposals issued for an expected $120 million worth of work. The proposals, sought by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp., a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp., are due this month. It would select the winning proposal in September.

To spark ideas for the development proposals, the subsidiary recently unveiled designs for an innovative gondola system that would link the island to both Manhattan and Brooklyn. The development agency, which is in charge of redeveloping 150 of the 172 acres, has prioritized several elements of the overall plan, including the preservation of historic structures and the creation of a 40-acre public park and a public esplanade on the island's perimeter.

The gondola system design was created pro bono by Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava, who is design architect on the nearby World Trade Center transportation hub in Lower Manhattan. Assisting Calatrava on the design of the system, which would cost about $125 million to build, were New York-based STV Group, a design and construction consultant, and Colorado-based Leitner-Poma of America, an engineer and manufacturer of cable systems, gondolas, and other urban transport.

The gondola system would ferry passengers in apple-shaped round cabins on two 3,250-ft. arms, one extending from Lower Manhattan and the other from Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Using only three supports, none of them on the water, and rising 200 ft. at its highest point, the system would not interfere with boat traffic.

The remaining 22 acres not slated for redevelopment make up the Governors Island National Monument administered by the National Park Service.

New Jersey AIA Awards Designers

The New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects honored various players and projects in the architecture world at its recent Design Day annual event.

The association named Michael Farewell, an AIA fellow and partner in charge of design at Farewell, Mills, Gatsch Architects of Princeton, N.J., as its Architect of the Year. The firm also won recognition at the event for its work on the Essex County Courthouse restoration in Newark, N.J.

The chapter also named Princeton-based KSS Architects as Architectural Firm of the Year. KSS also won honors for its design of a municipal complex in Princeton, a Mercedes-Benz New Parts and Distribution Center in Washington Township, and a K-8 school in Cranbury, N.J.

The association also gave Robert Cozzarelli, a former chapter president, its Distinguished Service Award and named Ingrid Caballero Aboujaoude its Intern Architect of the Year. Patricia Jaar-Watson and Seth Leeb shared the chapter's Young Architect of the Year honor.

The chapter also recognized several firms for their efforts on individual projects with honor or merit awards, including:

• Hugh A. Boyd Architecture of Montclair, N.J., for the Ardmore Farmers Market in Ardmore, Pa.
• Princeton-based Hillier Architecture for its design of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., the planned LG Electronics Research and Development Center in Korea, and its unbuilt design of the Becton Dickinson Campus Center in Franklin Lakes, N.J.
• Robert Rhodes Associates Architects of New York for the Lessin Tennis Pavilion in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
• and Fletcher Thompson Architecture, Engineering of East Brunswick, N.J., for its design of the Timex Corporate Headquarters in Middlebury, Conn.

New Environmental Design Program

The New School, a university based in Manhattan's Union Square district, launched a new undergraduate curriculum in environmental and allied sciences earlier this year.

The new course of studies, which students can select as a major, was established as part of the school's new Tishman Environment and Design Center. The center's aim is to support long-term, design-led research of environmental issues across disciplines, supported by faculty from other university divisions, such as its Parsons School of Design, and sharing resources with some of the institution's international programs.

Joel Towers, an architect and former director of sustainable design at Parsons New School for Design, is head of the new center as well as associate provost of environmental studies for the university.

One of the new center's primary sponsors is John Tishman, chairman and CEO of New York-based Tishman Realty & Construction and a longtime trustee and supporter of the New School.

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