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Architecture studio Snøhetta of Oslo and New York has revealed designs for a community library in Queens, New York, with a shimmering golden exterior and a triangular entrance at one corner.

Proposed for the neighbourhood of Far Rockaway, the new building will replace a well-used but small existing library that functioned as a disaster relief centre during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last year.

Snøhetta’s design is for a two-storey structure that will double the floorspace of its predecessor.

The exterior will be screened behing fritted glass, creating a golden surface intended to reference the colour of the skies along the Long Island coastline. A sliced-off corner will be clad with transparent glass, providing the building’s entrance.

Snøhetta recently completed a library at North Carolina State University, which features a robotic book retrieval system and a 3D printing workshop.

Other projects underway by the firm include a major extension to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a new stadium for the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

See more architecture by Snøhetta »
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Here’s more information from Snøhetta:

Snøhetta releases design of the new Far Rockaway Branch Library, Recipient of the 2013 Public Design Commission’s Design Excellence Award

Today, Snøhetta releases the design of the Far Rockaway Branch Library in Far Rockaway, Queens. The new building will replace the existing library building, while also doubling the area of library spaces. The project, currently in design development in New York City, has also received the Public Design Commission of the City of New York’s recognition for outstanding public projects, the Annual Award for Excellence in Design.

Community Context

The Far Rockaway Library is located at the prominent intersection of Mott and Central Avenues in Far Rockaway, among the more dynamic, ethnically diverse communities in the borough of Queens. While the current library is small, it is heavily used, and its local importance is well-demonstrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when it was used to provide disaster relief to the community. This new building seeks to increase the services needed by the neighbourhood, and it is hoped that along with other revitalisation efforts, it will serve as a catalyst for community transformation.

Design Intent

The massing is a simple volume clad in fritted, coloured glass, with a gradient of colour reminiscent of the sky off the coast of Long Island. The simple form provides a calm contrast to the visual noise of surrounding retail outlets. The combination of transparency and translucency of the façade provides an awareness of the activity within as well as a degree of privacy for occupants of the library.

The primary organising elements are indicated with simple, clear forms. The entry is announced with a tall transparent glass pyramidal opening at the corner. The interior is organised around an inverted pyramidal atrium, which allows the penetration of natural light to the ground floor as well as a view of the sky from within the building. Combined, they provide the entry and circulation sequence through the building, and orient the visitor within.

The Far Rockaway Branch Library will comply with Local Law 86, seeking LEED Silver Certification, and will be sited at an elevation exceeding the new FEMA flood zone guidelines. As part of the Percent for the Arts program, Snøhetta will be collaborating with an artist to create a site specific artwork within the library.

Architect: Snøhetta
Structural: Robert Silman Associates
MEP/FP Engineers: Altieri Sebor Weiber
Sustainability/Lighting: Atelier Ten

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by Snøhetta appeared first on Dezeen.

News: New York studio SHoP Architects has revealed its design for a 411 metre skyscraper in Manhattan on a plot that is just 13 metres wide.

Proposed for a lot on West 57th Street in Manhattan, the building would be approximately 30 metres taller than the Empire State Building and would feature a stepped facade facing the street.

SHoP Architects designed the residential tower for property developers JDS Development and Property Markets Group, who submitted their plans to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission last month.

It is unknown whether funding for the project has been secured but local sources report that the developer hopes to break ground early next year.

West 57th Street is one of New York’s most fashionable locations and is just two blocks south of Central Park. Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group have also designed a residential building on the street with one corner stretched upwards to form a triangular tower – see more stories from New York.

SHoP Architects is among four firms shortlisted for the redevelopment of New York’s Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden and has also proposed a masterplan for a former sugar refinery in Brooklyn featuring hollow skyscrapers surrounded by gardens – see more SHoP Architects.

Rafael Viñoly’s Walkie Talkie skyscraper in London has been in the news recently for creating a reflection intense enough to melt cars, while the world’s second tallest skyscraper topped out last month in Shanghai, China – see more skyscrapers.

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skyscraper for New York appeared first on Dezeen.

Le réalisateur américain Nicolas Doldinger nous entraine à travers New York pour une balade aérienne. Il filme à l’aide d’un DJI Phantom quadricopter, une Zenmuse H3-SD Gimbal et une GoPro HERO3. Les images sont superbes et présentent la ville vue du ciel. Un moment envoûtant à découvrir en images et en vidéo.

Le travail cartographique de l’artiste autodidacte torontois Jazzberry Blue est impressionnant. À la limite de l’abstraction, les grandes métropoles comme Paris, New York ou Londres, sont représentées autour des axes qui les composent et les structurent : rues ou fleuves. Une façon originale de redécouvrir ces villes.

In this movie Dezeen filmed at the opening of the new Camper store in New York, Japanese designer and Nendo founder Oki Sato explains why he covered the interior walls of the store with over a thousand white plastic shoes.

“I’ve been working with Camper for the past few years on their small retail stores,” says Sato.

“The concept [for the small stores] was these shoes walking in mid air, showing that Camper shoes are not for running fast or for luxury or things like that, but something to enjoy walking.”

See Nendo’s design for Camper’s Osaka store with shoes that seem to walk around on their own »

However, Sato goes on to explain that designing the interior for the larger New York store located on Fifth Avenue, one of world’s biggest shopping streets, was much more challenging.

“Camper asked me a few months ago to find a solution for the big stores that have really high ceilings,” he says. “Because the product is obviously very small, we weren’t sure how to use the ceiling height. Before they used a lot of graphics on the ceiling but it looked really empty.”

Nendo‘s solution was to completely cover the walls in the store with white plastic replicas of Camper Pelotas, the brand’s signature shoe design. The current collections are then displayed amongst these replicas in spaces at the base of the walls where customers are able to reach.

“What it’s doing is making the products really stand out – the colours, the forms of the products,” says Sato. “It starts from a single product but by copying and pasting it becomes an interior element. It catches a lot of light and shadow and gives a lot of texture to the space.”

The protruding shoes also provide an important acoustic benefit, Sato says: “It absorbs the sound so it feels much more comfortable as well.”

Sato goes on to explain that he believes physical retail environments are still important, despite the rise of shopping online.

“Just one click on the internet and you can buy any of these shoes from wherever you are,” he says. “But I guess it’s really the experience of the space that is the most important thing. It’s a space that you have to be there, you have to feel something.”

“In the end if a guy comes into the store and he doesn’t want to buy any shoes in the beginning but he gets excited and he buys a shoe I think that’s the victory of design. That is the goal for interior design in a way.”

See all our stories about Nendo »
See all our stories about Camper »

Dezeen was in New York as part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour.

Watch all our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies from New York »

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pasting a single product” – Nendo’s Oki Sato appeared first on Dezeen.