Asser Levy Park Amphitheater Project, New York, USA 2009- Grimshaw

Project Description

Coney Island, the former vacation mecca on the New York waterfront, is undergoing a massive revitalization effort. Asser Levy Park, with the addition of Grimshaw’s new amphitheater, will serve as the new gateway to the area and as a symbol of its new identity.

The amphitheater will be a seasonal venue that can attract performers at all levels, encourage concert promoters to bring bands and artists to Brooklyn, and create a destination that New Yorkers see as one of their best summer options for entertainment.

The program for the park and amphitheater includes a variety of performance types and sizes. Therefore the seating is designed with a maximum amount of flexibility to allow all types of uses and performances throughout the year. In the off-season, much of the performance area’s seating converts to park use, necessitating a design that is easily changeable depending on seasonal variations.

After thorough investigation of the Coney Island site, sustainable design practices are being used whenever possible. This includes suitable habitat restoration, the installation of green roofs, and environmentally conscious material choices. The protection and restoration of the large open spaces and existing park land help further support the cultural and ecological functions of the site.

Grimshaw has been in close contact with the community, conducting outreach initiatives like the Asser Levy Task Force, a group with representatives from the community and design team where the design and park amenities are discussed in the context of the immediate neighborhood and the broader Brooklyn borough.

Asser Levy Park Amphitheater Project - Building Information

Client:
New York City Department of Design and Construction
Brooklyn Borough President’s Office
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Site Size: 9 acres

Construction Budget: $46.7m

Projected Completion: 2011

Site Structures and Areas
Fixed seating: 5000 seats
Lawn seating: 3000 seats / 35,000 sqft
Roof canopy: 60,000 sqft
Stage and Back of House spaces: 40,000 sqft

Architect: Grimshaw (New York)
Project Partners: Mark Husser, Andrew Whalley

Project Manager: Paulo de Faria
Project Architect: Vasco Agnoli
Project Team: Barbara Kurdiovsky, Ceren Bingol, Greg Hildebrand, Ximena Norena

Structural Engineers: Schlaich Bergermann and Partner LP (New York)
Services Engineer: Buro Happold (New York)
Environmental & LEED: Buro Happold (New York)
Lighting: Arup Lighting
Acoustics: Arup Acoustics
Theater Consultant: Fisher Dachs Associates
Landscape Architect: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architect
Civil & Traffic Engineer: Philip Habib Associates
Cost Consultant: Faithful & Gould
Food Services: Post & Grossbard
Wind Tunnel Testing: Wacker Ingenieure
Fire Safety: Arup
Security: Arup
Images of the Ampitheatre here

New Chu Hai College Campus in Hong Kong | OMA Wins

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture in collaboration with Leigh & Orange Architects has won the competition for the new campus for Chu Hai College of Higher Education in the New Territories in Hong Kong. The campus will give Chu Hai College, established in 1947, a new identity as well as a new site.

The project, with a gross floor area of 28,000 sqm (301,400 sqft), consists of education facilities for three faculties – arts, science and engineering, and business – containing 10 departments and two research centers. Chu Hai College has traditionally emphasized a multidisciplinary and wide-ranging education for its 4,000 students engaged in the four-year degree curriculum. Accordingly, OMA’s design generates abundant communal spaces that will facilitate encounters between students from different departments.

OMA conceived a building that consists of two parallel horizontal slabs connected by a ‘mat’ of social and educational facilities. The slabs, each eight stories high, contain flexible space for classrooms, studios, and offices. Their aerated structural facades provide a visual unity for the campus, and allow views into the inner workings of the buildings and out over Castle Peak Bay and its verdant surrounding hills. The slabs are oriented to maximize natural ventilation, reducing air conditioning demands by 15–30 per cent and contributing to an efficient, sustainable design.

Details here

The Self-Sufficient City | Results of 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest

Barcelona-based Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) just announced the winning entries of the 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest “THE SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY: Envisioning the habitat of the future”. The international competition, organized by the IAAC in collaboration with HP, invited architects to submit ideas which transform cities into more stimulating environments for the human life. The contest was open to architects, planners, designers and artists who aim to contribute to progress in making the world more habitable by developing a proposal capable of responding to emerging challenges in areas such as ecology, information technology, socialization and globalization, with a view to enhancing the connected self-sufficiency of our cities.

The jury presented a joint first prize to contestants “HURBS” designed by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez from Spain and “WATER FUEL” designed by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell from the United States.

Details here