CultureNOW | A Celebration of Culture & Community

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, shares his ideas behind the refurbishing of the Asphalt Green AquaCenter, which houses New York City's premier 50-meter competition swimming pool.

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, discusses the Lawrence A. Wien Stadium and its' responsiveness to community concerns. The Lawrence A. Wien Stadium replaces the legendary 50,000-seat wooden stadium which served Columbia University since 1927. Built on Columbia's 27-acre Baker Field in upper Manhattan, and overlooking the Harlem River and New Jersey Palisades, the new facility is responsive to community concerns. It allows off-hour community use of the running track. In order to minimize the stadium's visual impact on the surrounding residential community, the home stand structure is partially on-grade - taking advantage of a natural slope and lowering the profile of the stadium complex.

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, shares his vision for Riverbank State Park, the roof of the sewage treatment plant on the Hudson River was developed as an urban park. The roof of the sewage treatment plant on the Hudson River was developed as an urban park. Two bridges provide access to this year-round recreation facility containing an indoor and outdoor swimming pool complex, multi-purpose structures for athletic and cultural activities, playing fields, court games and a running track, picnic areas and a riverfront promenade, amphitheater, two playgrounds and a restaurant with views up the river. 

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, discusses the design behind the Con Edison Service Center on East 16th Street. Designed to utilize and demonstrate contemporary strategies for energy conservation and sustainability, the building houses technicians and equipment for servicing Con Ed's steam, gas and electric distribution systems throughout Manhattan. The sophisticated curved curtain wall offers views of the East River, maximizing daylight while limiting direct sunlight into the facility. The central skylight on the third level brings additional daylight deep into the building. 

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, shares his ideas about bridging the new and the old.  This rehabilitation project included the renovation of the existing historic station house. The rehabilitation of one of Manhattan's busiest and most congested transit stations provides straphangers a much-improved travel experience. The site includes three landmarked elements - the existing station house, the track walls within the station, and the adjoining Verdi Park.

Richard Dattner, of Dattner Architects, discusses renovation of the marine transfer station on West 59th. Originally constructed in the 1930s and re-designed in 1984, this Marine Transfer Station replaced a 19th-century MTS whose historic facade was reconstructed as the entrance gateway to the new facility.

Richard Dattner of Dattner Architects discusses the renovations to the Coney Island Boardwalk. He argues the importance of sanitary comfort station, and how through these renovations he moved these stations from under the boardwalk to a more suitable location. Located along a two mile stretch of the historic Coney Island boardwalk, improvements include new comfort stations, a lifeguard station and shade pavilions. These provide vital public amenities for the millions of visitors to the famous boardwalk, ocean, beach and amusement park.

Architect Adam Yarinsky, from the Architecture Research Office, talks about the Addition that re-centers the Princeton School of Architecture. Enclosed in glass and steel, the Addition links the School’s two-story south wing, where its administrative offices and library are located, to the three-story north wing’s studios and classrooms. Princeton students have nicknamed the building the “Hyphen”. The Addition contains a new lobby, student lounge, elevator, and cantilevered steel stair. Plan and section take their dimensions from the existing 1963 building: the Addition aligns with the existing floor levels and, on the exterior, translates the rhythm of the existing building’s window bays. Large glass panels, with varying ceramic frit patterns overlaid like folds in a curtain, comprise the Addition’s envelope. The frit pattern affirms formal characteristics seen in the building, uniting the glass and steel Addition with the existing building, while also providing solar shading for the third floor lounge. The elevator shaft, painted shades of blue, forms the background against which the stair and the frit pattern are seen. The project scope also included renovations throughout the existing building to update the School of Architecture with a new model shop and facilities for a three-dimensional printer.

Architect Adam Yarinsky, from the Architecture Research Office, talks about the restoration of 101 Spring Street, the nineteenth-century cast-iron warehouse in which the artist Donald Judd lived and worked from 1974 until his death in 1994. The building is notable for both its elegant, extensively glazed exterior and for the significant transformations that Judd implemented to the interior. The project includes the repair and preservation of the historic exterior fabric, together with extensive life safety, fire suppression and climate control improvements to enable the building to function as a museum and offices of the Judd Foundation.