NEW YORK | Museums - expansions

[NYguy]

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2012...uttle-pavilion

Intrepid Museum Launches Space Shuttle Pavilion




July 19, 2012
By Mary Johnson

It's cleared for takeoff.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is opening the Space Shuttle Pavilion to the public on Thursday, with the retired NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise serving as the showstopping centerpiece of the highly anticipated exhibit.

The museum's president, Susan Marenoff-Zausner, offered a sneak peek of the spaceship Enterprise, which rode around New York City on top of a Boeing 747 back in April, just a day before the pavilion was set to open.

"We are thrilled with this display," she said. "It gives us a platform to educate the young people of New York and the U.S.A. about the space program. Hopefully the children of today might become the astronauts of tomorrow."

Inside the pavilion off West 46th Street, the Enterprise sits just 10 feet above the Intrepid's deck so people can walk underneath the vessel to marvel at the engineering. The walls of the pavilion are lined with interactive multimedia displays, including a video station that documents the history of the experimental test plane, which later paved America's successful space shuttle program.

[mrnyc]

working on the meatpacking whitney annex museum
this am

[yankeesfan1000]

^^^

The first 6 or 8 vertical steel beams are up on the north side of the site.

[easy as pie]

man, i hope that they re-think the plan not to have an entrance off the high line, it would be such a shame, and certainly it would cost a lot more to build it at a later date, whenever the desirability just becomes too clear.

[NYguy]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hip...ect-2012-09-06

Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum Development Team to Select Architectural,
Construction, Engineering, and Exhibit Design Firms for Midtown Project
Development Team to Begin Review of Building Firms and Designers


Sep 6, 2012

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum is opening up a review of potential Architectural, Construction, Engineering, and Exhibit Design firms for the upcoming Midtown Manhattan Museum building project.

The team anticipates completing the acquisition process over the next few months, and is making preparations to move right into the redesigning of the building's exterior and interior infrastructure.

This will include the flow of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum and Entertainment Complex for the estimated 650,000 visitors and tourists annually who will also have the ability to shop at the Official Retail Gift Shop, enjoy family meals and sports at the Restaurant & Sports Bar, take in some fun with the kids at the Arcade, and enjoy an evening out with a live event performance in the Concert Lounge being filmed by our in-house Broadcast Studio facility.

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame is seeking to partner with passionate creative designers, strategic production managers, contractors, and builders who understand the complexities of finishing major projects in the City and State of New York. This includes seamlessly working with City and State building and development agencies. "We are seeking to ensure that local workers, vendors, suppliers, and merchants benefit from the rehabilitation construction building project that will provide jobs, job training, and contribute a $350M socio-economic impact to the New York City region," stated JT Thompson Chairman of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame. Selections will be made in the fourth quarter to begin designing and construction planning schedules on the project that will take 18-24 months to complete.

This coincides with the recent closing of the $100M Official Category Sponsorship and Advertising Agency RFP by the Hip Hop Hall of Fame.

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=12966

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/ar...every-day.html

MoMA Plans to Be Open Every Day





By CAROL VOGEL
September 25, 2012

Two weeks after the Metropolitan Museum of Art said it was considering staying open seven days a week, the Museum of Modern Art announced that starting in May it would be open every day, including Tuesday, the one day it has traditionally been closed. The main reason is growing attendance, said Glenn D. Lowry, MoMA’s director, in a telephone interview. The number of visitors has nearly doubled, to nearly 3 million annually from around 1.5 million, in the eight years since MoMA reopened after its expansion and renovation in 2004. “Our galleries are pretty close to being maxed out,” Mr. Lowry said. The museum was open every day since its founding in 1929, until 1975, when it closed one day a week (originally Wednesdays) to reduce operating expenses. National museums in the United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, are open every day, as are major London institutions, including the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Tate Britain and the Wallace Collection.

Staying open every day will require increasing staff, but will benefit both the museum and the public, Mr. Lowry said. The new schedule cannot begin until May, he added, because the museum already has commitments before then and needs time to add employees. If the Met also decides to stay open every day, something it is expected to announce soon, how will that affect MoMA? “The Met and MoMA are mutually reinforcing,” Mr. Lowry said. “Having the Met open on Mondays will only be good for us.”

[mrnyc]

working hard today on the highline hq and the 4th floor of the whitney museum annex project -- this is next to the highline park at gansevoort st and washington st/10th ave:

[NYguy]

http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=6299

Plaza Flex
The Met plays nice with neighbors in effort to stay on schedule.





Tom Stoelker
10/12/12

In an effort to get shovels in the ground on time, the Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to strike plans to place refreshment and ticketing kiosks on their $60-million plaza renovation designed by OLIN. “The kiosks have been withdrawn from the plan, but we have reserved the right to reintroduce them after watching the plaza in operation,” said Harold Holzer, senior vice president of external affairs for the Met.

The museum was responding to complaints from nearby co-op boards that the plaza was in danger of becoming like Starbucks, the website DNA.info reported. Holzer told AN that in order to move forward expeditiously certain issues would be tabled until the plaza was up and running, including whether to allow the controversial veteran-owned hot dog carts back onto the site. Veterans are permitted to sell food on the plaza based on a 19th-century law. The sidewalks near the museum are also teeming with artisans who are permitted by the city to sell their wares as well. “Let’s see which vendors return, vets or non-vets,” said Holzer.

The museum already has all city-wide approvals necessary, but is treading carefully so as to not ruffle feathers of its lawyered-up neighbors. The museum has also recalibrated the number of freestanding tables to 30 (15 north, 15 south) and chairs to 120. Linden trees trimmed into topiaries will flank the plaza along the sidewalks leading to the plaza. But perhaps the most dramatic change will be LED up-lights that will highlight facade details.

Made possible by philanthropist David H. Koch, the OLIN plaza will scrap much of the 1970 renovation by architect Kevin Roche. In particular the Roche-designed fountains will be replaced with a pair of square water features that will flank the famous steps.

[NYC4Life]

UPDATED 11:39 AM
Opening Ceremony Held For FDR Memorial Park
By: NY1 News

Forty years after the original design was first proposed, a ceremony is being held today on Roosevelt Island to dedicate a park in honor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The FDR Four Freedoms Park is the only memorial dedicated to the 32nd president in his home state.

It was designed by architect Louis Kahn and was was originally conceived in 1973, when Mayor John Lindsay renamed Welfare Island after Roosevelt.

"Ironically, it is altogether fitting that this day was delayed until a time when we knew we could never take the four freedoms for granted. In a time when we too would have to decide whether to build a country that benefits the many and not just the few," said former President Bill Clinton.

"What it offers people is calm and peace and lovely reflection as they enter this Louis Kahn design," said Four Freedoms Park Conservancy President Sally Minard.

The park had been embroiled in a legal dispute with two of its major donors, the Reed Foundation and the Alphawood Foundation, over how prominently their names would be displayed at the site.

A State Supreme Court judge helped them set the locations for their names yesterday.

For more information, visit fdrfourfreedomspark.org.

© 1999-2012 NY1 News and Time Warner Cable Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[NYguy]

From the east river thread...




nycmayorsoffice

[mrnyc]

more whitney annex construction from 2pm today.

they took one crane down, but left the big one up.

doesnt seem too wise in a hurricane.

[RoldanTTLB]

Don't know if anyone follows it, but the Whitney has an earthcam as well..


From this morning.

[yankeesfan1000]

Thanks for the heads up, here's the link. The other building U/C on the left is 330 Hudson.

[NYguy]

That is a great view of the construction, the skyline as well.

[mrnyc]

from this morning --
construction is really moving along

[NYguy]

The new, and exciting Math Museum...


http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2012...ly-math-museum

Sneak Peek Inside Nation's Only Math Museum




December 13, 2012
By Nikhita Venugopal

Here's a museum that's daring to do what some kids think is impossible: Make math fun.

The national Museum of Mathematics, MoMath, will open on Saturday with more than 30 interactive exhibits showcasing different mathematical concepts, each featuring a digital kiosk allowing visitors to learn even more.

"Math is all around us. It's everywhere we look," said Glen Whitney, founder and executive director of the museum.

Hands-on exhibits at the 19,000-square-foot museum include "Spheres of Harmony," a collection of spheres that light up while emitting different musical chords, showing the mathematical relationship between the sounds.

There's also the "Coaster Rollers" exhibit, which lets visitors glide down a track of lumpy shapes to learn why the ride is so smooth. And the "Enigma Cafe," filled with tables of interactive math puzzles, doesn't serve food — it tries to "nourish the mind," Whitney said.

While the museum's directors hope to draw an audience both young and old, Whitney said he expects class groups to form the bulk of the visitors.

[sbarn]

taigatrommelchen

[NYguy]

http://galleristny.com/2012/12/the-o...m-is-complete/

The Outline of the New Whitney Museum Is Complete





By Michael H. Miller
12/17 /12

The final steel beam was just put into place atop the Whitney Museum’s new Renzo Piano-designed location downtown, finalizing the outline of the nine-story, 200,000-square-foot building that is set to open in 2015.

“We’re delighted to share this milestone event with our partners at Turner Construction, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and Cooper Robertson & Partners,” Adam D. Weinberg, the museum’s director, said in a statement. “The future Whitney will be an aspirational space where contemporary artists can realize their visions and audiences can connect deeply with art.”

A flag flew half-mast atop the structure alongside a banner that said “NY Loves Newtown” in commemoration of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

[NYguy]

A quick look at Norman Foster's plans for the NY Public Library...


• Video Link



http://observer.com/2012/12/whats-ol...ublic-library/

[sbarn]

I'm kinda disappointed by the design circulating library design. It's an incredible space no doubt, but I think Forster could have done more with the actual design details.