417 Canal St

[ZippyTheChimp]

Looks like a project is going forward, but I can't find any info other than DOB filings.

Sullivan St is fenced in and the signs removed, so it looks like the street was demapped.

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7939/417canal01ces6.th.jpg (http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=417canal01ces6.jpg) http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9020/417canal02cdc4.th.jpg (http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=417canal02cdc4.jpg)

[londonlawyer]

Isn't that the nice old building on 6th Ave. that Curbed reported about last week?

[Hamilton]

Is that grassy lot in front of 417 Canal a park?

[lofter1]

The Department of Finance documents on this block talk about the de-mapping of that little stretch of street fronting onto Duarte Square.

I've been digging around but can find no info on what might be going up here.

Calling Mr. Libeskind :confused: (although I hope not)

[ZippyTheChimp]

The way I remember it: The demapped street was transferred to Trinity, and they can use the area as part of the zoning lot. Control of the area goes to NYC Parks, and it will become part of the renovated Duarte Sq. Trinity will pay for the construction and maintenance of the new square.

Duarte Sq design (http://www.starrwhitehouse.com/duarte.html)

Is that grassy lot in front of 417 Canal a park?It will be, if they ever decide to build it. The PA once owned the triangle, and transferred it to the city. It was part of the LMDC funding for lower Manhattan parks. The DOT built sidewalks around the perimeter. It was named Renaissance Park. The design was changed.

The sod was donated by the Tribeca Film Festival. A sign stated that construction would begin "soon." That was about a year ago.

[Derek2k3]

It was discussed last week here. (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4949&page=58)

[lofter1]

Its little neighbor at 74 Varick has came down and now they're starting to chip away at 417 Canal ...

Here's how that block at Canal & Varick looked about 1 month ago:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_04b.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_06a.jpg

And today:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a1.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a4.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a10.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a29.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a27.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a32.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_07a17.jpg

+++

[lofter1]

A certain local who makes regular stops at 417 Canal seems not to have received the relocation notice :cool:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Hudson%20Square/417%20Canal/417Canal_08a.jpg

+++

[MidtownGuy]

WOW, that photo is just fantastic. Get a load of the donut box over the face:eek:

[NewYorkDoc]

What is fantastic about being homeless?

[lofter1]

I find it really amazing that marketing execs in the USA have somehow managed to make certain that the desire for consumption and acquisitiveness works on all levels of American society.

[NewYorkDoc]

In what way here?

[lofter1]

All that stuff in the picture are this woman's possessions -- she moves all around the area with a big collection of assorted bags and boxes.

There is another fellow I see on a regular basis with his wagon-train of overflowing shopping carts -- all of which he moves up and down Lafayette Street.

Granted sometimes when one sees certain folks with lots of stuff it appears that the individual is doing 'business" (collecting recyclables for reimbursement, etc.).

However in other cases (such as appears here) it seems that it's more about surrounding oneself with things. Acquiring stuff as insulation. A protective coating of collected goods.

A metaphor of sorts.

(the rest of us keep it in our dresser or the closet -- or a rental box in a storage facility :cool: )

[NewYorkDoc]

That's an interesting observation Lofter. I suppose sometimes why these individuals want to be surrounded by possessions is because it's all they have.

[lofter1]

Not so different a feeling than that of lots of folks ^

[NewYorkDoc]

Well, I meant in terms of without a house/apartment.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The site is cleared.

Before
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/4691/trumpsoho01ceb4.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=trumpsoho01ceb4.jpg)

After
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8157/417canal03caj4.th.jpg (http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=417canal03caj4.jpg)

[lofter1]

Blue Sky on Canal Street

We offer four architects a fantasy job:
a full block downtown,
with no client to worry about.

http://images.nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/rendersings080421_1_560.jpg
The site today. Sculptures for the park, which is expected to exist for two
or three years, will be chosen by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

New York Magazine (http://nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/45963/)
By S. Jhoanna Robledo
April 13, 2008

The odd-shaped block at Canal and Varick Streets is, in some ways, an architect’s dream. Even the nearby Holland Tunnel entrance, nominally a downside, ensures that whatever goes up there will be visible on all sides. The owner, Trinity Real Estate, cleared the site earlier this year, and says it’ll be used as a sculpture park until plans firm up. (There’s already a small plaza next door, Juan Pablo Duarte Square, with a statue of the Dominican hero.) New York asked four architects to come up with ideas for the plot (which, we will admit, faces our offices). We required only that the result include a residential component and that it more or less meet zoning requirements.

***

The Locavore Fantasia

WORK AC

http://images.nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/rendersings080421_2_560.jpg

It would be a total departure if Work AC’s utopian vision were ever to bear fruit—and we do mean fruit, because it’s an apartment building topped with a working farm. “We thought we’d bring the farm back to the city and stretch it vertically,” says Work AC co-principal Dan Wood. “We are interested in urban farming and the notion of trying to make our cities more sustainable by cutting the miles [food travels],” adds his co-principal (and wife) Amale Andraos. The cheerful if slightly mad design, riffing on a concept they came up with to win the P.S. 1 Young Architects Program, would have different crops on each floor; land laying fallow would be used for play (putting greens, say). Four large water tanks would collect rainwater for irrigation. “Sculpture structures” commissioned from artists would act as columns supporting the building, which leans back to face the crops toward the sun. “We show a Brancusi, but it could be anyone,” says Wood.

***

The Site-Specific Sculpture

AT ARCHITECTS

http://images.nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/rendersings080421_3_560.jpg

Spanish architect and urban planner Ana Maria Torres and her team opted for a landmark meant to evoke the site’s temporary life—in fact, the building looks ever so slightly like a concrete Anselm Kiefer sculpture at giant scale. (It does in this early rendering, at least; ultimately, much of the upper part of the building would be encased in glass, with stone sheathing at the base.) It’s round, explains Torres, because the spot “feels like a pivot point, so the idea is to have a building that rotates conceptually.” The plaza at the center will give Sohoans a place to hang out, augmenting the plaza that’s now at the edge of the site. (“Maybe they can gather there for the Tribeca Film Festival,” she says.) Torres, a big proponent of green architecture, suggests that the many horizontal planes be turned into green rooftops. Side panels could collect solar energy.


***

The Realistic Proposal

KARL FISCHER ARCHITECTURE

http://images.nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/rendersings080421_4_560.jpg

You don’t find sites this wide open anymore, so the prolific Karl Fischer allowed for a plaza (see inset map) to give “pedestrians a reprieve from the traffic of Canal,” he explains. The plaza will perhaps enhance Duarte Square’s neighboring open space, which is a little windswept and underused right now, and add some much-needed trees to the area. It’s also a practical choice, because under New York’s zoning laws, adding a plaza gets you permission to build taller. Fischer’s structure, cleverly designed as hotel space that’s easily convertible into residences, would be faced primarily in two materials—gray brick and glass. Each of the four façades would be unique, making reference to the site’s odd shape.

***

The Subsidized Solution

FLANK

http://images.nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/rendersings080421_5_560.jpg

Flank, known for its inventive façades (like the copper cladding at 385 West 12th Street), came up with a concept that inventively addresses the acute shortage of apartments for middle-income Manhattanites. “Affordable housing, the way it’s being created now, isn’t bringing housing downtown, not anywhere close to where people work,” says Mick Walsdorf, one of FLAnk’s principals. The private-sector, free-market solution integrates a corporate logo into the building’s shell, creating a permanent billboard at a major artery; ad revenue subsidizes the apartments. For this exercise, the firm picked Target—a clever choice, given that the company’s known for unexpectedly chic design at extremely basic prices.

***

Copyright © 2008, New York Media Holdings

[Optimus Prime]

Interesting design contest.

1. This looks totally unrealistic but it may be the terrible quality of the rendering.

2. I like the form but having all the glass on one side and all the stone on the other side strikes me as almost too sculptural. But I guess the windows face away from the tunnel, so...

3. Banal.

4. I get that the billboard subsidizes the apartments, but I just can't bear to look at more ads in this city.