Nicolai Ouroussoff does acknowledge the "keen architectural intelligence" of architect Zaha Hadid, but the NY Times architecture critic takes down the Chanel Pavilion a couple notches, finding the entire project "delusional." The Chanel Mobile Art exhibit in Central Park offers a variety of artistic works inspired by Chanel's quilted leather purse; Ouroussoff writes, "the pavilion sets out to drape an aura of refinement over a cynical marketing gimmick. Surveying its self-important exhibits, you can’t help but hope that the era of exploiting the so-called intersection of architecture, art and fashion is finally over." He also finds the "life-size S-and-M teddy bear and scenes of a Japanese model tied up in gold chains...completely mundane" and hates that the pavilion is in Central Park. more ›

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Brookfield Properties, which had offered a plan to bring back streets - as well as 12 million square feet of development and 15 acres of public space - to the West Side Rail Yards, has declined to continue in the bidding process. The MTA had requested revised Hudson Yards proposals with more financial details by yesterday and the bids received were from Durst and Vornado, Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley, Extell, and Related Companies. more ›

There's been a lot of ink, virtual and otherwise, already spilled on Governors Island. But today, NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff proclaimed that the new site "could well become the most inspired public park built here in generations." He also said the plan is "humble in scale but big on ambition." more ›

It's been a busy month for NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff. After tackling Jean Nouvel's skyscraper, Renzo Piano's Times building and the West Side Rail Yards designs, today he turns to the feverishly celebrated New Museum, previewed yesterday by Gothamist. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japan-based SANAA, the highly refined seven-story, 174-foot building succeeds, says Ouroussoff, on a "spectacular range of levels: as a hypnotic urban object, as a subtle... more ›

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on... more ›

Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the NY Times, enjoys working in his employer's new headquarters, he writes today, but the building designed by Renzo Piano falls short of the best skyscrapers in the city. For one, it allegedly harbors a streak of nostalgia, which in the world of architectural discourse amounts to an aesthetic identity crisis. The nostalgia in question is a longing not for neo-Gothic frills and cornices, but for the 1950s era... more ›

NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff reviews Jean Nouvel's future 75-story tower at 53 West 53rd Street, describing it as "the most exhilarating addition to the skyline in a generation." He compares Nouvel's latest to the Woolworth, Chrysler and Seagram buildings. Filling a 17,000 square-foot vacant lot next to MoMA, the structure will be the future site of a developer Hines' 100-room hotel and 120 "highest-end" (Hines' words) luxury apartments. MoMA, which sold the lot... more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted yesterday to landmark eight new sites in four of the city's boroughs - the Bronx loses out. City Room details the new landmarks, which include the Lord & Taylor building, the white brick Manhattan House, two homes on Grand St., the Standard Varnish Works Factory building (its owner thinks the designation is bad for business) and the Greek-Revival style Fillette Tyler Mansion in Staten Island and the Voelker-Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden in Queens. There's a more detailed account of LPC's hearing on Monday here. East Village institutions like Webster Hall and the brick and terra-cotta 11th St. bathhouse, among others, are proposed for designation. The Sun's Eliot Brown has more. more ›

The NY Times weighs in on Bernard Tschumi’s Blue building at 105 Norfolk St. Fresh off reviews from New Orleans, Paris and Brazil, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff is back home with a piece on the 17-story blue-paneled, crystalline tower. more ›

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation is having a public meeting tonight to share the five designs for the island so far. The designers will be presenting and the public can offer feedback. The meeting is at 6:30PM at FIT (Reeves Great Hall, 28th Street and 7th Avenue), and you can see the designs here and wonder if you agree with what the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff thought about them, as he offered his opinion in today's paper. more ›

Jean Nouvel mania reaches a fevered pitch with today’s glowing NY Times review of the French architect’s rising Soho and Chelsea buildings. more ›

The NY Times has a glimmering review of Frank Gehry’s first New York structure to actually get built. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff calls the IAC building, the headquarters for Barry Diller's media empire, “elegant” and “a much-needed touch of lightness” to the city’s skyline. Gehry’s latest, writes Ouroussoff, reflects how developers are paying closer attention to design. more ›

This morning, the NY Times takes a look at the Mayor's $7.5 billion affordable housing plan four years since he announced it and one year since he expanded it to 165,000 units of low- to moderate-cost housing. About one third of the projected units, or 55,000, have been financed to date, and 41,366 have been completed. more ›

In yesterday’s NY Times, Nicolai Ouroussoff notes the onset of 21st-century medievalism, the siege-like architectural style that has surfaced since 9/11. more ›

Governor Spitzer who once called the Freedom Tower a “white elephant” and questioned its economic viability announced his support of the project today in lower Manhattan alongside the Mayor and NJ Governor John Corzine. Spitzer said that after looking into alternatives, he decided that it was best to proceed as planned, citing the strong real estate market. Plus, it's a good photo op. more ›

Today the NY Times reviews a new show at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Titled “Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X-197X,” the exhibit explores 70 architectural magazines published in New York and elsewhere during the period. Pamphlets and building instruction manuals are included in the "little magazine" category. more ›

+ Delays are plaguing Philip Johnson’s Urban Glass House. more ›

Newsweek is reporting that architect Renzo Piano is drawing up plans for a downtown addition abutting the High Line even though the Whitney’s board of trustees hasn’t made a final decision. more ›

Well, this wasn't a surprise: An Upper East Side community board committee moved to reject plans for a 30 floor apartment tower at 980 Madison Avenue. The design by Lord Norman Foster, ballyhooed for his addition to the Hearst Building and a design for the World Trade Center, is shorter than the Carlyle Hotel nearby, but the Carlyle's height is less obtrusive due to set backs. more ›

+ The New York Sun calls the Queens Museum of Art building "fascist" and its redesign renderings "weak." Rare feat. more ›

Until March 5, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a show dedicated to Santiago Calatrava, the already-beloved in NY architect behind the new PATH Transit Hub at the World Trade Center. The show, Santiago Calatrava: Sculpture into Architecture, features two dozen sculptures amongst drawings and architectural models. However, in a skeptical review in the NY Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wonders how the sculptures actually figure into Calatrava's process (plus, the sculptures are "mostly derivative of the works of dead masters like Brancusi"), because he seems to be more interested in engineering. And that's the sense you get from Paul Goldberger's review of the show in the New Yorker - that Calatrava is deeply aware of structure (think his Turning Torso building, think 80 South Street), if a slick salesman. It's still probably worth a visit, if only to see Calatrava's work around the world. And you can stop by the Vincent van Gogh drawings show, which is awesome. more ›

The second article is about longtime residents of 315 Riverside Drive, people who bought in when the building went co-op in the 1980s when the area (around 92nd Street) was dangerous but are now sitting on apartments worth three to twenty-two times what they paid for them, creating a disjointed world where they are asset-rich but not as cash-rich as, say, the TV producer who plunked down $2 million for an apartment in the building. Choice quote from Elizabeth Rudey, who says, "It's a jackpot if you're going to move to Iowa. I can't go to any fancy restaurants because I own a $1 million apartment. It doesn't change anything." This seems to be the case in many gentrified neighborhoods: The people who bought into Park Slope in the 1970s are sitting on multimillion dollar townhouses, but there's no way they'd be able to buy anything similar for that money.
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A moment that has become sadly familiar over the years, yesterday saw family and friends of September 11 victims descended into Ground Zero to pay their respects, lay flowers and remember their loved ones as the city remembered September 11, 2001. Brothers and sisters of the victims read the names of the 2,749 killed on that bright day in a short and moving ceremony. This year, the speeches reflected on the London bombings and New Orleans as well. more ›

-The mystery of the lone 9/11 fatal shooting remains unsolved. more ›

The plans for the proposed buildings around the Brooklyn Nets arena have been revealed by architect Frank Gehry, and they show a dazzling group of skyscrapers at various angles. The NY Times calls it an "instant skyline" and notes that the plan is far from a sure thing, given that developer Bruce Ratner still faces a bit of community antipathy for his plans. But the excitement is best summarized by the first paragraph of Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff's glowing appraisal:

Frank Gehry's new design for a 21-acre corridor of high-rise towers anchored by the 19,000-seat Nets arena in Brooklyn may be the most important urban development plan proposed in New York City in decades. If it is approved, it will radically alter the Brooklyn skyline, reaffirming the borough's emergence as a legitimate cultural rival to Manhattan.

This is no small miracle. Even in this early stage of development, the design proves that Mr. Gehry can handle the challenge better than most. His approach is a blow against the formulaic ways of thinking that are evidence of the city's sagging level of cultural ambition. It suggests another development model: locate real talent, encourage it to break the rules, get out of the way.

The new Freedom Tower design was presented yesterday, showing the more fortress-like design (the NY Post calls it "Fort Zero") that's supposed to meet the NYPD's standards for safer and more bomb-resistant buildings. The jury is out: It's less ugly than before (at least this design had one vision, versus two stitched together), but it's still...lacking. But safer, so it seems New Yorkers are being asked to choose between safe designs and ones that can really lift people's spirits. Curbed had instant reviews yesterday (a mixed-bag), and today, the NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff's assessment is, as expected, withering: "The new obelisk-shaped tower, which stands on an enormous 20-story concrete pedestal, evokes a gigantic glass paperweight with a toothpick stuck on top." However, the criticism has come into a new stage, where people are pitying architect David Childs for having to whip together a design in a few weeks. more ›

Forget Saddam in his underwear (people, this is like seeing your uncle absent-mindedly walk around the house without his pants, only if your uncle is a murderer and despot), the truly awesome photograph that the NY Post has today is this shot of Governor Pataki and polarizing international architect Daniel Libeskind getting cozy. Photographer Josh Williams captured the moment, to which the Post writes, "What will Libby Pataki and Nina Libeskind say when they see their husbands locked in this loving embrace?" Libeskind and Pataki were together, along with other World Trade Center poobahs, to see the unveiling of the Cultural Center designs for Ground Zero. While pols say the design is "respectful," some victims families think the design is too close to the WTC Memorial. Regardless, all involved emphasized that the design met security standards. more ›

There's more discussion about whether or not the current plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site meet security concerns, especially Freedom Tower. A lengthy NY Times article notes that the NYPD's recently publicized concerns are "disturbing." More interesting: Police Commissioner Kelly says that the NYPD has been working with developers for the past 16 months about security issues, which would make one think the developers would have had some idea of what was going on. Anyway, there is talk that the entire site may need to be redesigned to address these issues, which would be embarrassing for Governor Pataki who had promised that construction would begin this February (it didn't happen). Gothaimst wonders how politically embarrassing this would be for Governor Pataki, if he can help steer this project, and his greater political ambitions. The Post says Mayor Bloomberg didn't answer questions yesterday about the fate of Ground Zero, making today's NY Times editorial comparing him to Ahab, "pursuing his great white elephant of a stadium as the former World Trade Center site sinks into trouble," seem more apropos. The Mayor needs to roll up his sleeves and yank this project from Governor Pataki's clutches. First, this might actually help get things down. Second, it could help neutralize the negative perceptions earned from his West Side Stadium hyping. more ›

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