Yes, even the extra terrestrials can't try to make something of themselves in the East Village without being told to GTFO. Cooper Union is closing in on completion of the new building for its School of Engineering, located on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets and designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis. But one tagger had other ideas for the future plans of the spot Curbed recently called CU's "new mindfuck of a building." more ›

A rendering for a building that will replace a Cooper Union engineering building has emerged (above). Designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, the 440,000-square-foot mixed-use building will replace the brown tribute to banality that currently hunkers across from the historic 1859 Cooper Union Foundation building. The 51 Astor Place building is to be demolished; the fate of the connected Starbucks (between Third and Fouth Avenues) is uncertain. 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 ›

The NY Times has a nice profile of Amanda Burden, the influential Department of City Planning commissioner whose policies will shape the city for years to come. more ›

+ Community Board 1 Seaport Committee members react to landscape architect James Corner's South Street plaza plans. Some say it's beautiful. Others say it's too beautiful. more ›

The Javits Center is like the stepchild of the city's development projects: No one really cares - they want flashy architects or scary renderings of what a Jets stadium might look like. But now the Javits Development Corporation has selected an architect to design a new expansion, British architect Richard Rogers. Not only is he knighted, he designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris (with Renzo Piano) and the Millennium Dome in London, making Gothamist wonder if the next James Bond film will film at the Javits expansion! The NY Times reports that Rogers was selected over Rafael Vinoly and Thom Mayne, and the rest of the team will include FX Fowle and A. Epstein: "The current plans for the $1.4 billion project would extend the convention hall to 40th Street from 39th Street, expanding the exhibition space to 1.1 million from 760,000 square feet" - plus develop a hotel nearby, because apparently the car and boat shows aren't doing it for them - they want the trade show business. If the Javits expands, you can bet that more high end strip clubs will open up in the area to cater to the trade show types. And the community was worried about businesses! more ›

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Los Angeles architect Thom Mayne has been awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in the field of architecture. Gothamist guesses that the awesome design for the Caltrans District 7 building in downtown L.A. tipped it in his favor this year (here's a profile of the building, see some work in progress photos here), but he's had a very storied career. As for Mayne's NYC projects, with his firm Morphosis, Mayne has designed the new building at Cooper Union (above) and submitted a proposal for an Olympic Village for NYC's 2012 Olympic bid (below. Here's the NY Times story about his win, the first by an American in 14 years (Robert Venturi in 1991).
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This evening, architects Thom Mayne of Morphosis (pictured above, explaining his vision to Mayor Bloomberg) and George Hargreaves of Hargreaves Associates discuss their proposed design for New York's Olympic Village. The design is one of five finalists for the 52-acre site on the East River in Queens, which will include housing for 17,000 athletes, green space, athletic fields and training facilities. more ›

The International Olympic Comitee pared down the locations contending for the 2012 Olympic Games today, choosing five cities to remain in the competition. The cities chosen were New York City, Paris, London, Madrid, and Moscow. Istanbul, Leipzig, Rio de Janeiro and Havana did not make the list of finalists. This, of course, has Gothamist bummed because we were really hoping to travel to Cuba and smoke some fine cigars. There were reports that as many as six cities would make the list, but in the end only five were chosen. more ›

See the proposed designs here, or go to Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central, where you can view them over the next two weeks. Gothamist likes the twisted towers, pictured above, from (corrected) Henning Larsens Tegnestue. Dutch firm MRVDV also has a designed; we've loved their pig farm design. Other designers include Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne (LA), and Smith-Miller & Hawkinson (NY). more ›