Revitalization

Book Review: RE-USA 20 american stories of adaptive reuse

Adding to the literature of industrial redevelopment

September 15, 2018 By Carol Berens Leave a Comment

Re-USA 20 stories book cover — RE–USA: 20 American Stories of Adaptive Reuse A Toolkit for Post-Industrial Cities by Matteo Robiglio, JOVIS Verlag GmbH, 2017

Redevelopment of abandoned post-industrial buildings and neighborhoods has been transforming American cities over the past decades. Visits to successful projects make an interesting road trip. Matteo Robiglio, an architecture professor at the Politecnico di Torino’s Design and Architecture Department (Italy), did just that and recorded his findings in his new book. RE-USE documents his expedition and reviews projects with respect of their success in adaptive reuse as well as urban revival. [Read more…] about Book Review: RE-USA 20 american stories of adaptive reuse

Take a Train: The Q – NYC’s new subway extension is airy and full of art

April 8, 2017 By Carol Berens 7 Comments

70th St. entrance art: Vic Muniz’s “Perfect Strangers” portray riders you are likely to come across on your travels.

New York City’s new math: 100 years, $4.5 billion, 3 subway stops.

New Year’s Day 2017 saw the ribbon cut on the first phase of the Second Avenue subway, the locally-mythic train touted to alleviate the overburdened east side subways since the late 1920s. A Great Depression, a world war and a City bankruptcy interfered with its execution. After nearly 10 years of actual construction and neighborhood misery, three airy, clean and art-filled stations opened for business. [Read more…] about Take a Train: The Q – NYC’s new subway extension is airy and full of art

Vertical Urban Factory — A Review

December 21, 2016 By Carol Berens Leave a Comment

The role that industry played and continues to play in molding American society was a hotly contested topic this political season. While talk mostly centered on workers and the economic forces that engulf them, little was mentioned about the actual factories where they work and how these structures shape our cities. The interconnection of factory buildings with urban landscapes and the position they hold in the lives of cities are topics that Nina Rappaport, an architectural historian, curator and educator tackles in her latest book, Vertical Urban Factory (2015, Actar Publishers, New York). In nearly 500 pages and 400 photographs and illustrations, she investigates the history of the factory building, manufacturing processes and the integration of industry within cities. [Read more…] about Vertical Urban Factory — A Review

The New Eldorado?

November 2, 2014 By Carol Berens 2 Comments

Everyone loves parks. The dirty little secret is that no one loves them more than real estate developers. As a way to get someone else to invest capital to create development opportunities, parks, once assumed to be drains on city coffers, are now seen as a way to jump start property values and create chic new neighborhoods. [Read more…] about The New Eldorado?

Paris Promenades

November 3, 2011 By Carol Berens

Over 150 years ago, Napoleon built canals and railroads to bring goods and fresh water from the French countryside into the heart of Paris. Today’s wholesale markets ring the city’s outskirts and the industries that lined these waterways are gone, but the routes that once carried flowers, water and produce to please and feed Parisians have been transformed into landscaped public walks—perfect for an afternoon of leisurely exploration and enjoyment, with time out for shopping and a rest at a local cafe, of course. Let us—walkers and bikers—now explore miles of traffic-free Paris [Read more…] about Paris Promenades

The High Line

July 5, 2011 By Carol Berens

Billboard from High Line Park — Billboards are at eye level on the High Line. Note the planks that meld into the benches.

I am walking 30 feet above the ground, through buildings, eye-level with billboards, rubbing shoulders, it seems, with all the tourists in New York City. I am surrounded by plants that poke out from the railroad tracks that are remnants of New York’s industrial past. [Read more…] about The High Line