Museum of the City of New York: Where the Past Informs the Future
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MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: WHERE THE PAST INFORMS THE FUTURE volume 1 • number 1 • fall 2008 1220 FIFTH MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: WHERE THE PAST INFORMS THE FUTURE • fall 2008 • number 1 volume 1 SUSTAINING THE CITY The New York watershed (detail). Courtesy of Kiss + Cathcart FROM THE DIRECTOR How Green is New York? By Gregory Kiss It is my great pleasure to introduce the Museum of the City of New York’s Sustaining the City: new publication, 1220 FIFTH. Its name clearly announces where we are, How Green is New York? 3 New Yorkers are accustomed to viewing themselves Now is not the time for New York to rest on GREEN AND NOT SO GREEN By Maura Lout directly connecting the Museum to the complexity and heterogeneity of at the center of the universe, or at least of the its history. The Bloomberg administration’s Building the City: our city. Standing proudly between 103rd and 104th Streets on Fifth planet. Over the years, New York arguably has been blueprint for sustainability, PlaNYC, at least GREEN NOT SO GREEN Avenue—not just one of New York’s or even the nation’s most famous “Starchitects” on the Skyline 4–5 the world center of many things: finance, fashion, addresses the challenge of the coming avenues, but indeed one of the world’s most important and well-known Preserving the City: art, bagels; the list is a long one. Recently we have decades in a systematic way, with an inte- thoroughfares—the Museum is located in a great New York neighborhood, Shifting Tides in Red Hook, Brooklyn 6 added Greenness to this list, with a great deal of grated vision of environment, economy, and BUILT ENVIRONMENT East Harlem, just south of another, Harlem, and adjacent to still another, coverage of our uniquely low-energy lifestyles, low quality of life. But we have seen recently Metro Mavens: The Coffee Cart Vendor 7 A 48-floor building with 1.6 million square the Upper East Side. What could be a better location than 1220 Fifth car ownership, excellent infrastructure, and so on. how difficult change can be here—witness feet will sit on one acre. Breaking it into Avenue for the pursuit of our mission: the exploration of New York’s past, the recent failure of congestion pricing, individual, single-story structures would present, and future, and the celebration of the city’s rich cultural diversity? Paris/New York: It is true that New York is almost unique in the United and cutbacks in transit projects—and with require 140 acres and massive related States as one of the only places one can exist the economy slowing, the difficulties may infrastructure investments to provide water, Design Fashion Culture 8 energy, and transportation. The launching of 1220 FIFTH signals an important extension of the without owning a car, where every good and service be increasing. Museum of the City of New York’s mission. Over the past five years, the From Deco to Streamlined: is available around the corner all the time, where we NYC’s skycrapers—indeed all its build- Museum has been revitalized, with a focus on the qualities that define Donald Deskey and Raymond Loewy 9–13 enjoy good water, great parks and public spaces, The question is, do we have the vision and ings—are not designed for maximum energy our city and with a firm commitment to connecting New York’s history to and endless culture and commerce. All this is the determination to continue in the tradition efficiency. Construction costs can be a Eudora Welty in New York 14–15 prohibiting factor, but in the long run, green the issues that face New York and New Yorkers today—a commitment gift of geography as much as of our farsighted and that made New York what it is today? The buildings are often less costly to operate. to be a place “where the past informs the future.” The Museum’s home Broken Glass: Photographs of the civic-minded ancestors. The confluence of water- and bar is being raised very high elsewhere in at 1220 Fifth Avenue has become a venue for important discussions South Bronx by Ray Mortenson 16–17 land-based transportation with Manhattan’s island the world. Can we improve and extend our WASTE about where the city has been and where it is going; with the inauguration real estate limits drove New York to develop to a transit system to every part of the city? of 1220 FIFTH, we aim to take these discussions beyond the walls of density never before seen on earth. It is this density Can we power all our electrical needs from An NYC household generates 40 pounds Museum News 18 of waste per week, compared to the EPA our landmark home to engage, inform, and communicate with our valued that has made us green—left us with our fantastic renewable sources? Can we feed ourselves national average of 45 pounds. members and supporters and everyone else who feels a sense of owner- Museum People 19 transit and water systems. Density makes apartment sustainably? Can we do these things while ship of our city. Collection Highlights 20 buildings and townhouses huddle together like maintaining the human diversity that has The city generates 64,000 tons of residential waste per week. Under current recycling laws, Public Programs 21 penguins in a winter storm, much less exposed to always made New York great? 36% of our waste can be recycled, but New In the articles that follow, Museum curators and recognized experts in the elements than an equivalent number of suburban Yorkers recycle only 18%. Learning New York 22 their fields discuss a broad range of topics related to New York’s past, houses. As the great city of the 20th century, New present, and future: the environmental sustainability of the city, new Museum Publications 23 York has a solid foundation on which to TRANSPORTATION cutting-edge architecture on the skyline, the campaign to preserve the But the incredible rate of change that once defined build for the 21st. With enough aspiration, 66% of New Yorkers take some form of city’s old industrial building stock, and the New Yorkers who give the city editor—Kathleen Benson New York has slowed, while in other parts of the courage, and capital, we may continue to mass transportation or walk to work. its spirit. In other articles, we introduce the new exhibition season and world change is accelerating to unseen levels. define the modern metropolis in terms of 77% of Americans drive alone to work. share Museum news. We hope 1220 FIFTH will enhance your ongoing art director/graphic design—Tanya Pramongkit “Old” Europe continues to invest in infrastructure environmental, economic, and social sus- Due to congestion, NYC vehicles move slowly, experience and appreciation of this endlessly fascinating city. photographer—C. Bay Milin and policy that produces better quality of life and tainability. Or we may just age gracefully. consuming resources and creating pollution. printer—Bedwick & Jones Printing Inc. better environment—high speed trains, renewable The average taxi speed in midtown at noon is Gregory Kiss is a founding partner of Kiss + Cathcart, printed on 30% recycled paper with soy-based inks energy—while in Asia and the Middle East new cities less than six miles per hour. are rising that aim for the first time in the modern Architects. Since its establishment in 1983, the Brooklyn-based firm has explored the potential Maura Lout is Guest Curator of the Museum’s exhibition world for true sustainability—zero carbon emissions, of sustainable materials and technologies as an Growing & Greening New York. Opening December 4, the 1220 FIFTH is the new magazine of the Museum of the City of New York. zero waste. integral part of its design research. Kiss + Cathcart exhibition will highlight the search for a sustainable city. Susan Henshaw Jones Subscriptions are a benefit of Museum membership. is recognized as a world leader in combining solar, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York 1220 FIFTH © 2008. All rights reserved. or photovoltaic, technology and architectural design. 1220 FIFTH 3 “Starchitects” Robert A.M. Stern Architects BUILDING THE CITY 15 Central Park West on the Skyline Designed by the New York-based firm of Robert A.M. Stern Archi- New York’s signature skyline has been recently emboldened tects, this limestone-clad residen- by new work, both commercial and residential, created by a tial building completed in 2008 roster of “starchitects” from around the world. Neil Denari’s successfully evokes its romantic, HL23 at 23rd Street and the High Line, pictured opposite, historic neighbors overlooking exemplifies this trend and was the subject of the recent exhibi- Central Park. The complex com- tion New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line. prises two towers—one 35 stories, Presented here are four recently completed residential buildings. the other 19 stories—that are Additionally, we feature two towers designed by Richard Meier separated by a gated motor court and completed in 2002. They gained wide critical attention and with an oval entry pavilion. helped to initiate the trend of architecturally innovative buildings designed by leading architects. Photograph courtesy of Robert A.M. Stern Architects New development is often controversial, however, and preserva- tionists and developers continue to debate how to integrate new projects with the city’s historic fabric. On the following page, Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council discusses new Richard Meier commercial development in Red Hook, Brooklyn, citing two radically 173/176 Perry Street different approaches—the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and the destruction of building stock to make way for new structures.