Gawker
Last night, representatives of the five design teams proposing plans for West Side Rail Yards development made their first public presentations. The order was randomly chosen, with each team allotted 20 minutes each. Inside Cooper Union's Great Hall, an old man stood directly behind me and began chewing on something loudly. A young Jewfro'd man, not being able to find a seat, simply lay down on the floor, as if star-gazing. Were all development enthusiasts born in a barn? In any event, four proposals were "meh" to interesting. And one was horrific.
Each team basically agreed on the following: They wanted to preserve and incorporate the High Line Park, create additional green space, and make the space environmentally sustainable. Several emphasized diversity of architectural styles and materials, as well as creating "intimate" spaces within larger ones.
Steven Holl, presenting for Extell, was up first, with what seemed to be the most thoughtful and poetic vision, showing a photo that was taken the year that "the last boxcar went over the Highline, [which] was full of frozen turkeys." 
"Why not build it greener than anyone else?" he asked, explaining that runoff water could be recycled and adding that his team was careful not to make buildings tower around the park, creating an unpleasant "canyon space." (The second team said hat they, too, were avoiding a "bottom of the well" effect.)
Extell's architectural showpiece would be a triple-tower, all three buildings joined together at the top. Holl added that, in the event of an incoming airplane or an explosion (Seriously: "God forbid, if an explosion or an airplane" is what he said) there would be multiple ways to escape.
He ended by saying that, from the proposed park, one would be able to see the moon passing over the Empire State Building.
Group #2, the alliance of Related and Goldman Sachs and NewsCorp., proposed the area as an expansion of what its Powerpoint presentation called "exciting media district continues the trend West (ABC, NY Times, Heart, Time Warner)." They showed a rendering of a glass building with a banner across it reading "Myspace.com." Seriously. The future, from this perspective, looked scary. At least they mentioned their commitment to building affordable housing.
Group #3, which is Durst and Vornado and Conde Nast, mentioned an "iconic point tower" and a greenspace built like a "wild terrarium," as well as a "galleria," which in computerized renderings appeared to be more of a what one calls a "shopping mall." Oh, and an "automated people mover" similar to AirTrain. Where would the people be moved to, and why? They didn't say.
Proposal #4, from Brookfield, seemed slightly more intelligent, with a "sky exposure analysis" and six new residential towers. They proposed a park that could host Fashion Week and serve as a 24-hour nightlife and cultural center. The kind of place at which one could buy weed and Rolexes. I hope so.
Then came the last proposal, from big bad Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley. When the first rendering came up, rather jarringly different from the rest, a collective realization of "WTF" washed over the room. "Four monumental towers that taper as they rise up," their man said, mumbling away in a fast monotone and nearly unintelligible accent. 
"This is awful," the woman next to me moaned. It truly was. Do not give the bid to Tishman Speyer.
You can judge all of this for yourself, though. The bid proposals will be on public view at 335 Madison Avenue from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through December 14.
Comments
Rabid trolls like me prefer the Extell design
"Oh, yes. That's the Weird Glass Building district. Don't go in the park at night. Everyone throws stones."
They all look like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, except bigger, and with a golf course in the middle. Why must buildings be silver and pointy? Why not, say, gold and round?
I prefer the mouldering railyard.
@LolCait:
Your comment above was tested and found NSFW.
Not Safe For Water!
Unless you don't mind having it shoot out of your nose.
My proposal: a bumper-hovercrafts course.
What this fair city needs.
@Cesare_the_Somnambulist: or if you plan on recycling it.
@LolCait: Brilliant.
@Tammany_Fall: Seriously, I thought the tall-silver-blue-glass thing went out with the Toyota Previa. I want someone with the balls to build underground towers for mole people. Or this for really, really rich people whom I will envy despite (because of?) their gross excess, bad taste and vapid womens.
How about a professional sports stadium???
@Fritzpeterson:
What is "sports?"
@LolCait: I don't get it. I'm flagging you as inappropriate
@Metcalf: Jenga!
yeah, it's ugly, but in the tishman, those things on the left? they're giant pez dispensers. free pez for all. to throw. at the buildings.
@Cesare_the_Somnambulist: The preferred nomenclature is "industrial playground."
@Metcalf: Just looking at that link made me fall over sideways. I haz vertigoes.
They already rejected my all-Lego proposal.
Well, Tishman-Speyer it is then, yes?
The Conde-Nast people mover takes whoever the hell Anna Wintour says to wherever the hell she wants them to go!
I like the second one. If you look at it, and imagine looking at it a little more from the left and straight on over the park at the tallest building, it'll look like the buildings are giving Jersey the finger.
A stretch?
@IndianSlipper: stretch.
but I like your thinking.
Gawker needs to buy it and build a coliseum. We could at least throw commenters to the lions for a proper execution. Most of those ancient games were performed in the nude too-weee!
The railyards will be developed when Governor's Island get developed. Stasis will not be denied. As Pol Pot said, it takes one ox to pull a cart, not four.
Oh, great! More glass buildings for coke-head financiers!
I'm guessing the Jeb Bush administration is going to claim Eminent Domain and use this as the staging area when they start deporting all the undesirables from New York.
How about just a fancy new rail yard?
Why has Brad Pitt been shut out of the process?
@Mediahohoho:
If the deportation center is on the West Side, does that mean they plan to send the undesirables to New Jersey? Because really, we're full up.
@Fritzpeterson: Thanks. The coffee is finally starting to kick in slowly.
Just knowing that Wall Street's involved is a huge relief.
Just put up a blinky sign, charge admission and call it "Guthrieland". We love historically based theme parks.
NYU should move over there.
Oh. I really like the first design. The only thing is that the N->S layout seems weird. Why wouldn't the buildings get the good indirect North light and leave the south side less obstructed so people at the park can get direct south light? You know.. like when you lay out in the summer time.
It kind of sucks that the buildings get the best light instead of the park. After all, the buildings are tall enough that they would have gotten just as much light from either direction instead of fucking people over in the winter. It's not like the building's are completely illuminated by flickering fluorescent lights anyways, you know?
he east and west ends are also minimally obstructed so that you can maximize daylight. That's nice. It would be awesome if they could integrate a lot of sustainable building features, like a gray / rain water system that could be used for landscaping and or fountains. and maybe some green roofs?
i saw a mention of this elsewhere, but there was talk of making some surfaces out of a material onto which they could project images. The example gives was advertising (eww) but it would be cool to have a huge space like that play outdoor films at night for free while it is still nice outside. Especially if they do add a decent amount of (hopefully affordable) residential space. I'm sure whoever is the ultimate commercial tenant is can afford it and probably write it off.
The only plan that showed a park that could be used by people in the way that people use parks beyond real estate presentations is the Related plan.
If they worked a bit on the manner in which their buildings hit the street, their proposal would be great.
@X on the MTA: Wow scratch most of my requests. I looked at the PDF of the proposal and it is fucking beautiful and it incorporates everything I mentioned andso much more. I'm still thinking the park should have gotten the south light but apparently the tall south side buildings that are shaped like blades are all residential so it actually makes perfect sense. Look att he PDF if you have some time, it is absolutely incredible-- such an amazing job at trying to create something that is NOT just another bunch of generic glass towers and a little plaza. The idea for the masonry work on the L towers is really cool to break off that glass box feeling
I, for one, welcome our new ugly giant glass overlords.
The second one looks as though it should have the Super Friends' Hall of Justice smack dab in the center.
@LolCait: I think they should put the Ground Zero tic tac toe idea from a few years ago over there. Then people can throw X and O shaped stones.
[www.renewnyc.com]
@Wrath of Farrakhan: Have you no respect for the dead?! Mailer's corpse is still.. well.. I guess he was never warm. Nevermind.
The hook to the right in #4 is extremely sexy. I love it when they hook.
@X on the MTA:You make some interesting points but, um, I think the design discussion group meets across the street.
They should turn the space into a gigantic dog park.
Um...are all of these photos of each different design proposal? They all look exactly the same. Was there some cheating in design class?
They should move Ground Zero over there.
Yesterday, Governor Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander and other officials kicked off the extension of the 7 line by unveiling a new sign in Times Square pointing the way to Hudson Yards.
The Conde Naste one looks like the Westin Times Square on Viagra
@Mark 51: whatever. it's not my fault the gawker reader's can't have an intelligent discussion about the merits of representing the unification of new and old and convergence of Manhattan's industrial past, immigrant neighborhoods and current media power houses through an organic architectural model. i mean, c'mon we are talking about the apex of 21st century architecture-- the intersection of the old industrial-revolution rail legacy with the current sustainable green-architecture models all reflected on shinny glass facades and ample greenspaces that reflects the current trend in urbanism to beautify spaces and design not around profit margins, but quality of space and life for citizens.
just kidding, i have no idea what i'm talking about but the pictures of the plan really so look pretty and appealing.
The buildings are shown as envelopes only. The models use transparency to avoid the appearence of design. Unfortunately electtronic and print media give the appearence of design. Exterior design will come in three or four years since the first building will not open until 2014. The tall buildings are to the south because that is where there are no tracks. On the East Yard, the existing zoning and track configuration prescribes the placement and size of the towers.
@X on the MTA: yes, Extell has innovative features (eg. rolling greenspace as opposed to flat), but just once I'd like to see a plan that completely defers to the prevailing scale. We so often see the opposite in these development competitions.
(who am I kidding... "restraint" and "developer" aren't words that can be easily put together.)
But Extell seems to get it, moreso than the others. The "sunslice" towers are nicely scaled and sloped. (although is it just me, or do dominos come to mind? just sayin...) Only one out-of-scale eyesore, of reasonably small footprint. Good greenspace, good sunlight.
Let's hope feasability/bucks pans out. I'd think they're in the lead on design.
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