{"id":118740,"date":"2025-09-18T09:32:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/?page_id=118740"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:36:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T13:36:02","slug":"architects-shaping-nycs-public-life","status":"publish","type":"metro_viewpoint","link":"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/viewpoints\/architects-shaping-nycs-public-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Architects Shaping NYC\u2019s Public Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-sandow-article-header article-header\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-header\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1250\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//NYC_FMI.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118741\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NYC_FMI.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NYC_FMI-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NYC_FMI-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NYC_FMI-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NYC_FMI-1536x960.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi; \u00a9 David Sundberg\/Esto Courtesy Marvel; \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto COURTESY Weiss\/Manfredi; \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi; \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi; \u00a9David Sundberg\/Esto Courtesy Marvel; \u00a9 Ashok Sinha Courtesy Marvel; \u00a9David Sundberg\/Esto Courtesy Marvel; \u00a9 Iwan Baan Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group article-header_intro none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><p class=\"article-date\" aria-label=\"Post Date\">September 18, 2025<\/p>\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-post-title\">The Architects Shaping NYC\u2019s Public Life<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column article-header_meta is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<p class=\"summary size-regular\">On NYC\u2019s 400th birthday, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Weiss\/Manfredi, and Marvel talk about civic spaces that are part of the city&#8217;s infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-sandow-byline byline size-regular\"><span>By: <\/span><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"//tag//francisco-brown/">Francisco Brown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"social-share\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.facebook.com//sharer//sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Farchitects-shaping-nycs-public-life%2F\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M9 8h-3v4h3v12h5v-12h3.642l.358-4h-4v-1.667c0-.955.192-1.333 1.115-1.333h2.885v-5h-3.808c-3.596 0-5.192 1.583-5.192 4.615v3.385z\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.linkedin.com//sharing//share-offsite//?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Farchitects-shaping-nycs-public-life%2F\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M4.98 3.5c0 1.381-1.11 2.5-2.48 2.5s-2.48-1.119-2.48-2.5c0-1.38 1.11-2.5 2.48-2.5s2.48 1.12 2.48 2.5zm.02 4.5h-5v16h5v-16zm7.982 0h-4.968v16h4.969v-8.399c0-4.67 6.029-5.052 6.029 0v8.399h4.988v-10.131c0-7.88-8.922-7.593-11.018-3.714v-2.155z\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"http:////pinterest.com//pin//create//button//?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Farchitects-shaping-nycs-public-life%2F&amp;description=The+Architects+Shaping+NYC%E2%80%99s+Public+Life\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"> <path d=\"M12 0c-6.627 0-12 5.372-12 12 0 5.084 3.163 9.426 7.627 11.174-.105-.949-.2-2.405.042-3.441.218-.937 1.407-5.965 1.407-5.965s-.359-.719-.359-1.782c0-1.668.967-2.914 2.171-2.914 1.023 0 1.518.769 1.518 1.69 0 1.029-.655 2.568-.994 3.995-.283 1.194.599 2.169 1.777 2.169 2.133 0 3.772-2.249 3.772-5.495 0-2.873-2.064-4.882-5.012-4.882-3.414 0-5.418 2.561-5.418 5.207 0 1.031.397 2.138.893 2.738.098.119.112.224.083.345l-.333 1.36c-.053.22-.174.267-.402.161-1.499-.698-2.436-2.889-2.436-4.649 0-3.785 2.75-7.262 7.929-7.262 4.163 0 7.398 2.967 7.398 6.931 0 4.136-2.607 7.464-6.227 7.464-1.216 0-2.359-.631-2.75-1.378l-.748 2.853c-.271 1.043-1.002 2.35-1.492 3.146 1.124.347 2.317.535 3.554.535 6.627 0 12-5.373 12-12 0-6.628-5.373-12-12-12z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"mailto:?body=https%3A%2F%2Fmetropolismag.com%2Fviewpoints%2Farchitects-shaping-nycs-public-life%2F&amp;subject=The+Architects+Shaping+NYC%E2%80%99s+Public+Life\%22 target=\"_blank\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M12 12.713l-11.985-9.713h23.97l-11.985 9.713zm0 2.574l-12-9.725v15.438h24v-15.438l-12 9.725z\"\/><\/svg><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column empty-header-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap size-regular\">W<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">hen Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed Central Park in 1857, they weren\u2019t just advocating for public health and urban equity\u2014they were also leveraging a strategic understanding of how green space could drive land value, redevelopment, and, ultimately, displacement. This double legacy continues to shape the city, and architecture plays a part.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Today, some of the most prolific architecture studios in the city\u2014Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Weiss\/Manfredi, and Marvel\u2014are reimagining the boundaries between buildings, landscape, and civic life, transforming infrastructural remnants and underutilized land into shared assets while navigating complex politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Projects like the <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//programs//on-the-high-line-at-last///">High Line<\/a>, <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//hunters-point-south-park-expansion-resiliency///">Hunter\u2019s Point South Waterfront Park<\/a>, and <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//launch-problem-how-to-make-a-new-york-pier-kayak-friendly///">Bronx Point Park<\/a> demonstrate how <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//32-adaptive-reuse-projects///">adaptive reuse<\/a>, resilience planning, and public-private partnerships are remaking parts of the city\u2019s waterfronts and former industrial zones into new public realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">This work builds on a century of evolving strategies: from 1960s POPS (privately owned public spaces) zoning to Open Streets, schoolyard conversions, and tactical urbanism. Diller Scofidio + Renfro\u2019s design strategies at Lincoln Center and Weiss\/Manfredi\u2019s approach to resilient public parks design both reflect a desire to make civic spaces more inclusive for residents and financially beneficial to the myriad private and public partnerships that run the city\u2019s public spaces.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Yet the challenge remains: How can architects design public spaces without accelerating exclusion or speculation? In a city shaped by activism and constraint, these firms are not just building spaces\u2014they\u2019re reframing what civic life can look like.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Senior editor Francisco Brown spoke with the architects about how their recent projects are shaping public spaces in NYC. These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ELIZABETH DILLER AND CHARLES RENFRO, DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Francisco Brown:<\/strong> The work at <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////dsrny.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R)<\/a> has not only produced some of the most visited and emblematic public and cultural spaces in New York, but you\u2019ve rethought the boundaries between private and public spaces. When did that start for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Liz Diller: <\/strong>I think it began when we started our practice in the 1980s, and we did Traffic, our first public installation, with street cones at Columbus Circle. It was a field of traffic cones, distributed to fuse the various \u201ctraffic islands\u201d into one \u201csmoother space.\u201d It was one of the hardest areas to cross in New York City because of congestion, and we took interest not in the building, but the space of the vehicle and the problem of public crossing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">New York is such a real estate\u2013oriented city, where every square inch is bought, sold, and traded. So, I think this impetus to think about public open space as part of the architectural project started there. There was this trajectory, familiarity, and comfort with working in public open spaces since the beginning.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1372\" height=\"2075\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118744\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR.jpg 1372w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR-677x1024.jpg 677w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR-768x1162.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR-1016x1536.jpg 1016w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Traffic_Photo-by-DSR-1354x2048.jpg 1354w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1372px) 100vw, 1372px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Diller Scofidio + Renfro&#8217;s installation, Traffic, was the winning proposal in a 1981 competition organized by the ReVisions program of the former Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. Courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118743\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-scaled.jpg 1707w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/05_High-Line_Photography-by-Timothy-Schenck-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Opening in 2009, and designed in collaboration with James Corner Field Operations and Piet Oudolf, the High Line is a 1.5-mile-long public park built on a former elevated railroad in Manhattan. \u00a9 Timothy Schenck COurtesy Diller sCofidio + Renfro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB: <\/strong>Then you won the High Line and Lincoln Center projects, which made these public art ideas into full architecture projects&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>LD: <\/strong>Those came one after the other. And they made us think about permanent work in public open spaces, which was a different mindset than we had before. These new projects were addressing a broader public, and they had to work for an extended period of time, not just a season. They were real investments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">When we did our Lincoln Center work, its existing spaces were not for public use. They were just places between buildings. It became a dominant theme to bring culture out of these institutions, which are effectively private institutions. You had to buy a ticket to get in, therefore making these outdoor spaces an extension of those institutions, which were truly public. It was about democratizing what was always there, but never used, and making it habitable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/14_Lincoln-Center_The-Juilliard-School-Alice-Tully-Hall_Photography-by-Iwan-Baan-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The 2009 redesign of Lincoln Center\u2019s Alice Tully Hall transformed the 1960s multipurpose venue into a publicly accessible performance space. \u00a9 Iwan Baan Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> The High Line and Lincoln Center projects were highly successful interventions in the city\u2014but also had complicated, even unfortunate, consequences for some of the surrounding communities. What lessons were learned?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>LD: <\/strong>The High Line grew eight blocks at a time like sausage links. And with each phase, it was increasingly popular. This project was a very big lesson that we learned over time: We should have anticipated more success and leaned on developers to add <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//roof-for-everyone-speculative-designs-future-affordable-housing///">affordable housing<\/a> and to put in more checks and balances so it wouldn\u2019t be a runaway for the real estate market. But all in all, I\u2019m very proud of it. And I wouldn\u2019t have done anything differently on the design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Charles Renfro: <\/strong>We wanted to make the park about New York City and the spaces and places it passed through. It was more a piece of infrastructure when it was a rail track, and now it\u2019s become a bit of a theater experience. I think it\u2019s more cinematic, even.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> Your work seems to connect design strategies, programming, and, yes, cinematic experiences. How do you deal with hybrid public-private clients?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>LD<\/strong>: Public-private partnerships serve the public best when the private sector values public spaces. <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//google-new-york-hq-st-johns-terminal///">The Google [Pier 57] project<\/a> is a great example, with the private part sandwiched between two public spaces. It would have been terrible if Google had just privatized the entire pier.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The city typically wants the <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//play-is-for-everyone-making-nyc-playgrounds-more-equitable///">parks and public spaces<\/a> but doesn\u2019t really fund them. Therefore, we have conservancies and trusts to raise money. The city doesn\u2019t have enough money to do it all. It needs private investment. Good design and architects that are willing and able to cross the line on both sides to make it work for the client, and make it work for the public, are crucial. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> Another public-private example is Casa Belong\u00f3. What was key there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1280\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118748\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01_Casa-Belongo_Courtesy-of-Diller-Scofidio-Renfro-2048x1024.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Casa Belong\u00f3  is the future home of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, located in a new 340-unit affordable housing project in East Harlem. Courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>CR: <\/strong><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////dsrny.com//project//casa-belongo/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Casa Belong\u00f3 <\/a>is the home of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in East Harlem, right underneath the Metro-North train track. So, it\u2019s both an awful site and a fantastic site. We convinced our client to open the entire institution to the street and the public during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">We used the [building] section to allow views from above and down into the depths of a performance space, making it part of the street. Another [part] is a center, which can be used by community members and organizations to have meetings and other activities. We\u2019re trying to make Casa Belong\u00f3 belong to the neighborhood.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> What would you recommend your peers, or planners, ask their clients? &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>LD:<\/strong> The city of New York is a grid city, based on traffic and efficiency. We have sidewalks and streets, but we don\u2019t have many public spaces. Inside some of our tall buildings, you have vast lobbies that are totally empty. Why not develop these beautiful spaces, which are often available, into public spaces where tenants and the public can come together? There could be businesses, retail, places for coworking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">We\u2019re questioning the norms of how we treat the city and where we draw the line between public and private. I also think of cultural institutions; if they want to survive, they need to make new audiences. They need to carefully consider how to bring culture outdoors and how to provide adequate space for unticketed guests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118747\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HPS1_Albert-Vecerka-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hunters Point Park South, Phase 2, Location: Brooklyn NY. Park Designers: SWA Balsley \/ WEISS\/MANFREDI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MARION WEISS &amp; MICHAEL MANFREDI, WEISS\/MANFREDI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> In your new book, <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.weissmanfredi.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Drifting Symmetries <\/em>[Park Books, 2025]<\/a>, you propose that architecture can become infrastructure. What does that mean for a city like New York?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Marion Weiss: <\/strong>We think about work that\u2019s influenced us\u2014like Khaju Bridge in Isfahan or the Agrasen ki Baoli Stepwell in India. When we think about New York City, we start with its very own framework: a grid that is indifferent to the city\u2019s conditions until it reaches other conditions like the edge of water. That\u2019s where the idea played out at <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//profiles//thomas-balsley-on-public-space///">Hunter\u2019s Point South Waterfront Park<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">That project is not only woven into the grid, but also to its idiosyncratic continuity. It is new infrastructure, and that liminal space is working hard because it needs to prevent flooding as a true infrastructural component but also capture stormwater and simultaneously create new wetlands. But it is first and foremost an infrastructure of urbanity for the people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1720\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//BBG_Albert-Vecerka-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-1024x688.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-768x516.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-1536x1032.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BBG_Albert-Vecerka-2048x1376.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Weiss\/Manfredi&#8217;s design for a new Visitor Center at New York City\u2019s Brooklyn Botanic Garden was conceived as an inhabitable topography. \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Michael Manfredi: <\/strong>We\u2019ve always been drawn to hybrid projects that challenge clear [disciplinary] distinctions. We believe that our challenges are urban challenges, so they are social, infrastructural, and environmental. You can\u2019t solve problems like that only through architecture or only through landscape.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> You\u2019ve led architectural projects that became infrastructure and infrastructural projects that became architecture, such as the <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////www.weissmanfredi.com//projects//371-brooklyn-botanic-garden-visitor-center/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brooklyn Botanic Garden\u2019s Visitor Center<\/a> and Hunter\u2019s Point South Waterfront Park, respectively. What questions should architects ask when working with city agencies?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>MW:<\/strong> For the Brooklyn Botanic Garden [BBG] it was about asking the question that was not asked as a foreground of engagement. When the BBG was doing the visitor center\u2019s request for proposals, we observed that if they created a visitor center in the proposed location, it would be a piece of architecture in the middle of the garden, and visitors would have to walk through a large parking lot to get in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">[We thought] it\u2019d be more interesting to see if there was an edge between the city and the site that could be a compelling place to invite you into the gardens and slowly leave the city behind. Never going through a parking lot but maybe slipping along the edges of paths and around the drip lines of trees to find your way into the gardens another way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1422\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lincoln-Center4_Brooklyn-Digital-Foundry-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Weiss\/Manfredi\u2019s Lincoln Center Theater building and park, designed in collaboration with Hood Design Studio, will host 2,000 guests for seasonal events and is expected to open in spring 2028. \u00a9 Brooklyn Digital Foundry Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>MM:<\/strong> In the case of Hunter\u2019s Point South Waterfront Park, [designed in collaboration with SWA\/Balsley] the first phase was listening deeply to the community and to the parks department. We also brought up rising sea levels, a relatively new issue at the time. We slowly started to share with them designs that would weave all these things together. We were able to convince them that we could create a park that was both an incredible recreational opportunity and would leverage a series of strategies to accommodate rising sea levels in an interesting way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">It became a process of \u201ccreative flooding,\u201d where flooding becomes an opportunity for a different kind of wet park. Instead of five pavilions, why not make one? And instead of thinking about a random set of paths, why not connect them all so that there\u2019s a one-kilometer loop? The design became one instead of lots of fragments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> You\u2019re redesigning Lincoln Center\u2019s outdoor theater at Damrosch Park. What have you learned about how to make these public spaces work better than their original designs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>MW: <\/strong>At Lincoln Center, we recognized that during the time of urban renewal, the whole expression of this cultural plinth\u2014and its generosity of engagement and invitation\u2014was oriented to the east, turning its back to the community on the west. Our idea was to bring that [west side] wall down, invert the theater, amplify that edge, and bring it closer to the heart of where the theaters are located.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>MM:<\/strong> I think both BBG and Hunter\u2019s Point share the idea of questioning the brief\u2014and also reframing it. At Lincoln Center, we did the same working with [landscape architect] Walter Hood. The initial brief was that Hood Design would do the park, and we would do the theater and the audience area. Instead, we all worked very closely to identify this as a theater in the park, which means there are times when parts of the theater become an open plaza rather than just an audience area. There\u2019s also a large trellis that works at both the scale of the garden and the scale of performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>MW:<\/strong> The current Damrosch Park, you could say, is an infrastructural park. It\u2019s [built] over two stories of parking, so it has some unique constraints that aren\u2019t so self-evident. It\u2019s also one of those rare cases where all the ingredients were there, but none of them were working effectively.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The new oval shape\u2014with the audience on one side and the theater on the other\u2014creates intimacy. The people who were previously furthest away are now half the distance. So, everyone gets an intimate relationship between the audience and the performer. I think that&#8217;s new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250730-HPS_Albert-Vecerka2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">For the largest affordable housing building project in New York since the 1970s, Queensbridge, the new Hunter\u2019s Point South Waterfront Park provides a cultural fabric that offers places of retreat and connections with nature. Park Designers: SWA Balsley \/ WEISS\/MANFREDI. \u00a9Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Weiss\/Manfredi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">JONATHAN MARVEL, MARVEL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> Some of your earlier work, like <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////marveldesigns.com//project//st-anns-warehouse///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">St. Ann\u2019s Warehouse<\/a> and the <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////marveldesigns.com//project//new-lab-at-the-brooklyn-navy-yard-id///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Lab<\/a>, were able to integrate the urban fabric and activate some of these areas for public use. How did that inform civic projects like the Bronx YMCA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>Jonathan Marvel: <\/strong>The early work\u2014like St. Ann\u2019s Warehouse and the New Lab\u2014dealt with the overlapping of the found object and with the needs of a very dynamic program: one being a theater and the other a center for innovation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">In the case of the <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////marveldesigns.com//project//northeast-bronx-ymca-arch///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YMCA,<\/a> where we\u2019re essentially in an urban environment in the Bronx, the context became much more subtle and nuanced\u2014and not architectural. The context became a grove of trees over a hundred years old, which is rare for New York City. And a topography of terrain that was challenging\u2014not flat, not paved, but boulders and a twenty-foot drop over a very short distance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">We\u2019ve got a tough site, with no architectural artifacts, but a very powerful collection of significant trees that inspired us to guide the program around them. We documented the trees, gave them names, built the program, and then altered it. We were able to navigate the client through a concept phase where we broke the program into three pavilions instead of one. And where the site sloped way down very quickly, that\u2019s where we put the two <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//plus-pool-asks-new-yorkers-show-support///">big swimming pools<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1784\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//1216_N38.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38-1024x731.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38-1536x1096.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1216_N38-2048x1461.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Converted from a 1860 tobacco warehouse in DUMBO, Brooklyn, St. Ann\u2019s Warehouse is a flexible, 700-seat theater that includes a publicly accessible garden. \u00a9 David Sundberg\/Esto Courtesy Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> What other lessons have you learned working on public projects, including the Bronx Point Park and the Bronx Museum?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>JM: <\/strong>We learned the importance of offering back to the public an enjoyable, educational, and connective experience. Everything we do begins with the needs of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">For example, we conducted an in-depth analysis for a Puerto Rican community in Hartford, Connecticut, to develop a master plan for the conversion of the Sacred Heart Church into a Puerto Rican community center. It\u2019s in a historically Latino neighborhood from the 1950s that has since shifted to a West Indian neighborhood, but it still has strong Puerto Rican roots.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">In the analysis, we came up with the phrase \u201cCultural signifiers make people feel comfortable.\u201d Cultural signifiers make people feel at ease, and they change for different communities. They are essential to include as part of public spaces because when you cue people into the narrative, people wake up. They go, \u201cOh, this is for me.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"633\" height=\"1125\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//1723_N66_medium.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1723_N66_medium.jpg 633w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1723_N66_medium-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1723_N66_medium-576x1024.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Completed in 2023, Bronx Point serves as a model for sustainable development practices. \u00a9 Albert Vecerka\/Esto Courtesy Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>FB:<\/strong> How have those ideas\u2014about cultural signifiers and community participation\u2014been reflected in the new Bronx Museum wing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\"><strong>JM: <\/strong>The museum, on the corner of the Grand Concourse and 165th Street, already had a collection of buildings. We were asked to give them a new front door because it was tough for the public to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//R_241212_N10-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/R_241212_N10-2048x1367.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The new 52,000-square-foot Northeast Bronx YMCA addresses the need for recreational space and a multigenerational community center. \u00a9 Ashok Sinha Courtesy Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">The original building was a synagogue. Later, Castro-Blanco Piscioneri &amp; Feder, one of the only Latino firms in the city at the time, put a greenhouse-type environment next to it. It was a more transparent space that glowed and became the beacon for the community and the neighborhood at night. It was a very clever solution at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">Then, Arquitectonica came twenty years later and built their eight-story version of a museum next door. We dismantled the Castro-Blanco Piscioneri &amp; Feder greenhouse and built a new structure on the corner. It essentially extended both the sidewalk into the building and the galleries out onto the sidewalk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"size-regular\">This issue about the public domain and architecture today, for us, is all about that <a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//projects//121-east-22nd-st-oma-condominium///">indoor-outdoor experience<\/a> because it makes people feel included by bringing them in and taking the fear of art away. We wanted the building to reflect that, with the caf\u00e9, lobby, and galleries all designed as an extension of the sidewalk into the building.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1733\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//2143_6_8_23_Renderings-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118758\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-1024x693.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-768x520.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings-2048x1386.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The soon-to-be-completed Bronx Museum of the Arts South Wing Expansion. Courtesy Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" style=\"object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1733\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//09//2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-scaled.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118759\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-1024x693.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-768x520.jpg 768w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2143_6_8_23_Renderings_N7-2048x1386.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marvel designed the Bronx Museum of the Arts&#8217; caf\u00e9, lobby, and galleries as an extension of the sidewalk into the building. Courtesy Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group none\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"comment size-regular\">Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: <a href=https://metropolismag.com/wp-json/wp/v2/metro_viewpoint/\"mailto:comments@metropolismag.com/">comments@metropolismag.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"tag-cloud\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//cultural///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Cultural<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//infrastructure///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Infrastructure<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//landscape///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Landscape<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//domains//preservation///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Preservation<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"tag-cloud\"><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//community-engagement///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Community Engagement<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//diller-scofidio-renfro///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Diller Scofidio + Renfro<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//francisco-brown///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Francisco Brown<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//landscape///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Landscape<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//marvel///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Marvel<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//real-estate-and-development///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Real Estate and Development<\/a><\/li><li><a href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//tag//weiss-manfredi///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Weiss\/Manfredi<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"post-cards__wrapper is-condensed-default columns-3 single-row\" data-type=\"metro_viewpoint metro_profile metro_project metro_product\" data-amount=\"3\" ><h3 class=\"section-title\">Latest<\/h3><ul><li class=\"card__metro_viewpoint\"><div class=\"post-cards__image\"><a class=\"post-cards__link\" href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//the-architecture-of-sensation-neuroaesthetics///"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Turbulence-2025-photo-Gabrielle-Beaumont-1-1024x683.jpg/" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Turbulence-2025-photo-Gabrielle-Beaumont-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Turbulence-2025-photo-Gabrielle-Beaumont-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Turbulence-2025-photo-Gabrielle-Beaumont-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"post-cards__content\"><p class=\"type\">Viewpoints<\/p><a class=\"post-cards__title-link\" href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//the-architecture-of-sensation-neuroaesthetics///"><h4>Reddymade&#8217;s Suchi Reddy on the Architecture of Sensation<\/h4><\/a><p class=\"excerpt\">Growing research in the field of neuroaesthetics gives us a new understanding of the power of design.<\/p><\/div><\/li><li class=\"card__metro_viewpoint\"><div class=\"post-cards__image\"><a class=\"post-cards__link\" href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//rediscovering-tile-for-sustainable-design///"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"724\" src=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//wp-content//uploads//2025//10//Laminam_Gemini_04_Cenere-1024x724.jpg/" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Laminam_Gemini_04_Cenere-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Laminam_Gemini_04_Cenere-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/metropolismag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Laminam_Gemini_04_Cenere-768x543.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"post-cards__content\"><p class=\"type\">Viewpoints<\/p><a class=\"post-cards__title-link\" href=https://metropolismag.com/"https:////metropolismag.com//viewpoints//rediscovering-tile-for-sustainable-design///"><h4>Rediscovering Tile for Sustainable Design<\/h4><\/a><p class=\"excerpt\">AHF\u2019s Noah Chitty explains how advanced manufacturing and recycling innovation are helping this age-old material meet the demands of sustainable design today.<\/p><\/div><\/li><li class=\"sponsored-post ntv-01\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On NYC\u2019s 400th birthday, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Weiss\/Manfredi, and Marvel talk about civic spaces that shape the city&#8217;s 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