the eighth-annual ‘archtober’, a month-long celebration of architecture and design, is set to take place in new york throughout october 2018. organized by the center for architecture, this year’s edition features events ranging from studio tours and lectures by design experts, to architecture-themed competitions and parties. one of the festival’s most popular programs is the ‘building of the day’ series, where attendees can experience new and historic sites through architect-led walking tours.

 

as an official media partner of this year’s festival, designboom has teamed up with archtober to preview ten of the buildings that will open their doors to the public over the next month. click on the date above each event for more information on timing and availability, and see the full range of programs taking place on archtober’s official website.

 

 

the shed | october 26, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image courtesy of diller scofidio + renfro in collaboration with rockwell group 
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

the shed is new york’s first arts center dedicated to commissioning, producing, and presenting all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture. the shed’s building — an innovative 200,000-square-foot structure designed by diller scofidio + renfro in collaboration with rockwell group — is designed to physically transform to support artists’ most ambitious ideas. its telescoping outer shell deploys over an adjoining plaza to double the building’s footprint for large-scale performances, installations, and events.

 

 

TWA hotel | october 6, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by MCR development
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

the TWA hotel project is an adaptive reuse of the historic 1962 TWA flight center, designed by eero saarinen. the iconic terminal structure will serve as the lobby for a new 512-room hotel, with guest rooms located in two adjacent 7-story structures, and a 50,000 square-foot conference center. the project carefully balances the new hotel buildings with the restoration of the flight center.

 

 

325 kent avenue | october 24, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by SHoP architects 
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

325 kent is the first building to be completed as part of SHoP’s domino sugar master plan. it comprises 500 residential rentals, 20% of which are offered at below-market rates. retail storefronts occupy the ground floor, while above, the residential floors step up in terraces from the east. the long facades of the building fan subtly to increase the sense of openness, while the dramatic bridging element creates an urbane backdrop to the plan’s new waterfront park.

 

 

domino park | october 3, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by daniel levin
read more about the project on designboom here

 

 

domino park is part of the ambitious domino sugar mixed use development project, providing a unique and unprecedented opportunity to reconnect williamsburg to its waterfront and create a significant and continuous open space that is deeply rooted in the community and the site’s industrial history. domino offers a range of activities, including a unique ‘artifact walk’ that integrates over 30 large-scale salvaged pieces, and is designed to act as an absorbent sponge and first line of defense against super storms. the project was carried out by landscape architecture firm, james corner field operations.

 

 

manhattanville campus | october 23, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by nic lehoux, courtesy of columbia university
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

science, art, communications, global issues, community, and energy are combined and stitched together with a network of open spaces to shape phase I of the manhattanville campus. columbia university in the city of new york has always been an urban institution. a transparent, luminous, and active ground floor called the ‘urban layer,’ largely open to the city, unifies phase i. it gives the impression that buildings are levitating above grade, to share space and improve connections with the neighborhood.

 

 

the marcel breuer buildings at bronx community college | october 12, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by robin auchincloss

 

 

this tour will showcase five marcel breuer-designed buildings constructed on the uptown NYU campus (now bronx community college) between 1959 and 1970. these modernist structures of reinforced concrete and steel provide a dramatic contrast to the neo-classical style of architecture seen elsewhere on campus. visitors will tour silver hall (now colston hall), tech I (polowczyk hall), tech II (meister hall), community hall and begrisch hall, which was designated a new york city landmark in 2002.

 

 

spyscape museum | october 22, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by scott frances
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

spyscape is a new interactive museum experience situated in the podium of 250W 55th st. the existing building is a 38-storey office tower designed by SOM, completed in 2013. the demise is split over three levels; the entire second level, partial ground level and partial cellar level. the experience combines entertainment and education on the subject of espionage and intelligence using the vehicle of interactive design.

 

 

277 fifth avenue | october 11, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by three marks
see more about the project on designboom here

 

 

rafael viñoly designed the tower with columns at the building’s perimeter to keep the interiors free from structural elements that might obstruct views and interrupt the layout of rooms. the perimeter columns establish a rhythm of alternating floor-to-ceiling vertical windows that frame views along multiple exposures and solid walls suitable for displaying art. one of the tower’s distinguishing architectural elements is a quartet of double-height, open-air loggias seemingly carved out of the building’s corners, spiraling downward around the building from the upper floors. dramatically scaled and discernible on the skyline, the loggias are, as viñoly describes them, ‘an interesting typology of open space and terracing that has not been seriously explored before.’

 

 

hunters point south | october  31, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image by albert vecerka / esto
see more about the project on designboom here 

 

 

recently opened to the public, phase II of hunter’s point south waterfront park transforms 5.5 acres of abandoned industrial landscape into a new waterfront park. phase II begins south of 54th avenue and wraps around newtown creek to complete the full vision of hunter’s point south park initiated in phase i, and resulting in nearly 11 acres of a continuous waterfront park. the park offers places of retreat and invites intimate connections with nature at the water’s edge, complementing the active recreation spaces in the phase I park.

 

 

lenox health greenwich village | october 2, 2018

archtober: 10 NYC buildings to explore during the month-long festival
image © chris cooper, courtesy perkins eastman

 

 

originally designed by albert ledner in 1964 as the headquarters of the national maritime union and district hiring hall for local maritime trades, this 160,000 sqf facility underwent an adaptive reuse to provide three primary medical services: the first freestanding, 24-hour emergency department in the new york metropolitan area; a full service imaging center featuring digital x-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound; and a specialized ambulatory surgery facility focusing on interventional treatments for the sick and elderly. the interior reflects the underlying themes of the original program and design-the sea, ships, and circular shapes. the building was renovated in 2015 by perkins eastman.