FROM THE WORLD OF ABC STONE

Join ABC Stone at our new state-of-the-art facility in the heart of New York City for a CEU presentation, followed by a brief showroom tour, accredited by AIA, IDCEC, LACES, NKBA and GBCI.

Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served, and attendees will earn a total of 2 credit hours, just in time for the year-end credit crunch!

This event will be held at our NYC Flagship at 129 West 22nd Street.

This is the second of two CEU event to be held in December at ABC | NYC: the first will be on December 11th, and attendees of which also earn 2 CE credits. Learn more about that event here.
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Join ABC Stone at our new state-of-the-art facility in the heart of New York City for a CEU presentation, followed by a brief showroom tour, accredited by AIA, IDCEC, LACES and NKBA.

Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served, and attendees will earn a total of 2 credit hours, just in time for the year-end credit crunch!

This event will be held at our NYC Flagship at 129 West 22nd Street.

A second CEU event, of which attendees will also earn 2 credits, will be held on December 18th. Learn more about that event here.
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At University of Chicago, the Campus North Residential Commons, designed by our friends at Studio Gang, provides social spaces and experiences with a view towards “[enhancing] campus and academic life for today’s undergraduates,” says the Gang. The site covers a full city block and is poised as a new point of entry to the campus for the greater Hyde Park community,—Gang calls this a new “front door”—one which might encourage interactions among UofC students of diverse backgrounds, and strengthen connections between the campus and nearby communities. Campus North for short, the structure is more mixed-use than dormitory, providing a combination of student residences, dining options, amenities, outdoor green space, and even retail volumes. In terms of design the Campus North complex comprises three slender bar buildings woven into a fabric of plazas, gardens, walkways and courtyards; pre-cast concrete panels are used to clad the building, creating a contemporary facade but one informed by the neo-Gothic tradition of the campus’ architecture. The Campus North Residential Commons is LEED Gold certified featuring, among other sustainable interventions, argon-filled, low E insulated glass and continuous closed cell foam-insulated building envelope; additionally, all cooking oil from the Dining Commons is recycled into biofuel.

Our friends at the Brooklyn-based architecture firm StudiosC, who have, in recent years, undertaken a bevy of adaptive reuse project, have undertaken their latest in the form of the transformation of an neglected Williamsburg loft into a workspace for a boutique law firm. The 3,K SqFt office features abundant natural light and a restored timber-frame ceiling; with the addition of custom furniture, the firm sought to create a meaningful dialogue between design of the past, specifically of the loft, and that of the present: a relaxed, warm-hued environment for a boutique law firm. The addition of a concrete-and-steel roof deck which serves as a gathering place for employees and visitors is connected to the main office by a central corridor. Says StudiosC principal Stephen Conte, “Office design has to transcend just workstations and start to build a sense of comfort and community.” Restoring elements of the original loft was also a method of reducing waste, as well as paying homage to 20th century loft-craftsmanship: the firm sought to incorporate elements of the existing building’s structure wherever possible.

One Hundred East Fifty Third is an extremely slender residential skyscraper in Midtown, designed by our friends at Foster + Partners, rising in close proximity the 1958 Seagram Building of Mies van der Rohe. It stands 63-storeys, contains 94 residential units, and is visually distinctive for its undulant exterior of transparent and white ribbed glass. Foster has also designed the building’s extensive amenities suite, which include a 60′ swimming pool surrounded by distinctive curvilinear windows and screens of slatted oak, of which the latter are also utilized in abutting changing areas which feature rain showers. Black granite figures into the tiling around the pool as well as steps leading down to an abutting lounge, and a staircase links this program to a glassy gymnasium. Additionally, the building’s lobby features a fluted Calacatta marble wall. William T Georgis, principal among our friends at William T Georgis Architect, has designed two setups at the development as well as a pair of model apartments on the building’s 36th floor.

On the evening of Thursday, November 15th, at our newly opened ABC | NYC we were honored to host our friends from The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), and other special guests for a reception and book signing, to celebrate the launch of Shaping the Postwar Landscape: New Profiles from the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Project. Co-Editor Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, president and CEO of TCLF, was present to sign copies of the book.

Shaping the Postwar Landscape is the latest release in The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s well-known series, Pioneers of American Landscape Design, the first volume of which appeared a quarter of a century ago. The present collection features profiles of 72 important figures, including landscape architects, architects, planners, artists, horticulturists, and educators.
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The Aon Center, Chicago’s third-tallest tower, will undergo a $185M renovation for the purposes of boosting tourism. This development, by the New York based 601W, will involve the addition of two 1,K’ exterior elevators in glass, as well as the addition of a rooftop observation deck to the existing structure, of which both are designed by our friends at Solomon Cordwell Buenz. Notable features will include a “sky summit”—a glass-encased pod which will hang off of the edge of the roof—as well as a cantilevered entrance hall at the base of the tower, and an observatory on the top two floors. In preparation for the additions the building’s HVAC system has been removed from the roof and placed elsewhere; also, two-thirds of the exterior columns on the Aon Center’s roof will be removed to allow better views from the deck. 601W has estimated that these additions will attract 2M additional tourists per year.

On Wednesday, November 7th, ABC Stone and LUXE Interiors + Design held a panel discussion and cocktail party in honor of the grand opening of ABC’s NYC flagship Experience Center. The engaging discussion focused on how to push stone usage to the edge and utilize the material in truly awe-inspiring ways. Panelists and intrepid designers Keith Baltimore, Jenny Kirschner, Carol Kurth, and Piera Ruvolo were on hand to share their knowledge and inspiration and the President of ASID NY Metro chapter, designer Kim Radovich, served as moderator.
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Developer East End Capital has launched a website featuring new renderings to advertise office spaces at 141 East Houston Street, a 65,K SqFt, 9-storey development, designed by our friends at Roger Ferris + Partners, at the site of the old Sunshine Cinema movie theater. The renderings show that that new glassy box structure will contain commercial space, retail volumes at grade, and “Houston Alleyway”: a greenwalled passageway which will run south from East Houston Street. Retail volumes will be able to accommodate a commercial kitchen and outdoor seating along the Alleyway, which will run along the eastern face of the building. The offices will feature 12′ ceilings without columns, wraparound windows, concierge services and outdoor terraces, and shared amenities include an executive conference center and rooftop terrace.