by Jacqueline Pezzillo Assoc. AIA LEED AP
Event: The New Domino
Location: Center for Architecture, 04.22.10
Speaker: Rafael Viñoly, FAIA — Rafael Viñoly Architects
Organizer: Center for Architecture; with Rafael Viñoly Architects; Community Preservation Corporation
The New Domino.
Courtesy of Rafael Viñoly Architects PC
With public interest and opinion on the rise about his proposed master plan for the historic Domino Sugar refinery in Williamsburg, Rafael Viñoly, FAIA, continues to take strides towards reinventing this 11.2-acre waterfront parcel into a mixed-income residential community. Spanning five city blocks north of the Williamsburg Bridge, the site is currently undergoing a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) to change the existing manufacturing zoning to allow for residential, commercial, and community facility use.
Working with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (preservation architect) and Quennell Rothschild & Partners (landscape architect), Rafael Viñoly Architects has envisioned a plan for the 125-year-old complex that introduces 2,200 housing units, 30% of which are affordable; 274,000 square feet of retail and community space; 99,000 square feet of commercial office space; and four acres of public parks with a waterfront esplanade. Intended to represent an “aspiration for a new caliber of building typologies in Manhattan,” according to Viñoly, the proposed buildings flanking the existing refinery seek to match the scale of Williamsburg while building up in height as they approach the waterfront. Masonry and transparent glass comprise the material palette chosen to both honor the industrial context and introduce a beacon-like presence on the water’s edge. Through both adaptive reuse and new construction, the site will be a unified “neighborhood” with a plethora of amenities, Viñoly stated.
Deemed a landmark in 2007, the former factory’s three central refinery buildings are iconic to the local community and to NYC — a condition that Viñoly has sought to both revere and highlight. The signage that has graced the refinery’s façade for decades is perhaps the most identifiable aspect; Viñoly’s proposal relocates the 40-foot sign on top of the structure to a position of greater prominence.
Perhaps most impressive about the plan is the connection to the waterfront. Four new public streets have been designated to encourage physical and visual access to the river. A sloping central lawn facing the waterfront is accompanied by more protected play areas for children, a variety of plantings that reflect local ecology, and connections to Grand Ferry Park, located north of the site.
The Domino Sugar refinery site — a reminder of NYC’s industrial heritage — under Viñoly’s drafting pen and the city’s auspices, has the potential of becoming a vibrant waterfront destination for all New Yorkers and a paradigm of historic preservation coupled with socially relevant design.
Note: Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, sat down with Viñoly to discuss his ideas further. To listen to the Podcast, click here.
Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.