https://www.archpaper.com/2024/02/bi...casino-museum/
BIG unveils a megaproject next to the UN replete with condos, hotels, a casino, and a Museum of Freedom and Democracy
By Daniel Roche
February 12, 2024
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Since Con Edison decommissioned its Waterside Power Plant in the early 2000s, the expansive swath of land on the East River where it once stood—known colloquially as the “First Avenue Mud Pit”—has beckoned architects to build something as great as its neighbor, the United Nations Headquarters. In 2003, Fumihiko Maki won a competition to design a new tower for the UN between 41st and 42nd Streets on Robert Moses Playground—a project marred by a long series of complications that never broke ground. In 2008, SOM and Richard Meier & Partners (now Meier Partners) prepared a master plan for the contiguous land parcel between 38th and 41st Streets but that project had its plug pulled when the recession hit.
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Now, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is next in line to reimagine the skyline between 38th and 41st Streets on 1st Avenue, alongside Soloviev Group, the landowner; and Mohegan, formerly known as Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment. Adamson Associates Architects, OJB Landscape Architecture, The Friedmutter Group, HBA, Thornton Tomasetti, WSP, Langan, Rizzo-Brookbridge, Herrick Feinstein, and Kilograph are all collaborators on the megaproject.
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Freedom Plaza is eponymous after the open patch’s current name, as can be seen on Google Maps. There, BIG has envisioned a 4.1 million-square-foot complex just south of the UN replete with residential and hotel towers, a museum, and a casino. From across the East River, Freedom Plaza will anchor two residential towers to the south, and two hotels to the north and west.
The residential towers will be 50 and 60 stories, and contain 1,325 apartments; both hotels will be 51 stories high and fitted with 1,200 rooms. The latter will accommodate New York City’s first five-star Banyan Tree Hotel and a Mohegan Hotel, plus a conference and entertainment center.
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The towers by BIG will complement the UN Headquarters with their striped glass and aluminum facades, connected at the base by a podium that will house restaurants, a food market, community spaces, a daycare, and other amenities, the architects said. The towers will be clad in a “warm metal finish,” creating “visual unity” between the buildings. The complex will also feature retail and restaurants, and even a new cultural institution fitting for its location, dubbed the Museum of Freedom and Democracy.
Upon completion, the venture will yield a 4.77-acre, publicly accessible plaza (roughly the same size as Bryant Park) on the East River designed by OJB Landscape Architecture. The plaza by OJB will provide much-needed open space in a part of Manhattan that lacks access to it, offering a children’s play area, a dog run, and an event lawn with a bandshell for hosting al fresco events.
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In signature BIG fashion, the Museum of Freedom and Democracy will be shaped like a Möbius strip. Its form will be a spiraling and infinite geometry, a shape that pays homage to the traditional ancient Greek theaters where democracy was created “thousands of years ago,” Soloviev Group CEO Michael Hershman said. Programmatically, the museum will host ephemera that tells the story of democracy since Plato, and even slivers of the original Berlin Wall. “[Soloviev Group’s chairman] Stefan purchased pieces of the Berlin Wall a few years ago,” Hershman told AN. “We will put those pieces of the wall in the museum.”
“The museum is an idea I’ve had for many years now, close to 18 years, actually,” Hershman added. “There is no museum that’s dedicated to freedom and democracy. Today, because of the threat to democracy around the world, and the growth of authoritarianism, it’s become even more important to have something like this; especially in New York, a place people around the world look to for leadership.”
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…..”We could break ground on the project tomorrow if we wanted to,” Hershman said. “But when we learned that the state of New York was considering issuing downstate casino licenses, we changed our vision. We thought to ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be better for the community, and for the city, and for the state, to turn this site into an entertainment district? With almost five acres of parks, residential towers, hostels, gaming facilities, and a museum?”
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Last edited by NYguy; Feb 12, 2024 at 6:34 PM.
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