With the start of October comes the return of Open House New York (OHNY)’s citywide public celebration of architecture! Launched in 2003, OHNY Weekend is an annual festival that opens hundreds of noteworthy and significant places across New York City’s five boroughs to foster discovery and delight for all New Yorkers and deepen the public’s understanding of how design can strengthen communities and improve quality of life. And this year, OHNY is celebrating a milestone year—20 years of access, exploration, and discovery!
A long-time supporter of OHNY, Dattner Architects is proud to participate again with in-person tours at Riverbank State Park, Chestnut Commons, Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage, and Spring Street Salt Shed on Sunday, October 22.
Riverbank State Park
A first-of-its-kind recreation facility, Riverbank State Park is New York City’s first public green roof and continues to be one of New York State’s busiest parks. Housed in five major buildings are an Olympic-size swimming complex, a covered skating rink for rolling skating in the summer and ice skating in the winter, an 800-seat cultural theater, an indoor athletic complex with fitness facilities, and a 150-seat restaurant. Outdoor amenities include a 25-yard lap pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, a softball field, a playground, and an eight-lane running track surrounding a football/soccer field.
Chestnut Commons
A model for healthy and sustainable urban living, Chestnut Commons is a Passive House-designed, mixed-use residential development in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Community-centric in both design and development, Chestnut Commons provides affordable housing for formerly homeless and low-income households, and it integrates a satellite Community College campus, a food manufacturing incubator that offers job training, and much more as part of the rich, multi-layered community center programming.
Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage & Spring Street Salt Shed
The Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage houses three district garages for the NYC Department of Sanitation, while the 70’ tall Spring Street Salt Shed is home to 5,000 tons of road salt. Although municipal infrastructure projects are often targeted as undesirable uses, the community has embraced these projects and applauded the use of design to successfully integrate critical services into the neighborhood. This pair of public buildings serves close to 300,000 residents.
