Good afternoon and welcome back to another midweek news roundup to get you through to this coming holiday weekend.
Here’s what you need to know:
Real estate developers are lining up to build casinos as New York’s moratorium winds down
The largest casino operators and developers are reportedly fighting and negotiating amongst themselves behind the scenes to see who will get the rights to build three casinos in New York City. A statewide casino moratorium is in place through 2023, but Governor Kathy Hochul wants to relax it in 2022 and allow the aforementioned projects through. Although locations aren’t finalized (and local representatives are likely to push back no matter where developers propose), any decision will likely be made after the start of the next fiscal year on April 1.
H/t to Politico
Pratt launches the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellowship focused on climate change
Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute has announced the launch of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellowship, intended to help aspiring architecture and design students address the dire threat of climate change. Made possible thanks to a gift from the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Foundation, the new fellowship will be awarded to two first-year graduate students and cover their first year of study.
Both fellows will be chosen based on their portfolios and how their work addresses the challenges and impacts of climate change—the call for applications will open in the spring prior to the year of the fellowship and the results will be announced at the start of each year.
Thomas Phifer establishes an architectural fellowship at Clemson University
Speaking of fellowships for architecture students, today also saw the announcement of another, this one established by Thomas Phifer at South Carolina’s Clemson University School of Architecture. The new Thomas Phifer Fellowship will support two graduate students from underrepresented communities at the school for two years. The New York office of Thomas Phifer and Partners will also open an accompanying annual year-long preceptorship for Clemson architecture students in the second year of the program.
An East Hampton institution gets a 21st-century overhaul
Peter Pennoyer Architects (PPA) has been tapped to overhaul and expand Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York, a 91-year-old arts institution in dire need of more space. Construction will begin this spring and finish in the spring of 2023, bringing extra space to exhibit Guild Hall’s 2,400-piece collection while improving visitor circulation. Planned work will also see the HVAC system optimized both for comfort and preservation purposes. What’s more, the lobby and arrival area will be revamped for accessibility, and the surrounding landscape will be beefed up with additional trees and green spaces while the stormwater drainage system will also receive an upgrade.
The Biden administration launches a low-carbon material task force
The Biden administration launched the new “Buy Clean Task Force” yesterday, which will examine supply chains and identify opportunities to fulfill the executive order mandating a net-zero federal building portfolio by 2045.
Other than looking at product lifecycles and embodied carbon in building materials, the administration is looking into lowering tariffs for products with lower embodied carbon to make them easier to get into the hands of domestic builders. The task force’s three priorities are, according to the release:
- Identifying materials, such as steel and concrete, as well as pollutants to prioritize for consideration in Federal procurement and federally funded project
- Increasing the transparency of embodied emissions through supplier reporting, including incentives and technical assistance to help domestic manufacturers better report and reduce embodied emissions
- Launching pilot programs to boost federal procurement of clean construction materials
H/t to Construction Dive
