First Friday: WXY architecture + urban design-The Architectural League of NY

By The Architectural League and the Urban Design Forum

Sep 9  |  Community

This season’s events feature practices navigating the legacies and possibilities of American infrastructure, from ecological systems and transit hubs to community facilities and social networks.

WXY architecture + urban design was founded in 1998 by Claire Weisz and Mark Yoes, who now lead the firm together with Layng Pew and Adam Lubinsky. Oriented toward social equity and environmental health, the practice approaches the complex issues of urban living through the design of distinctive buildings, public spaces, infrastructure, and frameworks for action like school redistricting. In its own words, WXY is “driven by an abiding belief that our role as architects, urban designers, and planners is to help improve public life,” and aims to design spaces that “resonate socially, culturally, and environmentally” with their users and contexts.

Completed projects include:

• The Peninsula Mixed-Use Campus, a housing, manufacturing, and commercial development on the former site of a juvenile detention center in Hunt’s Point in the South Bronx
• Jacob K. Javits Convention Center Expansion, a rooftop pavilion and working urban farm for the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan
• Brooklyn Army Terminal, a master plan for the renewal of Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bush Terminal, and the Sunset Park District.

Current and upcoming projects include:

• Toledo Riverwalk, a signature downtown park designed to strengthen the Toledo, Ohio, riverfront and reactivate the site’s historic marsh ecology
• Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Action Plan, an urban design framework and action plan for public realm interventions in Downtown Brooklyn, developed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group
• PGCPS Comprehensive School Boundary Initiative, a community engagement process and implementation plan for updating school boundaries across Prince George’s County, Maryland.