Architects honored for Bronx River sculpture

Photo by Alexandra Niemetz

Harvest Dome under construction in Hunts Point Riverside Park last fall.

The architects who produced works of sculpture designed to call attention to environmental issues—have been honored as by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects for their work in Hunts Point and at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

SLO Architecture is among seven firms on which AIANY bestowed its New Practices New York awards for 2012. The award, given every other year, “honors firms that have utilized unique and innovative strategies, both for the projects they undertake and for the practices they have established.”

Alexander Levi and Amanda Schachter, the partners in the firm, were honored for Bronx River Crossing and Harvest Dome, sculptures that originated on the Bronx River, and Bushkill Overflow, created and exhibited in Easton Pennsylvania.

The most recent, Harvest Dome, was an effort to create a lacy sculpture from broken umbrellas gathered on the street and to float it from Hunts Point Riverside Park to the Harlem River and up the river to Inwood. The dome foundered on Rikers Island, but the Levi and Schachter say they plan to recreate it and try again.

Bronx River Crossing was a successful effort to float a sculptural rendition of the Bronx River watershed made from discarded trash down the river to Hunts Point.
The works, said the judges, “display a compelling and unified vision of architectural research.”

Levi and Schacter’s “formal creations–developed in dialog with users and the public–all bring a light, sensitive touch to their sites and show promise that SLO can themselves transcend preconceived boundaries of community architecture,” the judges continued.

The firm’s most recent project is an effort to suggest ways to reclaim the dilapidated Westchester Avenue train station near Concrete Plant Park.