Roosevelt Island Skywheel - Live in A Ferris Wheel At Southpoint Park

Image from Frame Magazine

Would you rather live in Santiago Calatrava's downtown Townhouse In The Sky of stacked cubes or Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park Ferris Wheel?

Following in the great tradition of conceptual plans for Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park such as the Trilogy project (Curbed named it the Roosevelt Island Tower of Death) and the Roosevelt Island Mermaid, we now bring you the Roosevelt Island Skywheel designed by MUT Architecture, a South Bronx collective. According to Frame Magazine:

... The building is meant to be placed on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City. Inhabitants arrive with car which can be stored in the residential tower. From there on they can live their lives in this 'city within the city', whether they choose to live, work or relax.

Léo Morand (architect at Mut Architecture) explains the inner workings: 'Paddle wheels are sunk within the powerful changing currents of the East River. They are rotated to force a system of worm-gears into action. On each side of the wheel, the worm gears sync and rotate shafts, which span over 400 feet (almost 122 meters, ed.), extending to the hub of the wheel. A second series of gears translates the force, whichever direction the tidal strait below is flowing, to slowly, precisely rotate the massive structure. This structure attaches all moving components, such as the arms, the gardens, the elevator shafts and the base.'

Image of Roosevelt Island Skywheel from Frame Magazine

Weeee. The Southpoint Park Skywheel certainly looks like more fun than the Kahn/FDR Memorial mausoleum boondoggle!

UPDATE - 11/3- The designers of The Southpoint Park Skywheel add the following:

My name is John Mascaro - Leo Morand and I designed this project. NO, inhabitants do not "arrive with car" - we did not make this statement ANYWHERE to ANYONE, and have no idea where this quote comes from. The transportation options are, hopefully, to be limited to light rail, bicycles, and foot power. Please correct,

...and this project is a collaboration so if you don't mind adding John Mascaro as architect for the credit it would be cool!

Replace Roosevelt Island Renwick Ruins With Calatrava Waterfront Restaurant Pavilion?

Image of Santiago Calatrava's restaurant pavilion for Southpoint Park from Main Street WIRE

Today's Daily News reports on efforts by local Roosevelt Island preservationists to raise an additional $3 million to the already allocated $4 million for the stabilization of the Renwick Ruins Smallpox Hospital at Southpoint Park. According to the NY Times City Room:

Under the current master plan for Southpoint Park by the Trust for Public Land, the ruin would be stabilized, though the building would not be rebuilt. There is $12.9 million available for the entire first phase of park development, which is to begin this year, of which $4.5 million has been set aside for the stabilization project.

Image of the crumbled Renwick Ruins from Gothamist

According to RIOC President Steve Shane:

"We've been told by the engineers that to really do an adequate job, we need somewhere around $7 million," ... "We have $4.5 million to spend on preservation. The rest of the money is slated for the parks, and I don't want to pit the preservation people versus the parks people".

The Renwick Ruin Smallpox Hospital:

... was given official landmark status in 1976 as “a picturesque ruin” that “could readily serve as the setting for a 19th-century ‘Gothick’ romance,” in the words of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Those who favor preservation say:

The hospital was designed by famed architect James Renwick, who was also responsible for St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church.
"His buildings had a castle-like quality," said Judith Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. "Everything was built with quality. It's a beautiful, detailed stone façade."
... "It's irreplaceable," said Berdy. "No one would have the budget [today] to put up a building like this [and] I don't know if there are any craftsmen who could put up a building like this anymore."

Not everyone agrees that the Renwick Ruins Smallpox hospital should be preserved particularly at a $7 million price tag. From Architectural blogger Tropolism:

Anyone who has visited the asylum knows that the old building is little more than a ruin, stabilized by luck, some steel, and a lot of ivy. And some theatrical uplighting. Which made the idea of preserving it something short of silly, both from a cost standpoint and a use standpoint. It's frankly more interesting as a ruin...turning it into a building again would make it bland again.

I agree with Tropolism. At a price tag of over $7 million, without any reasonable guarantee that after millions of dollars are spent the structure will not continue to fall apart, it is time to re-consider how these taxpayer funds should be used and to explore other possibilities for this section of Southoint Park. For example, how about replacing the Renwick Ruins Smallpox hospital with architect Santiago Calatrava's proposed Roosevelt Island Southpoint Park restaurant pavilion pictured above? Out with the dilapidated spooky Roosevelt Island, in with the dynamic winged waterfront eatery!

Below are some pictures to remember the Renwick Ruins.

Image from Weblicist of Manhattan

Image of Manhattan seen through the windows of Renwick Ruins from Undercity

Some intrepid urban adventurers such as these would miss exploring the grounds around the Renwick Ruins until ...

You Tube Video

Alternative Aerial Tramway Transport System for Roosevelt and Governors Island?

The NY Times reports that:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s philanthropic foundation is considering using Governors Island to house a public health institute where scholars from around the world could come to study and exchange ideas.

“It’s tranquil, you have these beautiful old buildings,” the mayor said this morning on his weekly radio appearance on WABC-AM.

The federal government sold the 172-acre island to the state and city for a nominal fee in 2002. But what should go there has long been a matter of debate. Thoughts have included a casino and an extension of the City University of New York campus.

With the RIOC Board of Directors meeting set to decide the future course of the Roosevelt Island Tram scheduled for this Thursday, I thought it an opportune moment to revisit Santiago Calatrava's proposed tramway transit system for Governor's Island. According to Gothamist, transportation to and from Governor's Island could be accomplished by a Roosevelt Island Tram like gondola system at a cost of $125 million.

Leave it to Santiago Calatrava, the golden boy of rebuild NYC design at the moment for his beautiful Port Authority transit hub planned for Ground Zero, to design a gorgeous tramway between lower Manhattan and Governor's Island. (The tramway isn't a certainty, but it's a great, flashy "This is what our future could be" symbol.) The city and state announced that they are looking for "visionary ideas for the redevelopment of Governor's Island"...
This tramway-gondola system would cost $125 million and the three stations would be in Battery Park, at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and at Governor's Island.

More on the Gondola plan for Governor's Island here and critical opinion here.

How about the Coaster below as a temporary substitute if the Roosevelt Island Tram is out of service for an extended period of time, as a transit option for getting to Governors Island or as the Curbed Hudson Yards Roller Coaster? Wheeee!


You Tube video of the Dopplemayr Mountain Glider is here. Dopplemayr is also the manufacturer of the Roosevelt Island Tram.
Governors Island image is from NY Times.