Six New Projects to be Honored with MASterworks Awards

Municipal Art Society of New York announces the winners of its annual design awards

October 17, 2022  |  New York, NY

MAS announced the winners of the 2022 MASterworks Awards. Established in 2001, the MASterworks Awards honor projects that make a significant contribution to New York City’s built environment. Over the next few weeks, MAS will host a series of explorations, both in-person and virtual, highlighting this year’s winners.

“We are delighted to recognize these works of design excellence. Each of our 2022 MASterworks Awards represents an exciting new addition or substantial improvement to our city’s built environment,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, President of MAS. “From an ethereal fountain in Queens, to a Beaux-Arts train hall in Manhattan, to a community center that celebrates the once-mighty forests of the Bronx, these projects and the teams who helped realize them have done a great service to New York City.”

2022 MASterworks Winners

Best New Building: Northeast Bronx YMCA (Marvel); Best Urban Landscape: Little Island (Heatherwick Studio, Standard Architects, MNLA); Best Restoration: Brooklyn Public Library Central Library Master Plan: Phase 1 (Toshiko Mori Architect); Best Adaptive Reuse: Adams Street Library (WORKac); Best New Infrastructure: Moynihan Train Hall (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill); Best New Urban Amenity: Fountain of the Fairs Mist Garden (Quennell Rothschild & Partners).

2022 MASterworks Programming

Stay tuned for details on additional programs to be announced in the coming weeks!

MASterworks Explorations: Northeast Bronx YMCA: Saturday, October 29, 12:00–1:00 PM

MASterworks Explorations: Little Island: Wednesday, November 2, 4:30–5:30 PM

MASterworks Explorations: Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library Master Plan: Phase 1: Thursday, November 3, 10-11 AM

MASterworks Conversations: Fountain of the Fairs Mist Garden: Wednesday, November 16, 6:00–7:00 PM

MASterworks Explorations: Adams Street Library: Thursday, November 29, 10:00–11:00 AM

2022 MASterworks Jury

Angel Ayón, Principal, AYON Studio; Debbie Millman, Host, Design Matters; Pascale Sablan, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, Senior Associate Adjaye Associates, Founder & Executive Director Beyond the Built Environment LLC; Tina Vaz, MAS Board of Directors and Head, Meta Open Arts; and Sara Zewde, PLA, Principal, Studio Zewde and Assistant Professor of Practice, Harvard University.

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Press Contact

Meaghan Baron
mbaron@MAS.org

  • 2022 MASterworks Best New Building: Northeast Bronx YMCA (Marvel). Photo credit: Scott Frances.
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  • 2022 MASterworks Best Urban Landscape: Little Island (Heatherwick Studio, Standard Architects, MNLA). Photo credit: Timothy Schenck.
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  • 2022 MASterworks Best Restoration: Brooklyn Public Library Central Library Master Plan: Phase 1 (Toshiko Mori Architect). Photo credit: Gregg Richards.
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  • 2022 MASterworks Best Adaptive Reuse: Adams Street Library (WORKac). Photo credit: Bruce Damonte.
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  • 2022 MASterworks Best New Infrastructure: Moynihan Train Hall (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill). Photo credit: Dave Burk & Aaron Fedor, courtesy of Empire State Development and SOM.
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  • 2022 MASterworks Best New Urban Amenity: Fountain of the Fairs Mist Garden (Quennell Rothschild & Partners). Photo credit: Barrett Doherty.
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Quotes from the 2022 MASterworks Jury

As an architect, I think holistically about how architecture can provide justice for communities. I also think about specifically how architecture can heal and start to undo the oppression from the built environment. With the YMCA project, for the Bronx community to have such a large area of land indicated and allocated for the community to participate in is powerful. 

Pascale Sablan on the Northeast Bronx YMCA  

There are very few new development projects that intrigue hundreds of thousands of people in the way that Little Island has. It feels like one of the biggest things that has happened in New York in a very long time—it has transformed this part of the West Side Highway and created a new environment.  

Debbie Millman on Little Island  

It feels very welcoming and refreshing, in how the space has risen to the way it should be. This is a renovation that improves and enlightens a place that has always had an impact on the community. By making it more accessible, more appealing, and more engaging, it allows for more people to come in and visit. 

Angel Ayón on the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch  

It’s quality design with a purpose—a piece of architecture that is designed with proportions to small children. As kids try to form themselves to adapt to our spaces, this is one of the rare projects that really was tailored to their height. A world that is modified to fit a certain group is powerful and important. 

Pascale Sablan on the Adams Street Library  

I spent a good chunk of my childhood commuting from Long Island to Manhattan and Staten Island. I spent a lot of time in Penn Station. I don’t think I could point to a bigger transformation of an experience from Penn Station to Moynihan Train Hall. In terms of transforming an experience for millions of people, there is no comparison.  

Debbie Millman on the Moynihan Train Hall  

When thinking about the word ‘amenity,’ and what makes this category different, I think about a place that everyone can enjoy in the same way. When I think about a contribution to the livability of the city, the Fountain of the Fairs Mist Gardens in Queens is iconic, it’s usable. It calls attention to the legacy of this place in a new way.  

Sara Zewde on the Fountain of the Fairs Mist Gardens  

 

About the Municipal Art Society of New York

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape New York’s built environment and leads the way toward a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. MAS envisions a future in which all New Yorkers share in the richness of city life–where growth is balanced, character endures, and a resilient future is secured. For more information, visit mas.org

 

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