Avant Gardner Development – New York City

Avant Gardner is the largest open air venue of it’s type in New York City.

The Owner wished to transform this temporary use site into a 160,000 sqft multipurpose all-season world-class entertainment venue involving adaptive re-use, renovation, and complex new construction involving kinetic and movable architecture. This included commissioning the design of a state-of-the-art mechanised retractable roof spanning 130ft x 150ft of the entire existing outdoor venue to maximise all-season application.

The site was beset with complexities including zoning restrictions, being part of New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program and poor ground conditions.

Alchemy was appointed as the Owner’s Representative and Program Manager to plan, manage and coordinate this ambitious development.

We assembled a best in class architecture, engineering, and delegated design team and led the project from earliest programming and site data collection through schematic design and into design development.

After careful assessment of the Client’s key objectives and undertaking a feasibility study and a Pre-Concept design, the Alchemy team determined the project delivery method as construction management at risk (CMAR) to optimise cost estimation and incorporate constructability studies.

The Owner is currently assembling funding for the next stage of the development process.