Actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently purchased a unit at the David Rockwell-designed Riverhouse building in Battery Park City. The building is designed to be ecologically friendly while still luxurious. Details about the film star's specific residence weren't disclosed, but the Riverhouse has 264 units, including three bedroom duplexes that are still available. DiCaprio is well known for his eco-consciousness and speaks out on pro-environmental issues frequently. Riverhouse has its own water treatment and air filtration systems,......

Pinch & S’MAC: Dejected fans of Pinch, the defunct Park Avenue South “pizza by the inch” joint, will not only be reunited with their favorite Pinch pizza, but they can even slather it with the incredible mac-n-cheese from East Village favorite S’MAC. The new cheese and carb cartel will bring the best of both menus together on the Upper West Side, forming a single, unified, belt-busting celebration of starch. If you’ve never tried S’MAC, you’re......

New York City was amply represented during last night's National Design Awards at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The Landscape Design award went to PWP Landscape Architecture, the firm that won the World Trade Center Memorial design competition (with Michael Arad). PWP Principal Peter Walker thanked Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki and described the last four years as "difficult," presumably for the number of redesigns and challenges with moving the project forward, but he......

How hot does titanium get? And is it too hot for children to scamper on? Is corrugated cardboard sturdy enough after many rains? These are the questions that came to mind when we heard that Frank Gehry will design a playground for the Battery. At the Battery Conservancy's gala last night, Mayor Bloomberg and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe announced that Gehry would design his first playground in Manhattan. Benepe said, "It is fitting that the......

Oh, to be a child again! The NY Times has a story about the city's efforts to develop a new playground concept for lower Manhattan. The city has been working with designer David Rockwell on a playground that would include things like foam blocks, water, cardboard tubes, burlap bags, ramps, climbing nets and even "play workers" to help kids, uh, play. Developers of the Lower Manhattan project envision groups of children collaborating, for instance,......

As part of an ongoing effort to revitalize Coney Island and its waterfront, the Coney Island Development Corporation and the Van Alen Institute have organized a design competition for a Parachute Pavilion. Architects and designers worldwide are invited to submit their visions for the site of the landmarked Parachute Jump. The icon stands on the site of the former Steeplechase Park, where at one time visitors would enjoy the amusements at the Pavilion of Fun,......

Robert DeNiro's future TriBeCa hotel will open in 2005. The six-story luxury hotel, at Greenwich and North Moore, is partially funded by the state's Liberty Bonds, which also funded Barry Diller's West Chelsea headquarters. The design was approved by the Landmarks Commission, but as if there was any doubt - it looks like everything else in that neighborhood. Ten, fifteen years ago, this would have been more exciting, but now it seems to be average......

Omnium Gatherum, the new play at the Variety Arts Theater in the East Village, gets a write-up in the Times. However, in the food section, because the play centers around a lavish meal. And in a brilliant marriage between art and edible art, the play's publicist and its designer David Rockwell struck upon the idea of nearby chefs supplying the food - Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill will finish up his rotation, and......