Left, a conceptual rendering of the Second Avenue Subway’s ventilation structures from the MTA’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, approved in 2004. Right, the MTA’s current design of the ventilation structure that would neighbor 233 East 69th Street, presented at a community meeting last November.

Residents of an Upper East Side co-op filed a lawsuit last week against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, alleging that the agency unlawfully modified the design of its massive structures that would ventilate the Second Avenue Subway (see the complaint after the jump).

Eight permanent utility structures are planned along a 34-block stretch of Second Avenue as part of the first phase of the under-construction subway. Under the most current design, some would be as large as mid-sized apartment buildings, up to 10 stories tall. The facades would be a utilitarian mix of translucent white glass, steel louvers and ceramic tile.

The co-op tower filing the lawsuit, 233 East 69th Street, would neighbor the largest planned structure, slated to cover the entire footprint of two lots currently occupied by five-story brick apartment buildings built around the turn of last century. Once the structure is built, eight co-ops would have their easterly facing windows entirely bricked up.

When the MTA presented its renderings of the utility structures at a community board meeting last November, it was difficult to restore order, said Mark Legere, a resident of the 69th Street co-op. “There was just a complete, like a cacophony, of ‘Oh my God, not that!’ sounds.” [more]

Renderings of the utility structure planned for outside the 96th Street station of the under-construction Second Avenue subway

From the December issue: Those sticky summers languishing on the platform will be obsolete for future riders of the Second Avenue subway. Unlike most city subway stations, where air is sucked through sidewalk grates by passing trains, the new stations will be chilled by a modern ventilation system.

But much to the dismay of some Upper East Siders, that ventilation system will be housed in permanent aboveground utility structures situated at each end of the stations, many as large as midsize apartment buildings, rising up to nine stories tall.

As part of its first phase of Second Avenue subway construction, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning eight of these structures along a 34-block stretch of the Upper East Side. [more]