Three NYC Projects

Within the last day or two or three came the announcement of a few new projects located in New York City.

[Urban Umbrella by Young-Hwan Choi, University of Pennsylvania | image source] Bustler reports that Urban Umbrella is the winning entry to the urbanSHED International Design Competition, which aims to "create a new standard of sidewalk shed design and develop a prototype worthy of today's New York City." Young-Hwan Choi, a first-year student at University of Pennsylvania, designed tree-like supports that give the impression of lightness and make the area under the "canopy" more porous and accessible. The ubiquitous sidewalk sheds limit movement via horizontal bars required for lateral stability. Choi's design uses Gothic-like ribs to addresses lateral forces in both directions. With lighting integrated into the tops of the ribs, it is a welcoming design, a definite improvement over what's been used for the last 50 years. If it will be as welcoming as the rendering above will be seen when a prototype is built in Lower Manhattan in the near future.

[P.S. 1 Courtyard by SO-IL | image source] The Architect's Newspaper reports that Brooklyn-based SO-IL are the winner of this year's P.S. 1 and MoMA's Young Architects Program. Titled Pole Dance, it is comprised of "nearly 100 fiberglass rods measuring 2-inches around and 25-feet tall that will be anchored into the ground at 12-foot intervals...14 feet up, at the height of the courtyard's walls, a stretchy, trapeze-like net measuring about 9,000 square feet will be bungeed to the walls and poles." The design is intended to "broadcast the activity inside to the city," according to the architects. Last year's winning design by Mos was realized for $70,000, but SO-IL will have $85,000 for construction of the eleventh YAP design. The first, Dunescape (PDF) by SHoP Architects, cost $50,000 and was far enough under budget the architects were able to pay the volunteer workers who helped build it. The difference between renderings and execution has diverged greatly in these projects, but one thing that's safe to say about SO-IL's is that it looks really fun.

[Edible Schoolyard by WORKac | image source] Arch Daily features the Edible Schoolyard project for P.S. 216 in Brooklyn by WORKac. At first glance it looks like two volumes, one opaque and one transparent, next to each other. But the "Mobile Greenhouse" will actually slide towards the "Kitchen Classroom" in the spring to cover the latter and uncover the area underneath that is kept warm and usable in the winter months. Not a bad idea, though maybe a tad excessive for a public school in Brooklyn. Maybe this sort of educational urban farming experiment will find some generous donors to make it happen as envisioned, so it's not value-engineered into something less kinetic.