Gothamist: Astor Place Bike Rack Prototype Broken!

bkdesigner

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:49:53 -0500

As someone who has had to design a bike rack before there are a lot of things to consider. Its hard to design a one-size fits all solution for something that is supposed to accomodate bikes of all shapes and sizes, not to mention one that allows a person to lock at least one wheel and the bike chasis. Of course that is really only just the start. Since street space is allocated primarily to vehicles and pedestrians, bike parking is seen by most people as an impingment on their ability to circulate freely on the sidewalk. Therefore if the profile of the rack is too big people complain (pedestrians) and if the profile is too small, or -- in the case of the cable rack -- unsubstatial people complain (bicyclists). As an avid city biker myself, I think an elegant solution (and one that implicitly makes a statement about the ped/bike/cars hierarchy) is to take vehicular parking spaces (as they did in Williamsburgh) and to re-allocate it to bicycle parking. As for "artsy fartsy", i suppose that is a question about asthetics. Some people think that you can merge public art and transportation infrastructure (see Art in the Anchorage, Waterfalls under Brooklyn Bridge, The Birdsnest, etc...). Why should be bike rack, a "simple" piece of metal, deserve any less attention than a parking deck (which are designed to incredible specifications) and why shouldn't it make some statement that reminds both the people who ride bike and the people who don't that the bike has a rightful place in the hierarchy of the street. Finally (and just to say it). I do agree that the cable lock has some ..um...kinks to work out.

Snoopy

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:09:31 -0500

Who was the designer of this great concept? Shouldn't that be mentioned? Has the fool ever considered using a weld to join part A to part B? If the designer was talented he could have inserted a rigid metal tube inside a flexible tube and bent it to resemble a flexible bike lock. This is why the city should get out of developing designs that are not fully thought out without knowing what they are looking at. Politicians are not designers, they are politicians who mostly don't have a clue about how things work. Kind of like architects that don't know concrete from plywood. I wont even talk about all the assholes down at city planning that review the big projects. I guess the "C" students need jobs. That's the only excuse I can find regarding their hiring requirements.

HUGO_MEGO

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:13:56 -0500

LOL, perfect for NYC. All show and not functional at all. A PERFECT match for a city that is only concerned with appearances and could not care a lick about functionality. No wonder this neo-lib city is so Obama happy!

Politburo

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:50:17 -0500

"ha "photograph taken today" -- you realize that will only work for today right? hahaha" You realize that the post is dated, right? hahaha...

glob

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:36:13 -0500

They shoulldn't have used a pool noodle to make a bike rack. At least now it can be used to poke people in the eye.

FotoDogue

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:53:25 -0500

Not surprising. I was by there the night before the press conference and people were riding it like a mechanical bull. So does breaking automatically disqualify this design?

ribaldry

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:27:19 -0500

Now this is fucking news.

Fritzdecat

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:17:35 -0500

Bike racks don't need good looks they need armed guards...

Think twice

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:17:34 -0500

SchWINGGGGGGGG!

driftwood

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:55:11 -0500

@ides Art & utility is what I'm hoping for in NYC. You can keep the blandness :P

dr zippy

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:27:58 -0500

The Shake Shack is open year 'round. There have been several posts on Gothamist about Bloomberg wanting a third term.

blablanyc

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:25:07 -0500

A pipe popped out of a socket. Wow.

moocowtoo

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:21:25 -0500

ha "photograph taken today" -- you realize that will only work for today right? hahaha

ides_of_march

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:07:39 -0500

How hard can it be to design something you chain your bike to? Stop trying to be so artsy-fartsy about it.

babyhitler

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:51:42 -0500

whoa. I locked my bike to that thing 2 weeks ago. scary.

Kojak

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:38:40 -0500

Does anyone know when Shake Shack closing for the winter?

blablanyc

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:34:27 -0500

Still nothing about Bloomberg's subversive activity to change term limits?