Last time we checked in with the Open Space Alliance's summer concert series on the Williamsburg Waterfront, they were battling neighbors who wanted them out of the area. Last summer a few locals were traumatized when they mistook nitrous-huffing Widespread Panic fans in the streets as a zombie apocalypse—after that, they pushed for the OSA to make changes with the concert series. The OSA's solution was to move to a new site... about two blocks away. All has been quiet since, and now the OSA has announced they're looking for design proposals to build out the new site, so it would seem they won.
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Results tagged “design”
OSA Wants Design Proposals For New Williamsburg Waterfront Concert Site
Marc Jacobs Designs South Park Tee For NYU
In November, Marc Jacobs was featured in a South Park episode as shirtless action figure "Muscle Man Marc," so it's only fair that Jacobs repay the tribute and feature a nude Eric Cartman on a t-shirt created to benefit The Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group at New York University.
This Is The Vignelli Subway Map As An Ampersand
In short, this is an ampersand inspired by Massimo Vignelli’s classic 1972 map of the New York City subway. The design appears in the latest issue of Amsterdam-based interior design mag Eigen Huis & Interior—which is, of course, their “New York Design Guide” issue (inside they highlight landmarks of the New York City design scene). So yeah, our subway system as an ampersand. Only in Amsterdam! (You know, because of all the pot cafes and stuff.)
New "Urban Umbrella" Scaffolding Hits The Town Next Month
For a city that never sleeps we sure do take our time with construction. Forget about the Freedom Tower for a minute, even our new scaffolding takes ages to come to fruition. Back in January 2010 the city proudly introduced us to a brand new (and quite attractive) new style of building shed called the 'urban umbrella' and now, nearly two years later, the first one is set to hit New York City streets in December.
Could This New Umbrella Coat Solve Our Umbrella Etiquette Problem?
You know how when it rains and everyone takes out their umbrellas and the sidewalks become even more unbearable and some people even deign to carry those huge golf umbrellas? Well this new jacket could solve all of our rainy day problems. It will keep you dry, and as a bonus, will make you look sort of like Darth Vadar. Or the grim reaper. Or an extra in Harry Potter. Or maybe just someone who works in a meth lab.
A Look Inside Brooklyn Apartments Circa 1978
In 1978 and 1979 photographer Dinanda Nooney took a series of photographs of the interiors of homes in Brooklyn. She photographed around 200 homes, coming out with nearly 2000 photos of Brooklynites in their natural habitats. From Bushwick to Bed-Stuy to Park Slope to Boerum Hill, here are 21 of the photographs she took, complete with addresses (maybe you'll see your apartment in there!).
How Would You Explain A Kindle To Charles Dickens?
If you're Cardiff School of Art & Design student Rachel Walsh, who was given an assignment to "explain something modern/internet based to someone who lived and died before 1900," you make this clever, visually illustrative guide. The larger book, representing the Kindle, has space carved out for forty miniature books, each rendered with tiny, perfect attention to detail. Dickens himself would surely approve. Well done! This deserves an A. Bonus: it would probably also help us explain the Kindle to our grandparents. [via Laughing Squid]
Step Inside These Retro Space Age Kitchens
Remember how people used to think we'd be cooking on the moon by year 2000? AquaVelvet dug up these futurescapes (plus a few more) from the 1972 "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape [pdf]" exhibit at the MoMA, while PaleoFuture has a full rundown of vintage "kitchen of the future" ads from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Space-aged refrigerators, seated dishwashers, stovetops with built-in pots and pans—it's 2011 and we're still waiting. Future, are you out there? If you can hear us, tell Rosie we want pork chops for dinner.
Struggling Budweiser Introduces New Can To Reclaim Beer Throne
Despite a seemingly neverending revenue stream from legions of frat boys around the country, sales for Budweiser have been down recently, so to combat the loss, the diminished King of Beers is rolling out "sleek" new redesigned cans. Will the brodudes bite?
Urban Outfitters Rips Off Another Independent Jewelry Designer
Last year two jewelry designers at the Brooklyn Flea claimed Urban Outfitters was ripping off their style, and now it seems they're at it again. Etsy seller Stevie Koerner produces a line of pendants she calls "A World of Love," and they look an awful lot like some new pendants for sale at Urban Outfitters. Once the discovery was made, Koerner wrote on her Tumblr:
Taking The Stairs Is Still Healthier Than... Not Taking The Stairs
At the sixth annual Fit City conference, held at the Center for Architecture yesterday, David Burney, the commissioner of the NYC Department of Design and Construction, declared it is time to bring back the staircase! Pretty sure we hike up plenty of stairs each day emerging from the subway, but more specifically, Burney said:
Burger King Burns Downsizes "Industrial-Inspired" Design
Way back in 2009 McDonald's started unveiling an upscale, metrosexual look for its fast food spots featuring new uniforms, subdued lighting, free wifi, and bright colors. So naturally (well, as natural as fast food gets) that prompted arch rival Burger King to announce that it too would be overhauling its 12,000 locations with a "20/20" design featuring "industrial-inspired corrugated metal and brick walls." But apparently somebody finally looked at the financial sheets and noticed that the company doesn't really have the $500,000-per-store in cash needed for the remodel. Burger Business is reporting that the 20/20 design has been deep-sixed. So no red-flame chandeliers for New York, we guess.
MetroCards: What Can't They Do?
Don't you just love it when the MetroCard becomes not only functional but deep. Steve Shaheen recently created this bench using 5,000 MetroCards—he calls it Metrobench. Shaheen says: “I was inspired to use these discarded objects—at once very personal and expendable—in a way that reflects the manner in which mass transit joins many diverse lives into a single moment or path together. Millions of New Yorkers, with their separate lives, are brought together on the transit system every day. In this sculptural seat, each card, with its distinct and intimate history is stitched together into a fluid tapestry."
The Gowanus Canal Will Be Brooklyn's High Line... On Paper
With a long Superfund process ahead, the Gowanus Canal isn't going to be sparkling with anything but STDs anytime soon. A new design competition can keep hope alive though! And that's exactly what's happening. According to the Brooklyn Paper, the contest will accept entries from architects who want to spruce the place up, even before the decade is over. A local architect told the paper, “The goal is that the entries become food for thought and it allows the community to start to look at the way it wants to have the area developed.”
What If Manhattan Lost Its Street Grid?
What if Manhattan were without a grid plan? A digital design class at Columbia University has stripped the city of its organization, and replaced the street grid system with the grand boulevards of Paris. (There are some early city planners spinning in their graves, just at the thought.) Untapped New York takes a look at this work by Charles-Antoine Perrault, who explains he "covered Manhattan with Paris Left Bank streets. You might recognize Gare Montparnasse on the right and the Invalides in the top left corner. Pretty fun to imagine New Yorkers lost in Manhattan without their grid!” Another student, Alex Wallach, channeled the concept and then superimposed Paris onto the famous 1807 Commisioners’ street grid plan.
Architects Envision New Pearl Street Triangle
Not too long ago the Manhattan Bridge archway was filled with proposals for the Pearl Street Triangle (including one that would have turned the space in to a giant interactive piano). Currently the space is simply painted green, with a few sculptures, chairs and tables scattered about (an improvement from the parking lot it used to be). Last night a winner was announced for the recent "ideas competition," which aimed to find a new way to utilize the public space. DUMBO's own Coburn Architecture won with their design called "The Tracks: Ride the Rails!" (Note to artists: they're also seeking mural proposals for the DOT Fence which used to display this colorful piece)
CFDA Gala Honors Alexander McQueen
Last night at Lincoln Center the annual Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards were delivered to fashionable recipients, including designer Marc Jacobs, who won top honors. It was Alexander McQueen who took the spotlight, however. The designer committed suicide earlier this year and was given a special tribute last night—Sarah Jessica Parker delivered that tribute to the late designer (sans notes or teleprompter!), whose Fall 2010 collection was shown for the first time in the States.
Taxi Of Tomorrow: The UniCab?
The New York Taxi and Limousine Commission may have announced its Taxi of Tomorrow search years ago, but they've only just launched a new website for the project. The site was designed in hopes of connecting those interested in participating with some more details, such as the below requirements:
Coney Island Boardwalk Becomes Furniture
As the city goes about replacing parts of the decaying Coney Island boardwalk with charming concrete, a Red Hook design firm has reclaimed pieces of the old ipe wood for a "Coney Island line" of furniture. Uhuru Designs is debuting a Wonder Wheel Coffee Table, a Boardwalk Console, and a Cyclone Lounger, all made from bits of the old boardwalk. The lounger will set you back $7,200, but unlike the Cyclone, you probably won't have to worry about fracturing any vertebrae while sitting on it. You can give it a test run this weekend when St. Ann's Warehouse in DUMBO hosts the BKLYN Designs fair, featuring loads of design-related events.
Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, Roman and Williams
Sorry to start the day on a note of bitter envy, but check out all these really, really, ridiculously good looking places we can't get into nor afford! While their styles are somewhat disparate, they do share one thing in common: they all sprang from the minds of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, the hip couple behind design firm Roman and Williams. SO hot right now—but you might not know it if you can't afford a room at The Standard, or can't wait hours for a table at The Breslin or The Standard Grill, or have naively tried to visit that insane Mordor-esque red-glowing bar, formerly known as The Boom Boom Room, atop the 18th floor of The Standard. (To be fair, impecunious nobodies are perfectly welcome to buy a coffee from Stumptown and drink it in the lobby of The Ace Hotel.)
Keep It Covered: Condom Design Contest Finalists
The judges have wrapped up their search for a new NYC condom wrapper design, and now it's time to vote for your favorite rubber package out of five finalists! The Health Department received nearly 600 entries since December, when it invited New Yorkers to design a wrapper that would “capture the city’s distinctive culture while promoting safer sex.” But it wasn't just locals who got in on the action; designs flooded in from as far away as Perm, Russia. (There's a Yakov Smirnoff joke in here somewhere, but damned if we can find it.)
Meet "The Urban Umbrella" — NYC's New Sidewalk Shed
For the first time since the 1950s, the city's ubiquitous sidewalk sheds are going to get a makeover. The new scaffolding design — selected after an international contest — is intended to "improve quality of life, reduce construction impacts on businesses, increase pedestrian safety and increase available space for pedestrians on sidewalks," according to the Mayor's Office. The so-called "The Urban Umbrella" will "complement the city's architectural beauty rather than take it away from it," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Sidewalk sheds are a part of New York life, reflecting the face of a city that is constantly changing — yet the sheds themselves haven't evolved at all during the past four decades and its time to bring them into the 21st century."
Extreme MTA Website Makeover
Oooh la la: the MTA is getting a fancy website makeover! The NY Times previewed the redesign (the organization's first since 2003) — launching on Wednesday. Along with design improvements (goodbye drop down menus!), visitors to the site will also find real-time updates on delays and service changes. The paper notes that "a widget on the home page compiles continually updated service status for every subway, bus and commuter rail line in the region, along with nine of the bridges and tunnels operated by the authority." Everything is color-coded and categorized to make the site more user-friendly. Plus, they've added a HopStop-esque feature to help you navigate the city.
NYC Wants You to Help Spice Up Condom Design
The city will debut a special limited-edition condom package next fall, and the Health Department is holding a contest to pick the new look. They're calling for designs that reflect NYC's "distinctive culture and style while also promoting safer sex." As they put it on the website, "Maybe you’ve admired the NYC Condom’s sleek package design. Maybe you even own one or two of the 41 million the Health Department gave away last year. We’re not about to abandon the now-iconic package, but we want to keep things interesting." (But "not raunchy"!) So what does the winner get?
Upscale Chelsea McDonald's Just Waiting For Its Michelin Star
Check out the lipstick on this pig factory farm cow: McDonald's Corp. spokeswoman Danya Proud says this McDonald's location on Sixth Avenue between 14th and 15th streets is the first in the nation to get a so-called "urban redesign." It has free Wi-Fi and laptop outlets, upholstered vinyl chairs instead of seats bolted to the floor, subdued lighting, and all-black uniforms for employees. The metrosexual look is, naturally, de rigueur in Europe, but like something out of another world for us boorish Americans. One customer tells the Associated Press it's "beautiful" and more "like a lounge"—but with the same revolting "food."
City, Parks Dept. Sued For Flawed High Line Design, Broken Ankle
The High Line only just opened to the public this past June, but already it's facing a $2 million lawsuit. We've been told by the NYC Park Advocates that "a basic design flaw that regularly causes pedestrians to trip has rendered the vast majority of the first section of the million High Line promenade a hazard."
McCarren Tennis Court Expansion Would Evict Softball Crew
We play tennis at McCarren Park a couple of times a week, so it's exciting to see someone trying to do something about those ridiculously busted old courts, which the Parks Department charges $100 a year or $7 an hour to use. But the folks involved with the McCarren Tennis renovation group aren't just demanding that the badly cracked courts get a long-overdue resurfacing, they've got much bigger plans. Those familiar with the park know that on weekends, the big concrete lot next to the courts is occupied by a crowd of, um, spirited softball players. Well, these fellows will be mighty interested to know that their tennis-playing neighbors have their eye on that lot, and are campaigning to have it turned into more courts! There is no way that happens without a riot, despite the fact that the entire area was originally devoted exclusively to tennis "once upon a time," as Brownstoner notes. We'll be sure to share that interesting bit of history with those softball gents this weekend, particularly the individual who inexplicably yelled, "HAMBURGER" over and over again for more than an hour during their game last Sunday.
Manhattan Airport Foundation's Bold Plan for Central Park
For well over a century almost a thousand acres of prime Manhattan real estate have gone to waste, as thousands of roustabouts loiter daily on that great green monument to squandered potential: Central Park. But at last a group of visionaries are trying to turn this urban void into something the city desperately needs: an international airport! But what about JFK, you say? Let the Manhattan Airport Foundation explain:
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Picture the Guggenheim in Red!
The color of the Guggenheim's facade has been discussed over and over again, but did you know that Frank Lloyd Wright designed it to be red? More specifically, "Exterior: Red-marble and long-slim pottery red bricks."
High Line Lookin' Good, Still Closed to Public
The High Line is set to open on some closely-guarded secret date (though we hear it's around June 15th), and until then, it's the A list, the rich, and Kevin Bacon only! Curbed has some shots up provided by an insider at a special event that took place on the Line last night, and included guests like Martha Stewart, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg. For the rest of us non-celebs, we'll have to be content with these various spy cam shots, and maybe this recent interview with the founders of Friends of the High Line, who teamed up all those years ago to save and re-purpose the defunct elevated train line.
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