urbanSHED

Thursday, January 7th, 6:00-8:00 pm, at the Center for Architecture

So you may remember that this summer that the AIA and the New York City Department of Buildings sponsored a competition to redesign (err, design in the first place) the sidewalk sheds that currently protect New York city pedestrians from from the falling debris of buildings under construction. More than simply being ugly, the current sheds do not feel safe to walk under and their presence often proves fatal to small businesses, so a change was certainly overdue.

The competition finalists presented their work on Thursday evening at the Center for Architecture. The three finalists (which are pictured in order below) included: Tripod MOD(ule) by XChange Architects, Urban Umbrella by Young Hwan Choi and Urban Cloud by KNEstudio. I was impressed by how robust and complete all three proposals were. Finalists collaborated with structural engineers, cost estimators and lighting consultants to come up with three very viable and ready to be built designs.

Entries from the three selected finalists are all very different. Tripod MOD(ule) moves to accommodate the width of the street and is clean and minimal in appearance; Urban Umbrella operates on the structural logic of the umbrella; and Urban Cloud provides shelter with a field of truncated diamonds that are illuminated. I didn't leave the presentation with a clear favorite, but having sometime to digest the schemes I would favor the Tripod MOD(ule) for its simplicity and lack of association with any particular aesthetic. In ten years this shed won't look dated the way the other two schemes might.

While each of the schemes improves the experience of being under a sidewalk shed, they don't radically altar the structural framework. We are still standing under a roof with two or more columns. I kept wishing for an option with an unobstructed cantilever to appear, which seems like the most ideal condition. The winner will be announced later this month and then installed at the Department of Buildings on 280 Broadway. An exhibition on the competition continues through January at the Center for Architecture.