Back Forward

03_ExteriorFromHouston 2

Back Forward

Screen Shot 2011-12-23 at 1.07.09 AM

Back Forward

BMW-Guggenheim-Lab-2011

Back Forward

Drivable-Grass-Pavers

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

Rikrit Tiravanija wants to turn Broadway in Queens into an open lawn.

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

His proposal is part of a new show, Civic Action at the Noguchi Museum, which asks artists to rethink Long Island City's urban fabric. It is part of a new movement in the city's cultural institutions The Observer has deemed Museum Urbanism.

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

Mr. Tiravanija wants a lawn spreading for miles.

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

Artist Natalie Jeremijenko has proposed a range of urban interventions, from duck decoys that monitor the environment to a zip line/hang glider contrtaption running over Broadway.

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

That plan may never be realized, but the artist will be building one of his community kitchens inside a new structure at the Socrates Sculpture Park next year.

Back Forward

The Noguchi Museum

Mary Miss made a number of proposals, as well. They include the street-light info kiosks like those installed in the gallery as well as scaffolding that doubles as hanging gardens and shipping containers converted into studios.

Back Forward

MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art has been a champion of Museum Urbanism, starting a year ago with its Rising Currents show, part of a new designer-in-residence program at PS1.

Back Forward

MoMA

The need to address sea level change, both over time and during major storms, is a critical issue, something chief architecture curator Barry Bergdoll believes architects and designers are well suited to address, especially if politicians will not.

Back Forward

MoMA

Five teams were given five areas to focus on. In Sunset Park, the firm nArchitects proposed a more transitional barrier between land and water.

Back Forward

MoMA

SCAPE Architecture created Oystertecture in the harbor, to help control sea levels and clean the water, seen here in an exhibition at MoMA this past spring.

Back Forward

MoMA

In the spirit of reshaping the city, public dialogue was a major part of the program.

Back Forward

MoMA

The residency begun this fall is called Foreclosed and focuses on five sites across the nation and ways to address their housing problems.

Back Forward

MoMA

Even if none of the particular proposals is realized, it is already reaching important decision makers. Seen here is Shaun Donovan, the director of HUD (center), at a Foreclosed open house a few months ago. Standing to his right is the dean of the Cornell school of architecture.

Back Forward

The New Museum

Taking Museum Urbanism to the streets themselves, the New Museum held the Festival of Ideas for the New City last May, transforming whole swathes of the Lower East Side and downtown.

Back Forward

The New Museum

Lectures and panels were a big part of the proceedings, such as this one on the Heterogeneous City, which featured Vito Acconci, Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future and developer Jonathan Rose.

Back Forward

The New Museum

Another big piece of the festival was Rem Koolhaas' Cronocaos installation in the new Studio 231, which sought to dismantle notions of historic preservation.

Back Forward

The New Museum

Yet by far the biggest piece of the festival was StreetFest, two-day extravaganza on the streets surrounding the museum. Everyone from local artists and institutions to the city's Department of Buildings (pictured) got involved.

Back Forward

The New Museum

The festival served as an opportunity for various groups, such as this dance troupe, to collaborate with others on what the future of downtown, culturally and urbanistically, might look like.

Back Forward

The New Museum

There were also dozens of installations at locations throughout the neighborhood helping to redefine what New York is.

Back Forward

The New Museum

Further pushing the boundaries, a light festival was held at night, which used the museum itself as a canvas.

Back Forward

The Guggenheim

In the fall, the Guggenheim set up its urban Lab with BMW in a downtown lot. The BMW Guggenheim Lab was designed by Japanese design hotshots Atelier Bow Wow

Back Forward

The Guggenheim

Located on Houston Street just off Second Avenue, the lot had formerly been vacant.

Back Forward

The Guggenheim

The venue was naturally host to dozens of lectures and panels, but audience participation was also paramount.

Back Forward

The Guggenheim

The space also hosted workshops, meet-ups and not a few parties.

Back Forward

The Guggenheim

What makes the Lab most unique is that it will travel across the globe, exploring three subjects in nine cities over the course of six years.

Back Forward

Museum of the City of New York

Back Forward

Museum of the City of New York

One proposal draws the grid up into the sky.

Back Forward

Museum of the City of New York

This proposal creates 6 1/4 Avenue, a new street a quarter of the way in from the Avenue of the Americas.

Back Forward

PS1

The PS1 Young Architects project has long brought design to the community, though in recent years, it, too, has grown more socially conscious. In 2008, the firm WorkAC turned the pavilion into an urban farm.

Back Forward

PS1

In 2009, MOS architecture created a structure out of recycled organic material, a commentary on our recessionary times. Proof that not all Museum Urbanism is successful, some joked it looked more like a skinned Snuffleupegus.

Back Forward

PS1

This year, Interboro Partners turned to the community for their pavilion, polling locals on what they most needed.

Back

PS1

From planters to benches and even a few ping pong tables, everything has been tagged for distribution after the pavilion closed.