Long Time Coming: Pop Up Chapel Proposal (2011)

And now for a post that's a little bit late... last summer, The Knot and Architizer sponsored a whirlwind competition to design and build two "pop up chapels" at Columbus Circle to celebrate the passage of New York's marriage equality law.  From the event website:

The Pop Up Chapel was conceived by a group of friends, tipsily celebrating the fantastic news that all New Yorkers are finally able to enjoy marriage equality. The friends, a motley crew consisting of a software developer, an editor, two writers, and a director (who happens to be a legal wedding officiant), decided that they wanted to do something special to commemorate the triumphant news. In their excitement and mild delirium, they decided to provide a beautiful wedding for anyone who wanted to get married, totally free of charge. They figured "people might want to get married at City Hall, but wouldn't they prefer to get married in a beautiful city park? Especially if they could bring all their friends and family and eat free cupcakes? Who doesn't love cupcakes? And same-sex marriages?" Exactly.

If I recall correctly, the competition lasted less than two weeks, and when the two winners were chosen, they had one week to build their designs.  Yikes!  Maura and I took a stab an an entry, and while our design was not selected, we found the process enormously fun and inspiring.  The winning chapels were built, and each hosted 12 weddings last July 30.  Photos of the big day can be seen here.

Our entry boards follow a brief description of our design proposal:

Over the course of the day, couples would attach colored rings to the structure of the chapel after their ceremonies to mark this groundbreaking moment. If so moved, the couples and guests could use the rings to contribute good wishes, love notes or signatures to the constantly evolving chapel. The structure is composed of faceted triangles, as well as symbols of pride, equality and marriage. Materials are readily available, off-the-shelf products.

Urban Design Week at the Queens Museum of Art

The 10 winners of the Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City competition were announced on Thursday.  Check them out here.  Maura and I made it to the Urban Design Week launch party at the new/temporary BMW Guggenheim Lab, at Houston and 2nd Avenue, where all of the entries were looped on big screens overhead, as well as published in the brand new Atlas of Possibility for the Future of New York (available for $35).  Of course I'm a little biased, but it's a great-looking book, especially considering that the competition ended a month and a half ago and it includes 150-some entries. Nice work by the IfUD.


Anyway, while I wasn't a winner, I have been asked to present my project at the Queens Museum of Art tomorrow.  From 2:00 to 4:00, 5 of the competition entrants will be speaking as a lead-in to the opening reception for the QMA's new photography exhibit: Detroit Disassembled, by Andrew Moore.  It's a haul (Flushing Meadows/Citi Field area), but could be fun.  Hope to see some of you there!

Turn the Beat Around: By the City/For the City

While the winners for the Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City competition have yet to be announced, I just discovered that my entry was used for a profile of the competition for The Architect's Newspaper.  Winners will be named at the Urban Design Week Launch Party, to be held at the BMW Guggenheim Lab next Thursday evening, 9/15, from 6:00 to 8:00.  

The gist of the competition: in stage one, residents of NYC were asked to submit ideas--of any shape or form--for improving the urban environment.  These ranged from the ambitiously pragmatic ("Wouldn't it be great if there was an easier way to get from Brooklyn to Queens?") to the whimsically impractical ("Wouldn't it be great if there was a slide from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park?"). Stage two asked designers to respond to specific ideas.  

My proposal answered a mash-up of two calls--one for half of the city's advertising space to be given over to NY artists, and one for more outdoor museums in the city.  The new hypothetical: Wouldn’t it be great if 50% of the surface area on existing NYC billboards were given over to artists, turning the city into a massive urban gallery with ever-changing installations?  

The proposal in its entirety follows...

UPDATE: Fluid Adagio finalists announced

Last Tuesday, I posted my entry that came up short for Salt Lake City's Fluid Adagio competition.  The finalists have been announced, and one image from each of the five entries selected as finalists can be seen here.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

On Friday, I received word that I was not, in fact, selected as a finalist for the Salt Lake City Fluid Adagio competition.  Alas...

Regardless, below is the entry I submitted in collaboration with artist--and fellow Brooklynite--Jong Il Ma.  The winning project will occupy the future site of the SLC Ballet West dance company, to be built next spring with a budget of $46,000 for design, materials and labor.

View from Southwest

Rubato: Rhythmic flexibility within a phrase or measure; a relaxation of strict time.

This light, whimsical structure will embody and encourage a dynamic action and interaction with its inhabitants. Rubato might be employed by the ballet company—or other artists—for outdoor performances open to the public, either as a backdrop or as an integral participant in the performance.

A series of ribs created from segments of poplar lumber dance across the site, intertwined with an array of crisscrossing nylon ropes (a potential supporting structure for a canopy of snow in winter). Inspired by Salt Lake City’s mountainous surrounds and the grace of the ballet, the basic profile of the arch repeats itself throughout. The scale of the arches is modulated between three sizes. Each arch is a mirror image of the previous component and offset to varying degrees. Combined with the variation in height, this lends the overall composition a richness and complexity that belies its economical and repetitive elements. While visitors might experience a continuous winding procession through the arches, the structure pulls apart at alternating intervals to allow lateral passage. The composition and movement of the structure create large pockets of space ideal for performances, temporary merchant stands or simply relaxation and enjoyment.

Composed of readily available materials, the installation will tread lightly on the ground, directing its energy—and our attention—skyward. Taking cues from the rich landscape of the region, red gravel will be employed to blanket the site with a monochromatic stage from which the structure will spring. The ground plane of the site will be minimally disturbed with a series of concrete footings to support the poplar arches, mediated with steel plate and bolt connections. Light and ephemeral, when its temporary occupation of the site has run its course, the project may be dismantled just as swiftly as it arrives.

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ECTOPARASITE: 2009 Google Shelter Competition

The Ectoparasite seeks to exploit underutilized urban infrastructure—in this case, by latching onto a billboard adjacent to NYC’s High Line. Dependent on the billboard for suspension, the steel structure acts as a skeletal framework for enclosure (triangular glass and Cor-Ten panels), while wrapping in to support furnishings. Visually connected while physically detached from the park, the shelter provides an ideal lens for observers of city life and public space.

View from High Line Looking South

Axonometric View

Exploded Axonometric

View from Shelter Interior to High Line

mass_Specific: 2008 Emerging Voices Competition

This project is the the brainchild of Aileen Iverson, R.A.  My role on the project could have been loosely defined as "collaborator/concept developer."  Mostly, I developed the working prototype for a mass_Specific website.  Had our entry been selected, it would have gone live.  Alas.  Aileen's latest work on the project may be found at http://mass-specific.blogspot.com/.  The incarnation at the point we submitted our proposal (along with a couple images) follows.

"Recognizing the current paradigm as the Information Age whose byproduct, data, is mined, sorted, sifted and recombined as benefits interested parties, we propose that this system be used to create an equally revolutionary shift in the architectural practice by using data-mining as the basis for creating architectural projects.

In this way we create a prototypical architectural practice that more closely aligns with its pedagogy and is better able to distribute the products of architects, namely analytical research as well as and in equal proportion to building design. 

The name of this architectural-office-prototype is MASS SPECIFIC (M_s).

SYNAPSE: 2006 Venecia Bridge Competition

The bridge becomes a connective tissue in a network of historical and cultural destinations.  At the crossroads of academia and everyday life, it signifies the suspended moment between perception and cognition, contemplation & action. 

Motion and fluidity permeate the design, as the exhibition spaces are embedded within the sinewy circulation routes, which bypass and intersect each other as they span the canal.  These tendons are fluid, transparent and tense, while the exhibition and study areas provide room for pause--suspended, yet solid and introspective.

Competition Board