View from Red Hook, Brooklyn, 1978 | Photo by Camilo Jose Vergara

Last Wednesday evening, Paul Goldberger, author of Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York, spoke with Camilo José Vergara at the Museum of the City of New York, in conjunction with the MCNY exhibition of Vergara’s photographs of the Twin Tower, The Twin Towers and the City: Photographs by Camilo José Vergara, currently on display. Vergara is known for his photographs of some of America’s poorest neighborhoods, returning year after year to shoot the same building or site over time. His method involves an extraordinary amount of patience, commitment and prescience: he began photographing cities in the process of disinvestment and resulting decay in the 1960s and ’70s and has been following them ever since. Traveling again and again to cities throughout the United States — including Detroit, Chicago and Gary, Indiana — his photographs tell the story of a country in flux and the deterioration of the American city in the latter half of the 20th century.

The Twin Towers and the City makes apparent the changes to Vergara’s interest in the towers throughout their life span. When Vergara came to New York City in 1965, the poverty that had insinuated itself into many aspects of urban life had risen to the surface, ready to be photographed. When construction began on the Twin Towers in 1968, Vergara was fascinated by the way they symbolized what he sees as the misplaced priorities of American culture: the desire to build giant, shimmering monuments to capitalism in the face of an ailing city. One photograph in the show, “View of the World Trade Center Under Construction from Duane Street, Manhattan, 1970,” is an especially poignant juxtaposition: in the foreground, a man lies asleep on the sidewalk next to a trash can, surrounded by detritus, while in the background the gleaming, modern towers are busily being constructed, cranes visible at the upper reaches. As the years progressed, Vergara became more focused on documenting the state of degraded living conditions and the dilapidation of the built environment throughout New York City, and he became less concerned with the towers as a symbol. They became part of the scene, visible from every point in the city. That ubiquity recurs throughout the show: the towers are in the background of photographs from every part of the city, as well as New Jersey; as one approached Manhattan from the north, south, east or west. They became a geographical anchor for Vergara’s photographs in much the same way as they did for the city itself.

View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, October, 1979 | Photo by Camilo José Vergara

View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, November, 1979 | Photo by Camilo José Vergara

When a visitor first enters the gallery, the first six photographs she sees are the only in the exhibition with the Twin Towers as the primary focal point. The title of each clinically describes the view, the photographer’s location, and the date shot, beginning with “View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, October 1979” and followed by the same composition photographed in November 1979; on September 11, 2001; in September 2001; on September 10, 2010 (showing the Tribute in Light); and in May 2011. The photographs serve as an introduction to the show, documenting the changes to the landscape from the towers’ opening through their destruction, but they are the anomalous sequence in the exhibition; the rest of the exhibition functions as a single portrait of the city’s experience with the towers, rather than multiple portraits of those specific buildings. When the Twin Towers were first built, they were criticized for their hugeness, for their a-contextuality, and for their erasure of the existent fabric. Gradually that hatred became acceptance of their inescapable presence on the horizon. Finally, in the face of destruction, they became symbols of loss and, for a time, sacred. During the moment of mourning, Goldberger referred to them as Modernist “martyrs.” It took their destruction for the city, as well as the rest of the country, to love them. The exhibition, ultimately, documents the gradual change in the city’s attitude toward the Twin Towers from hatred in the face of new construction through “martyrdom” with their destruction.

The conversation also tracked decades of shifting attitudes, referencing Vergara’s and Goldberger’s changing relationships to the towers throughout their careers. Vergara opened the evening with the memory that Goldberger had reviewed his first show at Parsons favorably, and this praise had opened the door to more opportunities and exhibitions. In this way, Vergara placed the beginning of two speakers’ careers in time, specifically beginning when the towers were first introduced to the city.

View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, September 11, 2001 | Photo by Camilo José Vergara

View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, September, 2001 | Photo by Camilo José Vergara

Vergara spoke generally about his own work and process, about the necessity of returning to a space, an address, a building or a neighborhood, multiple times over the course of years of capturing or understanding that space. He touched upon what he saw as the power of sequencing images, how they begin to take on meaning through that sequencing. Goldberger stipulated that the true subject of Vergara’s work was time. Vergara agreed: he had set out to capture images of a ruin, of monuments falling apart, but was totally surprised that New York City ”didn’t go the way of Detroit.”

The loss of the towers was felt not only in the context of New York City, but throughout the rest of the country as well. Goldberger pointed out that, outside of New York, the towers were depicted as entities in and of themselves, often alone, without the surrounding city. They were monuments to the event, with the towers as the symbols of the loss. In contrast, remembrances in the New York metropolitan region often focus on specific people that were lost. While rebuilding on the site itself has been fraught with logistical, political and emotional difficulties, the rest of the city has continued to function; for the rest of the country, the towers remained the symbol, unchanging over time. That differentiation is made explicit by Vergara’s series of photographs depicting murals from around the country slightly separated from the photographs of murals from around New York City.

World Trade Center seen from St. Paul's Churchyard, Manhattan, 1970 | Photo by Camilo José Vergara

Discussing the towers as physical entities, Goldberger pointed out their beauty as “minimalist sculptures.” That the facades consisted of more metal than glass allowed for a play of light, shimmering differently throughout the day. Vergara maintained that there was something wonderful in their simplicity, that they became almost a three-figure composition, with the space between bearing as much visual weight as the two towers themselves. He lamented the loss of the slivers of space between the buildings in Lower Manhattan as the neighborhood has been built out and that space has been eaten up over the years. Goldberger pointed out the irony of all the ways that they were criticized at ground level, as being anti-urban, contextless, as a podium disrupting the streets, that they became so much a part of the city at the larger scale, from everywhere but directly below them. Now, ten years later, the biggest change, to Goldberger, is how much we’ve accepted their loss: now the strange pictures are those with the towers in them. The question and answer session at the end of the evening gave the speakers a platform to express fears that the new buildings would not be great, and lament the lost opportunity that rebuilding offered to utilize the lessons learned from the last forty years about how cities work.

What’s most remarkable about Vergara’s work is that he tells the story of the American city in the wake of Modernism not by photographing the big interventions, the large scale monuments to efficiency that completely reshaped cities, but by documenting the untouched neighborhoods. He shows the viewer those neighborhoods that were allowed to devolve without intervention, and therefore tell a story of civic disinvestment, suburbanization, population shifts, economic downturns and urban poverty. If Vergara’s real subject is time, as Golberger suggests, it is through returning to the same site throughout decades that reveals the process by which the built environment adapts or decays. Thus, his most powerful photographs approach an understanding of a large and incomprehensible whole — a city — through the documentation of one aspect, a building or a block, as it ages.

All images courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

Jessica Cronstein is a designer and writer interested in the point at which the social, cultural and physical growth of a city intersect. She has just completed her M.Arch at Rice University and lives in New York City.

The views expressed here are those of the author only and do not reflect the position of Urban Omnibus editorial staff or the Architectural League of New York.

Photo by Yael Friedman

Concentrating the mind and standing still often seem two of the most elusive experiences in New York. In To a Great City, the second edition of the Guggenheim’s multidisciplinary stillspotting nyc program that ran from September 15-18 and 22-25, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and the NYC- and Oslo-based architectural firm Snøhetta sought to provide New Yorkers with opportunities to do just that. At five sites located along the perimeter of Ground Zero, Pärt’s minimalist, monastic compositions permeated a series of spaces where large white balloons were the only physical alterations to already naturally seductive spots. The installation was a clear ode to New York, and the tenth anniversary of 9/11 was both physically and psychologically just beyond the immediate experience, providing a quiet and elegant elegy.

The recommended route took the visitor from the Labyrinth at the Battery, then onto a ferry to the two sound installations on Governors Island, back on the ferry to the Woolworth Building and then, in one of the best orchestrated (so to speak) finales to a project, up an elevator to the 46th floor of 7 World Trade Center and a 360-degree-view of the island of Manhattan and its surrounds.

Photo by Yael Friedman

At the entrance to the Labyrinth — a small, circular, grassy maze built to commemorate 9/11 on its first anniversary — visitors were provided with iPods programmed with an Arvo Pärt composition. As one concentrated on the maze, and the large white balloon in the middle of it, Pärt’s music completed the task of shutting out surrounding sounds, people and movement. Of course, it is impossible to forget you are actually in New York, and that was never the intention. One brief look up and the skyscrapers are still, reassuringly, there. Some visitors sat on nearby benches, listening to the music and gazing at the big white balloon and at others navigating the maze. Perhaps the most valuable experience these installations provided is one very rare for the modern city dweller — a place and time for such secular meditation.

Photo by Kristopher McKay, copyright The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

The space where this was most obviously and effectively borne out was in the neo-Gothic Woolworth Building, whose famous gorgeous lobby was built to resemble the inside of a Gothic cathedral. Visitors were seated on the main staircase and faced out, looking onto Broadway, watching the traffic and the pedestrians while listening to an especially Gregorian-sounding score. The original Gothic cathedrals made their celestial claims persuasive through the use of architectural elements that appealed to people’s emotions — high vaulted ceilings, large windows pouring in light and a daunting, humbling scale — and the Woolworth Building shares many of these elements. But the combined experience of the five sites and installations, including the time commitment (visiting all five sites took at least 3-4 hours), the ecclesiastical-sounding music, the heightened awareness of your personal meditations within the surroundings of an overwhelmingly-large city, all effectively formed a sort of modern secular cathedral.

The sites on Governors Island did veer from this effect and seemed to have a program all their own, quite apart from the rest. The effort to get to Governors Island, the exploration of the multi-chambered underground cavern of the first site, with the slightly melodramatic music, did not provide the feeling that one has entered a place and left the rest of life behind. Instead, a more directed and anxious feeling of searching for the right way to experience the space and sound emerged, perhaps defying the objectives of the project. The other site on Governors Island, a grassy hill with the view of the city ahead, was lovely but reminded one that a long line and a boat ride back across the river awaited.

The final installation, on the 46th floor of 7WTC, was indeed a crescendo and one or two visitors even squealed in delight as the doors to the elevator opened and they took in the view — a full 360-degree view of New York City, with the Empire State Building in a seeming straight line to 7WTC. After the somber music, gilded and detailed architecture and stillness of the installation in the Woolworth Building, 7WTC definitely felt lighter, the music a touch more “Rhapsody in Blue” than Gregorian chants.

Some critics have mused that really all one needs is their own iPod with dramatic ecclesiastical music and a long walk along any New York street to achieve the same effects as these installations. And like the Gothic cathedral, which manipulates its visitors through emotional tricks, these installations perhaps do the same. But a secular cathedral is rare and valuable and it is indeed a shame that this project was temporary.

Yael Friedman writes about art and culture, and often about sports. She lives in Brooklyn and grew up in Tel Aviv and Rockaway (Bauhaus heaven and unapologetically homey beach town, respectively). You can check out more of her stuff at Ida Post.

The views expressed here are those of the author only and do not reflect the position of Urban Omnibus editorial staff or the Architectural League of New York.

NYC SOLAR MAP
A new interactive map was launched by New York City Solar America City Partnership, led by Sustainable CUNY, to show the potential NYC has for solar panel placement. Showing both existing solar photo voltaic (PV) panels and solar thermal installations in NYC, the map also gives an estimate of solar PV potential for every rooftop in the five boroughs. The map allows users to assess any building’s solar panel capacity and estimate a financial payback. Created by gathering imagery and data using LIDAR technology, Inhabitat reports that the map shows that 66.4% of all buildings in the city are suitable for panels, and could generate up to 5,847 megawatts of power. To put this in perspective, the city currently outputs 6.5 megawatts of solar energy. The map represents opportunities for building owners to assess solar capacity on their rooftop for free. See Inhabitat’s piece on the map here, and to find out your building’s solar potential, check out the new NYC Solar Map.

1,000 Nike+ runners in NYC | Image via Cooper Smith

RUNNING IN NEW YORK: MAPS
Graphic design student Cooper Smith developed a striking series to visualize the location, route popularity and time of day people run in New York City. The series was produced for an SVA course with visionary designer Nicholas Felton using the Nike+ GPS-synced mobile app. By geolocating 1,000 runners’ paths, Smith produced beautifully mapped stills and time-lapse videos showing multiple facets of New York runners’ paths. See Infosthetic’s piece on the topic and the full work here.

Underground construction on the 7 Line | Image via MTAPhotos on Flickr

7 TRAIN EXTENSION
Official MTA photographer Patrick Cashin caught some beautiful shots of subterranean work currently underway on the 7 train’s extended line. The extension is expected to be complete in three years, after which passengers will be able to reach 11th Avenue and 34th Street. See the full Patrick Cashin slideshow on Flickr.

9/11 MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM UPDATE
The Architect’s Newspaper reported on developments around the much anticipated opening of the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial and Museum scheduled for the tenth anniversary of the tragedy this coming September. The new complex will feature a subterranean museum and memorial space, an aboveground museum pavilion and a landscaped plaza with reflecting pools in the footprints of the Twin Towers. However, due to serious security concerns, a temporary ring of chain link fences and concrete barriers will limit public access to 1500 people at a time. After September 12th, visitors will be required to buy a ticket and pass through a series of metal detectors and x-ray machines in order to enter the plaza. Eventually security measures will be moved into the museum itself, but for the time being, security features trump accessible open space.

Artist’s rendering of +Pool | Image via +Pool

SWIM IN THE EAST RIVER?
Brooklyn designers Dong-Ping Wong of Family and Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Franklin of PlayLab have launched a Kickstarter campgain around their latest project +Pool, a project to build a floating pool in the East River, similar to Berlin’s famed Badeschiff. The designers have developed a comprehensive plan with engineering/design/planning firm ARUP and other experts to help make the pool a reality. The proposed pool will filter river water through its wall to remove bacteria, contaminants and odors, making it swimmable and safe by City standards. Four pools (Children’s pool, Lap pool, Lounge Pool and Sports Pool) will join together to create a giant plus sign in the East River. Their latest round of fundraising will support the physical testing of the proposed filtration system. See the full project description here. To read up on floating pool ideas UO has covered in the past, see Jonathan Kirschenfeld and Ann Buttenweiser’s take on the topic.

NATION’S LARGEST URBAN CAMPSITE IN BROOKLYN
According to a recent press release from the National Parks Service, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced that the nation’s largest urban campground will be established at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, a former airport used by Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes. The park’s current five campsites will be expanded to 90 over the next two years, and may eventually reach 600. Special outreach to underserved communities around the area will introduce families to camping skills and equipment in their home neighborhoods and will facilitate participation in overnight use, complete with campfire programs, kayaking and swimming opportunities.

EVENTS + TO DOs:

New York City in 2040 Image via Interboro Partners (left) and Amsterdam in 2040, Image via Space&Matter (right)

GLIMPSES of New York and Amsterdam: 2040
The Center for Architecture has teamed up with the Amsterdam Center for Architecture (ARCAM) to present “Glimpses of New York and Amsterdam in 2040,” a new exhibit showcasing visions of the future for two cities that share an extensive waterfront and similar climate challenges. The organizations commissioned architects and landscape architects in both cities to conceptualize the “future of the future,” with five basic necessities for living: breathing, eating, making, moving and dwelling. The exhibit features five firms from each city: New York’s dlandstudio, Interboro Partners, Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (SO-IL), W Architecture & Landscape Architecture, and WORKac, and Amsterdam’s Barcode Architects, DELVA Landscape Architects / Dingeman Deijs Architect, Fabrications, Space & Matter and van Bergen Kolpa. GLIMPSES will be shown through September 10th at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place. Read Inhabitat’s coverage of the exhibit or, for more information, see the official site.

COME OUT & PLAY NEW YORK
Come Out and Play, the annual festival of citywide street games, will begin on June 19th and run until July 16th. In years past, the festival has “turned New York City into a playground for a weekend,” with satellite city festivals held in San Francisco and Amsterdam. This year, Come Out and Play will begin in Lower Manhattan in partnership with the River to River Festival. Come Out and Play will run the series over the summer, culminating in a one-day field day in mid-July on Governors Island. For more information, see the official site.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
The Awesome Foundation is offering multiple $1,000 grants each month to “people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe.” Although no New York City projects have been funded as of yet, the NYC Chapter is now accepting applications. To apply, click here.

Sappi has announced a call for entries for grants up to $50,000 with the “Ideas that Matter Grant Program.” Ideas that Matter is open to individual designers, design firms, agencies, in-house corporate design departments, design instructors, and individual design students and design student groups. To apply for an Ideas that Matter Grant, click here. The deadline to apply is July 15th.

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Union Square is the latest stretch of Broadway that might soon become another one of Bloomberg’s “signature open-air concrete parks,” pedestrianized and plaza-ified like Times Square and Herald Square. The proposal will be presented on Monday to the local community board, and the NYC Transportation Department is currently considering the plan’s proposal to ban vehicular traffic along Broadway between 17th and 18th streets and to “reshuffle traffic patterns” around the square.

The New York times reports on the recent release of the New York City Transit’s yearly station-by-station breakdown of subway ridership. They’ve embedded the statistics into a pretty awesome interactive subway map – when you slide your cursor over a particular subway stop, the map displays the average number of daily riders in 2009 and the percent change since 2008. While transit officials attribute the decline to construction, economists tend to identify unemployment as the real issue.

Amongst the sea of thousands of smart phone applications available today, architecture-related app’s remain difficult to track down. So, Architectural Record has the run-down on the growing number of apps for architects, including “Project Photo”, which connects your iPhone photos of buildings with their architectural plans; “Concrete Calc”, which calculates the amount of concrete necessary for a project; and “EcoFlash”, which provides flash cards for LEED exam test-prep. “Dual Level” even turns your iPhone into a construction tool — it allows your phone to act as a level and measure when a surface is horizontal.

NY1 has featured the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center’s online software modeling system that offers a 4-D model of the World Trade Center redevelopment. The modeling software allows viewers to see 3-D renderings of the project’s estimated future progress at various points in time (the fourth dimension!) While the software was developed primarily for construction coordination, the LMDD is currently incorporating the 4-D modeling system into their website, which will allow residents to plan their lives around the development.

If you want to learn more about the World Trade Center redevelopment and other megaprojects, check out the New School’s summer course, “The Politics of Urban Megadevelopment.”  The urban planning class — that Curbed describes as “Development Battles become Homework” – will be based on some of the city’s most controversial megaprojects and will examine Atlantic Yards, the World Trade Center rebuilding, and the Jets Stadium/Hudson Yards proposal, among others.

Coney Island Dream from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

Debates surrounding the future of Coney Island have raged for years, and many have voiced their concerns about the area’s demise. BoingBoing features photographer Joshua Brown’s beautiful and eerie short film that presents a wintery and seemingly-abandoned Coney Island. Scouting New York recently posted “Abandoned Coney Island,” a photo essay that ventures inside the now derelict Bank of Coney Island building. Those worried about the decline of amusements in the area might enjoy this animated virtual tour of Luna Park, the new amusement park set to open this Memorial Day. Located on 6.9 acres of land that the city bought from developer Joe Sitt for over $95 million, the park will feature 19 new rides, including a “Wild River” ride inspired by the original park’s ride, “Shoot the Chutes,” which you can see in all its 1903 glory below:

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U.S. Northeast. Screen grab from NASA's "world tour" of cities at night.

This week brought news from both the Brooklyn waterfront and the NASA space shuttle, and talk of both construction and demolition.

An agreement has been reached between the Port Authority, New York City and State officials and WTC developer Larry Silverstein that will allow further development of the World Trade Center site after a year and a half of financial negotiations. The deal allows for construction of Towers 3 and 4 to move forward, but the fate of Tower 2 is still up in the air (the site will be built up to ground level until the economic climate improves). Nothing is final yet: Silverstein will need to rustle up private funding and tenants for Tower 3 in order to access the hundreds of millions of dollars of public financial assistance being offered. Beyond that, the agreement itself isn’t even finalized yet — the Port Authority board won’t review the proposal for final approval for another 4 months.

Flavorwire and Gothamist both have documentation of the demolition of old Yankee Stadium’s Gate 2. Fans are mourning its destruction, though neighborhood residents might be pleased to see activity on the site. The parks and public ballfields promised to local residents can’t be developed until the old stadium has been cleared away, a process that was supposed to be complete by the time the new stadium opened last year.

The Department of Transportation has announced that it will take over the community-initiated plan for a 14-mile Brooklyn waterfront greenway. $16 million in funds have been earmarked for the project, which will run from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. DOT has scheduled planning workshops throughout April, and according to the Daily News, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has said that she hopes to have “at least a bare-bones version of the route in place within three years or so.”

You know we love maps. Now NASA has allowed us to view our cities in a new way, visualizing their boundaries using the simplest of methods: lights at night. Thanks to astronaut Don Pettit and his experimentation with a barn-door tracker camera mount, NASA has been able to compile precise, detailed images of cities around the world illuminated after dark. Yes, the photographs are visually stunning, but they also tell us stories about our urban environments. As this article on NASA’s Earth Observatory explains, these images can be used to analyze the effect of urbanization on Earth’s ecosystems, to study lighting use (Japanese cities tend to glow a cool blue-green due to the use of light green mercury vapor lamps, though newer developments by Tokyo Bay are characterized by orange sodium vapor lamps), and to illustrate street grid and infrastructure patterns that suggest cultural influences of how similar areas have grown. “At night, city lights present the space observer spectacular evidence of our existence, our distribution, and our ability to change our environment.” And with new housing in cities outpacing that of suburbs (according to a new EPA report), imagine how this images will change over time. Read the article and watch the video. (via The Map Room)

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Photo via core77

As week two of rescue and recovery began in Haiti, the design community began to weigh in on what shape reconstruction should take. But before that can take place, what Haiti needs most of all is money. The best intentions do not ease the distribution or delivery of old shoes, water bottles and canned food. Nor should the urgency of creating temporary shelters frustrate attempts at long-term rebuilding. Canada’s Globe and Mail puts post-disaster planning for Port-Au-Prince in perspective by revisiting lessons from Sichuan, Peru and Pakistan. Read a summary of Architecture for Humanity’s long-term Haiti relief plan here and get involved. Also check out Frances Anderton on KCRW’s DnA talking to experts in Haitian land use planning, vernacular architecture and building techniques on how best to rebuild the capital.

Rebuilding is never simple, as anyone who has followed attempts to rebuild on the World Trade Center site knows well. Steven Spielberg’s upcoming documentary about the rebuilding process, however, will apparently focus on the “the uplifting, innovative reengineering of the World Trade Center site through the eyes of the people—architects, engineers, construction workers and city planners” rather than the imbroglio that has frustrated progress over the past nine years.

Over on Gotham Gazette, Joan Byron asks what’s next for the Kingsbridge Armory, providing a comprehensive overview of community opposition to the project in the context of labor unions, complex coalition building, and the future of both community benefits agreements and the living wage issue. And there’s also the question of what happens now:

Having accomplished the unthinkable and by defeating a project backed by the administration, The Kingbridge Armory Redevelopment Association and its allies are gearing up to re-imagine a future for the armory that puts community needs first, doesn’t strangle the neighborhood in traffic and delivers jobs capable of lifting Bronx residents out of poverty.

Edible Schoolyard is coming to New York – specifically to P.S. 216 in Gravesend. The program, started by chef and food activist Alice Waters, aims “to create a space in which schoolchildren plant, harvest, prepare food and eat together, creating a comprehensive interdisciplinary curriculum, tied into New York State Standards, that connects food systems to academic subjects such as literacy, science, social studies, math, and the arts.” WORKac is designing the Brooklyn schoolyard, complete with a “kitchen classroom,” a mobile greenhouse, and a “systems wall” with a chicken coop and reclaimed water, composting and waste-sorting stations. Principal Celia Kaplinsky worked hard to bring the program to P.S. 216, but her passion for the project is not universal. Caitlin Flanagan slammed the program in The Atlantic in a contentious article that spurred others to come to the defense of educational gardens.

New Yorkers are no strangers to construction barriers, sheds and scaffolding. Since the structures are inescapable, why not freshen them up a little? One suggestion, a prototype of which will appear this summer, is the Urban Umbrella, the result of the UrbanShed design competition launched by the Bloomberg administration and the AIA New York Chapter. The design, by Young-Hwan Choi, an architecture student at the University of Pennsylvania/Penn Design, offers improved light, air, and pedestrian flow, and it looks downright pretty. The Alliance for Downtown New York suggests a different intervention for existing construction sites, using barriers as art installation spaces.

Speaking of streets, we’ll leave you with this video of artist Aakash Nihalani who highlights the geometry of New York through temporary tape installations:

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The Omnibus team is off to deck some halls and ring in the new year, but not without one more batch of links for you to peruse. If you are new to our site, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to catch up on all of the content you may have missed from this first year of the Omnibus. Explore by author, by recurring series (links appear at the right of the page, under the map), by tag (see the list below the recurring series), or just dive into the whole collection. If you like spending your video viewing time on YouTube or Vimeo, we also have channels on both for our Omnibus-produced video content.

Outside of the Omnibus, things haven’t slowed down for the holidays. It’s official, the master closing of the Atlantic Yards deal has gone through. Curbed has the full press release posted, while Atlantic Yards Report pointed out early this morning that questions raised by Senator Bill Perkins about possible fraud in the bond sale have not been addressed.

The City Council approved the rezoning plan that will allow developers of the West Side Rail Yards project to move forward with the eight towers planned for the site. The New York Times reports that 1,294 apartments in the neighborhood will be provided or preserved for poor and working-class tenants, and also notes that it may be years before any construction starts, considering the state of the economy and the lack of a commercial anchor tenant or a design for the residential buildings on the site.

But when something does crop up over there, subway riders will be able to access it a little more easily — the extension of the 7 train has reached the end of phase one, courtesy of a giant, very cool tunnel boring machine. And the underground team was kind enough to record the moment for YouTube distribution – check it out (via Gothamist):

While on YouTube, you might also check out the Port Authority’s new channel, a series of videos of progress at the World Trade Center site. The YouTube channel only has three videos posted so far, but the photo documentation, available on the Port Authority site and on Flickr, covers more.

Lastly, just because it’s Christmas, check out some architects’ contemporary responses to the traditional gingerbread house for a Vancouver auction. (Bidding has closed, but the images are still posted.)

Happy holidays from all of us here at Urban Omnibus and the Architectural League! See you in 2010.

The Roundup keeps you up to date with topics we’ve featured and other things we think are worth knowing about. Image: Busby Perkins & Will Architects submission to Creative Room’s Gingerbread Competition 2009.

Among all the other things this date evokes, it also brings reminders of broken promises, feuds and memorials at the World Trade Center site.

Another anniversary we’re remembering these days is… the arrival of the Dutch. Lots of exciting events going on this weekend and beyond. Especially of interest is the Pioneers of Change festival of Dutch design, fashion and architecture going down on Governor’s Island through the 20th.

We’re gearing up for a September and October full of talking transit and commuting with WNYC. And as the Cityscapes team gets ready to launch their Door to Door series – which will include a couple meet-ups we’re co-sponsoring – they want your subway photos! In other mass transit news, Jay Walder has been confirmed as the chairman and CEO of the MTA, a rank the Post and Gothamist agree is equivalent to czar.

On the off-chance you haven’t seen them yet, check out the latest renderings of the new scheme for the Nets Arena at Atlantic Yards, a collaboration between SHoP Architects and Ellerbe Becket. The architecture critics of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, Nicolai Ouroussoff and Christopher Hawthorne, have both put in their two cents, and the project has also received the critical scrutiny of the Independent Budget Office, whose report finds a $40 million-dollar shortfall between the project’s public subsidies and projected increases in tax revenue.

As you’ll be reminded in the coming weeks, our abiding obsessions include parks and maps. Our buds at the Infrastructurist have put these two essential elements of urbanism together, and with the help of Google Earth and good taste, proudly proclaim their list of The Ten Greatest City Parks. While we would have appreciated mention of some of the innovative recent additions to the global canon of large urban parks – say, Al-Azhar Park in Cairo or Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park in Bogotá, for example – we dig the instinct to compare public amenities at the same scale.

We are also, of course, into comparisons over time. So while you wait for Nadal’s rain date, check out an amazing mapping and urban planning resource, called OASIS, that allows you to view the USTA Tennis Center’s construction over the years. Steve Romalewski, who directs the CUNY Center for Urban Research, will be sharing some of the other incredible implications of this resource right here on the Omnibus in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.

The satellite’s-eye-view and digital imagery, however, are no substitute for the personal point-of-view and pen-and-ink-on-paper that have characterized much urban imagery since Brunelleschi’s invention of linear perspective. Urban Sketchers is a group of enthusiasts who post incredible drawings of their wanderings throughout the world’s cities to their site and flickr pool. Check out their wicked cool self-published mag of drawings of cars in cities around the world.

The Roundup keeps you up to date with topics we’ve featured and other things we think are worth knowing about.