Preview: OHNY Weekend 2013

Brooklyn Army Terminal | Photo by Nicolas Lemery Nantel

For one weekend every fall, New Yorkers and visitors alike have an opportunity to indulge their curiosities about hundreds of buildings and spaces, many of which are otherwise off limits to the general public. This year’s openhousenewyork Weekend will take place on October 12th and 13th, and the list of sites, tours, performances, talks, and events covers all five boroughs and all manner of interests. Some are open to the public, others require advance reservations — and take note: those slots fill up fast, so be prepared to act quickly. Advance reservations open tomorrow, October 2nd, at 11am, on the OHNY ticket page. In the meantime, take a look at a preview of some of this year’s destinations.

Arup Soundlab | Photo by Andre Costantini

Arup SoundLab®
Reservations required
Listen to spaces in 3D at the Arup SoundLab®. Using acoustical design principles, visitors will learn how Arup refines sound quality in spaces from concert halls to city streets.

NYC DOT Urban Art Citi Bike Tour
Reservations required
Join DOT Urban Art Program staff for a scenic bike ride to various public art sites throughout the city. At select locations, participants will have the unique opportunity to meet with artists and community organizations to engage in discussions about the works. The tour covers several exciting new places in Brooklyn, and then crosses the bridge into Manhattan. Once in Manhattan, it highlights public art along the island’s waterfront bike routes and beyond.

Via Verde
Reservations required
Tour this affordable housing complex, designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects, to see the series of green roofs that serve as the organizing architectural element and identity for the community. The façade features aluminum, cement and wood panels with panoramic windows, sunshades and courtyard balconies. Organized by Phipps Houses.

Citi Bike Warehouse in Sunset Park | Photo by Aaron Naparstek

Citi Bike Warehouse
Reservations required
Citi Bikes seem to be everywhere these days, but do you ever wonder where they come from? Peek into the inner workings of the Citi Bike Warehouse to see where the bikes go when they need a little TLC. This tour looks behind the scenes of New York’s new bike share program in the Citi Bike repair shop, warehouse, call center, and main offices.

Old Croton Aqueduct Walk: Manhattan
Reservations required
Walk on city streets for approximately five miles north to the Manhattan side of High Bridge following the various routes of the Old Croton Aqueduct. Organized by Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct.

Fading Ads of Tribeca | Photo by Frank Jump

Fading Ads of Tribeca
Reservations required
Explore Tribeca with author and photographer Frank Jump, who documents fading advertisements from an earlier era. Rediscover these often-unnoticed portals of the past that cling to the side of buildings.

MTA Arts for Transit Tours
Reservations required
Take the subway south and discover the wide variety of MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design commissioned artwork in Brooklyn. Join Arts for Transit Deputy Director Amy Hausmann and artists as they discuss the process of designing and creating artwork for a mass transit system that moves 8.5 million riders each day.

Freshkills Park | Image courtesy of Freshkills Park

Freshkills Park Tour
Reservations required
At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years. Witness the transformation of the world’s largest landfill into a sustainable multi-purpose park. Organized by the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.

Sandy: A One Year Retrospective
Reservations required
This walking tour with lead engineers from Thornton Tomasetti will give a technical perspective into the impact Sandy has had on building codes, flood mapping, and the future of design for cities built like Manhattan.

Walk the Internet
Reservations required
The Internet has changed everything. Yet the network itself, its physical nuts and bolts, typically remains obscured, hidden in secret locations and behind closed doors. In his book, Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet, journalist Andrew Blum goes inside the Internet’s physical infrastructure — its buildings — and flips on the lights. Tubes is a book about real places on the map: their sounds and smells, their storied pasts, their physical details, and the people who work there.

Urban Post-Disaster Housing Prototype | Image courtesy of American Manufactured Structures and Services

Urban Post-Disaster Housing Prototype
No reservations required
Developed by New York City for residents who may lose their homes in catastrophic storms, this three-story, multi-family interim housing solution reflects a new approach that provides higher-density post- disaster housing than the typical single-family home or trailer.

Melrose Commons
No reservations required
Working with a local community group Nos Quedamos, Magnusson Architecture and Planning designed a Stage II Silver LEED-ND certified urban renewal area comprised of 30 blocks of mixed income housing.

Brooklyn Army Terminal
No reservations required
This 4-million-square-foot site served as the largest military supply base in the U.S. through WWII and features warehouses with long, sky-lit central galleries connected through a network of bridges and piers.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden | Image courtesy of Snug Harbor

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
No reservations required
Formerly a home for retired U.S. sailors, the complex consists of 28 Greek Revival buildings. Following a three-decade-long restoration, it has been converted to a thriving regional arts center. There will also be an Architectural Scavenger Hunt for the kids.

BRIC Arts | Media House
No reservations required
Originally The Strand Theater, this recently renovated 40,000-square-foot arts center features a performance space, art gallery, artist studio, and media production studios.