2012 February | Inhabitat New York City

Emerging New York Architects Competition Unveils the Winning Designs for the Harlem Edge Waterfront

Emerging New York Architects Competition Unveils the Winning Designs for the Harlem Edge Waterfront

The Harlem Edge/Cultivating Connections competition that tasked entrants to redesign of a slice of Upper Manhattan's disused waterfront has chosen four winning designs. The Sym’bio’pia, Hudson Exchange, Harlem Harvest, and Stairway to Harlem projects were chosen as the contest's best, each nabbing a cash prize. The winning prize, Sym’bio’pia, was designed by Ting Chin and Yan Wang of Linearscape Architecture. The proposal integrates a series of vertical hydroponic farms with the waterfront community.

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Mild Winter & Early Blooms Concern NYC-Area Farmers and Gardeners

Mild Winter & Early Blooms Concern NYC-Area Farmers and Gardeners

More photos: New York Botanic Garden Flickr

With temperatures barely dipping below freezing and a near non-existent snowfall, New York City, along with most of the country, has been experiencing one of the warmest winters on record. Just last week, temperatures

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Brooklyn Residents Call for a Car-Free Prospect Park

Brooklyn Residents Call for a Car-Free Prospect Park

The city has plans to reduce the car traffic in Prospect Park drastically, but Brooklyn residents don’t think the proposed plan is quite enough. In a meeting last night, the Prospect Park Administration announced a plan to cut rush hour traffic from two

Charles Spurrier Creates Patterned 3D Paintings From Thousands of Pieces of Reclaimed Plastic

Charles Spurrier Creates Patterned 3D Paintings From Thousands of Pieces of Reclaimed Plastic

We often hear one man's trash is another man's treasure. With Charles Spurrier's eye-catching canvases, tiny pieces of recycled material are worked, painted, and pieced together into seamless designs that resemble anything but their original form. New York-based Spurrier collects almost any material imaginable for his artworks, including laundry detergent bottle caps, packing tape, milk crates, and plastic shelving. He cuts and shapes the found materials, then stacks them to create hypnotic patterns that resemble intricate quilts or tapestries that jump off the wall.

New York-Based Design Team Ortolan Organic Makes Luxurious Eco-Friendly Home Decor

New York-Based Design Team Ortolan Organic Makes Luxurious Eco-Friendly Home Decor

Ortolan Organic, a lifestyle brand of luxury textiles based in New York City, was started by Ohio native Bethany Mallett. Inspired by the small towns, dirt roads, and rolling fields of her childhood, she uses totally organic materials and processes to create simple yet elegant products that highlight each design's natural properties. Now based in New York, Bethany focuses on environmentally sound alternatives to New York's often fast-paced fashion industry.

New York University Law School’s Wilf Hall Achieves LEED Platinum Certification

New York University Law School’s Wilf Hall Achieves LEED Platinum Certification

New York University’s Wilf Hall has been award LEED Platinum certification, the highest possible LEED certification from the United States Green Building Council. Wilf Hall is one of just six new buildings in New York to receive LEED Platinum. NYU is committed

300 New York City Water Towers to be Transformed into Art by the Likes of Thom Yorke and Jay-Z

300 New York City Water Towers to be Transformed into Art by the Likes of Thom Yorke and Jay-Z

Water tanks on the tops of buildings are a New York City icon, and starting in the spring of 2013, 300 of these tanks will be transformed into public art installations for all New Yorkers to enjoy from afar. The Water Tank Project has already enlisted big names like Jay-Z and Thom Yorke to design towers, and the group will also be holding open calls, asking talented artists from around the globe to submit their work to be immortalized in this unique public art project. All of the chosen artworks must aim to increase public awareness of the need for water conservation.

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Only Two More Days to See BIG’s Pulsing 10-Foot Tall LED Heart Sculpture in Times Square!

Only Two More Days to See BIG’s Pulsing 10-Foot Tall LED Heart Sculpture in Times Square!

You know how the saying goes: the more, the merrier! The Bjarke Ingels Group translated this idea into a physical reality for their latest project in New York City, a bright pink, 10-foot tall pulsing heart sculpture in the middle of Times Square New York. The hovering heart appears inside a cube of 400 clear acrylic rods that catch the brilliant LED lights of the beating heart. Activated by the warmth from visitors hands, the heart grows brighter as more people join together. If you want to make the heart glow, you better hurry, as the interactive installation ends this Wednesday, February 29.

12 x 12 Exhibition Announces Winning Designers to Create Furniture from Demolished NYC Buildings

12 x 12 Exhibition Announces Winning Designers to Create Furniture from Demolished NYC Buildings

Sawkill Lumber has just announced the 12 designers who have been selected to participate in the first ever 12 x 12 design exhibition this spring. Debuting at Design Week in May this year, the exhibition will feature twelve unique pieces of furniture created

Occupy Wall Street Sustainability Plans to Build a Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn

Occupy Wall Street Sustainability Plans to Build a Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn

Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, where 75 percent of children are born in poverty, has few venues for healthy local produce. Occupy Wall Street Sustainability and EcoStation:NY hope to change that by building a 12,000 square foot “Farm in the Sky” this

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Make Your Own Upcycled Art During an Interactive Vayable Tour

Make Your Own Upcycled Art During an Interactive Vayable Tour

New York is chock full of inspirational elements and objects, and artist Robert B. wants you to channel this into your very own recycled art. For his latest Vayable experience, Robert will take you and up to 19 of your closest friends on a journey around the

NYC Phone Booths Turned Into Free Mini Libraries by Architect John Locke

NYC Phone Booths Turned Into Free Mini Libraries by Architect John Locke

When was the last time you used a phone booth? Despite cell phones being as common as clothing, rarely-used metal phones booths still exist throughout New York City, but architect John Locke has created a clever way to give them new life. Locke attached a pumpkin-orange set of shelves to an obsolete phone booth near 96th Street to create a mini, ultra-public library. Made out of plywood milled by Kontraptionist and stocked with books donated by local residents, Dub 002 is the designer's second attempt to create a free book distribution system sans any kind of prescriptive rules. His goal is to reinvent the obsolete phone booth as a new kind of public space.

Will Ryman’s Epic Installations are Made From Thousands of Bottle Caps, Paint Brushes & Nails

Will Ryman’s Epic Installations are Made From Thousands of Bottle Caps, Paint Brushes & Nails

Both locations of Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery are currently home to three oversized installations by NYC-based artist Will Ryman. Each room in the galleries is overtaken by a piece of epic proportions. Using paint brushes, bottle caps, rubber soles, and nails as his materials, Ryman creates surreal figures and environments using every day objects.

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Low Line Park Under Delancey Street Launches Kickstarter Campaign

Low Line Park Under Delancey Street Launches Kickstarter Campaign

The ambitious Low Line Project proposal, which would transform a disused subway station into an underground park, has launched their Kickstarter campaign — and in less than 48 hours, it has already raised nearly $24,000. The subterranean park would infuse

Inside the Subterranean Essex Street Trolley Terminal, the Proposed Space for the Low Line in NYC

Inside the Subterranean Essex Street Trolley Terminal, the Proposed Space for the Low Line in NYC

YouTube Preview Image

Two months ago, we brought you the proposal for the “Low Line,” an awesome underground park located in the abandoned Essex Street trolley terminal under Delancey Street in the Lower East Side. Designed by architect James Ramsey, the principal of RAAD, in part with Dan Barasch of tech think tank PopTech, the park, which calls for pumping natural sunlight into the subterranean space with fiber optics, looked to many to be too out there and unrealistic. But the proposal for the Delancey Underground seems to have piqued the interest of the MTA, who recently released a fantastically interesting video tour of the station. Led by Peter Hine, a senior project manager for the MTA’s Real Estate Department, the tour gives a history of the space and conveys the MTA’s excitement over the creative possibility’s for the terminal’s restoration.

Last Weekend to See the Beautiful Living Terrarium Exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden!

Last Weekend to See the Beautiful Living Terrarium Exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden!

The trees may be bare and the flowers aren't in bloom, but that doesn't mean Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a waste in the winter. Inside the Garden's Steinhardt Conservatory, already lush with greenery, a new terrarium exhibit brings new life with dozens of intricate miniature plant worlds. Created by Jennifer Williams, the Garden's curator of interior displays, the delicate terrariums are currently on display alongside artworks by the Brooklyn-based artist Jae Hi Ahn. Ahn uses simple artificial materials like plastic tubes and wires to build flowing installations that evoke organic forms and plants, which pay tribute to the natural world encapsulated in the terrariums. The exhibit ends this Sunday, February 26, so don't miss it!

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Governor Cuomo Considers Transforming Tappan Zee Bridge Into a Pedestrian Park

Governor Cuomo Considers Transforming Tappan Zee Bridge Into a Pedestrian Park

The idea to turn the ill-fated Tappan Zee Bridge into a pedestrian walkway is finally crossing the desk of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. The bridge, which connects Rockland and Westchester, has been deemed beyond repair, so a new bridge has been slated to be built.

$New York Town Wins the Legal Right to Ban Hydrofracking for Natural Gas$

New York Town Wins the Legal Right to Ban Hydrofracking for Natural Gas

This week the town of Dryden, New York won a court case giving it the right to ban hydrofracking for natural gas within its borders. The case is a major victory for fracking opponents nationwide, and here’s how it all went down: The Marcellus Shale, the largest

Urban Organic Gardener Grows a Lush Vegetable Garden on His NYC Fire Escape

Urban Organic Gardener Grows a Lush Vegetable Garden on His NYC Fire Escape

With March just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start planning out this year's garden. You may think that your tiny New York City apartment has no room to grow delicious vegetables, but think again. All buildings may not have access to a porch or a yard, but there is one outdoor space that every apartment must have: a fire escape. Mike Lieberman, the brains behind the Urban Organic Gardener, grew a beautifully bountiful food-producing garden on his tiny 2" by 3" East Village fire escape, and by following his tips and tricks, you can do the same!

You Can Own a Used NYC Subway Bench for $650

You Can Own a Used NYC Subway Bench for $650

The decades-old wooden benches we’ve become accustomed to in New York City subway stations are now up for sale. For $650 you can purchase a piece of salvaged New York history from the MTA. The relics are being sold to make way for new steel benches that

New York State May Ban the Sale of Shark Fins

New York State May Ban the Sale of Shark Fins

Dried out shark fins stock countless shelves all over Chinatown, but New York legislators have just announced a bill that may ban their sale. About 73 million sharks are killed and stripped of their fins each year to produce ingredients for shark fin soup.

Garden Up Plant Towers Make it Easy to Grown Your Own Veggies in Small NYC Apartments

Garden Up Plant Towers Make it Easy to Grown Your Own Veggies in Small NYC Apartments

There is nothing like the taste of local, garden fresh vegetables to accentuate a dish and entice our palettes. The New York-based Garden Up team sees the culinary and health benefits of home grown produce and wants to make it easy for individuals and businesses to grow their own herbs and veggies. Their affordable drip-system hydroponic garden towers let produce grow just about anywhere, whether it's a rooftop, a backyard, or a small New York City apartment.

Fashion Designer Joann Berman Creates Trippy 3D Furniture from Vintage Sofas in Queens

Fashion Designer Joann Berman Creates Trippy 3D Furniture from Vintage Sofas in Queens

Native New Yorker Joann Berman has dressed the likes of Michael Jackson, Diddy, Salt-n-Pepa and Jodeci, but now she's focusing on a client that's a little bit closer to home - your home, that is. The fashion designer's trippy aesthetic and talent for transforming old into new earned her the moniker "the reigning queen of reconstruction," and now she has turned her sights to furniture design with a bevy of bespoke chaises, couches and sidechairs in retina-searing hues. Screened with 3D images that will have you wondering exactly what kind of mushrooms were in your marsala, the custom-made line is made of upcycled vintage furniture that is printed in Long Island City, Queens. We recently visited JoJo at her Bushwick, Brooklyn studios to find out more about these one-of-a-kind treasures.

Black Glass LEED Gold Office Tower by Fumihiko Maki Planned for Astor Place

Black Glass LEED Gold Office Tower by Fumihiko Maki Planned for Astor Place

The triangular plot of land on the east side of Astor Place will soon be home to a 12-story LEED Gold certified office tower designed by Fumihiko Maki. You may remember the corner to formerly hold a failed Starbucks and Cooper Union’s engineering building.

Chinatown’s Mini High Line to Be Designed by Renowned Artist Xu Bing

Chinatown’s Mini High Line to Be Designed by Renowned Artist Xu Bing

More photos at DNAinfo

It was almost a year ago to date when the Department of Transportation set its eye on an unused triangular plot of land in Chinatown and envisioned the city’s next High Line Park. Though much smaller, the raised area at the foot of

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