Gallery | Inhabitat New York City

6 Perfect Picnic Spots to Visit in NYC

You don’t have to leave town in order to escape from the hustle and bustle of NYC life. There are plenty of fabulous picnic spots right in the 5 boroughs to bring a few sammiches and a bottle of wine to unwind for the day. Bring your checkered blanket to Prospect Park or hit the trails for an adventurous hike up Moses Mountain. Wherever you decide to park your picnic basket, click through our gallery to discover our favorite city park escapes.

Artists Turn Trash Into Striking Recycled Art Pieces at transFORM Gallery

We may call it garbage, but for artists at the transFORM Art Gallery in New Rochelle, NY, trash is just art waiting to happen. In a new exhibit at the gallery called Re-Imagining Past Possessions: Works of Recycled Materials, five artists used eco-friendly methods to create sculptures and paintings using recycled and reused materials ranging from magazines to scrap metal. Click through the gallery to see these transformative works of art.

NYC Swapping Wooden Boardwalks with Concrete Version That Could Stand Up Better to Hurricanes

When Hurricane Sandy hit the New York region last month, some of the most heart-wrenching images to surface were those of the mangled boardwalks that had characterized beautiful beachfront communities like Coney Island for the past century. Discussions about rebuilding these waterfront pathways in the New York and New Jersey area are picking up, and, as predicted, the big questions are all about new materials. After the storm passed and sanitation workers began to clear wood-strewn streets, it became clear that polymer-based and concrete sections of the boardwalks had held up better to the elements than their wooden counterparts. Now, in light of that observation, Mayor Bloomberg has decided that going forward, New York will rebuild with these new plastic and concrete boardwalk materials. It seems that the days of the wooden boardwalk are over in NYC.

Crystal Green LEED-Designed Luxury Rental Apartments Are Now Available in Midtown Manhattan

New Yorkers looking to rent apartments that are just as sustainable as they are high-end have a new building to choose from, Crystal Green in Midtown, Manhattan. Luxury rental company Glenwood launched leasing for the property last month and in addition to opulence, the 25-story Midtown West building also boasts a design that strives for LEED certification.

New York City Suspends Public Transport as Hurricane Sandy Whips up the Atlantic

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Sunday morning that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will start suspending all public transportation at 7 p.m. Sunday. NYC transit subways will be closed at 7 p.m. and buses will stop running two hours

Landscape Abbreviated is a Moss-Filled Garden Maze in the Bronx

We've always loved the traditional garden mazes that dot the English countryside but now artist Nova Jiang has created a bright green indoor version right in the Bronx. Called Landscape Abbreviated, the verdant labyrinth is part of Wave Hill's Sunroom Project Space, and features a robotically-controlled maze with modular arms of potted moss that switch direction at a moment's notice. Landscape Abbreviated turns a simple sunroom into an unpredictable, dynamic space for awesome interactive art.

Studio a+i Reimagines AIDS Memorial Park Design as a Fresh Green Triangular Canopy

In January, we reported that Studio a+i won the international competition to design the AIDS Memorial Park in the West Village but their original design, while breathtaking, was denied by community members this spring. Not to be discouraged, the team went back to the drawing board and has just unveiled their latest idea - a beautiful triangular trellis that will shade the 1,600 square foot plot near the old St. Vincent’s hospital and serve as a place of reflection and meditation.

SNEAK PEEK: See Inside the Delta, NYC’s Very First Self-Powered Building

Unveiling a new building in 99 degree weather with no air conditioning doesn't sound ideal - unless, that is, said building is the first one in NYC that can power itself. Dubbed the Delta, the self-sustaining residential property was opened to the press last night by green developers Voltaic Solaire, and the balmy conditions in the city just happened to be the perfect opportunity to showcase its smart design. If you've been following our coverage of the Delta, you know that it is equipped with solar panels and a vertical wind turbine that allow it to meet 100% of its energy needs without tapping into the grid, and yesterday, we also got to experience its effective passive cooling and ventilation on one of the hottest nights of the year. Click through our gallery to see our photos inside the Delta's two compact and cleverly-organized apartments, which will be available for short-term rental starting this August as well some of the building's other super-futuristic technologies. See-through solar panels, anyone?

Bellboy New York Upcycles a Park Avenue Water Tower into a Sexy Wooden Chair for 12 x 12

Brooklyn design house Bellboy New York recently turned reclaimed wood from a historic water tower into a beautifully sculpted chair for the 12 x 12 Project, and we're loving the result. The project challenged 12 designers to create new works from some of New York’s most historic structures. Bellboy’s task was to transform wood from a torn-down Park Avenue water tower into an innovative piece of modern furniture, and by the looks of their sexy new wooden chair, we'd say they succeeded.

PHOTOS: We Go Gaga for the Great GoogaMooga’s Carnival-Inspired Green Design

What seemed like a googol New Yorkers came out in gaggles for the Great GoogaMooga, a festival of food and fun that took over Brooklyn's Prospect Park last weekend. Googling "GoogaMooga" will lead you to many reviews of the festival's music and cuisine (some cheerfully positive and others not so upbeat), but what we were most interested in for Inhabitat NYC was the fact that many of the cool, carnival-inspired booth designs were made of reclaimed and salvaged materials. Read on to see which green GoogaMooga designs had us going gaga, as well as other earth-friendly considerations the organizers and acclaimed architect David Rockwell put into play at the much-talked-about event.

Louis Lim’s Round&Round is a Circular Bench Made of Reclaimed NYC Wood

Louis Lim's Round&Round bench is a circular wooden seat with a fun secret - a discreet drawer tucked away within the design. Unveiled at 12x12 during New York Design Week, the unconventional seat is made of reclaimed wood found in NYC. At first glance, the bench appears to be a singular solid structure, but then a storage unit pulls out from inside to reveal a spacious area to hide away bits and pieces.

HWKN Creates a Green Hill on an NYC Rooftop for BMW MINI

Wherever it is that your company holds its parties, it's not better than this verdant green rooftop event space by HWKN for BMW MINI, so if you're prone to jealousy, don't read on. Located atop an NYC building, the temporary installation was a part of MINI’s “Creative Use of Space” campaign celebrating the design elements of the Mini Cooper as well as its ability to pack a big punch in a small package. The festive setup featured a rolling green hill with "seating dimples," a performance stage and a luminous LED carpet leading to a panorama bar overlooking the Hudson.

Verdant PicNYC Table is Topped with Living Growing Grass

Who needs Central Park when you've got a grass-topped table that makes every meal a picnic? Okay, we still love Central Park, but on days when you can't go out to play, Haiko Cornelissen's PicNYC Table is a breath of fresh air. Unlike other faux foliage-filled designs we've seen, the PicNYC table features living, growing greenery, and you aren't just limited to growing grass. Spotted at the Wanted Design exhibition during NY Design Week, the clever double-duty piece can be planted with flowers or even herbs to pick and sprinkle right onto your meal.

Ernesto Neto Weaves Rope Into Giant Rainbow-Colored Spiderwebs That Visitors Can Climb On

Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is inviting visitors to come walk, jump and play on Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s giant rainbow-colored spiderwebs made of rope. The colorful nets hang as suspended winding tunnels throughout the gallery, giving adults and kids alike the opportunity to test their sense of balance. The show, entitled “Slow iis goood,” transforms multi-colored spools of rope into a floating organic landscape inside the gallery’s rooms.