5 Free Things to Do During Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

5 Free Things to Do During Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

Memorial Day typically results in a mass exodus of NYC each year, but if you're sticking around on the homefront this weekend, there are plenty of free events and activities of which to take advantage. From a Central Park walking tour of monuments that pay homage to fallen heroes to a waterfront bike ride towards ships visiting for Fleet Week to a free family festival on Governors Island, read on to see all of the fun things you can do this weekend in the Big Apple!
 

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Bees in Times Square: InterContinental Hotel Unveils New Rooftop Beehive

Bees in Times Square: InterContinental Hotel Unveils New Rooftop Beehive

Have you heard the buzz in Times Square? The InterContinental New York Times Square hotel just opened a new rooftop beehive home to more than 10,000 honey bees! The hive is located on one of two rooftop gardens which also boast an herb garden producing local food only a few floors away for hotel guests.
 

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Columbia’s Manhattanville Campus is First LEED Platinum Neighborhood Plan in NYC

Columbia’s Manhattanville Campus is First LEED Platinum Neighborhood Plan in NYC

Columbia University’s 17-acre Manhattanville campus in West Harlem just announced that it has achieved LEED Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s standards for neighborhood development. Located just north of Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus in what used to be an industrial neighborhood, the area bordered by 129th and 133rd Streets, Broadway and 12th Avenue, in addition to three properties east of Broadway between 131st and 134th, will feature pedestrian-friendly streets and open spaces while connecting West Harlem to the new Hudson River waterfront park. The Manhattanville campus is the first project in New York City to score the LEED platinum rating for an entire neighborhood plan.




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20 Years Of Bryant Park Photo Exhibit

20 Years Of Bryant Park Photo Exhibit

View photographs of Bryant Park’s dramatic transformation from the Bryant Park archives. More than 50 images covering the park’s dynamic and rich history will be adorning the park’s perimeter fence, so stop by for a free history lesson on this beloved space.

Click here for further information.

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

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.
 

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Verdant PicNYC Table is Topped with Living Growing Grass

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.
 

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12×12 Designers Transform Reclaimed NYC Lumber Into Fresh Modern Furnishings – PHOTOS

12×12 Designers Transform Reclaimed NYC Lumber Into Fresh Modern Furnishings – PHOTOS

At this year's Wanted Design show during New York Design Week 12 contemporary designers unveiled 12 fresh new designs made entirely of lumber reclaimed from blighted New York City buildings! Dubbed 12 x 12, the exhibition features a chair made from a Park Avenue water tank, a desk made of wood salvaged from the Brooklyn Bridge, a coffee table made from Coney Island boardwalk planks, and a bar cart made of old wood casks from a distillery in Flushing. Read on to check out our photos and learn more about all 12 designs from this inspiring show!
 

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Renegade Pop-Up Park Planned to Protest City’s Inaction in Chelsea

Renegade Pop-Up Park Planned to Protest City’s Inaction in Chelsea

What do you do when you’ve been lobbying for a neighborhood park for years to no avail? How about creating your own pop-up park in protest? That’s what a group called Friends of 20th Street Park is planning to do at an area in Chelsea on West 20th Street that has been home to an unused Department of Sanitation lot for years. The organization, which has been advocating to transform the unused space into a park for years, says they are are going to make a pop-up renegade park in protest of the city’s inaction. The peaceful protest will gather hundreds of green-wearing locals this Sunday on the vacant lot at 136 West 20th Street.


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IKEA Extends Free Water Taxi Service to Midtown Location

IKEA Extends Free Water Taxi Service to Midtown Location

We have some good news for Midtown Manhattaners who have been waiting for a greener and easier way to get to IKEA in Brooklyn. The Swedish furniture giant is testing a new ferry stop at the East 35th Street Terminal in Murray Hill, and if all goes well, they’ll be extending their free weekend service to that location. The partnership with New York Water Taxi will run every forty minutes from 11:20 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.



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Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden Wins Daily News Best Community Garden Title

Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden Wins Daily News Best Community Garden Title

The Daily News has awarded its prize for best community garden in NYC, and we’re excited to say it’s one that’s near and dear to our hearts – the Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden. Located on Sixth St. between avenues A and B, the tranquil space beat out many larger city gardens for the title, proving that when it comes to garden design, size doesn’t matter. True to its name, the urban oasis has many out-of-the-box features including a distinctive red birch-chip path that is anything but on the beaten one.

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City Proposes Plan to Make Bowling Green Sidewalks More Pedestrian-Friendly

City Proposes Plan to Make Bowling Green Sidewalks More Pedestrian-Friendly

The streets of the tourist-heavy tip of Lower Manhattan become crowded and unnavigable during the summer months (as we’re sure you know all too well if you work in the area), so the Department of Transportation has come up with a proposal that it hopes will ease up some of that pedestrian congestion. The DOT’s plan calls for widening the sidewalks around the Bowling Green area, and could make for a more friendly commute for visitors and New Yorkers alike. We think the idea makes perfect sense and fits in well with the city’s other initiatives to make itself into even more of a pedestrian-friendly town.


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The Landmarked Museum of the City of New York Goes Green With a LEED-Seeking Renovation

The Landmarked Museum of the City of New York Goes Green With a LEED-Seeking Renovation

For nine decades, the Museum of the City of New York has honored our city's past and celebrated its future through diverse and transformative exhibits, providing New Yorkers with a catalog of the Big Apple's perpetual evolution. As New York moves toward a more sustainable future, MCNY has not only examined the changes through special exhibits, but the institution has become a part of the changes itself. MCNY's landmarked Colonial Revival building is currently undergoing a $90 million LEED Silver renovation by Ennead Architects to bring the building up to date, helping it to engage visitors for generations to come. The comprehensive modernization and expansion began in 2006 and will be completed in 2015.
 

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Henry Street Settlement to be a Model for Green Landmarked Buildings in NYC

Henry Street Settlement to be a Model for Green Landmarked Buildings in NYC

Tucked away on a quiet block in the Lower East Side, the Henry Street Settlement, which dates back to the late 1800s, offers a glimpse into New York City's past. But over the last year, the Settlement has been moving into the 21st Century, embarking on a groundbreaking plan to becoming the first green landmarked building in NYC by sustainably retrofitting its three historic townhouses. The organization is now competing with 39 other sites for grant money from the Partners in Preservation program, which would help the Settlement complete its upgrades and preserve a piece of New York's history.
 

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Take Your Tots to the New Amsterdam Early Childhood Center’s Annual Spring Fair this Saturday, April 28

Take Your Tots to the New Amsterdam Early Childhood Center’s Annual Spring Fair this Saturday, April 28

Kick off the spring season by treating your kids to a fun-filled festival in a Lower East Side community garden. The New Amsterdam Early Childhood Center is hosting its Second Annual Spring Fair, a three-hour event packed with games, craft-making, face painting, and special surprises for kids and their families, including a silent auction offering prizes like local restaurant gift vouchers, preschool camps at the Chelsea Piers, and sustainably-made toys. The event starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, and it is guaranteed to be a fun time for kids ages 2 to 6.



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Photos: Katharine Harvey’s Glittering Plastic “Chandelier” is Made from 1,000s of Pieces of Garbage

Photos: Katharine Harvey’s Glittering Plastic “Chandelier” is Made from 1,000s of Pieces of Garbage

Made from glittering strands of plastic garbage, artist Katharine Harvey's massive "Chandelier" has made its way to downtown New York just in time for Earth Day. The artist strung together water bottles, sandwich trays, muffin tins, salad boxes, egg cartons, and other trash to create the almost crystalline 21-foot tall and 15-foot wide sculpture, which currently hangs in the World Financial Center Winter Garden. Commenting on the "glut of plastic in consumer society," the deceptively beautiful light fixture will be on display from April 15th through May 11th, suspended above a luxurious marble staircase.
 

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Curious Irish Hunger Memorial is a Green-Roofed Monument in Battery Park City

Curious Irish Hunger Memorial is a Green-Roofed Monument in Battery Park City

Even the most been-there-done-that New Yorkers might find themselves surprised to stumble upon the Irish Hunger Memorial, a sloping patch of wild grass that protrudes from Vesey Street and conceals one of the city's hidden gems beneath. Designed by artist Brian Tolle, landscape artist Gail Wittwer-Laird and 1100 Architect, the green-roofed monument entices passersby with its curiously overgrown field and, once they are inside, educates them about the Great Irish Famine and Migration of 1845-1852, a devastating event which actually led many Irishmen to make New York their new home. Comprised of an elevated limestone plinth supported by stones from each of Ireland's 32 counties, the beautiful structure contains a dark passageway that eventually leads to an idyllic knoll that reaches towards Ellis Island, symbolizing the new beginning that many Irish found in America.
 

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Park Avenue Tower Set to Get a LEED Renovation in Hopes of Becoming NYC’s Next Iconic Building

Park Avenue Tower Set to Get a LEED Renovation in Hopes of Becoming NYC’s Next Iconic Building

A New York City developer has created a competition to enliven the Park Avenue skyline. L&L Holding Co. is asking distinguished architects, including Jean Nouvel and Norman Foster, for design proposals to transform the boxy building of 425 Park Avenue into a LEED-certified skyscraper. The company wants to give the building a modern edge in the style of iconic buildings such as the Lever House and the Seagram Building.



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New York Flower Show: 30 Greenery-Topped Tablescapes Fill a Manhattan Ballroom with Blooms

New York Flower Show: 30 Greenery-Topped Tablescapes Fill a Manhattan Ballroom with Blooms

Fashion and flowers overtook 583 Park Avenue last week for The Horticultural Society of New York's magical showcase of greenery-topped tables and fantastical floral arrangements. Taking just one day to complete their task, 30 different New York designers filled the Delano & Aldrich-designed architectural gem with their lavish creations reflecting this year's theme of “Couture en Fleur." Tying in everything from 1920s Paris fashion to Alexander McQueen's book "Savage Beast" to the over-the-top visuals of Cirque du Soleil, the fanciful tablescapes featured moss-covered mannequins, gowns made of botanical buds and more.
 

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54 NYC Bike Share Locations Revealed For Manhattan’s West Side

54 NYC Bike Share Locations Revealed For Manhattan’s West Side

The nation’s largest Bike Sharing program, scheduled to launch in NYC with 600 stations and 10,000 bikes this July, recently revealed a plan for 54 of the bike sharing stations, most of which will support more than 30 bicycles each. The locations were reveal by the NYC Department of Transportation during a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting. Also introduced during the meeting were the local requirements for the stations and the strategy for placing 100+ bikes at some of the world’s busiest transportation hubs, Pennsylvania Station and Port Authority Terminal.




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The Green Festival Lands in New York City for Earth Day

The Green Festival Lands in New York City for Earth Day

The Green Festival hits the Big Apple for the first time this weekend, April 21-22 at the new LEED-certified North Wing of the Jacob Javits Center. The eco-conscious event is perfectly timed for Earth Day festivities and will feature talks from 125 authors, activists and green movement leaders including Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! and Russell Simmons. You can hitch a free ride to the fest with Revolution Rickshaws pedicabs and show your support for sustainability and social justice by attending the THREADS Eco-Fashion Show, a DIY workshop, or checkout more than 300 exhibitors at the Green Business and Urban Go Green Pavilions. You can also sip organic beer and wine, eat local food or shop the Green Marketplace.




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Axis Mundi Re-Imagines A Concrete Lace Network for the Whitney Downtown Museum

Axis Mundi Re-Imagines A Concrete Lace Network for the Whitney Downtown Museum

Axis Mundi isn't content to rest on their laurels - the firm has decided to design their own version of the Whitney Downtown museum. Located at the beginning of the High Line park, the Whitney Museum will serve as an important public gathering space and almost acts like the entrance to the elevated urban green space. Axis Mundi's design calls for a lace-like concrete superstructure that offers large, spacious, column-free galleries, and an influx of natural daylight. Designed to take in specific views from around the city, the building takes inspiration from the current Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue.
 

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Massive Artificial Mountain Could Make Skiing Possible in the Lower East Side

Massive Artificial Mountain Could Make Skiing Possible in the Lower East Side

If you weren't happy with the big box stores that could be hitting the Lower East Side as part of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), what do you think about the idea of topping them off with a massive artificial mountain? That's what designer Ju-Hyun Kim proposes with Manhattan Mountain, a snowy slope that would hide the unsightly retailers slated to move into the area and attract tourists to a unique urban skiing experience.
 

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Let There Be Light: Low Line Exhibit Now Open at Mark Miller Gallery in the Lower East Side

Let There Be Light: Low Line Exhibit Now Open at Mark Miller Gallery in the Lower East Side

"Let There Be Light," an exhibit exploring what could be the next High Line, but underground, opened on Sunday, April 1st, at Mark Miller Gallery in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Delancey Underground, often referred to as the "Low Line," was co-founded by designer James Ramsey of Raad Studio and social entrepreneur Dan Barasch. Their aim is to transform an abandoned trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street into a public park. To get an idea of how the two plan to create this cutting edge new green space, be sure to visit the exhibition that features drawings, 3D models, photographs, and a life-size rendering of the potential park. If you love this idea as much as we do, you definitely want to check out the exhibit before the end of the month!
 

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PHOTOS: Macy’s Flower Show Features Giant Toucan Topiary Covered in 25,000 Flowers and Leaves

PHOTOS: Macy’s Flower Show Features Giant Toucan Topiary Covered in 25,000 Flowers and Leaves

For the first time in 38 years, Macy's famous Flower Show has bloomed inside a massive tent in Herald Square instead of in the store itself - and those who step inside are in for a Brazil-inspired treat. Capturing all of the colors of Carnival, the show has been delighting floraphiles since last week with its themed gardens that offer New Yorkers an escape to the Amazonian rainforests. We popped into the show on Saturday and the lavish displays of greenery, vibrant blossoms and working waterfall were the perfect way to avoid the dreary, drizzly weather outside. Step into our gallery to see all of our favorite parts of the show, including this giant toucan topiary covered in 25,000 hand-dipped Brazilian button flowers and magnolia leaves.
 

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Residents Do Not Want SPURA to Bring Big Box Retailers to the Lower East Side

Residents Do Not Want SPURA to Bring Big Box Retailers to the Lower East Side

Photo via Bowery Boogie

Last year, Inhabitat reported on the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), a massive redevelopment project in the Lower East Side for one of the city’s largest underdeveloped plots of land centered on Delancy and Essex. While official plans revealed earlier this month promised new housing, retail space, and a 10,000 square foot park, these may come at a price that many residents are unwillingly to pay: the construction of big box retail stores.



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