05-13-2010
Looking Back on the City We Imagined and Made
Last Friday, I stopped by the latest exhibition presented by The Architectural League, The City We Imagined. I mainly went to check out the photographs of the city taken by those fortunate enough to have their pictures selected out of what was surely a LARGE pool. One of FXFOWLE's own, Coe Will made the cut with eight of her photos on view. Wandering around the perimeter of the show, which summarized and exhibited The City We Imagined "sustainably" with cardboard tubes and boards forming the display walls, I found the collages of photos fun to take in. I recognized the majority of places and discovered some new spaces in what was essentially a speed tour of the city I live in but don't always see.
My favorite board was themed with a collage of patterns, textures and shapes from buildings and structures throughout the city—an image of the latest Nouvel building (100 11th Avenue) next to the Frank Gehry IAC building. However, I found myself most excited about the center ring of the exhibit which chronicled the City We Imagined by a visual timeline of proposals, news headlines, project milestones and completed structures. Maybe it was the wine and the fun company, but reviewing the last 10 years of design and construction in the city caused me to look back on the city that I have gotten to know and love. Some of the built projects were early fantasy design competitions when I was finishing school (such as the TKTS booth in Times Square). Others faded with the recession or loom in the future, like the Barclays Arena. The city certainly has changed a lot over the years and it was satisfying to see that compressed into a digestible nugget. A must-see to reflect on the city we live in.
by Nadia Samuelson
My favorite board was themed with a collage of patterns, textures and shapes from buildings and structures throughout the city—an image of the latest Nouvel building (100 11th Avenue) next to the Frank Gehry IAC building. However, I found myself most excited about the center ring of the exhibit which chronicled the City We Imagined by a visual timeline of proposals, news headlines, project milestones and completed structures. Maybe it was the wine and the fun company, but reviewing the last 10 years of design and construction in the city caused me to look back on the city that I have gotten to know and love. Some of the built projects were early fantasy design competitions when I was finishing school (such as the TKTS booth in Times Square). Others faded with the recession or loom in the future, like the Barclays Arena. The city certainly has changed a lot over the years and it was satisfying to see that compressed into a digestible nugget. A must-see to reflect on the city we live in.
by Nadia Samuelson