Scaffolding Doesn't Save, It Kills

What begins as a lament from Real Deal architecture critic James Gardner on the death-by-scaffolding of the "living wall" at East 86th Street's Pure Yoga quickly becomes a rant on scaffolding citywide. Scaffolding turns the second floor into the ground floor and the ground floor into the basement by blocking people's light. "All of this is the absurd consequence of two bad and thoroughly thoughtless laws...that mandated these ugly and largely useless sheds. You won't find them in anything like the same abundance in Paris, Berlin, London, or Hong Kong, and it is not evident that the imperiled citizens of these metropolises are dying left and right." [Real Deal]