Architects can't help but come up with crazy ideas for the future of New York City, and for that, we thank them. The year 2030 seems to be a popular choice when it comes to putting these visions on paper. Richard Meier and others have already taken a crack at predicting what the Big Apple of 2030 might look like, and now five young local firms are getting their chance. They're taking part in Audi's Urban Future: Project New York exhibition, which opens this weekend at Nolita's Openhouse Gallery as part of the New Museum's Festival of Ideas. The 50-foot interactive model of Manhattan that's folded in half is only the start, friends. Care to tinker with a few neighborhoods?
According to the Project New York website, the architects have created "neighborhood-specific interventions." Today the Daily News has a little bit of info on each intervention, and there are definitely some headscratchers. Just when we think we're getting a handle on the whole Hudson Yards thing, Bowery-based Leong Leong comes up with an idea for the area "to introduce biological interventions that take over the streets and sidewalks. So one idea is that cars could be like bees and could pollinate different areas of the city." Totally, bro.
Most of the firms don't offer previews of their concepts on their websites?you'll have to drop by the exhibition for the full reveals?but just reading about them is pretty funky. Lower Manhattan roads that expand and contract based on traffic, hydroponic farm tubes built in the unused air space above low-rise buildings, Central Park West brownstones morphed into "something much more organic,"?if this is what 2030 looks like, we're going to need to start smoking a lot more weed.
· Audi Urban Future: Project New York [Official Site]
· How will NYC look in 2030? Audi's 'Urban Future Initiative: Project New York' reveals five concepts [NYDN]
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