Events & Things To Do

May 11, 2018

Tour mid century-modern icons from Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and more

From May 15-18, the Iconic Houses Network will hold its bi-annual international conference in New Canaan, Connecticut and the surrounding area. This year’s conference, titled “Modernism on the East Coast – Philip Johnson and the Harvard Five,” will highlight the work of the famous five Harvard architects--Philip Johnson, John M. Johansen, Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, and Eliot Noyes--who “stirred up an experimental modernist movement in the sleepy New England town.” There will be a number of different events, but perhaps most exciting is the slew of tours of modernist icons such as Johnson's Glass House, Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonia community,
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May 9, 2018

Tour the fashion and architecture of the Met’s “Heavenly Bodies” exhibit

On Monday night, Rihanna, Madonna and all of the celebrity A-listers posed on the Met Gala’s red carpet to show off their over-the-top interpretations of the Metropolitan Museum's 2018 Costume Institute exhibit “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” This year’s exhibit focuses on the dialogue between fashion and medieval art, displaying Papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel, many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican. To house it all, the Met tapped architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfo (DS+R) to design the show, and ArchDaily has uncovered this gorgeous photo set showing their work.
Take a tour
May 3, 2018

NYCxDesign 2018: A guide to this month’s best design events

Photo courtesy of Industry City New Yorkers love good design. They also love good festivals. And who doesn’t love a custom cocktail? Put those three together and you’ve got NYCxDESIGN. With over 400 different exhibitions, installations, trade shows, panels, product launches, open studios, and more, NYCxDESIGN runs from May 11–23 across the city’s five boroughs and is the biggest design event of the year. And to top it off, restaurants throughout the city are designing custom NYCxDESIGN cocktails, the perfect end to a perfect day. To help you navigate the scene, 6sqft has put together a guide to all the events you don't want to miss.
Check it out!
May 1, 2018

See the rooftop sculpture garden that will grow next to Zaha Hadid’s High Line condo

Related Companies announced last year plans to add 15 new gallery spaces around their Zaha Hadid-designed condo at 520 West 28th Street. One of the galleries tapped for the project, the Paul Kasmin Gallery, will serve as the anchor tenant and expand into a 5,000-square-foot space. In addition to boasting 22-foot ceilings and 28 skylights, the single-floor gallery will have a sculpture garden designed by Future Green on its roof. Because it sits alongside the High Line, "the garden serves as a verdant extension to the elevated park and showcases outdoor artworks in a rich seasonal tapestry," according to the landscape architects.
More details here
May 1, 2018

The city wants you to bike to work to celebrate National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month and Transportation Alternatives (TransAlt) is hosting its Bike Commuter Challenge. TransAlt and the city are challenging New Yorkers to swap their normal commuting routine and cycle to work. With Citi Bikes on almost every block, over 250 miles of new bicycle lanes, and the hellacious winter behind us, there is no excuse not to “man up.” Especially since, according to NYC DOT, more than 800,000 New Yorkers ride a bike regularly, which is 140,000 more than rode five years ago and means that NYC commuters already bike to work more than any other U.S. city.
There's more bike-related fun to be had in May
April 30, 2018

The new Hell’s Kitchen is sizzling with hot restaurants and fresh residential buildings

Hell’s Kitchen used to be a no-go zone. It was a gritty section of New York City with dangerous gang warfare and violent streets. Although West Side Story does not have any specific references (aside from its title), the plot, which was based on fractured race relations, was the story of Hell’s Kitchen pre-1990s--minus all the singing and dancing. But Tyler Whitman, a Triplemint broker and a proud Hell’s Kitchen resident, says there is actually quite a bit of singing that still goes on today. The 'hood retains some grit, in a charming New York way, but it is a genuine residential neighborhood in the midst of big changes, as new buildings and businesses spring up every day. But unlike a lot of other up-and-coming neighborhoods, Hell's Kitchen has flown rather under the radar, with many New Yorkers still believing it's an extension of Midtown or a stopover spot for dinner. Ahead, we break down why those in the know are moving to Hell's Kitchen and all the amenities it has to offer for people to stay awhile.
To hell and back!
April 30, 2018

Two weeks of free art and music kick off in Hudson Yards, giving a first taste of The Shed

Starting Tuesday, there will be two free weeks of art and music, as a teaser for the much-anticipated cultural center coming next year to Hudson Yards, The Shed. The festival, "A Prelude to The Shed," will take place on a lot at 10th Avenue and 30th Street, one block from the arts center's future home. Performed on a pavilion outside, the events will feature dancers, musicians and a variety of visual art. Measuring 200,000 square feet, the Shed will open to the public next spring and contain two floors of column-free galleries and an intimate theater.
Find out more
April 27, 2018

The Urban Lens: How Stanley Kubrick’s early photography led to his iconic film career

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. This week’s installment comes courtesy of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Before he directed films like "A Clockwork Orange," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "Dr. Strangelove" Stanley Kubrick worked as a staff photographer at LOOK magazine, where he developed a knack at storytelling through street photography. Kubrick "found inspiration in New York's characters and settings, sometimes glamorous, sometimes gritty," all of which is the subject of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs,” tells the story of how a 17-year-old amateur photographer from the Bronx went on to become one of the most revered directors of the 20th century. The exhibit, on view from May 3rd through October, will display more than 120 photos taken between 1945 and 1950, during Kubrick's time at LOOK, and examine the connections between his photography and film work. Ahead, the exhibit curators share with 6sqft a sneak preview of the photographs and discuss their experience working on the show.
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April 26, 2018

Where I Work: Inside Stephen Powers’ colorful world of studio art and sign making in Boerum Hill

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring artist Stephen Powers' Boerum Hill studio and sign shop. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Walking along Fourth Avenue in Boerum Hill, the storefronts all look pretty similar--pizza shops, laundromats, cute cafes--until you come to the corner of Bergen Street and see the large, colorful collage of signs gracing the side of the little brick building. This is ESPO's Art World, artist Stephen Powers' sign shop. But as you can imagine, this space is much more than that. Powers, who painted graffiti under the name ESPO for much of the '80s and '90s in NYC and Philadelphia, also uses his shop as a retail store and informal gallery where passersby can walk in and peruse his graphic, pop-art-esque, text-heavy work. Stephen recently gave 6sqft a guided tour of his shop and chatted with us about his transition from graffiti to studio art, why he dislikes the term "street art," his love for Brooklyn, and where he sees the art scene heading.
Get a look around and hear from Stephen
April 25, 2018

Uncover secrets of the World’s Fair with free, monthly walking tours of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

For two six-month seasons in 1964, the World's Fair came to Queens, with exhibits featured from over 80 nations spread across 646 acres. The fair came at a time of mid-20th-century innovation and culture, at the height of the Space Age. It served as a moment of peace before the start of the Vietnam War, with its motto "Peace Through Understanding." And while many New Yorkers attended the historic event, or have heard stories recounted by parents and grandparents, it's hard to imagine what it was truly like to experience. Making it easier to understand what the World's Fair was really like, the city's parks department is offering free, monthly tours of the park, allowing visitors to hear the stories behind the Unisphere, the New York State Pavilion and many more landmarks.
Details here
April 24, 2018

Governors Island will stay open late on Fridays this season

Get ready to party on Governors Island this summer. The Trust for Governors Island on Tuesday announced extended hours for the 2018 season from 6 pm to 10 pm, allowing visitors to explore the park, drink cocktails and enjoy beautiful sunsets every Friday beginning May 25. During "Late Friday" nights, guests will be able to traverse the entire Island, including the promenade and Nolan Park and Colonels Row homes in the park's historic district.
Get the scoop
April 23, 2018

A public floating food forest will come to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer

A 5,000-square-foot edible perennial garden will travel to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer, offering up New Yorkers the chance to harvest fruits and vegetables on top of a barge. The floating food forest, Swale, docked in Manhattan last year and featured an apple orchard surrounded by garden beds. This year, the 130x40 foot barge will set up along the Sunset Park waterfront between May 5 and July 1, and be free and open to the public on the weekends.
Details here
April 23, 2018

NYC’s 10 best art exhibits and events this spring

The flowers are finally blooming, spring is in the air, and there are tons of awesome art exhibits popping up all over the city. Although we recently highlighted some amazing art day trips from New York City, there is always art at our doorstep that we should take advantage of, so we've rounded up 10 terrific exhibits and events that will not last long. So take an extra long lunch break or sneak out of work early to catch these temporary shows that are all worth a visit.
Check out the list
April 20, 2018

Bjarke Ingels reveals new renderings of twisting High Line condo ahead of May sales launch

Ahead of the just-announced May 7th sales launch, Bjarke Ingels and developer HFZ Capital have released to the Times several new renderings of the Eleventh, or the XI as it's been branded. The West Chelsea hotel/condo project is notable not only for being Ingels' first NYC condo project but for its asymmetrical, twisting silhouette. And in the new renderings, we're able to get a better look at the pair of towers and their skybridge, along with, for the first time, the central courtyard and an apartment interior.
All the renderings and details right this way
April 20, 2018

City to move ‘Fearless Girl’ to new home across from New York Stock Exchange

Mayor Bill De Blasio announced today that the “Fearless Girl” statue currently staring down the iconic Wall Street "Charging Bull" will be getting a permanent home in front of the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District. Since the diminutive statue's temporary installation more than a year ago a day before International Women’s Day, sending a message to Wall Street for the need of gender equality in the financial world, the statue has become a major attraction, drawing millions of tourists and locals.
What about the bull?
April 18, 2018

150 years ago, Delmonico’s became the first restaurant to serve women unaccompanied by men

Photo of Delmonico's in 1903; photo via Wikimedia Nearly five decades before women were granted the right to vote in New York State, a group of fed-up ladies decided to protest a symbolic law that prohibited them from dining in restaurants without men present. After journalist Jane Cunningham Croly was barred from entering a dinner held at the New York Press Club, she and a group of women founded Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States. On April 20, 1868, Croly and her crew held a luncheon at the historic Delmonico's Restaurant in the Financial District, which became the first to serve women independently of men. Following the groundbreaking meal, clubs for only women formed all over the country.
The full history ahead
April 18, 2018

The world’s first public outdoor squash court opens on the Lower East Side

Squash is often considered the sport of prep schools and Ivy League colleges, but four squash enthusiasts are changing that, one court at a time. The NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver officially opened the first-of-its-kind in the world outdoor squash court at Hamilton Fish Park on the Lower East Side. This amazingly cool court looks more like an Apple Store glass cube than a fitness facility. Even cooler, it's funded by the nonprofit Public Squash and is free to the public and will offer free clinics throughout the summer.
Get all the details!
April 17, 2018

6sqft Guide: How to rent as a foreign national in New York City

Foreign nationals from around the world are recruited to work in New York City, but when they arrive, they often realize that not everyone is eager to welcome them with open arms nor open doors. Indeed, while many employers from banks and tech companies to museums and universities are eager to recruit top global talent, most of the city’s rental management companies would prefer to rent to a pack of college students than a fully employed foreign national with a six-figure income. So, what is an adult with a great credit history, full-time job, and in many cases, a family to do when they arrive in New York City? While foreign nationals likely can’t change the perception that renting to foreigners is a bad idea, there are a few ways to troubleshoot the housing market in New York City whether you were born in Toronto, Paris, or Tokyo.
Everything you need to know, here
April 17, 2018

First look at the glamorous, sixties-inspired guest rooms at the TWA Hotel

Guests staying at the TWA Flight Center Hotel will be transported back to 1962 through rooms decorated with Eero Saarinen-designed Knoll furnishings, martini bars and terrazzo-tiled bathrooms with Hollywood-style vanities. MCR and MORSE Development unveiled on Tuesday a model of the guest rooms at the hotel, located at the John F. Kennedy Airport, part of the landmark flight center's restoration and repurposing. Scheduled to open in 2019, the 512-room hotel is found in two low-rise, wing-shaped buildings behind the flight center, an homage to Saarinen's iconic design. The center will serve as the hotel's lobby, measuring 200,000 square feet, the largest hotel lobby in the world. The buildings, which officially topped out last month, will have a seven-layer, soundproofed-glass facade to provide the ultimate quiet retreat.
Check it out
April 12, 2018

Car Free Day will celebrate Earth Day by closing 30 blocks of Broadway

The day before Earth Day, on Saturday April 21st, 30 blocks of Broadway will be closed to vehicular traffic, from Times Square to Union Square, from 9am to 3pm. This third annual Car Free Day aims to promote sustainability and protecting the environment by promoting walking and eco-friendly modes of transportation, like cycling and mass transit. Citi Bike will be offering free day passes for their bikes, in partnership with Mastercard, and the Department of Transportation will host a slew of free events along the route.
Event details this way
April 10, 2018

6sqft won an award! Help us celebrate at the Historic District Council’s grassroots preservation awards

The Historic Districts Council this month will present six organizations and individuals with "Grassroots Preservation Awards" during its annual event. And 6sqft is one of the lucky winners! Help celebrate us, as well as the rest of the awardees, who will be honored for their work preserving New York City's historic neighborhoods. The event takes place on Tuesday, April 24 at the Saint Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery, located at 131 East 10th Street.
Details here
April 6, 2018

A 40-year sketching project pays homage to the subway’s historic mosaics

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites artists to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Philip Ashforth Coppola shares some of the sketches from his life-long "Silver Connections” subway drawings. Are you an artist who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Despite its functional woes, the subway is absolutely teeming with historic art, from tile mosaics of station names to ornamental ceiling wreaths and wrought iron handrails. Philip Ashforth Coppola has committed himself to paying homage to these details often looked over by rushed straphangers, drawing the designs with meticulous care and attention. For the past 40 years, he's been on a mission to draw every subway station in New York City. Though he's not there quite yet, his amazing work has been compiled into a series of volumes called "Silver Connections." Ahead, Philip shares some of his drawings and discusses why he started the project, how he goes about his work, and his thoughts on the subway past and present.
Step into Coppola's world
April 6, 2018

Travel uptown on a WWI-era subway to mark the 100th anniversary of Woodlawn station

Before the Woodlawn station opened a century ago, the surrounding area of Norwood in the Bronx was mostly rural with lots of farmland. While residential development began with the opening of the Woodlawn Cemetery, the neighborhood's transformation really took off when the subway was extended to reach this part of the city. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first train pulling into the northern terminal of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line, the New York Transit Museum is giving guests the chance to travel on World War I-era cars to relive this important part of subway history.
Find out more
April 5, 2018

Renderings revealed for Annabelle Selldorf’s $160M Frick Collection expansion

The Frick Collection has unveiled its $160 million Selldorf Architects-designed upgrade and expansion, which will open up the private living quarters of Henry Clay Frick's original 1914 home to the public for the first time. As the New York Times explained, the renderings illustrate a plan to expand the existing building's second level, add two set-back stories above the music room, and an addition behind the library that will match its seven-story height. These will house a 220-seat underground auditorium, an education center with classrooms, in addition to a renovated lobby and larger museum shop.
More details and renderings ahead
April 4, 2018

Take a tour of artist Cj Hendry’s ‘MONOCHROME’ rooms in a Brooklyn warehouse

Australian-born, New York-based hyperrealist artist Cj Hendry--whose past work, which is often sold out through Instagram and has been quite dominated by blacks, whites and grays--created an amazing color exploration in a 22,000-square-foot Brooklyn warehouse. In each of the seven single-colored rooms, the self-described “fashion fangirl” Hendry’s MONOCHROME exhibit creates a color sensory experience centered around her new images of crumpled Pantone swatches. Everything from the walls to floors to clothes hanging to plants are the same color. It looks as if she was inspired by the 2018 Pantone color of the year, ultraviolet, for the bathroom. The rooms are built with lego-like Everblocks, creating somewhat prison-like walls in the most colorful jail ever.
Take a tour