IdeasCity is a civic platform of the New Museum of New York, based on the premise that art and culture are essential for the future life of cities.
This free and public event, which took place on September 16, 2017 at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, focused on the theme “100 actions for the city of the future”. The program consisted of a one-day event to present strategies, ideas and proposals with artist talks, initiatives led by local organizations, performances and workshops. We were invited to design an action-installation with a useful life of 9 hours. The challenge was to propose an element capable of activating public space and having a life beyond the event. We designed a circular stepped area composed of 30 pieces of different geometries, which after the event would become permanent furniture in the Foundation building at Cooper Union. We work in collaboration with 70 volunteer students of this School of Architecture that, within a week and using exclusively the facilities of the shop, manufactured the 30 pieces made of laminated birch, each one mounted on casters. The structure was moved in procession from the university to the park where the event was held, to return at the end of the day, to the place where it will be permanently, activating the empty spaces of the school, creating places of relationship and improving public life in Cooper Union.
