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Competition Turns Sidewalk Sheds into Works of Art Downtown

By Carl Glassman

“Urban Umbrella,” by Young Huan-Choi. The University of Pennsylvania student won the competition and a $10,000 prize.
Courtesy of urbanSHED International Design Competition. (3)
“Urban Umbrella,” by Young Huan-Choi. The University of Pennsylvania student won the competition and a $10,000 prize.
As if construction around the city were not nuisance enough, the mandatory sheds that ring those sites add aesthetic insult to the injury done to businesses blocked by the ungainly structures.

Hoping to turn the corner on sidewalk shed design, the Downtown Alliance, together with the Municipal Art Society and a number of trade associations and city agencies, sponsored a design competition. Of the 164 entries, Young Hwan Choi’s “Urban Umbrella,” at right, imagined around the Sun Building at Chambers Street and Broadway, was the winner. The Alliance says it will choose a Downtown location this year where a prototype will be installed.

Runners-up in the competition are shown below.

While the landmark Sun Building, which now has a real sidewalk shed above its sidewalk, may not be chosen for the prototype, it is clear from these renderings that it should be. The building has not looked so good for a long time.



“urbanCLOUD” by a team from KNEStudio in New York (left) and “Tripod” by a team from XChange Architects in Boston (right).
Left: “urbanCLOUD” by a team from KNEStudio: Kevin Erickson, Dan Campbell, Mathew Strack, Johann Rischau, and Brodie Bricker. Right: “Tripod” by a team from XChange Architects in Boston: Jonace Bascon, AIA, Derrick Choi, AIA, Lynn Hsu, RA, Stephen Lew, PE, and Andrew Stark, PE.