NYC adopts a new standard for urban construction sheds
We
posted an announcement last August for the "urbanSHED International Design Competition," and Young-Hwan Choi, a 28-year-old graduate student from the University of Pennsylvania, heeded the call* and won the $10,000 cash prize. So how about showing L+L a little love, wontcha, Young? A little sumpthin' sumpthin'... anything? No?
Mr. Choi's concept, the Urban Umbrella has been adopted by the New York City Department of Buildings as a new standard. While use of the design by contractors will not be mandatory, the Department reports that the installation costs are "in line" with the current standard and that long term maintenance and installations costs for the new structures will be lower. Also of note is that the new design will obstruct less of a building's facade which would appeal to building owners and affected businesses.
Link: urbanSHED
*WE HAVE NO IDEA IF YOUNG-HWAN CHOI HAS EVER READ L+L.
The winning design was selected from 164 designs submitted by architects, engineers, designers, and students from 28 countries around the world. You can view all of the entries here.
Sheds are built to protect pedestrians walking alongside buildings under construction, and the current wood and steel scaffold designs has remained primarily unchanged since the 1950s. With approximately 6,000 sidewalk sheds in New York City, representing more than 1 million linear feet, it is easy to see how greatly construction sheds affect the urban landscape. The Urban Umbrella design is intended to improve quality of life, reduce construction impacts on businesses, increase pedestrian safety, and increase available space for pedestrians on sidewalks.
The Alliance for Downtown New York will fund the construction and installation of a full-scale prototype of the design at a job site in Lower Manhattan. Young-Hwan Choi holds a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Korea University in Seoul, Korea. Upon being selected as a finalist, Mr. Choi teamed up with Sarrah Khan, a professional engineer, and Andres Cortes, a registered architect, of the New York-based design firm Agencie Group to further develop his shed design.
