If you liked the High Line...

If you liked the High Line, then check out LentSpace. You won't be able to pass an entire afternoon there (as you easily could at the High Line), but LentSpace definetly deserves to be your next lunch-break destination. More importantly, it stands as a unique showcase of what can be done (temporarily) to undeveloped, underdeveloped, or vacant parcels of urban land.

 

LentSpace is "a free outdoor cultural space open to the public." It occupies a 27,000 sq ft lot in TriBeCa, New York City, and is surrounded by Grand, Sullivan, Varick, and Canal.

Back in the real estate boom of 2008, Trinity Real Estate, the land's developers, decided to convert their TriBeCa lot, which was housing obsolete office buildings, into a residential condo. However, applying for rezoning was a process that would take upwards of 3 to 5 years. Due to this delay in development, Trinity solicited suggestions from different cultural groups in the city, asking them for proposals on temporary usages of the land.   

One proposal that caught their eye came from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, "the leading voice for arts and culture Downtown and throughout NYC". Other notable projects by LMCC include their twelve year artist residencies program. Under this project, short-term donations of vacant office and industrial spaces are transformed into temporary studios, rehearsal, and presentation spaces for artists in all disciplines--an excellent concept that deserves an entire post of its own.

In a similar spirit, LMCC asked Trinity Real Estate to use their lot as a temporary space for artists to practice in downtown NY, something that wouldn't be feasible otherwise due to the area's high property values.

Trinity agreed to a three year free-of-rent donation to LMCC. Stress was placed on the "temporary" nature of the space, as its name suggests. Because of the project's short lifespan and tight budget, Interboro Partners, the chosen design team, came up with several smart design solutions.

Planter trees were nurtured in movable boxes that will find new homes throughout the neighborhood after the project's 3-5 year lifespan. 

Inexpensive materials were used to construct the space, serving as a constant reminder of its impermanence.

Rotating plywood fences serve both as entry points into the space as well as benches for people-watchers. The fence also tickles the thin line between the space's public and private nature. LentSpace is not a public park (which comes with regulations of its own), but a privately owned piece of land made temporarily available for public entry.


LentSpace is open to the public daily from 7am to dusk. You can get there by taking the A/C/E or 1 trains to Canal Street. Join Adam Kleinman, LentSpace curator, for a tour of the space on September 14.