First was a book launch for Lincoln Center Inside Out, Diller Scofidio + Renfro's "architectural account" of the 10-year transformation of Lincoln Center. The three partners spoke with Barry Bergdoll in NYPL's South Court auditorium. The coffee table book is uniquely made, in that the whole thing is a series of gatefolds. Outside are full-bleed photos spanning two pages, and inside are detailed vignettes on some aspect of the process. It's an amazing book, one with a justifiably high cover price.
House lights down during the talk:
At the end of Liz Diller's 5-minute background on the process, she ended on an organizational chart of the key players in the multi-faceted project; naturally (as admitted) they positioned themselves in the middle of it all. This slide stayed up for the duration of the talk and Q&A, and was referenced on many occasions. It reveals the enormous complexity of the project, something DS+R said would have kept them away from the project if they knew it beforehand (I'm guessing they knew it to some degree, regardless).
House lights up during the Q&A:
After that I hiked 20 blocks down Fifth Avenue to Van Alen Books and the River City exhibition opening in a space behind the bookstore. The exhibition is the second installment in the River City series (first was on Michael Van Valkenburgh's Brooklyn Bridge Park); it focuses on the Cheonggyecheon River project in Seoul.
The gallery is accessed via an old kitchen:
The gallery is a fairly raw space (revelers at Van Alen Books' launch in April 2011 may remember the space, a partitioning of the area where Jeanne Gang and Anthony Vidler were signing books) with panels placed in front of unfinished drywall and plywood.
The exhibition started at Harvard GSD. Check the River City website for upcoming events related to the exhibition.
