Big Bambu Roof Installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The roof at the Metropolitan Museum is that perfect union of creative process and capitalism. It has an unparalleled view of Central Park, a cocktail bar and rotating interactive art installations. The latest is Doug + Mike Starn’s bamboo structure, Big Bambú,  that has been a work in process since Spring. It’s final size is 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high and needed a team of rock climbers to build it.

With an organized tour, you can climb through the structure via the bamboo stairs and ramps built into it:

According to the description, “Set against Central Park and its urban backdrop,  Big Bambú  suggests the complexity and energy of an ever-changing living organism.” But what I appreciated most was the evidence of construction that was left on the rooftop, adjacent to the structure: a ladder, a storage of 40 foot bamboo poles, a makeshift tarp:

Photos by Michelle Young/Untapped Cities

Here are some of the scenes you can catch while exploring Big Bambú. It is at once chaotic, systematic, expansive, claustrophobic, isolated and integrated with the city that surrounds it.