Did you know the subway had its own baseball team? Uncover more secrets as we celebrate 120 years of the NYC subway!
An evening of adventure, experimental music, and waterfront views at an unusual music festival inside an NYC sewer tunnel!
Discover what qualities make a great cup of joe as you learn how to taste coffee like a professional!
Untapped Cities is excited to announce our October lineup of special events for Untapped Cities Insiders. Every month, Insiders get to explore New York City through free, exclusive behind-the-scenes tours and exciting events hosted by the city’s leading cultural institutions, like our partners at the New York Public Library, The Museum of the City of New York and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Recently, Insiders got to go inside an abandoned shooting range beneath the Park Slope Armory, explore the stunning Art Deco details of the New York Telephone building and eat our way through the Bronx Night Market. In October, upcoming events include Archtober events, hearing from renowned architects, and more! New events are constantly added, so keep an eye on our member events page and this article for updates. You can join the next Insiders adventure by becoming a member today.
Acclaimed cartoonist Roz Chast and visual and performance artist Neil Goldberg reflect on finding humor, absurdity, and beauty in everyday moments – particularly through the eyes of New Yorkers. Brooklyn-born Chast has chronicled the anxieties, pleasures, and perils of contemporary city life as an author and longtime staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Goldberg’s work also captures residents of the city amidst everyday moments – from ordering lunch at the deli to running for a train. His most recent project, Other People’s Prescriptions, a photographic tome of New Yorkers who wear glasses, showcases some of the vast perspectives that make up this metropolis. Together, Chast and Goldberg offer a glimpse of what it means to be an artist in and of New York City at the Museum of the City of New York.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Join Four Freedoms Park Conservancy for a discussion on the last great work of Louis Kahn: FDR Four Freedoms State Park. A tour of the presidential memorial will be led by Robert Balder, the Executive Director of Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and Stephen Martin, the Conservancy’s former Director of Design and Planning, detailing the design philosophy of America’s preeminent modernist architect and the changing landscape of Roosevelt Island and New York City. An informal happy hour reception with wine, beer, and snacks will follow the tour for an opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow architecture and design enthusiasts. If you don’t get one of the free Insider spots, you can get 50% off tickets from Eventbrite using the code LouisKahn.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Photograph Courtesy of the Center for Architecture
Presented by the American Institute of Architects New York (AIA), Cocktails & Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that joins an architect with a critic, journalist, curator, or architectural historian to discuss current architecture design issues. Each program includes a custom-crafted cocktail—one inspired by the architect’s work and created especially for this event. Untapped Cities Insiders are invited to take part in the Archtober Cocktails and Conversation featuring Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, Principal, Marlon Blackwell Architects and Billie Tsien, AIA, Partner, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
We’re excited to announce the return of this tour which will take you inside the raw industrial spaces, latest renovations and future plans at Kearny Point, a former United States shipyard. The tour will be led by Nick Shears, Director of Leasing at Kearny Point. During World War I and II, Kearny Point was once one of the world’s most prolific shipyards when it operated as the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, where as many as 30,000 people came to work each day. Today, Hugo Neu is transforming the 130-acre industrial complex into a new mixed-use, sustainable waterfront destination – one that embraces the site’s history and provides opportunities for the businesses of the new economy. Its renewed work environment is situated only minutes from Manhattan, but comes at a fraction of the cost of workspace in New York City, Newark, Hoboken or Jersey City.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
The American Copper Buildings, photo by Max Touhey
On this Untapped Cities Insiders tour, visit the American Copper Buildings, two stunning luxury residential towers on Manhattan’s East Side designed by SHoP Architects and developed by JDS Development Group. American Copper is the tallest copper-clad building in the world. The towers are connected by a three-story skybridge –the first major skybridge construction in New York in 80 years – that contains an indoor lap pool and lounge. This means you can literally swim from one tower to another! Clad in copper, the building will patina gracefully over time. The 761-unit luxury rental community reaches 41 and 48 stories in height, with the iconic sky bridge connecting the two towers. Apartments offer sweeping views of the Empire State Building, East River and the Manhattan skyline, as well as custom finishes and materials hand-selected by SHoP and 60,000 square feet of lifestyle amenities that offer a condominium-level residential experience.
This tour will be led by Ayumi Sugiyama, Director of Cultural Projects at SHoP and lead architect on the American Copper Buildings. On this tour, guests will learn about the innovative architecture of the American Copper Buildings and the redevelopment of a previously underutilized industrial site. Guests will visit the skybridge, the lobby, and see model apartment units – of which there are hundreds of unique layouts due to the slightly askew angle of the towers.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Untapped Cities Insiders are invited to attend the AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee’s annual lecture on excellence in museum design, this year featuring Thomas Phifer, FAIA, of Thomas Phifer and Partners. Thomas Phifer founded his New York studio in 1997. He has completed projects such as the Glenstone Museum expansion in Potomac, Maryland, the Corning Museum of Glass expansion in Corning, New York, and the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is currently engaged in the design of the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw and TR Warszawa Theatre complex in Warsaw, Poland, the Waterloo Park Performance Pavilion in Austin, Texas, and the CineColombia Headquarters in Bogotá, Colombia. He currently serves as the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Tour the unique architectural elements of Long Island City’s Hunters Point South Park and take in the stunning city views along the waterfront with principal architects Thomas Balsley of SWA/Balsley and Michael Manfredi of Weiss/Manfredi, the two firms behind the design. Hunters Point South Park first opened in 2013 with Phase I, an active recreation and gathering area with industrial remnants from the park’s past such as old gantries and railroad tracks incorporated into the design. Phase II, a 5.5 acre addition, opened in the summer of 2018 and was designed for passive recreation in landscapes that are naturalistic. The entire park stretches across 11 acres of waterfront surrounded by water on three sides. On this special tour, Insiders will have the amazing opportunity to hear directly from the park’s architects and learn about what went into the design process including the ideas of resiliency and sustainability which are forefront in the design.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
To celebrate the launch of his latest book, A History of New York in 27 Buildings: The 400-Year Untold Story of an American Metropolis, former New York Times urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts sits down for a conversation with Curbed architecture critic Alexandra Lange at the Museum of the City of New York. They’ll share the stories behind our city’s most transformative structures from architectural icons like the Empire State Building to lesser-known sites such as the city’s oldest continuously operating theater and the building where the Founding Fathers added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Photograph Courtesy of Lang Architecture
Go inside the studio of Lang Architecture to see the work that goes into their stylish designs. Untapped Cities Insiders will get to tour the firm’s Lower Manhattan office space with founding Principal Drew Lang. Lang will share with Insiders a presentation of behind-the-design information on recent projects including Hudson Woods, a development of twenty-six sustainably designed homes in the forest of New York’s Catskills region, Splinter Creek in Mississippi and a New York City townhouse renovation. Through this presentation and Q&A with Drew Lang, Insiders will learn how the firm achieves their mission of “connected design — holistically uniting place, purpose and experience to elevate daily life.”
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Attend the talk Urban Renewal in the Suburban Age: The Struggle to Redefine the American City at the Brooklyn Historical Society to explore how cities changed after WWII. Trace the complicated history of efforts to reimagine cities in the face of an increasingly suburban landscape in the decades following World War II through the lens of the life of famed urban planner Edward Logue. Harvard professor Lizabeth Cohen, who looks at this pivotal moment in urban history in her book, Saving America’s Cities, is led in conversation by Columbia University’s Kenneth Jackson. The story of Logue’s clashes with the likes of both Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs to bring renewal projects to fruition highlights the complexity of creating vibrant, equitable cities.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Ryan Muir for the Hudson Square BID, © 2019
Untapped Cities Insiders are invited to take an art walk along Hudson Square BID’s new public art initiative, Hudson Square Canvas on Varick Street. Featuring five original artworks by four artists, this public urban art gallery highlights Hudson Square’s grand architecture and creative energy. The tour will discuss the artwork as well as the unique challenges and purpose of creating art in the public realm, and how public art lends itself to a neighborhood wide place-making initiative. The tour will be led by a member of Hudson Square BID staff. You can explore the canvases through this digital map. On the tour, guests are encouraged to look for the blue squares on the street for photo opportunities and post your experiences to social #hudsonsquarecanvas
Hudson Square is an energizing and vibrant neighborhood of digital wizards, brilliant broadcasters, talented trendsetters, serious scientists and global brand beacons. It is where ambition meets action. Purpose-built and on a human scale, Hudson Square is engaging, inventive, industrious and vibrant. Since 2009, the Hudson Square Business Improvement District (BID) has brought the creative energy from inside our neighborhood’s buildings out onto the streets with the creation of our innovative outdoor spaces and community programs.
REGISTRATION: This event has passed!
Photograph by Dan Cole, Courtesy of the Center for Architecture
Presented by Untapped Cities’ partnership with Archtober
Start off your Halloween weekend at the Center for Architecture’s third annual Pumpkitecture! competition! 20 New York City-based firms will go gourd to gourd to once again compete for the Pritzkerpumpkin. Come witness architects live-carve extraordinary structures and vote for the People’s Pumpkin.Who will squash the competition? Who will summon the Brutal ghost of Marcel Booeuer and invoke the spirit of Michael Gravesyard? Will the Crowned Curibita be inspired by Frank-o-Lloyd Wright’s Guggengourd? See for yourself at Pumpkitecture! Festive food and beverages included.
Walk around Historic Murray Hill with a knowledgeable guide from the The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association and learn about the area’s many historic landmarks, including the Union League Club, The Morgan Library, the Polish Consulate and others. The tour also features information about the well-known architects who designed them, including Hoppin & Koen, Horace Trumbauer, C.P.H. Gilbert, Stanford White, Emery Roth and Fred French. Hear about the famous people who once called this neighborhood home, including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan and Andy Warhol. Find out how Mary Murray distracted the British General Howe to allow the American army to escape during the American Revolution. Discover the unique architectural qualities of the buildings as well as the historic evolution of the neighborhood and its preservation as a residential oasis in Midtown Manhattan.
Presented by Untapped Cities’ partnership with Archtober
See who will take home a Transportation + Infrastructure Design Excellence Award from the AIANY and ASLANY. These awards recognize exceptional design by AIA and ASLA members working in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The awards program is open to registered architects, landscape architects, and planners.
Built and unbuilt projects will be reviewed for their innovative design approaches to transportation and infrastructure. AIANY + ASLANY will recognize projects that reflect a commitment to sustainability, community engagement, and civic architecture.
Before exterior walls were co-opted by faux-graffiti marketing and street art tours flooded the borough, Brooklyn fostered distinctive waves of mural-making by activist artists working with everyday neighbors. Untapped Cities Insiders are invited to go behind-the-scenes of Brooklyn’s mural movement, and explore how today’s artists are continuing to forge community cohesion and retain a sense of place amid gentrification as Robyne Walker Murphy, Executive Director of Groundswell, moderates a conversation with Janet Braun-Reinitz, muralist and author of On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City, Richard Green, Director of Crown Heights Youth Collective, and Joe Matunis, founder of El Puente’s Los Muralistas initiative.
Join Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts for a trip to Roosevelt Island with author Stacy Horn. Just steps from the ruin of James Renwick’s Small Pox Hospital, Horn, author of Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad and Criminal in 19th- Century New York, will take guests into the area’s macabre past, sharing insight from her new book. From 1839, when the New York City Lunatic Asylum opened, to 1936 when Damnation Island was finally defunct, Roosevelt Island, then known as Blackwell’s, was home to a host of infamous institutions. We’ll find out how this sliver of land in the East River was filled with prisons, asylums, hospitals and almshouses, hear accounts of those who were held there, and learn how muckrakers and reformers from Charles Dickens to Nellie Bly helped expose the “naked ugliness and horror” of those institutions, beginning a reform movement for compassionate mental health care and social welfare that continues to this day. Further light on that positive shift will be shed by historian Judith Berdy, the President of the Roosevelt Island historical society, who will share the history of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, and its benevolent founder, the Reverend William Glenney French.
Subscribe to our newsletter
