It's our home base. A daily source of inspiration, wonder, magic, and sometimes bewilderment! We only have to look out the windows of our office above Union Square to see moments of intimacy and creativity amidst the rushing crowds. Below are some of the spaces—old and new—that are piquing our interest right now.
Bird's eye view.
Our office has perched above Union Square for 30 years. We love the greenmarket, watching the trees change color with the seasons, and the spontaneous music performances.
Shopping is an art in NYC and we are charmed by stores that cater to singular interests. Tender Buttons, on a tree-lined street on the Upper East Side, sells only those.
A store for everything.
No matter how esoteric the interest, New York City has a store for it. The Drama Book Shop in the Theater District has been around since World War I, offering plays, books on stagecraft, and a place for performances. It helps keep New York City's deep theater roots alive.
Governors Island, with its 139 acres of parkland, is one of our greatest public spaces. This summer, the "Hills," the final 10-acre portion, will also open to the public.
A landmark gets a new life.
The Whitney Museum of American Art's former home—the tiered, granite-clad building by Marcel Breuer that opened in 1966—is now a showcase for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's contemporary art collection. The building was carefully restored by architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle.
Outer borough love.
From the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, and Brooklyn Crab in Red Hook, we constantly venture off-island.
Bigelow, the oldest operating apothecary in the U.S., was founded in 1838 and partly inspired David Rockwell's Tony-nominated set design for "She Loves Me."
“Coming to Bigelow was part of visiting the old New York."
With three rows of 48 horses, Jane's Carousel was created in 1922. It was restored and installed in 2011 in a beautiful Jean Nouvel glass pavilion on the Brooklyn waterfront.
Another carousell we love.
For years, we've been fascinated by the theater of Coney Island. We were thrilled to design the B&B Carousel Pavilion (keeping the historic spelling of "carousell") and help revitalize the park after Hurricane Sandy.
Where would New Yorkers be without their bagels?
There's no shortage of these guys in the city, but our favorite haunt is Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side, where "appetizing" is an art form.
The possible transformation of the TWA Flight Center into a hotel represents one of the greatest things about New York—change is constant!
What if a disused airport terminal became a hotel?
Eero Saarinen's iconic TWA Flight Center at JFK has been closed since 2001, and we've been lucky enough to take a peek a couple of times since then. Reportedly, it will be transformed into a hotel. We'll be curious to see...