Back to the Beach

An "urban beach" installed in Queens, NY will be the venue for a summer music series.

Peter Halsey Sherwood -- Interior Design, 6/30/2004

New York City’s P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and Museum of Modern Art, Queens, have selected an emerging designer to overhaul the courtyard at P.S. 1 in Long Island City, Queens as part of the Young Architects Program. This marks the fifth year that MoMA and P.S. 1 have collaborated on the program. The 2004 winner, Narchitects, has created a topography of fresh-cut bamboo with spaces for lounging and wading or rather, entitled "Canopy", which the architecture firm describes as "an urban beach”. As in past years, the project will serve as the venue for Warm Up, the music series held in the courtyard.

Experts in the field of architecture, including architects, curators, academics and magazine editors, nominated 25 candidates from a pool of both recent graduates and established architects experimenting with new style or techniques. The contestants were instructed to make the best use of the space while remaining within the allotted project budget of $60,000.

“Both extravagant in form and light in its conception," said Terence Riley, chief curator of MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design, "Narchitects’s design demonstrates the maximal effect of well considered gestures.”

Canopy was first unveiled June 27 and can be seen through September 5.