Parking Spots: House of Cars

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

The National Building Museum could use a jazzier name (Architecturama?) and their new exhibit, “House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage” (October 17-July 11), takes on a generally less-than-scintillating subject. But the curators may have a point: this overlooked and much maligned practical urban necessity deserves a spot on the exhibition roster. For, as the press release states, “In a world without parking garages, parking lots would sprawl across our cities.” And that would be yucky.

Reach Party (or: Johnson & Johnson & More Johnson)

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

A second casting of J. Seward Johnson’s undeniably eye-catching 4,100-pound struggling sculpture, “The Awakening,” has been permanently installed in a grassy expanse in Chesterfield, Missouri. The grasping giant was added to Chesterfield Arts‘ public art collection and will be available for perpetual public gaping and climbing, forever frozen in an angry state, quite annoyed at [...]

Step Right Up!

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Stairs are so ordinary and prosaic that we rarely think of them as tourist destinations. Oh sure, we’ll stand in awe before a magnificent stained-glass window. We’ll wander for a wall mural or travel for a turret. But it’s about time that we pay tribute to an often overlooked, exceedingly everyday structure. So here’s a [...]

Mind Your Mini-Golf

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

The New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York, recently launched a new astro-attraction: Rocket Park Mini Golf, a valiant educational effort that attempts to teach kids about physics through the joy of amateur putting (And we don’t mean discovering how time seems to stretch out into infinity when stuck behind slowpokes trying to [...]