Landscape Architect Articles

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The winner of the sidewalks category of the CityRacks Design competition was Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve. This bike rack will be the new NYC standard. The jury found the design elegant, modern, yet simple and sturdy (cast-metal construction).

From 2000 to 2006, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) recorded a 75 percent increase of bicyclists in the Central Business District.

Clearly, the city needed more bike racks. There are great looking bike racks for landscape architects to specify. In LASN you will see bike racks made by Function First, Hannan Specialties (steel bike lockers), Madrax and Saris Cycling Group.

With Mayor Bloomberg promoting greener modes of transport for the city, NYCDOT, decided to focus attention on biking with the international CityRacks Design competition, open to architects, landscape architects, artists, engineers, planners, urban designers, product and industrial designers and manufacturers.

For the design competition NYCDOT partnered with the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, with support from Google and Transportation Alternatives.

RSVP Studios, CityRacks Design competition co-winner in the indoor category, imaged ceiling-mounted bungee cords and a grooved floor.

There were over 200 entrants, including international competition. The design competition was in two-stages. The designers selected in the first stage received $5,000 to produce two full-scale prototypes. Ten prototypes were installed and tested on the streets.

The design of Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve (Bettlelab) of Copenhagen, Denmark won first-place in the outdoor competition category, earning a $10,000 prize from Transportation Alternatives. On accepting the prize, the winning designer transferred their intellectual property rights to the city. NYCDOT intends to use Mahaffy and De Greeve?EUR??,,????'?????<

The second-place winner was Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs of London ($3,000 prize), with third-place going to Ignacio Ciocchini of New York ($2,000 prize).

The jury also selected two first-place winners in the indoor competition. RSVP Studio of New York offered ceiling-mounted bungee cords and a grooved floor. Jessica Lee and Anthony Lau of London created three modular pieces that could be installed in myriad combinations to fit all sizes of indoor spaces. Both received a $5,000 prize for their work.