Model Citizens

March 26, 2012 9:00 am

To truly understand architecture, you have to first fathom a building’s inspirations: like, Frank Gehry’s IAC Building is inspired by a yacht’s billowing sails, while Shea Stadium is inspired by the sound of Flushing.

Get that deep understanding of NYC’s storied facades by exploring the studios of lower Manhattan’s award-winning architects on the new Openstudios Hudson Square tour.

A Saturday afternoon walkabout curated by an internationally-acclaimed coterie of architecture savants, Openstudios throws open the doors of award-winning firms in historic Hudson Square, giving you exclusive access to their designs, models, and materials.

Architects from each firm will display models of their work, which ranges from historical Manhattan facades (the New York Stock Exchange, Columbia University), to futuristic interior decor (the Wright at the Guggenheim, the Berkshire Capital offices), to more fantastical imaginings like a proposed hotel in China designed to resemble a jellyfish. Yes, a jellyfish.

The tour is self-guided, but each participant’s given a handy map, plus invited to an end-of-day cocktail reception at the offices of Superstructures, where you’ll enjoy a glass (or two) of wine with the architects and designers.

You might even make a hire — you never know when you’ll need to install a garage-door facade on your brownstone.

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