cherrypatter nyc
and great ideas for what to do too!
pike loop: a robot-built installation in nyc, really!
so my friend indulged me last night as i began what i hope is a multi-trip tour to check out the food in chinatown and i’m excited that we found two places that are indeed worthy of a write up — and . they were excellent. as an added bonus, on our way back out of eastern chinatown, we stumbled upon this great little project from our very own new york city’s department of transportation through its urban art program.
called the pike loop, a robot-built installation in nyc, this project features this funky little robot in the middle of the street building a brick wall (the photo above is from the storefront for art and architecture which is sponsoring the exhibit). watching the robot in action is especially entertaining — my friend took the video with her iphone — as it zooms back and forth with a great swooshing noise. basically, the robot takes a brick and then adds it to the wall in a specific formation, assisted by some hunky guys who i assume are with the zurich architecture firm gramazio & kohler, architecture and digital fabrication.
just another reason why i think we’re lucky to have janette sadik-kahn, maybe new york city’s most dynamic and probably most interesting transportation commissioner ever. she’s a green freak and obsessed with removing street lanes from the city — i love that. for the pike look robot, if you want to see it in action, you better come by soon as it stops working next week though the brick wall will be up for viewing through mid-november. pike loop, a robot-built installation in nyc on pike street between division street and east broadway. construction period continues through october 27th (9 a.m. to 7 p.m.). installation remains through november 14, 2009.
there are other great reasons to come to this part of chinatown that is just north of the manhattan bridge. there is of course great food (and i hope to put together a mini guide soon), but also it just feels a little like china. there are almost no tourists, and you come across random scenes like this — women burning their trash from the day on the street. not exactly a sustainable approach but it sure is a good way save money for trash removal.