Brooklyn Navy Yard Virtual Artists’ Studio Visits | FREE Jane’s Walk Virtual Program | Friday, May 7

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May 7, 2021 5:00 pm EDT

The Brooklyn Navy Yard recently launched a public art exhibit with the theme Atmosphere for Invention, which reflects both the site’s history and its inventive spirit today. This live virtual program will visit the studios of artists Jackie Meier, Paul Campbell, and Tracy Wuischpard, who will be joined by curator Carli Beseau, and they will share how they created works of public art that foster healing, beauty, regeneration, and community.

This program is presented as part of Jane’s Walk 2021 with the Municipal Art Society of New York.

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Exploring the Brooklyn Army Terminal | FREE Jane’s Walk Virtual Program | Saturday, May 8

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A dramatic look up at the window frames that connect two sides of the Brooklyn Army Terminal's gigantic and imposing Building B, made of poured concrete with off-set balconies
May 8, 2021 11:00 am EDT

Completed in 1919, the Brooklyn Army Terminal is a marvel of architecture and engineering. On this virtual tour, we will examine its design and construction during World War I, its 47-year service as a military supply base, and its reinvention as a hub for industry, manufacturing, and technology today. We will spend time in the breathtaking atrium, step into the skybridges that connect the buildings, and look at how the site has been renovated.

This program is presented as part of Jane’s Walk 2021 with the Municipal Art Society of New York.

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Renovation and Reinvention of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 127 | Free Virtual Program | Thursday, May 13

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May 13, 2021 11:00 am EDT

For NYC x Design Architecture Day, we’re taking a closer look at one of the most recent adaptive reuse projects of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 127. Constructed in 1904 for fabricating wooden boats, the 95,000-square-foot building recently underwent a full gut renovation, and its high ceilings, large windows, and uncolumned spaces made it ideal for repurposing for design and manufacturing businesses. We will be joined by architect Rosario D’Urso, Construction Project Manager at BNYDC, who will walk us through the project and discuss how their team brought this historic building back to life.

Brooklyn Navy Yard logo
This program is presented as part of NYC x Design 2021 and organized for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

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Made in NY Campus at Bush Terminal Virtual Tour | Free Virtual Program | Thursday, May 13

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May 13, 2021 3:00 pm EDT

Since its founding over a century ago, Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn has been a center of industry and innovation. Today, the city-owned site is being transformed into a campus for the Made in NY initiative to support cornerstone industries of the city’s economy: fashion and film. On this virtual tour, we will learn how the historic campus is being repurposed to provide affordable space and support services to garment manufacturers, alongside facilities for film and television production, and an expanded public realm to open the campus to the community. We will be joined by Mimi Hoang of nARCHITECTS and David Ostrich of W Architecture & Landscape Architecture, who will walk us through the reimagined campus and adaptively reused buildings.

This program is presented as part of NYC x Design 2021 and organized for the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

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Behind the Build: Bednark Studio | Free Virtual Program | Sunday, May 16

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May 16, 2021 2:00 pm EDT

Celebrate NYC x Design Interior Design Day with a virtual visit to Bednark Studio, a vertically-integrated design and fabrication company that specializes in retail environments, experiential marketing, and architectural millwork. Based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Bednark is a custom fabricator with manufacturing capabilities in wood, plastic, metal, print, and integrated lighting. On this virtual tour, we will be joined by founder Michael Bednark, who will walk us through their 65,000-square-foot shop and discuss their process, capabilities, and a selection of their 3,000+ premium projects for local clients and global brands including Balenciaga, Nike, and St. Germain.

Brooklyn Navy Yard logo
This program is presented as part of NYC x Design 2021 and organized for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

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Barnet or Bust: Canals on the Connecticut River | Virtual Program | Thursday, May 20

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May 20, 2021 6:00 pm EDT

Running from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut River cuts through the heart of New England. And for a period of about 40 years, a concerted effort was made to turn the rather wild and narrow river into a transportation superhighway to rival the Hudson. Between 1792 and 1835, seven canals were built to circumvent rapids, with the dream of making the river navigable as far as Barnet, Vermont, 280 miles from the Sound. In this virtual program, Andrew Gustafson, who has paddled most of the river by canoe, will trace the history of engineering and navigation, why the effort ultimately failed, and where this disused infrastructure can still be seen today.

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Trivia Ahoy! National Maritime Day Celebration | Virtual Trivia Night | Saturday, May 22

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May 22, 2021 6:00 pm EDT

On May 22, 1819, Savannah departed its namesake harbor bound for Liverpool on the first transoceanic voyage by a steamship. The mark this historic event, each year we celebrate National Maritime Day to recognize the contributions of the maritime industry and country’s working waterfront. Join us for a an evening of nautical trivia, about New York Harbor and beyond, from the 18th century to the present day. Presented by our maritime mavens Stefan D-W and Andrew Gustafson, we will also be joined by some special waterfront guests.

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Housing for All: A History of Social Housing in NYC | Virtual Program | Thursday, May 27

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May 27, 2021 6:00 pm EDT

As we approach New York City’s primary elections on June 22, housing, as always, is a key issue on the ballot. So we are looking back at the history of social housing in New York – not just the city’s vast NYCHA public housing system, but also other forms of government and philanthropic intervention that have tried to tame the beast of unsafe, unsanitary, and unaffordable housing over the past 100+ years. This program will look at examples of model housing designed by social reformers, landmark cooperatives built by labor unions and community groups, the rise of public housing beginning in the 1930s, and public subsidies for private developments. This wide-ranging examination will take us from the Home and Tower Buildings to the First Houses, from Stuy-Town to the housing lottery.

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Spring Planting in Prospect Park | Episode 213

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On this virtual walk, we will join Prospect Park Alliance’s gardeners for a tour of their work doing spring plantings around the Lakeside section of the park, including on the intensive green roof garden atop the LeFrak Center skating rink. Corbin Laedlein, Lakeside Lead EcoZone Gardener for the Alliance, will walk us through the landscape and discuss how they choose different plants for ecological, aesthetic, habitat purposes.

Plants mentioned in the program included: Rhus aromatica, Fothergilla gardenii, Cornus florida, Achillea millefolium, Pycnanthemum muticum, Monarda fistulosa, Cirsium arvense, Amelanchier canadensis, Betula nigra, Chionanthus virginicus, Artemisia vulgaris, Elymus virginicus, Penstemon digitalis, Phragmites, Galium mollugo, Ampelopsis glandulosa, Celastrus orbiculatus, Convolvulus, Cyperus esculentus, Lemnoideae, Typha

This program is presented as part of Jane’s Walk 2021 with the Municipal Art Society of New York.

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Heartlands, Chokepoints, and Conflict Zones: How Geopolitics Maps the World | Episode 212

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Maps hold the power to organize and explain the world beyond what we can observe with our own eyes, making them extremely powerful political tools. Maps that express a geopolitical vision of how the world works (or should work) have been hugely influential in shaping military strategy, international relations, and public opinion. In this virtual program, our resident political geographer and cartographer Andrew Gustafson will give a crash course on the history of geopolitics as a discipline, using examples of these influential geopolitical imaginings from the past 150 years, from Halford Mackinder’s Heartland to Ronald Reagan’s Chokepoints; Karl Haushofer’s Pan-Regions to George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil.

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