EXQUISITE CITY / HYBRID SPACES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

 BANK / COFFEE SHOP Montauk, NY Thanks to Yara Travieso 

MAILBOX / BENCH Mission District, San Francisco, CA

EDUCATIONAL NON-PROFIT / PIRATE SUPPLY STORE Co-founded by Dave Eggers, 826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco that supports students from elementary to high school with their writing skills free of charge.  Because of the zoning restrictions for the property, the non-profit also has a store connected to the organization that sells a range of quirky pirate inspired objects.  100% of the proceeds from the store go to supporting the non-profit.

PARKING GARAGE / TENNIS COURT Berkeley, CA

ALLEY / FOOD TRUCK STOP SOMA, San Francisco, CA

BANK BUILDING / GYM Here’s yet another example of an old bank building reprogrammed and adapted into a different commercial space (see February 18, 2012 - Bank Building / Drug Store for original post).  This bank building right next door to Union Hall (previous post) in Park Slope, Brooklyn has been transformed into a gym.

BAR / BOCCE BALL COURT Union Hall, Park Slope, Brooklyn

CHURCH / RESTAURANT Located at 50th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, St. Bartholomew’s Church stands as an odd and unlikely neighbor to the high-rise glass and steel office towers surrounding it.  While this landmark neo-Byzantine building looks out of place, the church has had to get creative over the past couple of decades to stay afloat due to depleting funds.  In the early 1990s, St. Barts was in the middle of a  much publicized Supreme Court case in which the church argued it had the right to replace the adjacent community house and open terrace with a fifty-nine story office building to help support the struggling parish even though the building was a designated landmark.  The church lost the case, so it opened this cafe/restaurant in its vacant community house instead to assist in bringing in revenue.

BANK BUILDING / SPA Just across the street from the impressive bank building that was converted into a CVS from my previous post (See February 22, 2012 - Bank Building / Drug Store), there’s this classical bank building at the corner of 14th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan that has been retrofitted by yet another retailer.  Instead of a drug store though, this one has been transformed into a spa.

BANK BUILDING / DRUG STORE This is another example of adaptive reuse of an old bank building for a drug store (see February 18, 2012 - Bank Building / Drug Store for original post).  In this case, a CVS has occupied the longtime headquarters of New York Savings Bank at 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.  This old bank building includes marble walls and columns, and a spectacular vault ceiling with a dome.

HIGH SCHOOL / SKATE PARK Located at the corner of Essex Street and Grand Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York, The New Design High School is a relatively small arts-oriented public high school.  The school offers a skate boarding program on its rooftop.  From outside, the top floor of this building looks similar to all of the other floors; however, it has no ceiling and is open to the elements.  With exposed truss beams and metal grating on the windows instead of glass, this rooftop features a skate park, complete with skate ramps, colorful graffiti murals, and basketball hoops.

BANK BUILDING / DRUG STORE Long gone are the days when banks were housed in grand classical buildings with high ceilings and ornate details.  Today’s banks are a fraction of the size of their predecessor with hardly any of the architectural flair.  This can be attributed to a number of reasons, including changing trends in architectural style, slimming margins, the development of new and more affordable construction materials, and technological advancements that have made the need for safety-deposit boxes and large vaults less and less relevant.  As a result, many old bank buildings have lost their original usefulness.  A growing number of retailers are occupying these impressive spaces and adapting them to fit their commercial needs.  Drug stores have especially capitalized on this. This image shows a Duane Reade in an old bank building at Spring Street and Lafayette Street in New York, NY. 

SIDEWALK / LIVING ROOM On a warm sunny day, it’s common to see a group of men playing dominoes or just sitting and relaxing in this makeshift living room on a sidewalk in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.  While it’s not unusual to see ad-hoc furniture in public spaces throughout the city, what makes this example especially unique is the care the person(s) that constructed the space took to make it feel and function like a living room, equipped with a mirror on the wall, a writing desk with cabinets, and an overhead florescent light fixture.  Blurring the line between private and public space, this outdoor living room reprograms the sidewalk from a space for pedestrian circulation to a space for resting and socializing.