Comments on: Pic of the Day: Lever House http://blog.jannineandnathan.com/2007/03/03/pic-of-the-day-lever-house/ Jannine and Nathan take Manhattan Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:28:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Nathan http://blog.jannineandnathan.com/2007/03/03/pic-of-the-day-lever-house/#comment-20 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:44:54 +0000 http://blog.jannineandnathan.com/2007/03/03/pic-of-the-day-lever-house/#comment-20 Thanks, I'm shooting on a Minolta DiMage G600. Small enough that I can carry it in my murse at all times. Then, when i'm actually thinking, I can pull it out and take snapshots of interesting things I see. The plaza of Lever House is interesting. They're on a corner lot. The office tower (which is what you see on the right in the picture) takes up maybe one-third of the space. The "ground floor" level for the other two-thirds is open, with an elevated 2nd story above it. However, this space has a cut-out in the middle, which gives light to a ground-level <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Lever_House.html/cid_2922078.html" target="_new" rel="nofollow">sculpture garden</a>. So the ground-level plaza including the sculpture garden is (in theory) open to the public. I say in theory because the fact that it's under an elevated building sends the pretty strong message that it's not public space. I don't think the elevated plaza is public, but I could be wrong. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_House" target="_new" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>, of course, has all the info you could ever want on the building. Of course, I totally concur on the "sneaky, sneaky developers" point. Thanks, I’m shooting on a Minolta DiMage G600. Small enough that I can carry it in my murse at all times. Then, when i’m actually thinking, I can pull it out and take snapshots of interesting things I see.

The plaza of Lever House is interesting. They’re on a corner lot. The office tower (which is what you see on the right in the picture) takes up maybe one-third of the space. The “ground floor” level for the other two-thirds is open, with an elevated 2nd story above it. However, this space has a cut-out in the middle, which gives light to a ground-level sculpture garden. So the ground-level plaza including the sculpture garden is (in theory) open to the public. I say in theory because the fact that it’s under an elevated building sends the pretty strong message that it’s not public space. I don’t think the elevated plaza is public, but I could be wrong.

Wikipedia, of course, has all the info you could ever want on the building.

Of course, I totally concur on the “sneaky, sneaky developers” point.

]]> by: rob http://blog.jannineandnathan.com/2007/03/03/pic-of-the-day-lever-house/#comment-19 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:06:17 +0000 http://blog.jannineandnathan.com/2007/03/03/pic-of-the-day-lever-house/#comment-19 Great picture. What are you shooting with? How is the plaza elevated? It's on the roof of ground-floor commercial space that is flush against the sidewalk? Sneaky sneaky, developers. Is there a mandate that the plaza be public space? Apparently a favorite of developers to abuse the "make public open space, get greater floor space allowances" regulations was to create winding public open spaces a foot wide the entire length of the building, so they could net the equivalent of a 200 sq.ft. concession that was totally unusable. Great picture. What are you shooting with?

How is the plaza elevated? It’s on the roof of ground-floor commercial space that is flush against the sidewalk? Sneaky sneaky, developers. Is there a mandate that the plaza be public space?

Apparently a favorite of developers to abuse the “make public open space, get greater floor space allowances” regulations was to create winding public open spaces a foot wide the entire length of the building, so they could net the equivalent of a 200 sq.ft. concession that was totally unusable.

]]>