Intersect Magazine by David Robinson

tasting menu

Best Breakfast in Beijing by Sarah Crawford

public sector

Parkin Space by Linda Cox

in motion

The People’s Palace by Dixie Ching

seen on the streets

Men’s Trends

photos Scott Schuman

no. 01

2nd Quartert 2009

Lost in Transition More and more street artists are abandoning the backalleys and moving their art into galleries as soon their work gets notices. But if street art is a conversation with its landscape, does the meaning get lost on those clean white walls? by Zoë Khaos

Lush for Life no more concrete jungle

Time was, city-folk had to search for green spaces and carve it out from the bricks and asphalt. Today, we don’t have to flee to the countryside to find plants thanks to new ideas in green roofs, urban parks and community gardens. Not to mention window boxes. by JD Michaels

Historic Election but not for that reason

In 2008, city residents stood up and elected the first U.S. urban president in 127 years. So will having a president that understands the needs of cities translate to a better standard of living in the centers? by André Phillips

INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

tasting

Best

Breakfast in

For a city increasingly in motion, a breakfast bing fits the bill

Beijing

WORDS Sarah Crawford PHOTOS Amanda Robinson

Beijing street food is cheap, varied, and when they leave. Lamb kebabs— or spring onions, covered with generconvenient, and above all great to nothing goes better with a local ous helpings of various sauces, and eat. If you don’t mind abandoning beer. The staple of street food, some- handed over to you, steaming, to eat your air conditioned hotel for dusty thing found all over China, is simple on the spot. Jian bing vendors usually street corners and crowds of hungry lamb kebabs, called yangrou chuanr push round a cart which holds their Beijingers then you could end up (羊肉串儿) in Chinese. Skewers of oven and all the ingredients and set becoming seriously addicted to it. tender meat cooked over a charcoal up outside schools, offices, bars or There is such a vast range of street food available in fire, sprinkled with cumin and spices just on busy street corners. They are Beijing that we couldn’t possibly describe all of it. and handed over to the salivating far and away the best breakfast food If you like the sound of what you see here, get out customer for just 1¥ or 2¥ a go. They you can find in northern China and there and explore, you’re sure to find all manner of originated in the Muslim north west- since the Beijing vendors make the creations that we’ve never even heard of. It’s sim- ern province of Xinjiang, and are best version, be sure to enjoy them ply a case of pointing at what you want and hand- usually sold by ethnic Uyghurs from when you’re in the capital. ing over the money—invariably less this region. They’re sometimes sold than 5¥ a go. outside a Muslim restaurant, or just from a barbecue on a wheel Outside schools and big office barrow. The same places usually sell other varieties, like various buildings are great places to find sheep and chicken intestines skewered and roasted. A very Beistreet food as the sellers set up stall to jing classic of streetfood is the jiacai or jiarou bing. It consists of a tempt Beijingers of all ages when they thick pitta bread stuffed with sweet, juicy pork and coriander, or arrive at work, during lunch breaks a mixture of raw, cooked or pickled vegetables. Sadly, these are becoming harder and harder to find as the hutongs where they were traditionally served are replaced by ugly tower blocks. Various kinds of pancakes, known as bing, make a great snack or even a full meal in Beijing. The best and most common are jian bing (煎饼), pan-fried pancakes. The mix is cooked in front of you and covered in egg. The pancake is stuffed with a light, crunchy batter-like filling, and any variety of things like sausage

the 25 cent breakfast of champions With her cart nestled between two storefronts, a woman prepared jian bing for the morning rush.

“

The other delicacy that is hard to find outside of the wheatrich north is baozi (包子),usually translated to ‘steamed stuffed buns.’ They are a great way to fill up in winter or as an afternoon snack with a tall cold beer. Along with steamed jiao zi, you can see them outside any small Chinese eatery, cooking away in bamboo steamers piled high. They consist of an outer layer of heavy white bread stuffed with pork or vegetables. Baozi can be as thick as your arm or so tiny and delicate that you can see the what’s inside, and the stuffing can be anything from pork to brown sugar. Most of the above can be found in markets, and a few more exotic items too.

If she wasn’t here, I’d never eat

“

breakfast

INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

PUBLIC

SECTOR

Parkin

by Linda Cox A facelift for Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza could finally shift focus away from cars and back to the people

Space

Traffic calming was born in the how and where to use traffic calming, that shared streets do not need signs streets of the Netherlands in the the Dutch and their northern Euro- and markings, because users are guidlate 1960s as a reaction to the rapid pean neighbors have continued to ed on their proper use by the physical increase in traffic volumes and the experiment and innovate in finding design of the streets themselves. accompanying deterioration in the constructive ways to accommodate The salient feature of shared livability of post-World War II Dutch cars in their cities. Designers in these streets is not just that they are “nacities. At the time, the idea of placing countries have been motivated both ked,” but that they are designed to obstacles in the roadway to restrain by the desire to enhance living con- be fully part of the public realm and traffic speeds and flow was considditions in their cities and to increase not just a conduit for traffic. In other ered to be extremely radical—even safety for all road users. It is worth noting that in words, the whole right-of-way of the in the Netherlands. However, by the 1970, the fatality rate per capita in the Netherlands shared street is designed to be an mid-1970s traffic calming had been and the U.S. was almost identical. Now the Dutch integral extension of the surroundadopted as official Dutch government rate is 2.5 times less than that in America. What is policy for design and had spread to interesting is that Dutch engineers do not seem to surrounding northern European countries and consider this dramatic progress to be good enough: even to America in places like Berkeley and Seattle. Now the goal in countries like the Netherlands It may have taken 40 years, but the engineering es- and Sweden is to actually eliminate traffic fataltablishment in the U.S. has slowly come to accept ity as a factor in everyday life. Out of this innovatraffic calming as a part of the tool box for street tive environment has emerged a new concept for design—at least for use on local streets. While we street design that is variously referred to as legible in the U.S. have been cautiously grappling with streets, self-explaining streets or shared streets. In the United Kingdom, some publications have even taken to using the term “naked streets” in reference to the fact that a feature of these streets is that they have been “stripped” of the signs and markings that are necessary for the operation of conventionally designed streets. The thinking is

photos © Wally Gobetz

room for some views The prize winning entry, “Canopy,” will bring much needed public space to the neighborhood and push traffic to the periphery.

ing land-use context. Therefore, all users have equal access. A vehicle is considered to be just another user that must negotiate space on an equal footing with shoppers, bikers, skaters and pedestrians. The idea is to make the street legible so that the users can understand that it is a shared environment and then behave accordingly. Ben Hamilton-Baille, a UK designer who has studied shared streets all over northern Europe, reported on an intersection in Christiansfeld, Denmark, that was converted to a shared street in order section, compared with an average of to address safety concerns. The original intersec- three injury accidents per year before tion was a conventional one with traffic signals and conversion. More surprisingly, trafthe requisite signs. The idea for the redesign was to fic backups during peak hours have create a sense of place at the intersection through actually decreased. The data suggest the use of appropriate surface treatment, lighting that the new intersection has imcolumns and squared-off corners at the crossroads. proved capacity and results in fewer According to Hamilton-Baille, these changes result delays than the original traffic-signal in an intersection that now feels like a town center. controlled intersection. Data from the Danish Traffic Directorate shows The best-known designer of that in the three years since the conversion there shared streets is the Dutch engineer have been no serious injury accidents at this inter- Hans Monderman, who works in the

19 northern Dutch province of Friesland. In 1998, Monderman converted an intersection know as “de Brink” from a conventional signal-controlled intersection to a simple brick-paved intersection that has been stripped of signals, signs, markings and barriers. Hamilton-Baille reported: “While observing the workings of ‘de Brink’

INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

MOTION T-Centralen Station Stockholm a piece of Stockholm’s 65 miles of tunnelbana Olaias Station Lisbon designed by Tomás Taveira for Expo ‘98 1

Train Budapest the second oldest subway in the world maintains its colourful charm.

LamarckCoulaincourt Paris Paris still manages to hold onto one of the most beautiful art deco metro systems.

Spaces & Details 3

opposite page Kievskaya Station Moscow part of the ring line, supposed Stalin put down his cup of coffee on the drafts of the metro and the engineers, fearful for their jobs, turned the stain into a new line.

The

People’s

photos © Milton Correa, Hans Stanger

As cities realize that more art in the metro means more riders, subway stations are becoming new urban galleries.

Palace

by Dixie Ching

With 8 million people passing exhibits. Credit Stockholm’s savvy through each day, Moscow’s metro city council, which recognized way system is the busiest in the world. ber of cities, especially in Europe, are turning their back in 1955 the potential for the It’s also one of most of the beautiful. once-dreary public transport systems into stun- subways to be about more than just Built during Stalin’s rule, the stations ning works of art. London, home to the world’s transport. The city called on painters, are known as “the peofirst underground, tapped the services of world- sculptors, architects, and engineers ple’s palaces” for their famous architect Sir Norman Foster, who designed to join forces in making metro staelegant design and lav- the modern station at Canary Wharf. With its high, tions attractive and stimulating environments. ish use of marble, mo- vaulted ceilings and glass exterior surrounding the “underground cathedrals” with a “fanfare of color saics, sculptures, and platform, the station feels clean, sleek, and futuris- and rhythm,” according to the city. Building beaueven chandeliers. The intricate mosaics lining Ki- tic. Foster used a similar approach when designing tiful metro stations isn’t just a chance for cities to evskaya station, the stained-glass panels at the No- stations for Bilbao’s metro in 1995. The stations are show off. It also provides valuable exposure for voslobodskaya stop, and the gold-trimmed white unique for their striking, glass-enclosed entrances, up-and-coming local artists and architects, giving porcelain caverns at Prospekt Mira are more mu- which locals have dubbed “Fosteritos” in honor of them a chance to bring their work to the masses. seum than metro. Most subway systems are dank the architect. Other metro systems house histori- “Artists have a captive audience,” says Edward and grimy—not places you’d want to linger. But a cal treasures or precious works of art. Indeed, the Barber, director of programs at the London College growing number of cities are taking a page from Athens subway is a museum in its own right. At the of Fashion, who has been involved in the city’s Moscow and investing in design and art for their Syntagma station, for instance, visitors can check Platform for Art initiative. underground transit. Doing so not only makes out ancient objects unearthed when the station an architectural and aesthetic statement but also was built. And passengers to Lisbon’s Olaias station helps attract more passengers. “Evocenjoy contemporary works of Portuguese artists, ative metro stations are just as im- many using the country’s colorful ceramic tiles. portant to the whole experience of World’s Longest Art Gallery public transport as good-quality car- Art also is a selling point for visitors to Stockholm’s subway, riages,” says John Smith, an architect or tunnelbana, whose 108 kilometers (65 miles) of tunnels have and professor at London’s Royal Col- been dubbed the “world’s longest art gallery.” Seventy of the 101 lege of Art (RCA). That’s why a num- stations are decorated with colorful and constantly changing art INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

ertain urban artists have used he street merely as a convenien pringboard into the galleries*

As artists move from back alleys to galleries, are they losing their connection to the street?

by ZOĂ&#x2039; KHAOS photos MANFRED ELFSTROM

certain urban artists have used the street merely as a convenient springboard into the galleries*

F 28

or years, street artists have used the back alleys as their playground. If you’ve ing his thing at friendswelove.com and on YouTube.) But a man been half-awake in the subway sometime in the last year or so and thought identifying himself as “Henry,” who called The New York Times you noticed two guys drowning in a glass of beer in a Michelob ad, or saw on Tuesday in response to messages for Poster Boy sent through an ad for a television program about the Drug Enforcement Administration friends, cast some existential doubt on whether Mr. Matyjewicz altered to say, “Iran: Every Deal Can Turn Deadly,” or that familiar subway was, in fact, the man the police were after. “Henry is one of many door sign reworded to read, “Do Not Lean on Poor,” you have most likely seen the work of individuals who believe in the Poster Boy ‘movement,’ ” the Poster Boy. While most other street or graffiti artists concentrate on adding man wrote later on Tuesday in an e-mail message, referring to their own imagery, illegally, to parts of the subway system, Poster Boy, a kind Mr. Matyjewicz in the third person. “Henry’s part is to do legal artwork while of anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for propagating the ideas behind Poster Boy. That’s why it was O.K. for him to take collage, has made his outlaw presence known all over the city by cutting and the fall the other night. Henry Matyjewicz is innocent.” pasting the images that are already there in the form of ads. But his stealth Moni Pineda, a co-creator and producer for Friends We Love, a New campaign, which has entertained thousands of normally glassy-eyed com- York documentary video series that profiles young artists, said that she and muters and infuriated the police and the companies whose costly ads he has the series’s other creator, Mike Vargas, had just begun a benefit event in the chopped up and scrambled, will probably get a lot harder now. SoHo space on Saturday evening when they noticed a commotion involving At an art event in SoHo on Saturday, a group of plainclothes New York a person Ms. Pineda would identify only as “a friend,” adding, City police officers finally caught up to and unmasked, at least metaphorically, “Poster Boy could be anybody.” “The police came into a private the man they say is Poster Boy. He is Henry Matyjewicz, a 27-year-old who lives event,” Ms. Pineda said. “They didn’t show a warrant to me or in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and he was found after a tip from someone who saw anybody. And the next thing we know, our friend is walking out the name Poster Boy on a flier for the event, the police said. Paul J. Browne, the with a bunch of guys we didn’t know.” Ms. Pineda said she and Police Department’s chief spokesman, said that Mr. Matyjewicz (pronounced others came up with bail for their friend, but not before he had Mat-ee-YAY-veetch), who was also being sought on a warrant for a petty larceny been transferred to Rikers Island, where he stayed before being charge from last year, was arrested in the art space, at Broadway and Howard released in the wee hours of Monday morning. In one of his YouStreet in SoHo, and charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal mis- Tube videos, Poster Boy says that he started rearranging subway chief. “The officers had information that he was, in fact, going to be at that gal- ads because he wanted to make art but could not afford materilery that night,” Mr. Browne said, adding that he believed that the department als. “I mean, a razor pretty much anybody can afford,” he says. had evidence of Mr. Matyjewicz at work scrambling parts of subway posters. His work grows out of a wave of remix culture that has inspired (Although his face is obscured, there is also plentiful video of Poster Boy do- many young artists and musicians over the last decade, though

and wHO FORGET their ORiginS once a pRomiSIng CAReer is SECURED. —BleK le RAt in Poster Boy’s case it is decidedly analog. And he would like to he knows how things are going to shape up.” “And again,” she made a point see the idea spread, he wrote on Tuesday in a series of answers to to add, “Poster Boy can be anybody.” If you’ve been half-awake in the subway e-mailed questions. “Socially, I’d like people to understand that sometime in the last year or so and thought you noticed two guys drowning in there is a difference between what is right and what is just,” he a glass of beer in a Michelob ad, or saw an ad for a television program about the said. “If there is a law that is outdated, impractical, and/or im- Drug Enforcement Administration altered to say, “Iran: Every Deal Can Turn moral, people should have the right to challenge it. Remember, Deadly,” or that familiar subway door sign reworded to read, “Do Not Lean on slavery was considered legal at one Poor,” you have most likely seen the work of Poster Boy. point. I consider the world’s current While most other street or graffiti artists concentrate on adding their own imagery, ilmodus operandi a modern slave sys- legally, to parts of the subway system, Poster Boy, a kind of anti-consumerist Zorro with tem. I intend to challenge it in any a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for collage, has made his outlaw presence way I can.” In a recent interview with known all over the city by cutting and pasting the images that are already there in the Gothamist.com, Poster Boy bragged form of ads. But his stealth campaign, which has entertained thousands of normally that the police vandal squad officers glassy-eyed commuters and infuriated the police and the companies whose costly ads had been “hounding” him for his auhe has chopped up and scrambled, will probably get a lot harder now. tograph. He added that he had begun moving on to At an art event in SoHo on Saturday, a group of plainclothes New York more ambitious—and, legally, probably riskier— City police officers finally caught up to and unmasked, at projects involving whole billboards and, mysteri- least metaphorically, the man they say is Poster Boy. He is New York’s ously, “something planned that, if successful, will Henry Matyjewicz, a 27-year-old who lives in Bushwick, Poster Boy in action. make the poster and billboard stuff look trivial.” Brooklyn, and he was found after a tip from someone who On Tuesday Poster Boy said that Mr. Matyjewicz’s saw the name Poster Boy on a flier for the event, the police arrest meant only good things for Poster Boy. “More said. Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesawareness,” he wrote in the e-mail interview. “More support. man, said that Mr. Matyjewicz, who was also being sought Outdoor advertising, a blight that can’t be ignored, will become on a warrant for a petty larceny charge from last year, was arrested in the art illegal.” Yet Ms. Pineda, who said she had seen her friend on Mon- space, at Broadway and Howard Street in SoHo, and charged with two misday after his release from jail, said he might have to reassess his demeanor counts of criminal mischief. “The officers had information that he plans in light of his looming legal problems. “He believes in what was, in fact, going to be at that gallery that night,” Mr. Browne said, adding he’s doing,” she said. “He still has a lot to say. But I don’t think even that he believed that the department had evidence of Mr. Matyjewicz at work INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

With the help of ambitious urban gardeners, nature has taken root on city roofs. by JD Michaels

chitect Andrew Berman. If you were deposited blindfolded, you might think you were in Los Angeles, with a plush little lawn that needs mowing, rose gardens, lavender pots, and a black locust tree. The chickens might throw you off, as would the vast blue dome of the Police Building to the west, which adds an Italian feel to the horizon. And then there’s the wildflower-covered roof of the Berman- designed pavilion. That’s no accident—it’s part of Goode Green, the business the Goodes recently started (spurred by this project), to develop sustainable rooftops. But it’s not L.A. or Florence—New York is all around, from the redbrick Nolita buildings to the north to the river bridges to the east. How did this all come to be? Chris, a film producer and former nightclub impresario (he opened the nightclub Area with his brother Eric and Shawn Hausman) is a relentless gardener and problemsolver. Lisa worked in the film business before their marriage, and now manages the Goode Green business as well as the building they live in, and on top of. (There’s also the attendant busyness of children—they have a 4-year-old daughter, Charlotte.) When Chris and Lisa began this project four years ago, they didn’t have the budget for a general contractor, so Lisa oversaw the day-to-day construction. “It was the exact same thing” as being an assistant director, she says. Running a sprawling, multipart project, in other words, isn’t as intimidating to her as it might be to some. Chris insists installing and maintaining a green roof is really simple, for example, but Lisa is more aware. “We come from a film background,” she

photos © Joel Sternfeld

conomic panic, a fraught political campaign, economic panic, economic panic; it might seem ill timed to turn our backs on the news and extol beautiful design. But then again, it began to occur to us that it wasn’t so discordant after all; when things are scary, where better to seek solace than in a garden? There are some unbelievable ones out there. A cultivated green space, in New York City, is quite a project. All the typical hauling and watering and weeding is made more complicated by questions like, “How do I get five tons of topsoil up to the roof?” Still, people do it. A terrace vegetable garden in Harlem, a backyard built for dinner parties in Brooklyn, a penthouse that feels like California, and for the rest of us, hundreds of community gardens across all five boroughs. For such a concrete-identified city, New Yorkers are remarkably dedicated to their horticulture. Whether we’re the gardeners or merely the grateful recipients, being around green makes us slow down a moment and think about something other than global Sturm und Drang. So consider this article a respite from the storm, and allow yourself a deep, calming breath. There are rooftop gardens, and then there’s Chris and Lisa Goode’s rooftop garden, which is essentially an urban farm on top of a Little Italy building, complete with chickens and vegetables, fruit trees and migrating butterflies; all anchored by an elegant modernist penthouse pavilion by ar-

Two levels of garden means you don’t have to leave Little Italy to go berry picking.

20% san francisco

19% washington dc

16% Minneapolis

26% New York

says. “Trucks and cranes are not scary to us.” Good thing. Trucks and cranes are necessary when hoisting five-ton bags of soil over the roof. Why not just buy a house in the country, where the soil doesn’t need to be elevated six stories? It would doubtless be easier, but.... The trees are getting larger now, and more birds are visiting the roof. Monarch butterflies migrate through. A beehive produced plentiful honey, until the colony collapsed last year. Charlotte picks berries for her cereal, eats fresh (pale blue) eggs, rides her tricycle on the grass, and has picnics in any season. “I was so resistant to moving to Brooklyn,” says Edward Wilkerson about his shift eight years ago from an amenity-laden high-rise in midtown, complete with concierge, dry-cleaners, pool, and gym, to a Fort Greene duplex. But the Manhattan building— Wilkerson calls it a “comfortable shoebox”—felt cold and impersonal.

PARK Percentages vs total city area

The Promise of Green to Come The short version: The High Line is a brand-new park. In the sky. Now, the longer, slightly more complicated version: The High Line is, according to its converts (and they are legion), the happily-ever-after at the end of an urban fairy tale. It’s a “flying carpet,” something akin to “Alice in Wonderland...through the keyhole and you’re in a magical place.” It’s also the end-product of a perfect confluence of powerful forces: radical dreaming, dogged optimism, neighborhood anxiety, design mania, real-estate opportunism, money, celebrity, and power. In other words, it’s a 1.45-mile, 6.7-square-acre, 30-foot-high symbol of exactly what it means to be living in New York right now. Over the years, there have been other efforts to reimagine the High Line as a public space—as early as 1981, the architect Steven Holl proposed a project preserving the railbed, which he INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009

SEEN ON

the Streets

finally, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

fine

for

fellas to be

fashion

forward photos from

Scott Schuman

86 Naples

power of plaid While strong plaids are still hard to pull off, more and more men and doing it was perfect pizazz.

We take a look around and see what trends men are creating around the world.

Florence, Rome, New York

forget the coat Increasingly, dapper gentlemen don’t want to cover up the tailored jacket and are forgoing the overcoat in favor of just a scarf.

The cooler months have always been a bit better for men’s fashion. The season provides more opportunity for layering of soft fabrics and supple leather and since men don’t have quite the range of accessories, it’s a good time of year to have some fun with more options. Stepping outside, we found that gentlemen are taking a few more risks with

their wardrobe, introducing loud plaids and checks with unprecedented abandon. On slightly warmer days, overcoats were left in the closet for a chance to show off a lovely tailored jacket and oversized scarf. The contrast in scale seems especially striking. And what outfit would be complete without a touch of color in the perfect gloves. —DR

Paris, Florence

finishing touches Gloves are no longer just to keep the cold at bay and are an excellent way to add a splash of colour. And yes, Florence makes the best leather gloves out there.

INTERSECT . 2ND QUARTER . 2009