“What if you could live, work and raise sheep in the same building?” is just one of the provocative ideas raised by the proposals commissioned by the Downtown Alliance in the newly installed exhibit in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Chris Reynolds, MAS Urbanist and Assistant VP of Planning for the Downtown Alliance, and representatives of the firms Beyer Blinder Belle and ARO/Architecture Research Office recently led a group of MAS Urbanists on a special guided tour of the exhibit.

The Downtown Alliance, also known as the Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District, commissioned input from architects, urban planners, and artists for this outdoor exhibit, imagining the changes that might lead to a vibrant future for “Greenwich South,” an area roughly bounded by Broadway to the East, West Street to the East, Liberty Street to the North, and Battery Place to the South. Continue Reading>>

Please join us for the final ImagineConey program this Tuesday, February 17, at 6.30 p.m. at MAS to see presentations of submissions to the ImagineConey initiative by members of the public and design professionals. Presenters will include Frederick Schwartz, Philip Tusa, Henry Jones and others. MAS staff will also present the results of the design workshop (charrette) held last November in which an international team of designers, economists and creative producers participated. The event is free, but reservations are strongly recommended. Click here to RSVP or call 212-935-2075.

Imagining Coney: Bold Ideas, Technicolor Dreams, and Fanciful Concepts
Tuesday, February 17, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at the Municipal Art Society
A review of over 350 ideas submitted from around the world by the general public and professional designers.

Last night, the Municipal Art Society’s new exhibit ImagineConey: Bold Ideas for Coney Island opened with a party at our Urban Center Galleries, featuring Miss Cyclone as the evening’s MC, with sword-swallower The Great Fredini and Steve the Strongman providing sideshow entertainment that was both fascinating and gruesome at the same time.

Check out the slideshow above for photos of the opening, and visit our Facebook page to watch two short videos of the Great Fredini performing. We also took the opportunity to “live-tweet” this captivating event on Twitter, so please check out our tweets after the jump to learn about some of the more intriguing points of the evening. Continue Reading>>

Over 150 Coney Island residents and fans attended last night’s ImagineConey meeting, held at Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue. MAS planning committee members presented the public’s submissions to ImagineConey as well as the results of a charrette held in November. MAS also outlined the critical next steps we believe must be taken for Coney Island:

New York City Should Buy the Land for an Amusement Area. At current land values, it is unrealistic to expect private developers to construct amusements in Coney Island. Building on it’s successful effort to purchase a parcel last November, New York City should purchase enough land for a Coney Island Amusement Area of sufficient scale that could then be managed by a private, third-party entity overseeing a mix of large, small and mid-scale operators.

Refine Vision for a Viable Coney Island. Building on the strategic plan developed by the city, key stakeholders should develop a specific master plan for Coney Island that incorporates 25 acres of amusements, excluding retail and hotel uses, to support a minimum of 3.4 million visitors annually. The refined vision should include a signature, iconic ride that re-establishes Coney Island as world-class destination and enough rides to support up to 15,000 visitors at any one time. Continue Reading>>

This is the fourth in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click to view the first , second (AnimalConey!) , and third (InventiveConey!) in the series.

Coney Island was once the greatest entertainment destination on the planet – from the great parks of the 1900’s through to the Nickel Empire of the 1930’s and ‘40s – and many New Yorkers remain nostalgic over Coney’s golden age.

And while much of the historic fabric of Coney Island has been lost, much can still be preserved or renewed– from structures that are already city landmarks (like the Parachute Jump) to the Shore Public Theater. And we can always rebuild or reinvent what we have lost. This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on the submissions that explore how the historic elements of Coney can be renewed or recreated to exploit the enormous nolstagia that exists:

• Landmark the Shore Theater and bring Coney Island themed theater and movies. Regular showings of The Warriors or original bio-epic films about Coney Island and its residents
• Reuse Historic Buildings Hendersons as a nightclub, and the Playland building as an arcade again
• Rebuild Victorian Whipcream Buildings. Only this time, make them fireproof Continue Reading>>

The hundreds of ideas for the future of Coney Island that have been submitted so far to ImagineConey are some of the most creative, thoughtful ideas ever submitted in a process of this kind — from a proposal to build a Sushi Skate Park to rebuilding the Elephant Hotel.  You can view them by clicking on the Gallery button on the ImagineConey website. If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to submit an idea, the deadline for submissions is now January 15, and an exhibit featuring all the ideas and the charrette results will open at the MAS on January 27 2009.

Now, it is critical that we demonstrate to the decision-makers that New Yorkers passionately believe that Coney Island should become a great amusement and entertainment destination once again.  So please join us on January 14 at 6.30PM, where the MAS will be participating in a public meeting in Coney Island at Our Lady of Solace Church. Continue Reading>>

This is the third in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click to view the first and second in the series.

This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on ideas submitted that embody Coney’s tradition of being a testing ground for invention and technological advances. In addition to entertaining visitors, Coney Island was a place where entrepreneurs came to try out their zany ideas. The hotdog was invented at Feltman’s while the first baby incubators were set up in Coney Island before they were accepted by the global medical community. Luna Park’s use of one million incandescent light bulbs was also a global first. Here are some of the inventive-submissions to ImagineConey:

• Build the first ever Inverted Wooden Roller Coaster where the thrill of a shaky roller coaster can be experienced with your feet dangling below you.
• Create a Bubble as a Roof to enclose some amusements in a gigantic bubble similar to those made with soap and water, but less prone to popping. Continue Reading>>

This is the second in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click here for the first in the series.

This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on ideas submitted that have an animal theme. Animals have always been in the center ring of Coney Island’s history: from Topsy the domesticated elephant (who was sadly electrocuted in 1903) to Dr. Carver’s Diving Horses of Luna Park to the arrival of the Aquarium in the 1950s. Here are some of the animal-centric submissions:

• Create Canine Coney: an amusement park for dogs and their owners where a dog can be a dog and an owner can be an owner. Attractions could include Coney Dog Emporium, Doggie Beach, and Daily Dog Shows.
• Rebuild the Elephant Hotel. Who wouldn’t want to spend a night sleeping in an elephant. A burlesque theater could also be inside. Continue Reading>>

Last October, MAS launched ImagineConey, an initiative to develop bold new ideas for the future of Coney Island. Since then, more than 500 New Yorkers and an international team of experts have contributed their ideas through a “charrette” (an intense design workshop), two public workshops and a website, ImagineConey.

In January 2009, an exhibit displaying all of these ideas will open at the Municipal Art Society, and the deadline for submission of ideas has recently been extended from December 15, 2008, until January 15, 2009. So, if you have an idea for the future of Coney Island you want to submit for inclusion in the exhibit, please visit ImagineConey.com and upload it before the deadline.

Over 200 ideas have been submitted thus far and can be viewed in the gallery at ImagineConey.com. The ideas fall into eight categories: general principles, planning concepts, programming ideas, new structures, rides, art and culture suggestions, sustainability and energy concepts, and ideas for new events. Continue Reading>>

The public has weighed in on what they want to see in Coney Island, and the ideas offer a refreshing burst of (uninhibited) creativity. As part of its initiative to develop new ideas for the design and programming of Coney Island, the Municipal Art Society launched a call for public input. This effort complements a broader initiative, titled ImagineConey, that features a charrette (an intense design workshop) with international amusement experts, leaders of Broadway theater in New York City, and former Disney executives.

MAS hopes that by leveraging global ideas and creativity it can help identify the novel uses that will spark new life in Coney Island and build on the remarkable strides Mayor Bloomberg has made toward a revitalized Coney Island. The design and amusement team is now participating in the charrette, and the results will be publicly presented on Monday, November 17.

A selection of the top public ideas for Coney Island follow. The quotes are the text submitted on the website or at the public meetings.

• Create a Venice, CA-style Muscle Beach
  “Set aside a stretch of the beach/boardwalk for a muscle beach type experience, where people can enjoy a work out — to see and be seen. This alone will attract many people to Coney and send a fun, healthy message that is in keeping with the times and resonates with the side-show aspect to the old Coney.” Also suggested: a bathing suit contest for guys and gals.

Continue Reading>>