The visit to the Museum of New York is probably my most favorite Scrapbook experience. Since my scrapbook is about how different locations in New York are their own art forms, this museum garnered my full attention. The best exhibits were Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment and The Unfinished Grid: Design Speculations for Manhattan.

The exhibit about Kevin Roche opened my eyes on how art, architecture, and culture are so intertwined. Kevin Roche and his co-workers were responsible for most of the most modern buildings in New York. A few of these buildings include the old JP Morgan headquarters and the United Nations Hotel Plaza. His most impressive work would most likely be his contributions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kevin Roche used his architecture to create functional designs that are both aesthetically appeasing and culturally relevant. For example, the American Wing is beautiful, functional and brings artistic flair that is admired by everyone. Kevin Roche is one of the reasons why New York feels like art – his buildings stand out from the normal skyscraper.

The other exhibit was phenomenal. Unfinished grid is a project where groups of architects from all over the world propose ideas on how Manhattan can change. From new road designs, to building structures, each of the parts of the project were interesting. The main problem addressed was, how will Manhattan – a city that pioneered modern and new city culture, can evolve to be the model city everyone will copy. Innovation is the key with this project.

The NYCity^2 piece is my favorite of the whole gallery. The proposed project is an idea that can truly be considered art. The idea is to make New York City into a huge social media project where people are involved in how New York will evolve. The island of Manhattan will be split into a virtual grid and the grid will be hosted at a website. Here, people can click on a grid block, which would be a street, and post suggestions to what is needed or what would be cool at that spot. Theses suggestions would go to architectural firms for further development. The age of technology is upon us, and this form of interaction with out own city is a step forward to integrate New York culture into the New York infrastructure

Also, it may be possible to use your smartphone to see the changes before hand. Its art for the people!

Other pieces were shown with radical ideas, like expanding Manhattan with island extensions to destroy the rigid confines of the city grid. This idea was also amazing to think about and see.