The BMW Guggenheim Lab launches its worldwide tour today, August 3, in Manhattan’s East Village. A combination of think tank, public forum, and community center, the Lab will offer free programs that explore the challenges of today’s cities within an innovative mobile structure that was designed to house this urban experiment. Over the next six years, the Lab will travel to nine cities in three successive cycles, each with its own distinct theme and structure, to help raise awareness of urban challenges and yield sustainable benefits for cities around the world.
In New York, the Lab is located at First Park, Houston at 2nd Avenue, a New York City Parks property, and is open free of charge Wednesdays to Sundays, August 3 to October 16. Visitors may participate in over 100 programs related to the theme ‘Confronting Comfort,’ including workshops, experiments, discussions, screenings, and off-site tours. The Lab also features a cafe operated by the Brooklyn restaurant Roberta’s.
A central component of the Lab is Urbanology, a group game played on-site and online. Participants role-play scenarios for city transformation, advocating for education, housing, health care, sustainability, infrastructure, and mobility as they build a city that matches their needs. The Urbanology game experience was developed by Local Projects, and the physical design was created by ZUS [Zones Urbaines Sensibles].
The website and blog at bmwguggenheimlab.org offer many ways to participate in the Lab. Also, visitors may join dedicated social communities on Twitter (@BMWGuggLab, hashtag #BGLab), Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare.
The structure for the first cycle, designed by Atelier Bow-Wow, is a lightweight, compact two-story ‘traveling toolbox.’ The lower half of the 2,200-square-foot structure is an open space that can be configured to meet the needs of particular programs. The upper, ‘toolbox’ portion of the structure is loosely wrapped in two layers of semitransparent mesh, which creates a shimmering moiré effect, enabling visitors to view the ‘tools’ that are raised and lowered for programs. This is the first building designed with a structural framework composed of carbon fiber. The graphic identity has been developed by Seoul-based graphic designers Sulki & Min.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is organized by David van der Leer, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Urban Studies, and Maria Nicanor, Assistant Curator, Architecture, Guggenheim Museum.
In spring 2012, the BMW Guggenheim Lab will be presented in Berlin, in collaboration with ANCB Metropolitan Laboratory, in Pfefferberg. In winter 2012-13 it will be presented in Mumbai, in collaboration with the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum. The first cycle will culminate with an exhibition of the Lab’s results and findings at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2013.