Project ID

CFH

Location

New York

USA

Scope

Urban Intervention

Function

Newsstand

Joint Venture with

Public Policy Lab

Against the rush of the 24 hour news cycle and whiplash politics of the day, Dash Marshall and

Public Policy Lab

developed a slow space for the

Care for Hudson Square competition

. Viewsstand proposed to bring the history of Hudson Square, NYC’s original printing district, into dialogue with the present by creating a newsstand on Little 6th Avenue and converting the street to a plaza of reflection, words, and exchange.

One side holds lots and lots of newspapers

The other side looks like a smile. And the whole thing looks kinda like a 🌮

It is a simple newsstand and some tables. Perhaps a pot of coffee on brew. A person to chat with about the weather, the neighborhood, or a book you’d like to read. And, each week over four weeks, the Viewsstand embraces a theme to spark ideas and exchange about our collective future. The Viewsstand invites you to explore the themes of new manifestos, new joys, new forms of mourning, and a new, ever-evolving New York City itself.

Seen from above, the Viewsstand sits in a parking space and turns Little 6th Avenue (currently closed to traffic) into a plaza

The structure is minimal. Where a building has walls, it has layers and leaves of media: notes and notices from the community, as well as Viewsstand’s own rag, the Viewspaper. The Viewsstand is designed to publish archival texts from New York elders and ancestors that echo and inform the happenings of today; pieces commissioned from notable authors, including those from Hudson Square; and voices crowdsourced from New Yorkers through social media and at via pinned-up notices and expressions at the Viewsstand itself.

An A-Frame shape keeps people distant, but don’t forget your mask

Read more about this project in

Urban Design Forum

.