The Best Pizza (and Architecture) in NYC

On the weekend of the 4th of this month, the first-year architecture students took a trip to New York City. It was my first time visiting the city, and I think it was a good experience. We crammed as much as we could fit into two days, and we were all beat by the end, but it was fun.

Our first stop was the Noguchi Museum in Queens. Noguchi was quite the renaissance man, it seems. He was a furniture maker, a painter, a sculptor, an architect and a designer of parks and monuments. The museum itself is actually the building that served as his studio before he died. Here are a few highlights from the museum:

(Click to enlarge)

Here's one of the doors in the museum. It somehow seems like something you might see in the dungeon of a castle, but I really like it despite that. The sliding mechanism is interesting.

This was actually the most beautiful things I saw in the museum. The way the light played across the rooms was spectacular.

Yes, Noguchi was bisexual. His sculptures tended to be on the phallic side, which made the students giggle, but our professors weren't uncomfortable answering questions. They say you won't last long in architecture if you're too prudish.

Here's a delightful little table Noguchi designed (also, the basket-weaved chair on the right).

The next stop was the Museum of Modern Art:

This was in the lobby. Something about this photo seems very Men In Black - perhaps the alien glow of the sculpture or the security guy who is trapped in the the egg. The artist, Paula Hayes, designed this as an ode to snail reproduction. Yummy.

The painting by Francis Picabia was named "I See Again in Memory My Dear Udnie." To me, it looks like breakfast. Here you have an abstract interpretation of eggs, bacon, pancakes, steam, and a frying pan.

This was too perfect. I call this photographic masterpiece "Red."

I have a bizarre furniture fetish. I love the fluidity of these chairs. Again, I can't remember the names of the artists, but whoever they are, I admire them.

The next morning at 9:00 am, we met in the drizzling weather to walk The High Line. The High Line is a long, skinny park that is suspended above the ground. At one point, it was a raised railroad that brought raw materials into NYC when downtown was a manufacturing powerhouse. For years after the trains stopped using the tracks, they stood empty and wasted, until the city decided to transform it into a sort of urban park. It's mainly a wide sidewalk, but there are also small xeriscape gardens, hefty wooden lawn chairs (that slide on mini train tracks) and benches. Sadly I don't have any photos of the park itself, but you can click here to visit the High Line Website if you're really curious about it.

Here are some views of the city from the High Line:

I believe this was Frank Gehry's first building in NYC. He and his firm formulated a way to bend glass to it's maximum before breakage in order to construct this.

Our next destination was the Chelsea Market, which was easily my favorite thing we did in NYC. Now it's a rather boutique-y shopping space/munchies place, but it was once a hulled-out warehouse. Plenty of the rustic details from the warehouse days are still preserved, but the space has been so beautifully re-purposed. Here are a few snapshots from the market:

I apologize for the distortion of this shot, but I couldn't resist. This was one of the coolest parts of the market.

Here are a couple of photos from a place called Annie's Bread. I had the softest and most delicious cinnamon knot there. Sadly, I consumed it before I could take a picture of it, but I did remember to shoot the bakery itself. The great thing about Chelsea Market is that most all of the foodspots make their wares on-site, and in a place the customer can see it. It feels like a much healthier way to eat. (On a side note, you would think that finding organic food in the city would be hard to do, but it is actually easier than almost anywhere else.) 

The main vein.

Again with the furniture - I know. I promise this will be the last of it. I just thought this table was the coolest thing.

(Click to zoom)

This was the display in the Manhattan Anthropologie, which happened to be inside Chelsea Market. The  creativity and detailing is simply gorgeous.

Next we went on a tour of contemporary architecture lead by our own professor, Marcus, who worked as a designer in NYC for years. My camera died after visiting the Hearst Building, but we also visited the New York Times Building and the Muji Store. The rest of the group saw a few other buildings, but I got separated from the group, and missed out on half of the tour.

Designed by Norman Foster, the Hearst Building was NYC's first LEED gold certified building, which means it is extremely energy efficient. I won't bore you with all the details, but I'll focus on the most interesting energy-saving feature in a moment. (Note: The art-deco building that appears below the skyscraper is part of the Hearst Building. People in New York refused to allow it to be torn down because of its historical value, so Foster decided to hull it out and drop his new, energy-efficient tower inside.)

Again, sorry for the distortion. Even this photo doesn't do the space justice.

Interior (Courtesy Zach Ressler)
The glass strips you see are usually part of a giant waterfall called "Ice Falls" in the lobby. The waterfall system collects rain water from the roof, then uses it to cool the space in the summer and humidify it in the winter. Unfortunately it wasn't running while we were there, but perhaps someday I'll see it in action.

We passed this, and Marcus called it a "Minimal Dwelling." Brrr.

That night we visited Little Italy:

 All the fire hydrants were painted like this, and there were these huge banners hanging from buildings that read "S.P.Q.R"

This woman had the world's most perfect legs, so I couldn't resist trying to get a few shots of her (her outfit was also incredibly chic) but I think it started to freak her boyfriend out.

We stopped in this adorable pastry shop in Little Italy called Ferrara. They made some excellent cookies.

And if you're wondering, we didn't have time to eat at every single pizza place in New York City, but we did try the pizza at Angelo's on 55th Street, and it was the best I've ever had, hands down. I would go back just to get another pizza from Angelo's. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by and try a piece. You won't be disappointed.