dobooku – Magazine de diseño, estética y obra pública

Artículos recientes

La ciudad en proceso: Miradas creativas desde la periferia de la ingeniería

by Jorge Bernabeu × on 08/05/2017 at 9:00 × 1 comment

El 11 de mayo de 2017 en la Residencia de Estudiantes de Madrid un encuentro de ingenieros de caminos plantea reinventar la profesión a partir de miradas creativas que ponen en valor lo colectivo. Intervienen: Paco Gómez, NOPHOTO. Rubén Martín […]

Concurso de puentes en la Escuela de Arquitectura ETSAV

by Martina Fabré × on 02/05/2017 at 9:00 × 3 comments

Dos meses después de entrar en la Escuela de Arquitectura ETSAV, los alumnos se enfrentan a uno de los retos más esperados y celebrados de la carrera: la construcción de un puente de listones de madera. Sin lugar a dudas, la […]

Actualidad

IV aniversario dobooku

by Dobooku × on 23/04/2017 at 9:00 × 0 comments

Cada 23 de abril, Día Internacional del Libro, dobooku celebra años de su nacimiento. Dobooku cumple cuatro años. La idea embrionaria, concebida como un Magazine online de contenido propio y de calidad, ha evolucionado en un espacio para el debate, […]

Actualidad

Convocatoria de los Premios dobooku 2017

by Dobooku × on 18/04/2017 at 9:00 × 0 comments

Los Premios dobooku persisten, un año más seguimos premiando el Proyecto de obra pública con el mejor diseño. El concurso dirigido a los estudiantes de Grado o Máster de la Escuela de Caminos de Barcelona, pueden presentarse todos los que estén […]

(more details later, as time permits)

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Times Square, in case you cared, was not always known as Times Square. Until 1904 it was known as Longacre Square; it got that name because, back in the mid-1800s, it was a center for carriage-making in New York City, and was considered to be similar to a carriage-making district in London known as Long Acre. Later on, it was nicknamed the "Thieves Lair," because of its reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on Long Acre Square was built by cigar manufacturer Oscar Hammerstein -- and by the 1890s, it was thronged by crowds of restaurant and cafe patrons, and middle- and upper-class theater aficionados. It was the year 1904 when Mayor George G. McClellan yielded to the pressure from New York Times owner and publisher, Adolph Ochs, and renamed the intersection of 42nd Street, Seventh Avenue, and Bloomingdale Road with its current name -- Times Square -- in honor of the Times Building.

Most visitors and tourists, of course, know nothing about this; nor do they know that the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, which was the first road (5,869 miles long) across the United States -- covering a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and over 700 cities, towns and villages. Indeed, most New Yorkers don't know any of this history either, and their eyes would probably glaze over if you explained it all to them. It's sad, too, because most people think that Times Square is a garish invention of the modern age, and that it sprang into existence with the arrival of ... oh, I don't know ... the Beatles.

All that history notwithstanding, Times Square underwent another major transformation back in February 2009, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along Broadway, between 42nd and 47th Street, would be transformed into pedestrian plazas between Memorial Day and the end of the year. The plaza was originally supplied with inexpensive multicolored plastic lawn chairs ... but you won't see any of those in this Flickr set, because they've all been replaced with relatively sturdy metal furniture (though, like the tables and chairs in Bryant Park, none of it is chained or bolted into place; people can move things around to suit their immediate needs). On Feb 11, 2010, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the pedestrian plazas in Times Square would remain permanent; and now there is a similar plan underway to experiment with a pedestrian plaza on 34th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

I was vaguely aware of this development, and I've occasionally seen the tables, chairs, and pedestrian plaza while traveling around the city. But it was cold in February, and there really weren't all that many visitors. Now it's spring, and it's warm, and the tourists have begun to arrive. So I took the subway down to Times Square this past weekend, and spent an hour or two wandering around, mostly between 42nd and 47th Street, to see how people were using this newly-transformed part of the city.

Aside from the people hustling theater tickets and guided tours, as well as a preacher or two, I didn't really see any New Yorkers. Almost everyone was a tourist -- either from some other part of the country, or from some other part of the world. I heard a dozen different languages, saw a dozen different fashion styles, and observed a dozen different reactions to the huge signs (known locally as "spectaculars" and "jumbotrons") advertising the products of Coca-Cola, Samsung, and other huge companies. ABC's Times Square studios are located here, Good Morning America is broadcast from here; and there are more movie theaters and Broadway theaters than most people can cope with during a single visit.

In my case, there was no need to try to see everything or experience everything in one swell foop; I simply thought it would be interesting to capture a cross-section of the visitors to this small part of the city in which I live. Once you've seen it all, you can decide for yourself if it's someplace you want to visit...

Urbanismo

¿Por qué peatonalizar? Porque ya no se fuma en los bares

by Rosa Grima López × on 03/04/2017 at 9:00 × 1 comment

El debate actual sobre el proceso de peatonalización que han iniciado algunas ciudades, y que por estas latitudes está teniendo polémica alrededor de las supermanzanas en Barcelona o la peatonalización de la Gran Vía en Madrid, mezcla en realidad dos […]

Actualidad / Educación

Build-A-Road Challenge

by Dobooku × on 28/03/2017 at 10:50 × 0 comments

Si eres alumno de la Escuela de Caminos de Barcelona y estás cansado de aprender a base de clases, libros y apuntes; la Asociación dobooku te propone que te inscribas en la competición Build-A-Road Challenge que tendrá lugar en la plaza de […]

Actualidad / Educación

Ganadores de los premios dobooku 2016

by Dobooku × on 20/02/2017 at 9:00 × 1 comment

El 24 de Enero de 2017 en el Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos de Cataluña se entregaron los Premios dobooku 2016. Tercer año premiando a los estudiantes de la Escuela de Caminos de Barcelona. Antes de empezar el acto se […]

Estética / Ingeniería

Enseñanzas y resumen de la temporada de la Ingeniería en el V&A

by Francesc Mirada × on 30/01/2017 at 9:00 × 0 comments

La temporada de la Ingeniería en el Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) de Londres llegó a su fin el pasado 6 de noviembre de 2016. A parte de la exposición central sobre Ove Arup, también se ha podido ver otras cosas […]

Actualidad

Desayuno dobooku 2016

by Dobooku × on 04/01/2017 at 9:00 × 1 comment

La Asociación Dobooku está construyendo la tradición de conversar sobre obra pública, diseño y estética antes de terminar el año. El día 31 de diciembre de 2016 diez socios y colaboradores de dobooku compartimos un desayuno – vermú en el Café de Casa Gracia Barcelona. Se hizo […]

Actualidad

Presentación de los Premios Dobooku 2016

by Dobooku × on 20/12/2016 at 9:00 × 1 comment

La Asociación dobooku y el Col·legi d’Enginyers de Camins Canals i Ports de Catalunya convocan a todos los interesados en el diseño en la obra pública a la Presentación de los Premios dobooku 2016 y al posterior coloquio participativo sobre La Cultura del […]

Comentarios

AC Ingenieros: La Ingeniería en movimiento y evolucion…
Héctor Beade Pereda: Muy agradecido por tus amables palabras, Guillermo. Estaré …
Guillermo Candela García: Estimado Héctor: Te agradezco mucho tu serie de artículos…
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Guillermo Gallego: Interesante artículo, cuyas conclusiones comparto y que abr…