Temporary Installation

Arts@Renaissance, East Williamsburg, NY

Formerly part of the Greenpoint Hospital, and then a homeless shelter, this site eventually became a community arts and planning center. In 2010, Arts@Renaissance was opened in the basement, providing residency spaces for artists and community art activities.

Arts@Renaissance wanted to engage the neighborhood and let people know about the artistic activities happening inside. CDR Studio Architects were engaged to create an architectural light installation in the courtyard highlighting the new purpose of the building.

The canopy is made from used plastic bottles, drawing attention to the high density of waste transfer stations around the site.

Ordinarily, we don’t think of plastic bottles as objects that are beautiful or sparkly, but we found when we cut them and deformed them into a surface, they glimmered in both the sunlight and ambient night-time light. Pieced together like a quilt, the bottles also moved musically in the wind. Its form drew people in from the street to the rear entrance of the art studios.

Created with Jon Dreyfous and Kimberly Tate of CDR Studio Architects.