An international design competition called urbanSHED hopes to infuse some art and whimsy into the most utilitarian of objects: the city’s sidewalk sheds. There’s “a lot of blue walls,” said Liz Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance. “Even if [sheds] are well-kept, they can degrade the pedestrian experience.” A panel of architects and industry experts selected three finalists and will select a winner in December. The Alliance will help pay to install it on a not-yet-determined Lower Manhattan building under construction early next year. The finalists, who submitted images of 280 Broadway, are Tripod (MOD)ule by XChange Architects, left; urbanCLOUD, by KNEstudio, right; and Urban Umbrella by Young-Hwan Choi of the University of Pennsylvania (not shown). No one is seeking public input to determine the winner, who will receive $10,000, but Curbed.com put the renderings up for a vote earlier this week and urbanCLOUD had received 70 percent of 567 votes as of Wednesday.
