BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - In early March, I discovered a missing board on the hoarding surrounding an abandoned glass factory in my neighbourhood in Brooklyn. The day prior to these photos being taken demolition had begun on this derelict structure. The missing board was too tempting to pass so I grabbed my friend Jenn and we decided to venture in. From scrap glass this factory used to produce those little coloured stones you would find in the bottom of aquariums, so the place was filled with old glass bottles, plates, cups, vases, anything that was glass. We found some awesome art deco cologne bottles, Victorian glass ware, an endless supply of miniature glass vases and the list goes on. It always amazes me what people leave behind when they abandon a place. Needless to say we took an extensive collection of glass items and are now creating a collective photo essay/found object exhibition for a gallery. Even though this place was in the beginning stages of demolition it was evident that nature and time had already begun the process many years prior. Sections of ceiling had caved in, there were massive holes in the floor allowing glimpses into a flooded basement, and turquoise paint was peeling off in beautiful coiled sheets. Not only was this place an amazing find for enthusiasts of abandoned buildings, it was an amazing collection of additions created of corrugated steel, brick, siding, asphalt shingles; pretty much any building material you could find. The inside was like a rabbit warren of hallways and rooms, one leading into the next leaving you without bearings. The sound of dripping water and the smell of must made the experience even that more surreal. I hope you enjoy this brief photo essay below with a few video clips. I'm working on creating several photo essays of abandoned structures I've been exploring in Brooklyn and Manhattan, so there will be more in the future. Once we have created our gallery show, I hope to put that on line and will post it on the Wire. That will be a far more cohesive, and in depth exploration of this and other similar sights. Joe Clement, a long-time Spacing magazine contributor, left his hometown of Toronto in the summer of 2007, and is now living in New York. He will be our Big Apple correspondent covering public space issues. If there are any particular ideas or topics you would like him to cover, leave a comment or email Spacing Toronto.

Last Thursday's post, Lost without laneways, garnered many requests for information regarding the suggested reading I posted at the end of the article. Donald Chong, one of the authors/editors of Site Unseen: Laneway Architecture & Urbanism in Toronto posted this link to the book on the comments page so I have put it up for all to see. Thanks again to Donald Chong. Enjoy! The book should be available at Ballenford Books on Architecture, 600 Markham Street (Mirvish Village), 416.588.0800.

NEW YORK - The Highline is one of the most actively discussed public space projects in New York and for a very good reason. It is setting a precedent in North America for adaptive reuse of industrial infrastructure laid dormant by the mass exodus of industry from urban centres. At just over 2 kilometers long, the Highline is a former train bridge spanning 30'-60' wide, elevated 20'-30' above the city and represents 6.7 acres of unused space. Constructed between 1929-1934 in order to remove train traffic from 10th Avenue, then known as Death Avenue for all the train, vehicle, and pedestrian accidents, it was seen as the model for urban industrial progress. It weaves its way over the streets of west side Manhattan from Hells Kitchen, through Chelsea, ending in Gaensvort Market; through narrow passages, bridging streets, and slicing through buildings it exudes an aura of power and dominance so suited to this mid 19th century industrial neighbourhood. Last used in 1980 to deliver a load of frozen turkeys to the meat packing district, this hulking steel ribbon, rusting and graffiti covered, slowly succumbing to the forces of nature and urban development, was facing a bleak future.

NEW YORK - In my unending quest to find unpopulated laneways to stroll through, I've made an interesting discovery. There are none. Thanks to a planning initiative from many centuries past which saw the loading of materials through sidewalk hatches, the laneway was never introduced in New York City. At first it was only a minor nuisance but, as I began to understand the city more thoroughly, I realized that the lack of laneways has stripped New York of a certain quality: a whole layer of the urban network has been eliminated, forcing ...

NEW YORK — It definitely takes a person of great fortitude to become a New York City cyclist. A daily trip may involve encounters with wayward taxis, delivery trucks, massive potholes, and police blitzes that questionably target cyclists. That being said, the city has taken notice of the increasingly gridlocked traffic with its obvious environmental effects and has decided to invest in the cycling network. In September 2006, Mayor Bloomberg committed to the construction of 322 kilometers of on street bike lanes, termed Class II, at a cost of $19,000 USD ...

NEW YORK -- An update on the 9th Avenue and 14th Street woonerf:  The city has now installed a series of planters, café tables and chairs, newspaper boxes and benches in the newly created space. My last post showed a partial photograph of the empty square.  Now, replete with seating and planters, this space has become a destination for residents and walkers to stop and have a coffee or to relax with a newspaper or book in a space that used to be an extensive triangular asphalt intersection. Through the ...

NEW YORK -- In a city where pedestrian traffic rivals that of the vehicular congestion it's not uncommon for the mass of walkers to spill out on to the streets in an attempt to negotiate the most efficient path. With most of Manhattan's blocks being constructed on the grid system and with a majority of streets being one-way, negotiating traffic is relatively easy. It's not until you encounter the diagonal streets of mid and lower Manhattan that complications in pedestrian and vehicular interactions begin to arise. In the last three years, in two ...

NEW YORK -- The sidewalks of New York are probably the most varied and interesting of any city I lived in. The sidewalks are a mish-mash of huge granite blocks, concrete, metal grates and glass block. Because there are no back alleys, the buildings were built with a 5-to-10-foot setback with steel grates that opened up to basement stairs for deliveries. In some of the older industrial areas such as Soho and Chelsea it's common to see sidewalks half paved with granite or concrete and the other half covered over with steel. Because the ...