Eugene, Rory and I spent a good deal of time this past week looking deeper into the history, traditional uses, and additional meanings of scaffolding. Most of the research we did is visible on our shared wiki, but I figured I’d post a few more things here.
These be the basics:
History of the word Scaffolding
History of scaffolding in Britain
The funny thing is that for all the history-seeking that we did, most of what we found were on British sites. I have no idea why that’s the case, but it seems to be. Also, it’s oddly difficult to find anything historical about the structure at all — googling for the history of scaffolding will return a lot of things about the history of particular scaffolding companies, the use of the word as it pertains to a particular academic method, and people referring to the structure of anything as scaffolding. As it turns out, we’re more ready to ignore the actual physical building-shrouding constructs than I thought.
Scaffolding serves many different purposes for many different people.
Networks emerge under the corrugated roofs:
Networks that emerge around existing scaffold-like structures:
As well as trees and nature:
Give rise to advertisements and shop banners:
And become a public forum in their own right:
People view scaffolding as a storage rack, attaching a variety of devices to it, sometimes even seeing it so secure as to be the basis for a lock:
And people feel free to walk under and through the structures, while some joints are questionable:
And others are worse:
However, the point stands that this is something that if not unique to the NYC life is special at least. As Eugene pointed out, in most places, building reconstructions don’t spill into the street in the same way, and people certainly aren’t used to dealing with the structures in the same way we are. In New York, these overhangs just seem like add-ons to buildings, and it can be completely disorienting when they’re removed, leaving the street feeling suddenly naked and empty. We feel there’s a place for temporary beautification on these temporary structures — something that the community can enjoy, while making a statement about sustainability and promoting green tactics.
A description of how we see it working out:
To speak about scaffolding is to describe an adjective — scaffolds arise around buildings as they undergo upgrades, downgrades and crossgrades, but never does one see scaffolding assembled for its own sake. Morphed into the building’s exterior one day, left for a period of time and then surgically removed without fanfare, scaffolding barely registers in the collective conscious of New York City residents. However, what magical second lives could these structures be living? What great treasures could we know if we only knew when and where to look?
Living atop these temporary frameworks are equally temporary gardens, installed late at night in top-secret fashion for the enjoyment of all those who pass under and through the structures’ metal beams. Like graffiti artists, but with potting soil, seeds and cuttings in place of cans, markers and acids, these guerrilla gardeners come at night to create beautiful floralscapes consisting of flowers that bloom only at night and ivy that grows at rates of several feet per week, seeking to beautify these public eyesores and create a new temporary network of life. When passers-by walk under and through these structures at night, they will be greeted by scents and sights of nature in a very unnatural habitat, and during the day, the vines will seek to re-camouflage the scaffold’s arms and roof as a thing of beauty.
And, like so many other wonderful things in this city, these gardens appear one day and could be gone the next — just like their temporary hosts. Like the scaffolding itself, they could be cut down, moved or simply reclaimed the next day. However, ideally, for at least one night, a thing of awkward convenience can be turned into a private space of beauty.
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