BMW Guggenheim Lab

Free museum and they offer great workshops/​seminars. Check out their website for the schedule.

Get yourselves over to the Lab before it closes on October 13 if for no other reason than to use the fabulous public restrooms. Restrooms that work, are clean and provide a pleasant experience. The way it should be. Now that’s innovative.
The program offerings span a spectrum from good to super awesome — all focusing on cities, living in cities and what makes cities work, not work, move towards the future, etc. You can grab something from Roberta’s to snack on (the Lab’s hipster concession partner) while you learn some stuff.
At night the twinkle lights make the spot look magical.
I’m a fan!

I swung by to catch the end of a free lecture about traffic noise. *Beep, beep!* Seriously.
I hadn’t had dinner. So after the lecture, I staggered over to the
Lab’s pop-​up, Roberta’s.
Picture some kids’ lemonade stand that opened everyday — well into the children’s adulthood. Over the years, the kids added barbecues,
toasters and coolers to an expanding swath of plywood. Roberta’s!
As I waited for a cold-​pour apple cider (with a Momofuku corn cookie for dunking), I enjoyed looking at flower beds full of carefully preened tea roses. Beautiful!
I took my haul to one of Roberta’s unfinished picnic tables, snacked on my seasonal savories and listened to the traffic noise. *Beep, beep!*
I was excited to see how a once empty lot has become a fun, vibrant and educational destination.

I don’t understand why they advertise that they are open until 10 when there’s not actually anything to see for much of the evening. I trekked all the way down there to check it out and the only thing happening was a film screening an hour later. Their urbanology thing closed at 5.

Meh. I suppose this would be more gnarly if it was executed better. The current NY iteration is kinda boring, with a regimented not so thrilling schedule and a contrived Roberta’s popup picnic area. The «space», if you could call the plot of land across from Eleanor Roosevelt Park that, is the opposite of sprawling, not really showcasing the modern marvels that underpin the whole venture (the prominence of the sponsor is irritating, too).