No Bike Ferris Wheel for Red Hook

By BRIAN RIES

Updated 11:15 AM EST, Wed, Nov 12, 2008

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An architecture competition in Red Hook, sponsored by the Forum for Urban Design, shot down an ambitious plan for a "10-story bike storage Ferris wheel towering over the Smith-Ninth Street F-train station". It would've been an impressive structure made up of a rotating system of bike pods, completely encompassing the elevated F-train. The team's lead architect Christopher Lee explained to the Brooklyn paper that they "wanted to produce an icon that represented biking and turn Red Hook into the biking center of New York City."

Bike-related competitions & developments are seemingly all the rage over the past few months, aren't they? First there were the installation of David Byrne's simple yet popular bike racks, followed by the unveiling of the bike rack competition by the DOT and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Coupled with the slow construction of Brooklyn's Greenway (and tonight's Brooklyn Community Board 1 meeting to address the Kent Ave bike lane issues), it's safe to say that bike issues are slowly coming to the main stage in the city.

The winning design belonged to 28-year old Brooklyn resident Jonathan Rude, which called for bike kiosks to be installed throughout the neighborhood. The kiosks would include such amenities as vending machines, air pumps, and area bike maps. However, these plans are far from becoming a reality. The contest wasn't officially sanctioned by the city, rather, it was meant to further the idea of a "bike-centric neighborhood". For more on the story, visit the Brooklyn Paper, and to see some of the other losing (but impressive) designs visit the Forum for Urban Design.