NYC Parks and the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York—a former illegal dumping ground that the Minimalist sculptor Mark di Suvero restored in 1986—has released the first renderings for The Cubes, its first permanent 2,640 sq. ft building to be installed on site that will serve as a space for year-round public programmes. The building was designed by LOT-EK, a New York- and Naples-based architecture firm founded by the designers Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano. It comprises 18 shipping containers stacked on two levels to form a singular structure, with 960 sq. ft of multi-purpose space, with a 480 sq. ft shaded deck area and 1,200 sq. ft of office space.
The Cubes will replace the shipping containers that have been historically used for indoor programming. The new building will be located at the main entrance of the park, and feature solar roof panels and chevron-style windows—inspired by LOT-EK’s pop-up education centre built at the former site of the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2012—that offer floor-to-ceiling views on the park and the Manhattan skyline.
