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We all hate the hunter green sidewalk sheds that plague endless strips of New York City's sidewalks, sometimes for literal decades. Yet at some point next year, they may begin to disappear, replaced by redesigned scaffolding made to be a little less of an eyesore: The City has commissioned a menu of six new sidewalk shed designs meant to minimize the worst traits of the infamous green "BSA sheds"—obscuring sunlight and views—and is making them available to any company who wants to use them during renovations. The proposed designs include red columned "Speed" sheds, 45-degree sloped sheets that let light through, and some that look like apartment balconies.
But this isn't the first time a city administration has offered alternatives to the BSA shed—in 2009, the Bloomberg administration held a design competition that gave us Urban Umbrella, a kind of maximalist, design-forward replacement that swaps the BSA's signature metal and green wood for spidery white arches, columns, and porous scaffolding. If you're asking yourself why you can't remember ever seeing an Urban Umbrella, well, that's because it costs roughly double for businesses to use it.
So, if the Department of Buildings brings the six new designs—three by the New York-based firm Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), and three by the British firm Arup—up to code, DOB spokesperson Andrew Rudansky told Hell Gate that New Yorkers could see the new designs up at buildings "as soon as 2026." But when asked what would stop businesses from simply continuing to use BSA sheds if they continue to be the much cheaper option, Rudansky gave the emailed statement equivalent of a shrug: "It will be the new administration that will be the ones determining the roll out of the new designs.”
Will the new designs be cheaper to erect? Mark Faulkner, an architect at PAU, told Hell Gate that it would depend on how the DOB's rulemaking process—which will include a public comment phase—shakes out, as they establish the guidelines for businesses implementing the designs. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has campaigned on getting sidewalk sheds down more quickly, but his transition team didn't respond to Hell Gate's request for comment, so time will tell whether the administration will go as far as to outlaw the green BSA sheds and usher us quickly into a glorious new post-green era.
For now, all regular New Yorkers can do is what we do best: be judgemental.