To sit on a hill and read a book or watch a show. The word ‘hill’ seems to denote some sort of nature setting. Not necessarily so, according to HWKN- try on top of a building in NYC. As part of the BMW Mini Brand’s ‘Creative Use of Space’ campaign, an inner-city rooftop has been transformed from leftover to location.
A collection of separate functional elements are fitted together within a set grid. A grassy hill with ‘seating dimples’ is, along with a stage planted under an existing billboard, are two major eye-catching features of the scheme. Also included are a multi-coloured lighting tower for iconography as much as space lighting, and a panorama bar which overlooks the Hudson River. Imbedded within the floor is a mate to the light tower- an LED carpet. This is programmable, enabling the creation of a sort of ‘horizontal billboard’.
photography by © Kai Nakamura
