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Photo by Taylor Crothers

March 22, 2023
The Minds and Methods Shaping Craft, Career, and Culture

This week, we get the inside story behind designing Pier 17 in New York City (above!), question the new "We Heart NYC" logo, and recommend some catchy songs to add to your workday playlist. Plus, the surefire way to come up with good ideas.

The View From Here

Creativity is the ultimate team sport. Behind every creative director, designer, founder, musician, and other team lead is a collaborative effort. (If only it were as easy as pointing to one black-clad creative genius!)
Architecture, in particular, requires collaboration, sometimes over decades, navigating complex stakeholder sets, building community consensus and innovating through each project’s particular constrictions and parameters. 

This week, we talk to SHoP architects Angelica Trevino Baccon, Scot Teti, Andreia Teixeira, Sean Bailey and Clinton Miller who all worked together over 12 years to design and build the award-winning Pier 17 that reimagined the South Street Seaport neighborhood in New York City.

If you haven't been, the new Pier 17 is spectacular and extends the city to the shoreline. (I have ferried over there with my family, and my two children highly recommend going to Mr. Dips and ordering the largest ice cream on the menu.) The district includes David Chang and Andrew Carmellini restaurants, ESPN and Nike offices, an open rooftop concert space, and the reimagined Tin Building, with the Jean-Georges collection of restaurants and market vendors. 

Below, the SHoP team shares how the original vision changed over time, how they stayed on track for 12 years, and what goes into a successful collaboration when you have hundreds of stakeholders.



Have a great week.
Matt McCue


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The SHoP Architects team spent 12 years on Pier 17. Image: SHoP Architects.

“The strength doesn’t always come in the analytics or the technical aspects. It comes in the passion of bringing people along on the journey and believing it will be a better city and space for people. People want to be at the edge of the water. How do you bring people to the waterfront with a great public space? In the end, we’re fulfilling universal human demands for our cities and our lives.”
–Angelica Trevino Baccon, Principal Architect, SHoP Architects

How the SHoP Architects Team Successfully Collaborated on Pier 17 →

Consider Us Confused
File under "Why?"

The Buzz: The "I Heart New York" logo is iconic for many reasons, and yet this week New York state officials decided to mess with it. Behold, the new "We Heart NYC" logo. It's bold and transformative, said no one ever. Still, people have had a lot to say on the subject. In a lively Twitter discussion, the responses ranged from "Milton Glaser got it right the first time" to "I wouldn't wish this on New Jersey" to "oy", "ew", and "Lol." Had we been asked, we'd say the only reason to update the "I Heart NY" logo is to replace the heart image with a bagel image. That's it. 
Image: New York State Department of Economic Development

News You Can Use
Upgrade Your Workday Soundtrack


This past week I went to Carnegie Hall to listen to 24 musicians play the music of Paul McCartney for a tribute concert. Am I hoping you'll think I'm just a little bit cooler for sharing that last sentence? Yes.

Anyways, a good tribute concert is like a good editorial mix. You want to have big names to draw people in, but often it's the up-and-comer discoveries that people go home talking about. The show had its headliners (Jennifer Nettles, Nancy Wilson, Lyle Lovett), but it was some of the younger musicians that really stood out. If you're looking to add a few tunes to your workday playlist, check out Allison Russell (above), Sammy Rae, Shovels & Rope (they do a great cover of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend"), the Cactus Blossoms, and the Resistance Revival Chorus. Back in the day, I'd burn a CD of their songs; these days I made a playlist on Apple. Happy to share it with you. 

Image: Allison Russell 
Parting Thought
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