RaDicAL pOotS
Location - New York, NY
Client - CityGroup
Type - Competition
Status - Design
Radical poots is a submission and response for City Group’s “Poots” competition which asks artists and designers to envision a space or object that could occupy their gallery’s inverse stoop (poots) as an underutilized micro-space. kOoK responded with “Radical Poots,” a public living room for political conversation and music. The design fosters a 24/7 enclave for intimate conversation and listening to extend the work of CityGroup into public life. It is a place to converse about the work inside but also a hub for the disparate countercultural and politically radical community by including: a flyer board to find out about events and organizations, a call center to know who and what is at the poots or the city at large, a bookshelf for political literature, and a speaker for independent music, along with an old coffeemaker and couch.
The temporary addition places activities and conversations which often happen alone in the public sphere and directly ties to the CityGroup’s ethos in action. The design’s use of plywood, paint, and cork gives the proposal a casual materiality, and the form projects the City-Group facade onto the sidewalk to maintain yet reorient the urban edge ultimately inviting participation and creating a moment of radical, decommodified respite.
