urbanUMBRELLA, beat out 163 entries from 28 countries as the new design for sidewalk sheds—the wood and steel structures built to protect pedestrians walking alongside buildings under construction.

Working as co-designer with Young-Hwan Choi, a graduate architecture student from the University of Pennsylvania, Andres Cortes, B.S.’97, architect and principal of Agencie Group and engineer and Agencie Group co-principal Sarrah Kahn helped finalize the design for urbanUMBRELLA. The resulting metal structure, which will be made of either steel or aluminum, uses curved arms to support the roof while creating an arcade-like quality below. Integrated LED lighting provides illumination at night. The structure is topped by translucent fiberglass panels which can be customized with different colors and art while also allowing natural light through during the day.

New York’s Department of Buildings partnered with the AIA, Alliance for Downtown New York, New York Building Congress, Illuminating Engineering Society New York Chapter, Association for a Better New York to host the urbanSHED competition.

For more information as well as conceptual images of the “Urban Umbrella” on the streets of New York City, please visit Agencie Group’s website. 

Read about Urban Umbrella in Architectural Record online.