It can be tough to get Manhattanites to trek to the outer boroughs for an event, but the architects and design types who showed up at the Architectural League of New York's Beaux Arts Ball in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn got to see a very cool, unique venue. The Tobacco Warehouse in the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is—of course—a former tobacco warehouse built in 1871, with the rustic brick walls and cement floor you expect to find in such a space. But it doesn't have a roof, making it feel like some sort of industrial fortress in ruin. (And we mean that in a cool way.)
The unusual venue was part of an attempt to give a younger, hipper feel to the annual event, which has been at the Seagram Building and the Downtown Association in recent years. "This year was really about, how can we make this colorful and fun?" said Architectural League executive assistant MaryBeth Morris, who coordinated the event.
This year's theme was CMYK—after the color printing process that uses only cyan, magenta, yellow and black—and event designer Roy Braeger filled the building's shell with four clear tents from Starr Tents decorated to match the four colors with lighting and food arrangements. Lux Lighting put yellow polka dots on the floor of the yellow tent and used black light to give a funky feel to the black tent, where DJ Liquid Todd played some disco and retro hits. At the other end of the party, two jazz bands, Mariani and Pectopah, played sets on a stage drenched in magenta light.
But the big hit of the night was a special interactive photo installation put together by photographer Mark Van S. and design firm Pentagram (who also did the event's color-saturated invites). Guests could step inside a booth to snap their own portraits using a digital camera, and then all of the photos got projected on a giant screen on one wall of the tent. Shot with incredibly flattering lighting against a white background, the Richard Avedon-style black-and-white portraits rotated throughout the night.
—Chad Kaydo
The unusual venue was part of an attempt to give a younger, hipper feel to the annual event, which has been at the Seagram Building and the Downtown Association in recent years. "This year was really about, how can we make this colorful and fun?" said Architectural League executive assistant MaryBeth Morris, who coordinated the event.
This year's theme was CMYK—after the color printing process that uses only cyan, magenta, yellow and black—and event designer Roy Braeger filled the building's shell with four clear tents from Starr Tents decorated to match the four colors with lighting and food arrangements. Lux Lighting put yellow polka dots on the floor of the yellow tent and used black light to give a funky feel to the black tent, where DJ Liquid Todd played some disco and retro hits. At the other end of the party, two jazz bands, Mariani and Pectopah, played sets on a stage drenched in magenta light.
But the big hit of the night was a special interactive photo installation put together by photographer Mark Van S. and design firm Pentagram (who also did the event's color-saturated invites). Guests could step inside a booth to snap their own portraits using a digital camera, and then all of the photos got projected on a giant screen on one wall of the tent. Shot with incredibly flattering lighting against a white background, the Richard Avedon-style black-and-white portraits rotated throughout the night.
—Chad Kaydo
The Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn's Empire Fulton Ferry State Park served as a cool and unusual venue for the Architectural League of New York Beaux Arts Ball.
Photographer Mark Van S. and design firm Pentagram put together a photo booth where guests could snap their own portraits using a digital camera.
The portraits were projected on a giant screen on one wall of a tent.
Event designer Roy Braeger arranged Indiana Market & Catering's food in color-coordinated displays based on the event's "CMYK" theme.
