LOOK: NYC Unveils Haute Scaffolding

(photo by Samantha Modell)

It's called the Urban Umbrella (PDF of design), and it won the urbanSHED International Design Competition hosted by New York City to find a, well, less unsightly scaffolding.

With more than 6,000 construction sites in the city using sidewalk sheds to cover more than 1,000,000 linear feet of walkways, there's a lot of eyesore removal to to turn all those painted plywood rafters into something out of Belle Époque Paris.

The winning entry the Urban Umbrella pictured above, was designed by Young-Hwan Choi, a 28-year-old student from the University of Pennsylvania.

The prototype is under construction now to be installed in Lower Manhattan soon.