Secret Rooftop Campsite Pops Up In Brooklyn

Yeah, you could fill all rooftops in Brooklyn with urban farms, but that would be pretty boring. So how about a campsite? This summer, a modular urban encampment popped up at a secret rooftop location in Brooklyn.

Bivouac NYC, the brainchild of New York-based artist Thomas Stevenson, consists of seven specially designed shelters and a family-sized canteen, as well as other campsite features such as picnic furniture and a toilet, of course. The rooftop campsite also accommodates a little library inside the canteen. There’s no electricity and no Internet — disconnecting is the new connecting! The skins of the campsite’s shelters are made of water-proof canvas, and wool felt sheets are used for the flooring. Every shelter fits two to three adults.

Bivouac rooftop campsite, Brooklyn

Bivouac rooftop campsite, Brooklyn

Stevenson wants campers to change their routines by leading double lives, according to this Gothamist article. “Guests are encouraged to live their normal daily lives. They will leave the site each morning, take the subway and conduct their working hours as usual. Their domestic hours will be spent on the roof, in the great city outdoors, roughing it.” Before returning to the campsite, campers have to bring at leas one food item to be used in the communal dinner.

Bivouac rooftop campsite, Brooklyn

Bivouac rooftop campsite, Brooklyn

One of the artist’s main objectives behind creating a rooftop campsite is to make better use of New York’s outdoor space. “I think New York City (…) is a playground.” Want to spend the night at Bivouac? The secret campsite will be in New York until the end of this month. Next month it will pop up in Boston. Click here for the project’s website.