Penny Hardy's book on New York's pandemic-era restaurant dining sheds

When indoor dining stopped in 2020, New York's restaurants moved into the street, and Penny Hardy kept walking past with a camera. Her recently announced book, Pandemic Architecture: NYC Dining Sheds 2020-2024, gathers dozens of the sheds and tents she photographed around Downtown Manhattan, many of which stayed up for years after the lockdowns. Hardy sees them as a new kind of building in public space, one that turned the street from somewhere to pass through into somewhere to meet.

Her captions are the fun part. In Greenwich Village, a stock interior door sits in magenta plastic panelling with taped hearts, and she wonders why nobody painted the door. In the West Village, the bar Julius simply put up camping tents. In Little Italy, a crowned shed with signage visible from blocks away draws a nod to Venturi and Scott Brown, while a SoHo spot went for a thatched beach cabana. Later sheds show the hand of architects, down to heaters tucked under the seating in Nolita.

Essays by New York writers including Michael Bullock and Fred Bernstein fill out the book. Most of the sheds, and some of the restaurants, are gone, though the city has since cleared the way for year-round structures. A good read for anyone who likes cities at their most improvised.

Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 11 October 2026. Read the original