• A construction site on 23rd Street is about to get a lot more colorful: Starting November 11, the scaffolding ringing Chelsea’s London Terrace Gardens building will be gift-wrapped by the works of 25 emerging local artists. The public art display, stretched over 1,840 continuous square feet of dingy construction boards, comes courtesy of ArtBridge, a nonprofit arts organization aiming to put New York’s 1 million linear feet of scaffolding to more artistic use. The artists’ works are blown up to billboard size and printed on weather- and fade-resistant material that can sustain up to a year’s worth of elemental abuse. After the works come down next November, they’ll be made into one-of-a-kind tote bags by the nonprofit group Urban Samaritan, which teaches job skills to the city’s homeless. (London Terrace Gardens, 425 W. 23rd St., nr. Ninth Ave.)
• Italian fitness company Technogym pushes the idea that those who want to look sleek and luxurious ought to own equally sleek and luxurious home-gym equipment. Technogym will take its mission a step further on November 16, when the company opens it’s first showroom and lifestyle center in Soho. Prospective buyers can choose from a number of customized fitness systems (some designed by architect Antonio Citterio in chocolate and cream-colored leathers, precious metals, blond wood, and mirror finishes), then work with an in-house designer to develop a plan for the customer’s home. The store itself is outfitted with the full line of equipment, as well as a “wellness lounge,” a library of design books, and a vertical garden of over 900 live plants. (70 Greene St., nr. Spring St.; 646-578-8001.)
• There’s always plenty to talk about when Frank Gehry comes to town, be it his discarded designs for the controversial Atlantic Yards development, or his career-defining buildings like Guggenheim Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Prague’s Dancing House. On Wednesday, November 10, Gehry will sit down for a public conversation about “Architecture and Beauty” at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture with Yael Reisner, whose recent book of the same name is subtitled “Conversations With Architects About a Troubled Relationship,” and Julie V. Iovine, executive editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. (Free; Pratt Institute’s Memorial Hall Auditorium; 200 Willoughby Ave., nr. Emerson Pl., Clinton Hill; 718-399-4304; 3 p.m.)
See Also: The Morgan Library’s Makeover, Lord & Taylor’s Facelift, and More Design News