eOCULUS 10.17.05

Editor's note: This issue of eOculus includes an Architecture Week round-up of reports—and so much more. Having nothing to do with architecture…we're glad to see sunshine again!

(For those reading eOculus via email, please note that clicking on a link in the Table of Contents may open this issue in your Web browser).

ARCHITECTURE WEEK ROUND-UP

2005 Heritage Ball Sparkled with Elegance and Humor; Party@theCenter Rocked
More than 1,300 elegant New Yorkers (along with a few out-of-towners) graced the Heritage Ball at Chelsea Piers on October 6. Elegant—if a bit noisy. At one point, Jeanne-Claude (of Christo fame) jumped onto the stage and scolded the crowd for not paying attention to the speakers: "Listen! Listen—or you won't get dessert!" she chided.

The audience settled down as the four 2005 Heritage Ball honorees were introduced by Richard Tomasetti, P.E., Hon. AIA, Dinner Chair.

Presidents Award: J. Max Bond Jr., FAIA: "Peter Walker told me to just say thank you."

AIA NY Chapter Award: Frank J. Sciame Jr., Hon. AIA NY: "I started with strong foundations—my Mom and Dad."

Center for Architecture Award: Amanda M. Burden, Hon. AIA NY: "I have the best job in the world working for an administration that puts design first."

Foundation Award: New York Restoration Project/Bette Midler: "Explaining my job: to give the city a makeover."

Instead of giving the honorees one more tchotchka to use as a doorstop, they were asked to select an academic program to receive a scholarship (students were selected by the schools' deans). The students are: Diana Reid, Masters of Urban Design, City College of New York (Bond); Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction (Burden); Tong Kai Zhang, Bachelors of Architecture, City College of New York (Sciame); and Anne Vaterlaus, Masters of Landscape Architecture, City College of New York (NY Restoration Project).

Party@the Center, the post-Heritage Ball bash, was the ultimate dance party that took the first day of Architecture Week into the wee hours of the morning. Audrey Matlock Architects transformed the Center for Architecture into a moonlit message from Gotham for about 500 party-goers, and guest DJ SuperJulie kept the house rocking. Special thanks to our sponsors: CB Richard Ellis; MetLife, A & R Kalimian Realty; LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae; and SKYY90, for making this the party of the year!

Winners All
"New York is anything but generic," said Rick Bell, FAIA, executive director of the AIA NY Chapter, referring to this year's 41 winning designs, and their respective designers and clients, at the opening reception for the exhibition, "2005 AIA NY Chapter Design Awards," on October 11 at the Center for Architecture. The exhibit will be on view through December 3. Accompanying the show is a three-part series of presentations by many of the award winners and moderated by Denise Scott Brown, RIBA, Principal, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates (November 1); Susan S. Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis (November 16); and Hilary Ballon, Professor of Art History, Columbia University (November 29). Click on link for list of winners and program details.

The Center for Architecture surely fulfilled its mandate to be "a hub for all interested in the built environment" as New York's 3rd Annual Architecture Week got off to a rousing start on the afternoon of Thursday, October 6. The lecture hall was packed with invited media and guests to see Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture present his design for the new Museum of Arts & Design (MAD—formerly American Crafts Museum) at the soon-to-be-former Edward Durell Stone-designed 2 Columbus Circle. And on the sidewalk outside, demonstrators voiced their objection to the planned changes.

Inside, questions, for the most part, were technical or at least polite. When queried if all avenues to restore the existing building had been explored, Cloepfil explained (once again) that studies had shown the building's condition is beyond repair. He is all for preserving architecturally important buildings, but doesn't consider this particular Stone edifice to be one of them. He went on to say, "To freeze a building in time because of emotional attachment is not good. We're taking something that has been dead, and bringing it back to life," and that his design is "carrying forward an evocative memory" of Stone's building. MAD director Holly Hotchner added that the quality and materials to be used on the exterior (glass and terra-cotta) reflect what is being shown inside the museum.

Outside, a gathering of (mostly) polite protesters, organized by Landmark West!, protested the re-design with handmade signs reading "Leave Stone Alone" and "…we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build, but by those we have destroyed" (the latter from an October 1963 New York Times editorial bemoaning the loss of Penn Station). Mark Strauss, FAIA, AICP, Principal, FXFOWLE Architects and 2006 AIA NY Chapter President commented, "The Chapter has taken a public position endorsing the transfer of the property to the museum. However, the project has engendered significant controversy. It shows that architecture does matter in this city, and people are concerned about the built environment. This combination of protest and celebration is exactly what the Center for Architecture was intended to promote."

After the press conference, the exhibition, "Two Columbus Circle (plus): Museum of Arts & Design and Allied Works Architecture," officially opened to the public. It offers a fairly detailed look at the site's evolution and plans for its future, and will be on view through December 31.

Fittingly, on October 11—Columbus Day—the Center hosted "Exploring Columbus Circle," a panel discussion with experts on the location: Christopher Nolan, VP for Capital Projects, Central Park Conservancy; Vishaan Chakrabarti, AIA, The Related Companies and former Director of the Manhattan Office for the New York Department of City Planning; and Philip R. Pitruzzello, VP for Real Estate Projects, Time Warner, Inc.

Moderator Rolf Ohlhausen, FAIA, started the program with a brief history of the only traffic circle in Manhattan, beginning in 1811 through to 1956, when the deadening New York Coliseum opened, and the 1960s when culture was introduced to the neighborhood with Edward Durell Stone's museum for Huntington Hartford—now monikered 2 Columbus Circle, and Lincoln Center just a few blocks north.

Oliver Kruse Quarter #7: Elliptical form, 1,900 feet by 1100 feet, is bordered by two- to four-story prefab concrete terraced structures containing living, working, artist studios, and community functions
Oliver Kruse

Hombroich spaceplacelab panel (seated, l to r): Kenneth Frampton, Dr. Christiane Zangs, Gerhard Seltmann, Jun Sung Kim, and Chapter president Susan Chin, FAIA
H. Feldhaus

Not unlike Donald Judd's Marfa, Texas, development of sculptural objects in an open field, Hombroich spaceplacelab (a triple-barreled word explained below^*), too, takes a vast site, part of it a former NATO base in the city of Neuss, near Cologne, and after divvying up the 500 acres among 16 planners and designers, is putting up an assortment of structures, with 90% of fields left open (one third forest, one third meadow, one third orchard), and 10% for occupancy by homo sapiens. (Of the 10%, 90% is to go for living, working, cultural creations and an undefined activity called "caring," with the balance to provide communal facilities.)

A catalog describes the spaceplacelab mysteriously as the transformation of intensive agriculture into extensive agriculture, and while the speakers at the October 8 Design-In Marathon afternoon never fully explained this, it was clear that the designers for 16 "Quarters" would try to eat their cake and have it too—innovative structures, yet basking in large meadows, orchards, or woods. This raised criticism from some in the 100-person audience that the designers, in their attempt to conduct field experiments in low density art-architecture-landscape, were in effect simply "beautifying sprawl."

Thus, Oliver Kruse, an artist and Insel (for Island) Hombroich Foundation director, created for his Quarter (#7) an enormous ellipse, 1,900 feet on the long side and about 1,100 feet on the short side, with grass in the middle and a series of interlocking two- to four-story concrete structures forming the perimeter, a kind of hollow elliptical Stonehenge, with its four quadrants allocated to living, working, artist studios, and community uses (see illustration).

Kruse is among the chosen architects and artists, who also include such well-known names as Frei Otto, Daniel Libeskind, Tadao Ando, and Alvaro Siza. Each was assigned one of the 16 quarters.

The exhibit, "Experiments in art-architecture-landscape: Hombroich spaceplacelab," at the Center for Architecture runs through Dec 31, 2005. A 52-page b+w catalog is available for $25 (paperback) or $45 (hardcover) from the AIA New York Chapter. Readers who wish to explore the projects, along with Dr Müller's Preamble, Five Principles and Five Maxims for Action, should visit the Hombroich German website: www.inselhombroich.de

AIA NY Hosts Chinese Delegation of Architects
by James Karl Fischer, AIA, RIBA

AIA NY President, Susan Chin, FAIA (center), and Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA (2nd from right), with the Chinese delegation of architects

(l-r): Zhao Yong, James Karl Fischer, AIA, RIBA, Lucy Lang, and Qi Shani explore Lower Manhattan

Bing Lau and Daniel Libeskind at Max Protech opening

Just in time for Architecture Week, a delegation of practicing architects and academics from Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanking arrived in New York, headed by Qin Chang Shui (Charles Qin), Deputy Director of the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) of the PRC Ministry of Commerce, People's Republic of China. It was their first visit to the United States, prompted by last year's successful Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)-USA's delegation to China, led by Tim Clark, RIBA-USA Presiding Chair, and Jonathan Wimpenny, AIA, RIBA-USA NY Chapter Chair. On the delegation's U.S. agenda, which included Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia, was a stopover at AIA Washington to apply for AIA Affiliate membership following last year's accord with the RIBA's similar program.

The morning after dancing the night away at the Party@theCenter, the delegates met with AIA NY Chapter President, Susan Chin, FAIA; Chapter Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, James Fischer, AIA, RIBA, Co-Chair, AIA NY International Committee; and Wimpenny at the Center for Architecture. Bell gave a presentation of recent architectural issues in New York City and the role of the Center plays. Qin thanked Chin and Bell for their hospitality and said he looked forward to closer contacts with architectural colleagues in New York in the future.

+ Downtown Walking Tour
James Karl Fischer, AIA, RIBA, Co-Chair, AIA NY International Committee, then led an afternoon architectural tour of Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street, Ground Zero, and Battery Park City. "New York has an incredible history of international fascination," commented Fischer, "and the interest expressed by this delegation goes far in establishing working relationships at many levels. It will not be long before these China-based architects find themselves exporting design services to our communities. Both the city and the profession ought to benefit immensely from this interest." Delegate Lucy Lang had this to say about New York: "It's been a wonderful opportunity for us to show our work, and to meet New York architects who have all been so warm and generous to us during Architecture Week. I have been really impressed with your city and particularly your wonderful mass transit subway system which seems to reach every corner of the city."

October 11 had been written into everyone's agenda. China had all eyes on the Gobi Desert and Shenzhou VI blasting into space with two Chinese astronauts on board. New York designers and architects were blasting up to MoMA or the AIA Awards, the culmination of Architecture Week festivities. Downtown, a group of Chinese architects were enthusiastically powering up their laptops for a presentation of their work entitled "Emerging Chinese Architects," a symposium sponsored by the RIBA-USA NY Chapter and Hafele. Luckily for them, the Madison Square showroom had more space than the interior of Shenzhou VI—by early evening it was packed with New Yorkers keen to see their new work.

Put together four architects who each have at least one major cultural project in Toronto to debate the value—or even the validity—of the "Bilbao effect" for a city, and you'll get four very different takes. If those four architects are Will Alsop, Jack Diamond, Bruce Kuwabara, and Daniel Libeskind, you can be sure it will be a lively, at times even contentious, debate. The Canadian Consulate brought the quartet together, along with architecture/design journalist Andrew Blum as moderator, for "The Cities Project: Toronto's Bilbao Effect?" Needless to say, it was a standing-room-only crowd at the Art Directors Club on October 11.

The focus: Can architecture, particularly of cultural institutions, affect the future of cities—particularly Toronto? Is it true that if you build it big and bombastic, they'll come in droves?

Kuwabara: Toronto is a young city still in formation. We're creating the cultural infrastructure to train the next generation of performing and visual artists and good urban buildings… Toronto is kind of ugly; its beauty is in its civility. It's missing great public spaces…

Libeskind: I don't find Toronto boring or ugly—it's going through growing pains… Architecture is not made with words; it's made with concrete. There is an evolution in architectural expectations. People are informed, and being empowered to comment on architecture… Iconic is a cartoon notion…

Alsop: We're creating a history Toronto never had. The public is courageous and wants to be unique. People don't want what planners and politicians think they want—they're open to fresh ideas…a city experiencing an exotic change… Australia is boring because they worry about what is "Australian"—and creative people are dragged into mediocrity…

Diamond: The difference between Toronto and Bilbao is that Toronto wasn't a derelict mining town. Gehry's building was just the icing on the cake… We must understand the distinction between Canada and the U.S. [In Canada] individualism of extremes is not always favored. It's easy to do the spectacular, grand gesture, but how do you create something more than ordinary—give it importance—and still fit the city?

The entire discussion will soon be available via Architecture-Radio.org—and it is definitely worth a listen.

Building Green: Family Day @ the Center for Architecture
What is a heat island? And how does pollution get into our waterways? How can green roofs help reduce our negative impact on the environment? And how can we use the earth's heat to generate our own? These are all questions that kids and their parents were able to answer after they participated in the Center for Architecture Foundation's Family Day on Saturday, October 8.

As part of Architecture Week and openhousenewyork, the Center offered tours of its geothermal heating and cooling system. The Center's architect, Andrew Berman, AIA, gave a tour of the building, highlighting its use of sustainable design principles. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Architecture Foundation offered hands-on activities for participants to develop an awareness and understanding of the impact that our built environment has on the Earth, and solutions for lessening that impact.

Special thanks to Joyce Lee, AIA, NYC OMB; Margot Woolly, AIA, NYC DDC; Kate Bakewell; Hart Howerton; Peng Zeng; Rochelle Lancy, AIA, NYC DDC; and Haley Gilbert, EPA Region 2, for helping to make this day possible.

OHNY Attendance Nears 60,000—Despite Mother Nature
Neither wind nor torrential rains (and a subway terrorist alert) stopped almost 60,000 architecture and design lovers from venturing out to attend the 3rd annual openhousenewyork during Architecture Week. One particular draw was this year's new programming feature, "opendialogues." More than 35 architecture and design professionals had the opportunity to talk directly with the public about their projects—including Radio City Music Hall, the Carlton Hotel, Rubin Museum, Prince George Hotel Ballroom, Ellis Island's South Side restoration, the new New York Times building—and a number of architects' own offices. While all reports from the field are not in yet, the fact that more than 2,500 people came to the lobby of the Chrysler Building to hear Robert Klara, managing editor of Architecture Magazine, talk about the building's design and history is an indication of the public's continued and growing interest in New York's built environments.

Report from the Field: "Sex in Design" Proves Easier to Imagine Than Describe
by Roger Yee

Realizing that sex sells almost everything, the AIA New York Chapter's Interiors Committee inaugurated its autumn Design Dialogues on September 15 by exploring "Sex in Design: The Question of Gender in Architecture & Design" at Novo Arts, a Greenwich Village-based fine arts consultant. The stated topics were provocative enough, starting with "Do men and women design differently?" Some two dozen attendees discussed this and other questions in a program moderated by Keith Rosen, AIA, Chairman, Interiors Committee, and Design Director, Gensler, and hosted by Marlaina Deppe, president of Novo Arts.

Obvious differences between men and women as designers surfaced quickly. Rosen declared that women say men overlook subtleties of color, to which Bruce Eisenberg, AIA, of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, responded that men are more color blind. (Howard Hughes Medical Institute reports that 7% of men and 0.4% of women in America exhibit red-green color blindness.) No one challenged Tracey Katchen, AIA, Partner, Sander Partnership, who suggested that men need visual images to describe space while women can readily verbalize about it. As for stereotyping, George Hajjar, Assoc. AIA, of Mohawk Group, confirmed that lay people still expect men to be architects and women to be interior designers.

The real gender issues, everyone agreed, occur in construction and development. Essentially, builders remain skeptical about women architects. Mary Burke, AIA, of Burke Design, described being tested on every job site the moment the "cute blonde with big blue eyes" identified herself as project architect.

IN THE NEWS + NEW DEADLINES

Deadline October 31: Call for Papers: Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Architecture, Music, and Acoustics, Toronto
The Department of Architectural Science of Ryerson University will host a three-day conference on the theme Architecture | Music | Acoustics (.pdf) which proposes to move outside the visual paradigm of architecture to investigate relationships between the three disciplines. The conference is part soundaXis, a two-week festival in June 2006, celebrating architecture, music, and acoustics, transforming Toronto into a playground of sound and space exploration. Nicolas Ryan, AIA, an associate at Grimshaw Architects and adjunct assistant professor of architecture at New York Institute of Technology, will be chairing a session entitled "The Poetics of Closure." Click on link for details about submitting an abstract.

Deadline November 7: Expressions of Interest: African Institute of Science and Technology Campus, Abuja, Nigeria
The African Institute of Science and Technology (.pdf) is seeking Expressions of Interest from architect-led teams to design the Institute's first campus in Abuja, Nigeria. Up to six teams will be invited to produce concept designs, and will receive an honorarium of $20,000. The budget for the campus is estimated to be about $350 million; design and construction will be phased over a number of years. RIBA is overseeing the competition. Click on link for EOI submission details.

Registration Deadline November 23: West End Pedestrian Bridge Competition, Pittsburgh
Sponsored by the Riverlife Task Force, a non-profit organization created to design a master plan for Pittsburgh's 6½ miles of waterfronts, this two-stage competition calls for design improvements to the city's historic West End Bridge, including pedestrian and bike access across the Ohio River, to complete a loop of riverfront trails known as Three Rivers Park. Registration deadline is November 23, and Stage 1 submissions are due December 21; three to five finalists will receive a $1,000 stipend; finalists in Stage 2 will receive $15,000 to further develop their designs by February 2006. Click on link for details.

Deadline December 15: Call for Entries: Metropolis 2006 Next Generation Design Competition
Do you have the next "Big Idea" to help make the world a better, safer, and more sustainable place? Metropolis magazine wants to hear about it. Students and professionals from all design disciplines who have been working for 10 years or less are eligible to enter. Now in its third year, the Next Generation Design Next Generation Design Competition was established to recognize and encourage activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship among designers. First Prize is $10,000 and coverage in Metropolis magazine and on metropolismag.com. Click on link for details.

Deadline December 16: RFP: Retail and Housing for Staten Island National Lighthouse Harbor Site
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for approximately three acres of a 10-acre National Lighthouse Harbor site in the St. George section of Staten Island. The EDC is seeking mixed-use development proposals to reactivate the waterfront property with residential, retail, and commercial uses, while preserving historic structures. The property is connected to the St. George Ferry Terminal; proposals should incorporate and support plans for the National Lighthouse Museum. Click on link for details and to request a copy of the RFP, or call 212.312.3969.

Registration Deadline November 16: Two AIA Housing Competitions
AIA National is sponsoring two design award competitions this fall: 2006 AIA Housing Committee Awards and the 2006 AIA/HUD Secretary Awards. AIA-member architects with completed projects, located in the U.S, are welcome to submit. In addition, owners of structures or projects fitting the eligibility guidelines may submit projects for review. Click on links for details. The registration deadline for both competitions is November 18, and the deadline for submissions for both is December 16.

Rebuilding Pakistan: Two Ways to Help
Project Life Line is working closely with Human Development Foundation to find sustainable solutions for permanent housing for the estimated 3.3 million Pakistanis left homeless by the October 8 earthquake. Within a month, the typical harsh and cold winter of Kashmir will be in full swing, and the President of Pakistan has asked for immediate reconstruction and prefabricated homes. Project Life Line, founded by architect Shabbir Kazmi, has used shipping containers to design a self-sustaining container system that can provide medical care, purified water, and a home. Instead of sending a tent city with supplies, the organizations want to send the sturdy containers filled with building supplies that can then also be turned into homes. To send an online donation to support the rebuilding of villages in Pakistan, please donate to Project Life Line: www.project-lifeline.org and click on "donation for Pakistan" (you can also review the evolution of the container; click "Project"). To make an online donation for immediate relief visit Human Development Foundation: www.yespakistan.com/hdf/

Beyer Blinder Belle Goes to the Head of the Class at Princeton
Princeton University has selected Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (BBB) to lead the development of a long-term plan for the 400-acre campus. BBB will lead a team of seven other specialized firms: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Architecture Research Office (founded by two Princeton School of Architecture alumni); Lynden B. Miller Public Garden Design; traffic and transportation specialist Gorove/Slade Associates; Chance Management Advisors; Two Twelve Associates; and Judith Nitsch Engineering. The process of developing the campus plan is expected to take two years, during a 10-year campus building boom, and will involve members of the university and local communities. Princeton-born Neil Kittredge, AIA, BBB Associate Partner, is serving as the primary liaison between the firm and the University.

Handel Architects/Hom + Goldman Architects: New Natatorium and Ice Rink Complex, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens

Handel Architects in association with Hom + Goldman Architects Drawing inspiration from futuristic pavilions of the 1939 and 1964 New York World's Fairs, Handel Architects, in association with Hom + Goldman Architects, has designed a sports complex in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The facility houses an Olympic-sized swimming pool and an NHL regulation-sized ice rink that will lie end to end, separated by a public lobby. The versatile natatorium will have a moveable floor that adjusts the water depth. The pool arena includes seating for 400 spectators on a mezzanine overlooking the water with panoramic views of the park. The interior pool deck on the south side will extend outside, bringing the park experience into the building. The ice rink will seat 440 in bleacher-style seating accessed from the ground level. Support spaces, such as changing rooms and concession stands, flank the arenas on the street entrance, creating a mediating "threshold" on the urban edge into the park. From the opposite side, a second entrance and the pool terrace will overlook a meadow of native tall grasses and the 1964 World's Fair Unisphere beyond. The façades will be pre-cast concrete panels and glass tiles, and a cable-stay mast will support the roof. Reflections off the glass will change dramatically depending on the time of day, and a crystalline entry lobby will glow at night—a welcome sight for those traveling along the Van Wyck Expressway. The 110,000-square-foot complex is schedule for completion in Fall 2007.

Urbahn Architects: Orchard Hall Residence, Farmingdale State University Campus, Long Island

Urbahn Architects Orchard Hall, a $17 million, 112,000-square-foot residence hall designed by Urbahn Architects for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, is about to open. It is the first major addition to student housing on the Farmingdale State University of New York campus in more than 30 years. As part of the school's five-year campus improvement and expansion program, Orchard Hall is an 88-unit, 400-bed complex in a combination of single and double bedroom units. Design features include common lounges, a landscaped courtyard, and wireless technology. The project meets the standards of the Governor's Executive Order 111, a sustainable design program that mandates substantial energy efficiency and green design features. In addition to this project, the firm was responsible for the design of two research buildings in the SUNY Farmingdale's Broad Hollow Bioscience Park.

Silvercup Studios Premieres NYC's Largest Green Roof
There was quite a different kind of casting call at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, home to "The Sopranos," "Sex in the City," and countless feature films, TV shows, and commercials. NYC-based Balmori Associates selected white-blooming orostachys beoehmeri, yellow-blooming sedum seagnulare, and sedum middendorffianum diffusum to star in Silvercup's latest production, which had its premiere September 29—the largest green roof in New York City. What is now a 35,000-square-foot patchwork of brown containers will come alive with color next spring. It is the first of a series of green roofs planned for Long Island City over the next decade.

According to landscape architect Diana Balmori, ASLA, "Long Island City is fertile ground for green roofs. We have identified an astonishing number of flat-topped manufacturing buildings here that would be ideal for green roofs—in all, 667 acres, an area equal to Prospect Park."

The Silvercup green roof, which is equal parts roof garden, insulation system, and sponge, is expected to absorb air pollutants and carbon dioxide, improve outdoor air quality, increase energy efficiency and storm water run-off—which is a particular problem for the LIC sewer system. A research station will record and analyze the roof's impact on temperature flux, storm water run-off, and energy consumption. Major funding for the roof was provided by the New York Power Authority through the Queens Clean Air Project, a venture of Clean Air Communities, which is committed to pollution reduction and energy efficiency strategies in city communities that are disproportionately affected by air pollution. Also supporting the project is the Northeast States Clean Air Foundation (NESCAF), in conjunction with the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development (PICCED).

Names in the News While remaining a consultant to the multi-disciplinary design firm, Pentagram partner Woody Pirtle will retire from the New York office and reestablish Pirtle Design from his studio in New Paltz, NY… Benjamin Moore's first annual HUE Awards for Color in Architecture and Interior Design were presented on October 6; NYC-based winners include: Steven Holl, AIA, FRIBA, Lifetime Achievement; Rockwell Group, Contract Exteriors; and Drake Design Associates, Residential Interiors…

AROUND THE AIA AND THE CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE

NYS Expedites Reciprocal Licensing Process for Hurricane Victims
To assist victims of Katrina and Rita, the New York State Office of the Professions has set up an expediting process for licensing in New York State. This affects architects as well as all of the licensed professions in the State. According to Robert Lopez, AIA, Executive Secretary of the State Board for Architecture, they have already expedited the review of two Louisiana architects who wanted to become licensed here. In addition, requests from New York State licensees who are seeking certification of their New York license to assist victims in states affected by the hurricanes can also be expedited. For further information, see the NYS State Education Department.

AIA Report: Post-Hurricane Rebuilding Likely to Take up to Five Years
The AIA has issued a report, titled "The Economic and Construction Outlook in the Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina," to provide design and construction professionals a forecast of key economic components related to the rebuilding process of the affected regions. Taking into consideration the larger context of the overall regional economy, the report examines the timeline for rebuilding efforts, the economic and construction indicators for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and the outlook for building materials and construction labor demand. Click link to access complete report.

North American Architects Sign Mutual Recognition Agreement
The leadership of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Committee of Canadian Architectural Council (CCAC), and the Comité Mexicano para la Práctica Internacional de la Arquitectura (COMPIAR), respectively representing the profession of architecture in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, met in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 7 to wrap up years of negotiations and to sign the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) that will allow qualifying architects in the three countries to practice architecture throughout North America.

The Tri-national MRA must still be ratified by the regulatory organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. NCARB Member Boards will be the last to vote on the ratification in June 2006, after which the representatives of the three countries will meet again to work out the implementation details for the Agreement. NCARB and CCAC concluded an Inter-recognition Agreement in June 1994, and this Tri-national MRA in no way affects or supersedes that Agreement.

Family resemblance was the theme as the leaders of the "Big Sibs"—AIA components with more than 1,000 members—gathered for an annual reunion and talk-a-thon in Boston.

With major sponsorship from Reed Elsevier (parent of Reed Business Information and Detail magazine), publisher Dorothy DeGennaro and Chief Operating Officer Mike Catalonello joined extended family members around the big table in the once and future coffee house on Broad Street owned by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA). There were unsubstantiated rumors that BSA, with its historical links to coffee grinders and over-caffeinated design-community consumers, had initiated the Boston Tea Party.

Architects from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC, were joined by Brenda Henderson, Hon. AIA, of AIA Component Relations, as they compared notes on areas of common interest. These started with a protracted discussion of how the large components and the firms they represent can support the rebuilding and re-envisioning of New Orleans and the adjacent areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

After presentation of AIA National and local component efforts now underway, and general discussion of emergency response and disaster preparedness, the AIA components present (Los Angeles was excused because of 2006 Convention planning conflicts) passed a resolution introduced by AIA New York which supports AIA National Component's efforts to assist local architects and support plans for rebuilding that lead to the creation of livable and sustainable communities (see attached resolution).

The program also included two spectacular tours of recent Boston projects. The renovation and restoration of Richardson's Trinity Church, arguably the first major building by an American architect (other than Henry Austin), was presented by Goody Clancy—from subcroft basement to attic choir loft. And a tour of the recently occupied Stata Center by Frank Gehry was led by new MIT campus architect Pam Delpenech, FAIA, previously the major domo of Yale's renewal.

The AIA New York Chapter was ably represented by President Susan Chin, FAIA, 2006 President Mark Strauss, FAIA/AICP, and 2007 President Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, and Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA. Summer intern Pam Chinn, a pre-architecture student in Boston, joined the Stata Center tour.

Those present concluded the session not so much with the establishment of an AIA urban agenda, but with the realization of the commonality of issues of smart growth, affordable housing, transportation infrastructure, and energy-based environmentalism—the key architectural issues leading the way for a unified AIA vision of this century's post-Katrina physical environment. It was also noted that those on the Big Sib rosters constitute almost 40% of the American Institute of Architects membership.

The Boston Society of Architects and its leaders, George Metzger, president, and Jane Weinzapfel, president-elect, along with Richard Fitzgerald, director, and Nancy Jenner, deputy director, set the theme and focused those attending on the big-picture issues of diversity and engagement.

The Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) held its annual meeting and social at its new HQ, the Center for Architecture, on September 13. The group kicked off the evening with a catered musical social hour featuring the classical strings of the Ondracek Trio.

Following the social hour, outgoing SEAoNY President Kyle Krall, PE, of Thornton-Thomasetti Engineers, issued a few wistful words before passing the torch to the incoming President Joseph Tortorella, PE, of Robert Silman Associates. Tortorella spoke about the exciting year coming up for SEAoNY, and mentioned his work with the Department of Buildings and the new SEAoNY book on Underpinning that will be issued soon. New board members Pablo Bruno, PE, Craig Schwitter, PE, and Pete Dimaggio were also recognized.

This year's Honorary Member award went to Jacob Grossman, PE, of Rossenwasser/Grossman Consulting Engineers, for his distinguished achievements. Grossman, who comes from a family steeped in the tradition of building, illustrated his acceptance speech with an engaging presentation highlighting the family roots that led him to his career.

Tortorella then announced SEAoNY's next event: a lecture on November 15 by Robert Silman, PE, entitled "The Rehabilitation of Frank Lloyd Wright Structures." Silman will discuss the technical aspects and challenges encountered in retrofitting the work of one of the world's great architects. The program will also include a guest appearance by FLW apprentice, Edgar Tafel, FAIA.

The evening concluded with SEAoNY's first annual raffle, where several lucky members won prizes, including a $150 gift certificate to Union Square Café and an iPod Nano. For more information about SEAoNY, please visit www.seaony.org.

ON VIEW

At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place:

Elsewhere:

Exhibition Review: Samuel Mockbee & the Rural Studio in Hartford through November 6
by Craig Newick, AIA

"Samuel Mockbee & the Rural Studio: Community Architecture," on view at the University of Hartford's Joseloff Gallery through November 6, presents an engaging overview of several realized projects of Auburn University's Rural Studio. The program was originally conceived by Samuel Mockbee as a way to teach architecture both as a vehicle for great design and an expression of civic participation.

The exhibition is organized around two pavilions and a projection room. There are also several paintings by Mockbee, models, small-scale furniture, and photographs. The pavilions represent the material predilections of the Studio. One is an "igloo" of hay bales with a triangular entry, reminiscent of the treasury at Mycenae, with an oculus at its top. In the opening, lavishly treated oak leaves hang from monofilaments, creating a dappled interior light. The second pavilion has walls of cast-off knitting yarn bound into bales and raw steel-framed window openings into which project models are inserted. The yarn bales are as random a surface as one can imagine, but have been beaten into a rectilinear geometry with obvious effort.

A characteristic of many Rural Studio projects is the inclusion of unusual materials—carpet tile walls, rammed earth, automobile windows. These find their way into projects for several reasons. There is an underlying interest in treading lightly on the land, in re-using where possible, and re-conceiving where practical. Recycling is a common theme these days, of course, but in Rural Studio projects, assembling construction materials becomes an entrepreneurial task for the student teams. Donated and found materials increase the likelihood of success even with unreasonably small budgets. The acceptance of the un-ordinary, the re-conceived, the original, is a testament to the potential for a community with real needs to achieve a comfortable, meaningful living experience.

Students in the first year of the five-year program relocate to Hale County, Alabama, for a semester to design and produce a house for a needy family. Fifth-year students spend the year on larger, more public projects. Currently, the Studio is involved with a large public park, a dog shelter, and a hospital. These would be significant commissions for any architect. In aligning themselves with the program, community leaders are creatively harnessing an unnamed subsidy in the form of the Auburn architecture program. The significance for the student is Mockbee's original desire to produce "citizen architects."

This is an exhibition of student work, but it is also a presentation of an understanding of the potential for the skills of an architect when the political, economic, and cultural mechanisms of production can be controlled in an effective manner. The assumption that good architecture can only come from grand budgets—that it can only be made for the sophisticated and must occur in important public settings—is reconsidered. The answers given back are jarring, unsettling, and breathtaking.

eCALENDAR
eCalendar now includes the information that used to be found in eOculus' Around the Center, Around the AIA, and Around Town sections. Click the above link to go to to eCalendar on the Web.

DEADLINES

November 1: First Rieger Graham Prize, a three-month Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, sponsored by Classical Architecture & Classical America

November 5: Deadline for submissions to the MTA's permanent art program for Jamaica line stations in Brooklyn. For more information contact 212.878.7492 or lbradsha@mtahq.org.

CLASSIFIEDS

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Request for Proposals
Arverne East, Queens
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), in partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), is currently seeking proposals from experienced real estate developers for mixed-use development of a 47-acre transit-served oceanfront parcel in the Arverne section of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. HPD and EDC will jointly evaluate the commercial component of this project.

The RFP is available as of August 29, 2005 on HPD's web site, www.nyc.gov/hpd, or may be obtained by calling Christopher Pope at 212.863.7499. A pre-submission conference will be held on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. at HPD, 100 Gold Street, Room 1R, Manhattan. All proposals are due by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 19, 2005. All responses must be submitted to the attention of Christopher Pope at HPD, Office of Development, 100 Gold Street, Room 9I, New York, NY 10038.

SOHO OFFICE SHARE 1000sf
Share loft office with small arch firm. Half of bright space in desirable, design-oriented building (180 Varick). Great view, light, Internet. 24/7. Ready to go. $2550. See mesh-arc.com/office for info and pictures or call 212.989.3884.

Architect's Office for Sublet
Workspace (225 square feet) in Chelsea Arts Building, 526 West 26th Street in shared 9th floor loft with air conditioning, window wall great north view. $700 per month lease. Electric and telephone extra. Contact david.elwell2@verizon.net.

Design Leader
Butler Rogers Baskett, a mid-size NYC architectural firm, seeks senior design leader for growing educational/institutional practice. Will serve as project designer for challenging projects and oversee design of others. Demonstrated design excellence in built work, skills in communication and mentoring emphasized. Send resume to: bobbyv@brb.com.

Ready to Retire?
Come to the Retirement Planning Seminar, November 9th 6:30 to 7:30pm at 230 Park Ave, 10th Floor. Host: Michael Aloi. Email maloi@sfr1.com for questions and reservations. Appropriate for architects ages 45-65. Coffee and dessert will be served.

3 offices to share/sublease
3 offices to share/sublease in newly built engineering office. Includes use of reception area, conference room, pantry and listing in lobby directory. 24/7 secure building. Quiet atmosphere. Centrally located between Grand Central, Port Authority and Penn Station. Call 212-719-9700 or visit www.sce-engineers.com/office.html

Architects
Award-winning national design firm seeks architect with 2-5 years experience to run $20 million project. Interface with clients, project management, strong technical skills and AutoCad. Benefits. Deliver or mail cover letter, resume and portfolio to: hanrahanMeyers architects, 135 West 20th Street, Suite 300, NY NY 10011. NO PHONE CALLS!

Dean, University of Southern California School of Architecture
The University of Southern California is conducting a nationwide search to recruit a new dean to lead its School of Architecture. The USC School of Architecture is one of only three architecture schools in the world to have two Pritzker Prize winners among their alumni—Thom Mayne and Frank Gehry. The USC faculty has included many of the world's leading architects, notably Richard Neutra, William Pereira, Pierre Koenig, Charles Eames and Raphael Soriano.

The school's undergraduate program ranks consistently among the top ten in the nation, offering a professional five-year Architecture program and four-year programs in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The professional and advanced programs include a Master's of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Building Science and Historic Preservation, and a Doctor of Design Studies being introduced this year.

"The new Dean must possess an exceptional academic and/or professional reputation, demonstrated executive skills, creativity, and a strong motivation for accomplishment in a high visibility environment," said Madeline Puzo, chair of the search committee and dean of the USC School of Theatre. She invites resumes and recommendations to be sent to her at puzo@usc.edu.

Request for Proposals
National Lighthouse Harbor Site, Staten Island
New York City Economic Development Corporation ("NYCEDC") is seeking proposals for the redevelopment of the National Lighthouse Harbor Site (the "Site") as a high-quality mixed-use development. Portions of the Site that are closest to the waterfront are available for long-term lease; the remaining majority of the Site is available for purchase. While existing landmarked buildings must be preserved, there are opportunities for new development at three areas of the Site.

Detailed submission guidelines and requirements are outlined in the RFP, available as of Monday, September 26th, 2005. The RFP can be picked up Monday-Friday from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at NYCEDC's offices on the 6th floor of 110 William Street, New York, NY (between Fulton and John streets). For more information and to request or download a copy of the RFP, call (212) 312-3969 or visit www.nycedc.com/RFP/. RESPONSES ARE DUE NO LATER THAN 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 16, 2005.

Share space at Varick and Spring
800 square foot space at Varick and Spring in NYC - with a model shop and stereolithographic printer. Looking for architect or designer to share space. Room for 2 computer stations. DSL, phone line, central air, full kitchen. Rent for half the space $1050.
Contact Lisa 646 498 9890 or Lisa@LisaSmith.net

AIA Contract Documents
The American Institute of Architects has Released Twelve New Contract Documents
New Documents Include a Design-Build Family, Six New Standard Forms of Architects' Services Documents, and a Request for Information (RFI) Form
For more information click here.

Paper Documents
The AIA New York Chapter is a full-service distributor of AIA Contract Documents, which are the most widely used standard form contracts in the building industry. These comprehensive contracts have been prepared by the AIA with the input of contractors, attorneys, architects, and engineers. Typically, industry professionals and home/property owners use these documents to support agreements relating to design and construction services. Anyone may purchase and use the AIA Contract Documents. AIA Members receive a 10% discount. For a full list and order form, please click here (.pdf) or call 212.358.6113 with your fax number.

Electronic Format Documents
The new AIA Contract Documents software. Completely redesigned and based on Microsoft Word, the new software is easier to use than Word itself. Enter project and document information once and reuse it automatically. E-mail documents as Word or PDF attachments. Print "clean copy" final documents with all changes captured in a special report. Go to http://www.aia.org/docssoftwaretraining for Contract Documents Software Training and
http://www.aia.org/docs_purchase to download the AIA Contract Documents software.

AIA New York Chapter's HOME page
If you have any comments, questions or concerns regarding eOculus or would like to know about advertising in or sponsorship of eOculus, or would like to be included in our mailing list please write to us at dhillman@aiany.org.

Pitruzzello discussed Time Warner's history with the site, beginning in the late 1990s when other major media companies, such the New York Times, Hearst, and Bloomberg were looking for new homes. Time Warner saw Columbus Circle as a "spectacular site for its headquarters," and that what was built was "a marriage of the arts, culture, and commerce not seen in 50 years. Part of the genius of the design is its openness and respect for the pedestrian level."

Chakrabarti didn't mince words: "There is a growing anti-development rhetoric that I find frightening." He said the concerns that the Time Warner Center would "suck in the street life" turned out not to be true. He pointed to the World Trade Center site as "getting rid of culture and retail with buildings with opaque bases." Columbus Circle, on the other hand, "is a success story." When Ohlhausen commented that Time Warner isn't very friendly to the west, Chakrabarti countered that using the side streets for entrances to office and residential floors allows more public space on the circle.

Part of the success, of course, includes the new park in the center of the circle itself. Nolan explained that the design intends to make the circle's park distinct from Central Park's Grand Army Plaza, but still maintains interplay between the two.

During the Q&A, the issue was raised about a subway entrance being a major missing element. Out of the audience popped Jeff Dugan, AIA, a principal with Dattner Architects who, in a joint venture with Parsons Brinckerhoff, is in charge of the restoration and modernization of the Columbus Circle subway station. He said the design has just been completed and construction should begin soon.

Insel Hombroich architect Barbara Hoidn, of Hoidn Wang Partner, Berlin, and co-curator of the exhibition, gave a preview "tour" of the show
Kristen Richards

2006 Chapter president-elect Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, asks panelists whether Hombroich project may not end up simply 'beautifying sprawl'"
S A Kliment

Quarter #14 was assigned to the eminent German structural engineer Frei Otto, pioneer of lightweight structures using thin materials in tension to cover large spaces, not unlike the geodesic domes and tensegrity structures we owe to the late R. Buckminster Fuller, a close friend of the now 80-year-old Otto, whose daughter, Christine Kanstinger, described pneumatic structures with their high energy efficiency. But looking back over daddy's work to the 1950s on showed, as so often happens in the work of brilliant structural engineers from Nervi to Otto, the woeful contrast between the airiness of the structure and the visual cacophony of the interiors.

The spiritual father of Hombroich is Karl-Heinrich Müller, who, in a sincere but not always lucid manifesto (possibly due to an awkward translation from the original German), argues that Hombroich is not only a question of building, but a question of what he calls the architecture of life, and indeed the meaning of all forms of life. There are no conclusive answers as to how the architecture of life should look, argues Dr. Müller, except that we should trust life—presumably to come to the right design solutions—and that anyone should be able to make a serious attempt at it: "a new one every day…Life cannot be deceived and cannot be owned. It is the only thing that exists and that changes. Let us work," he urged, "on the current changes before mankind, the behemoth monster, collapses."

The manifesto did little to bridge the gap between idealism and practice. It was never clear who the client was for many of the elegant but unrealistic concepts; if there was an overall master plan; who would provide the infrastructure; where do you park, shop, dine out, go to school.

Francis Greenberger, chairman of Time Equities, Inc. and owner of an art community, sees Hombroich as "an experiment being played out on a real life scale," but the open land concept struck him as elitist; he wondered how long you can sustain it, given limits on available funding. He feared the Müller manifesto might inhibit as well encourage open creative thinking.

The whole enterprise is "driven by a spirit of optimism," contended Andrew Yang, an associate editor at The Architect's Newspaper, but the effort to keep the design of each of the 16 quarters "pure" simply puts off the day when Insel Hombroich must bite the bullet and deal with the larger picture of power, governance, resources, and maintenance.

There was almost an air of envy among the New York architects as they listened to the nine Chinese architects and watched the projects on the silver screen. What opportunities these young architects have been given. What breadth of scale and how many had actually been built! Often measured in the thousands of square feet, the quality of the Chinese projects, so often previously denigrated by architects in the West, had seemingly reached new levels of design excellence. Even Lee Pomeroy, FAIA, the guest panelist with a substantial record of built projects in China, was amazed.

The presentation was the delegation's last night and their only "public event" in the United States. Just what had this merry band of architects been up to during their previous 14 days? Quite a lot, as it turns out and every bit as interesting.

There had been, of course, the inevitable tourist circuit for the architects to cover, "architectural icons" to visit, and ceremonies to attend with the American Institute of Architects. In Washington, they had applied for AIA affiliate membership. In Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia, they were greeted by the RIBA-USA Chapters who had granted them affiliate membership the previous year (the RIBA logo being already proudly emblazoned on their business cards). But this was not all.

Here in New York, they were seen at the opening of Daniel Libeskind exhibition at the Max Protech Gallery, happy to have a "photo-op" and meet the man of the moment. They were also uptown at Christie's auction house showing the Asian expert their collection of Chinese artifacts and discussing whether it would be more advantageous to sell in New York or in Hong Kong. Downtown, they met Jerry Greenberg, director of the World Development Endowment Foundation, who recently submitted his "expression of interest" proposal for Governors Island to the City. You could almost hear the architects thinking: "Was there a potential project here?" or, "Is it true that New York is the most difficult place to get anything built?" Certainly in China a site with such potential as this would not have been left to languish for so many years. Perhaps the best thing, as New Yorkers already know, was to exchange cards with the developer and head for Century 21. There they could pick up a Helmut Lang or Giorgio Armani suit; the prices certainly seemed cheap, especially for those carrying the Chinese RMB rather than the U.S. dollar. They were quite happy to discover that New Yorkers were equally as happy to accept their Chinese credit cards.

It does seem increasingly difficult for us Westerners to keep pace with our perception of China and the Chinese. Certainly this delegation of architects from Beijing, Nanking and Shanghai have shown us that they are capable not only of getting more buildings built than we are, but are also quite capable of embracing the changes that surround them. They were, for instance, determined to present their work in English, and all but one did so. They even teased the audience in English. Han Donqing, Professor of Architecture at Southeast University China, joked about his language skills: "Please excuse my grasp of English but perhaps on my next visit you will all be speaking Chinese." Both Brit RIBA and Yankee AIA architects were taken aback by his hubris and, at the same time, were nervously wondering if he might be proved right.

Jonathan Wimpenny, AIA, RIBA, chairs the RIBA-USA NY Chapter and is a member of the AIA NY International Committee. He was a RIBA-USA delegate to Beijing and Zhengzhou in 2004, and reciprocated this year, organizing the Chinese delegation's visit to the U.S. RIBA-USA, led by Presiding Chair Tim Clark, hosted a similar China tour in Europe last year.

10.17.05

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARCHITECTURE WEEK ROUND-UP

IN THE NEWS + NEW DEADLINES

AROUND THE AIA AND THE CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE

ON VIEW

At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place:

Field Experiments in art-architecture-landscape: Hombroich spaceplacelab

2005 AIA New York Chapter Design Awards

2005 AIA New York Chapter Housing Design Awards

Two Columbus Circle (plus): Museum of Arts & Design and Allied Works Architecture

Elsewhere:

DEADLINES

CLASSIFIEDS