LA Convention: Discovery, Dancing, Expeditions, but no Sheep
By Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

The Emerging NY Architects committee was awarded the 2006 Emerging Professionals Program of the Year Award at the national AIA Convention in Los Angeles. (l-r): Rick Bell, FAIA, Vanessa Alicea, Assoc. AIA, Jeremy Edmunds, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, Harry Gaveras, AIA, Carolyn Sponza, AIA, Franklin Ortiz, Assoc. AIA.
Alda Gapi Black

At the national AIA convention in Los Angeles, Michael Arad, AIA, was congratulated by Susan Chin, FAIA, and Rick Bell, FAIA, on being named a 2006 AIA Young Architects Award winner.
Kristen Richards

At the Architect's Newspaper bash at the Audi Design Center in Santa Monica (l-r): publisher Diana Darling; Mark Robbins, Dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture; editor Bill Menking; and Betti-Sue Hertz, curator of contemporary art, San Diego Museum of Art.
Kristen Richards

AIA New York State had a grand affair to welcome newly-invested Fellows at the elegant California Club, hosted by IBEX Construction. (l-r): Mark Ginsberg, FAIA; Andy Frankl, IBEX; Abby P. Suckle, FAIA; Raymond Plumey, FAIA; AIANYS President Terrence O'Neal, AIA; and Lisa Gould, FAIA.
Kristen Richards

Included in this report:

• The environment
• The road to LA
• Themes
• Connecting
• Pilgrimages

The environment, diversity, social encounters, practice seminars, elections, sightseeing rule 2006 AIA convention in Los Angeles
On June 9, delegates to the 2006 AIA national convention in Los Angeles chose Marshall E. Purnell, FAIA, principal in DC-based Devrouax + Purnell Architects, to be the first African American president. The symbolism in this choice should not obscure the long road ahead in giving minorities a role in the profession that begins to match their numbers in the total population. As president of Boston Architectural College, Theodore Landsmark, PhD, Assoc. AIA, told his audience on accepting the 2006 Whitney M. Young Jr. award:

"Our actions must match our words… We must welcome into our firms everyone from multilingual, multicultural communities—young designers; students; related design professionals; marketing, legal, and business leaders; and the diverse non-architects who support us…We must recruit diversity earlier, not waiting until high school and college to find the young people who will be our colleagues of the future…"

The road to LA
Your reporter felt virtuous after being driven to JFK Airport in a Toyota Prius hybrid limousine, one of a fleet co-owned by Richard Rogers' son Roo Rogers. Like all virtue, including sustainable design, this too came at a premium—about 25% over current rates. He arrived in Los Angeles as one of the record 24,860 registrants (in 2005 Las Vegas drew 24,444) at a convention that has become the annual place to be for architects, students, and some 750 exhibitors who can afford the expense of board, lodging, and transportation.

This year's convention theme, chosen by the incumbent president, was "Architecture on the Edge: Innovation, Engagement, Inspiration." Those three words simply spell out the architect's basic values. But it was the slogan on the edge that more sharply captured the architect's real position in our social order—a position defined by a small group of star architects reaping huge publicity but designing only a tiny proportion of the nation's structures, mostly in a handful of high profile typologies such as museums, corporate high rise office structures, concert halls, and expensive bespoke houses. Meanwhile, the great preponderance of built work, much of it meeting the client's needs but not necessarily dramatic in a formal sense, is designed by armies of practical-minded, but routinely unsung practitioners.

Continues…

Grass Grows in New Orleans
By Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA

Almost a year after Hurricane Katrina and the streets are filled with garbage, not people.
Peter Sheridan

Event: New Orleans on the Edge: Obstacles to Recovery
Speakers: Father Jerome LeDoux, former Pastor at St. Augustine's Church, New Orleans; Matthew Smith, Bassetti Architects, founder ADPSR Seattle Chapter; Kali Akuno, National Outreach Coordinator, People's Hurricane Relief Fund; Steven Bingler, AIA, The New Orleans Community Support Foundation, & founder, Concordia, New Orleans; moderator Paul Broches, FAIA
Organizers: ADPSR Katrina Task Force, ADPSR NY Chapter
Sponsors: AIA/NY Disaster Preparedness Task Force
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.12.06

If citizens nationwide could only pool their influences, problems that face New Orleans and the U.S. could be targeted and fixed. Architects, planners, and designers—a majority white middle-class citizens—have access to government officials that local New Orleanians do not. New Yorkers have capital influence and ties to the Democratic Party that are absent from much of New Orleans. As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kali Akuno, the National Outreach Coordinator for the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, asks where is the national outcry for help? It is up to design professionals to reach out to the underrepresented constituency for which they plan, stressed Matthew Smith, founder of the Seattle chapter of Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR). At the same time, they must dabble in politics in order to make a change, according to Father Jerome LeDoux, former Pastor at St. Augustine's Church in New Orleans.

It is not in the government's best interest to think beyond immediate needs, according to Akuno. Displaced inhabitants, mostly poor African Americans, are excluded from the process altogether. The People's Hurricane Relief Fund is calling for an international tribunal accusing the U.S. government of committing crimes against humanity. They accuse the government of violating the Stafford Act, which should provide housing for the displaced up to 18 months after a natural disaster. Lessons learned, future prevention plans, human rights, and equity planning frameworks have not been established and this must be corrected.

While decisions stall at the government level, local communities have been organizing into groups to rejuvenate New Orleans on a grassroots level, according to Steven Bingler, AIA, of The New Orleans Community Support Foundation (NOCSF). Presently, most of the 73 New Orleans neighborhoods have established a planning process because of community involvement and aid from universities and private funding. At the Jackson Barracks building, for example, the government provided money to renovate the historic military structure. Because it is located in the Ninth Ward, NOCSF proposed that some of the money be filtered into the neighborhood beyond property lines. Now, there are weekly community-based charrettes to help plan and revitalize the neighborhood with the Barracks acting as a community center. As Bingler puts it, "while the elephants are fighting, the grass is growing."

Brooklyn Searches for Community in Atlantic Yards
Event: The Atlantic Yards Project: Can It Work for Brooklyn?
Speakers: New York City Council Member Letitia James; Kent Barwick, president, Municipal Art Society; Stuart Pertz, FAIA & John West, Municipal Art Society Atlantic Yards Committee members; Ronald Shiffman, FAICP, professor, Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment; Marshall B. Brown, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati; Andy Wiley-Schwartz, Vice President, Project for Public Spaces; Lance Brown, FAIA, professor, The City College of New York School of Architecture, Urban Design and Landscape Architecture; Moderator: Leonard Lopate, Host, WNYC The Leonard Lopate Show
Organizer: Municipal Art Society
Location: Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church, 06.15.06

At this scale of development, will community life be able to thrive?
Courtesy atlanticyards.com, image by Gehry Partners

The current design of Atlantic Yards by Gehry Partners proposes 8.7 million square feet of development. Because of its enormity—the equivalent of 3 Empire State Buildings or 23 Williamsburg Savings Banks—and tremendous impact, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) launched an eight-month study involving 20 design professionals whose stated purpose was to build public discourse by evaluating the current proposal from a design viewpoint based upon a series of planning principles.

The Atlantic Yards development must synthesize qualities unique to Brooklyn neighborhoods: intimate scale, a sense of community, lively streets and small shops, incorporating public spaces and parks, among others, according to the panelists. The MAS study advocates for development that improves the existing neighborhood by protecting view corridors, reusing historic structures, preserving and adding streets with continuous block fronts, creating mapped parks, and mitigating traffic congestion with improved public transit. The proposed towers amidst a campus-like setting do not achieve these goals, and the publicly accessible open space could one day be at risk of privatization.

Respondents echoed MAS President Kent Barwick's opening statement calling for an urban design derived from a community-based planning process. A major concern raised was that current plans ignore that the transportation infrastructure would need major development in order to meet the proposed increase in capacity. Developer Forest City Ratner and Gehry Partners who were not present to respond to the MAS critique.

Japanese Architecture Lives in Cracks
By Linda G. Miller

The Gae House in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, designed by Atelier Bow-Wow, is one example of how Japanese architects are overcoming space constraints.
Courtesy Japan Architect, Winter 2004

Event: Small Spaces + Big Imagination = Life in the Modern City
Speakers: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Atelier Bow-Wow, assistant professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology; Limbon, professor of urban planning, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto; moderator Clifford Pearson, deputy editor, Architectural Record
Organizers: Japan Society
Location: Japan Society, 06.12.06

"You can only understand architecture when you move through it," said Clifford Pearson, deputy editor at Architectural Record and moderator for the evening. Kyoto-based Limbon (yes, he only uses one name) talked about the fukuroji, the high density and very narrow alleyways—some so narrow that his shoulders touch walls as he moves through them. In downtown Kyoto, there are some 4,000 fukuroji lined with low houses inhabited by a mostly aging population. Recently, they have been rediscovered by young artists as perfect live-work spaces. Kyoto is also known for its machiya, traditional wooden townhouses with narrow fronts on main commercial streets and deep, concealed footprints, constructed during the Edo period. Districts with machiya are being preserved, and contemporary architects are designing modern townhouses influenced by them.

Japan is a country filled with architectural juxtapositions. In Tokyo, a tiny noodle store or a bicycle shop so small that the proprietor has to sit outside, can be next-door to a 50-story office tower. Tiny buildings on narrow streets and strange intersections between buildings, streets, and highways are known as "pet architecture." In residential areas, houses called "gap spaces" are the same width as a car and can be built in between two houses.

Sustainability Sparks Innovation
By Chris Lee

New technology allows the Battery Bosque Benches designed by weisz + yoes architecture, to curve along pathways in Battery Park.
Courtesy wystudio.com

The louvered skylights and cutting-edge ventilation system preserve manuscripts sustainably at the Thaw Conservation Center designed by Samuel Anderson Architects.
Samuel Anderson Architects

Event: New York Designs 2006: Lean and Green
Speakers: Samuel Anderson, Samuel Anderson Architects; Claire Weisz, AIA, weisz + yoes architecture; Davidson Norris, Carpenter Norris Consulting; moderator Marc Tsurumaki, AIA, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects
Organizers: Architectural League of New York
Location: The Urban Center, 06.08.06

Economy pushes forward design invention and exploration. Although none of the projects presented at "New York Designs 2006: Lean and Green" are categorized as LEED projects, their innovations in design capture the LEED spirit of environmental sustainability.

In the Thaw Conservation Center at the Pierpont Morgan Library, Samuel Anderson designed louvered skylights to provide ample diffuse light. An efficient ventilation system thoroughly removes toxic solvents used in manuscript conservation while holding constant humidity and temperature.

At Teardrop Park South, Davidson Norris was faced with the challenge of introducing sunlight into a park to be surrounded by tall skyscrapers. Carpenter Norris Consulting, with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, convinced architects to add additional design elements to the new buildings including increased reflectance of façade surfaces and additional fritting to funnel ambient light to the site. A "solar portal" installed on the façade of the south building will allow the setting sun to illuminate the park late in the day. Additionally, three sun-tracking heliostats mounted to the top of the adjacent Verdesian building will highlight certain areas of the park.

Claire Weisz, AIA, cited budget constraints and high performance demands in working with the NYC Parks Department. The weisz + yoes Battery Bosque Benches use CNC technology and flexible components to follow the curvilinear layout of Battery Park.

Although all of these projects are small, the use of green design serves as a catalyst for architectural invention.

Chris Lee is a registered architect practicing in New York City.

Old Theatrics Revive Coney Island
By Gregory Haley, AIA, AICP

The Shore Theater is the only edifice that remains of the old theaters of Coney Island.
Gregory Haley, AIA, AICP

Event: Old Theatres of Coney Island
Tour Guide: Cezar DelValle, theater historian
Organizers: Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
Location: Coney Island, 06.17.06

From its beginnings as a wealthy seaside resort, to its reign as a "nickel empire" in the 1920s, the vaudeville shows, comedy acts, and live music, of Coney Island's once thriving theater district helped shape American culture. Unfortunately, today most of what is left of Coney Island's theater district, with the exception of the Shore Theater on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, can only be found in old postcards and stories. To theater historian Cezar DelValle, fortunately every corner of Coney Island conjures up a story with an all-star cast.

From Bud Abbott to Al Jolson, a virtual who's who of American culture has passed through Coney Island's theater district. In its heyday, Eddie Cantor and "Ragtime Jimmy" Durante got their start at the Indiana Theater on Surf Ave, while the Marx Brothers and Harry Houdini premiered on the once famous bowery of Coney Island. Even Cary Grant acclimated to American culture on the bowery with a short stint as a Steeple Chase stilt walker.

With the emergence of the "Sideshow by the Seashore" and the Mermaid Parade, Coney Island has experienced a revival—true to the peculiarity of Coney Island and its theatrical traditions. In contrast to the stage-set appliqué aesthetic of the Sideshow, the newly renovated Stillwell Avenue Station, with its nod to 19th century architecture and the construction of Keyspan Baseball Park, offers up a far more mainstream architectural aesthetic. Without a clear consensus on the future of Coney Island, one can only hope that a balance between planned and organic development can be found. Coney Island can once again thrive while fostering the kind of creative improvisation that won fame as a home to the fabulous, the fantastic, and the very human.

Gregory Haley AIA, AICP is a project manager and urban designer at Studio V Architects PC, and has taught architectural design studios at NYIT School of Architecture.

Lighting Absorbs Poetry
By Linda G. Miller

The Barbizon Chandelier: a play of brilliant lights.
Addison Kelly

Event: The Three Principles of Light
Speakers: John Marsteller, principal, TSLEAG Lighting Design, Geneva, Switzerland; Addison Kelly, USL; Stephen Bernstein, IALS, IESNA, principal, Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design; Shoshanna Segal, designer, Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design; Philip G. Ciadella, Regional Vice President of Sales, Louis Poulsen Lighting
Organizers: Illuminating Engineering Society, New York Section; AIANY
Sponsors: Exhibition underwriter IESNY; lead sponsor Enterprise Lighting; additional sponsors Nulux, Edison Price Lighting, Fisher Marantz Stone; with support from Esto, Lutron Electronics, Nihon Project service, Parsons The New School for Design, Osram Sylvania
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.06.06

Le Corbusier said, "Architecture is the correct and magnificent play or forms brought together in light," and Richard Kelly, architect and lighting designer, quoted him often. Kelly's legacy can be seen in some of his best-known projects—the Seagram Building, the Kimbell Art Museum, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Yale Center for British Art. Perhaps his most enduring legacy is his philosophy of light, which continues to guide and influence the next generation of lighting designers.

John Marsteller, who worked with Kelly in the 1960s and now practices in Geneva, introduced Ambient Luminescence or General Lighting using Kelly's highly poetic words—such as the uninterrupted light of a snowy morning in the open country, fog light at sea in a small boat, and twilight on a river where shore and water and sky are indistinguishable. Focal Glow, or task lighting, has been called the "campfire of all time." A Play of Brilliants, or accent lighting, can be described as "Times Square at night." These three "elements" are relevant as a means of teaching lighting design, and they have been incorporated into the layered lighting approach used by many practitioners today.

The Arts Engage All Generations
By Erin McCluskey

Spike Lee and Michael Arad, AIA, advise young adults to pursue their dreams and get involved with their communities.
Courtesy Generation Engage

Event: Generation Engage with Michael Arad and Spike Lee
Speakers: Spike Lee, director, filmmaker; Michael Arad, AIA, architect
Organizers: Generation Engage
Location: P.S. 1/ MoMA Contemporary Art Center, 06.14.06

In the courtyard of P.S. 1, a site for both art and architecture, Spike Lee and Michael Arad, AIA, offered their take on civic engagement through the arts. Lee described his route to filmmaking and the importance of family support in pursuing his passion. He encouraged students to work hard and live their dreams without discouragement. Arad spoke about his feelings of community and connection that arose after the events of 9/11. Inspired, he became involved in the memorial process. While Arad skirted questions about the WTC memorial design, due to recent changes announced officially this past week, he saw his job as providing a memorial that represents all voices. If he succeeds, then the eventual design will engage and affect visitors.

Part of Generation Engage's mission is to steer the youngest voting population towards the decision makers, civic organizations, and politicians. For more information on Generation Engage, to see a video of the Arad/Lee event, or to get involved, click the link.

Erin McCluskey is the program manager of the Center for Architecture Foundation.

Solar 2 = Net-Zero

Solar 2 expects to achieve LEED Platinum.
Courtesy Kiss + Cathcart Architects Community Environmental Center is a non-profit organization that teaches principles of energy conservation at Solar 1, a solar-powered building in Stuyvesant Cove along the East River. Solar 1 is a prototype for Solar 2, a much larger facility at 8,000 square feet. The new Kiss + Cathcart Architects building is designed to achieve a LEED Platinum rating and "net-zero" energy use via geothermal wells, building-integrated photovoltaic panels, solar hot water, daylighting strategies, recycled building materials, rainwater collection, and a Hydroponic Living Machine® that will process wastewater collected on-site and recycle treated water for other uses.

The system uses large terrestrial plants and their roots as well as invertebrate organisms to treat and clean water. The design team also includes engineering firm Ove Arup, Judith Heintz Landscape Architecture, and museum planners Main Street Design. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer will allocate $300,000 in support of Solar2. Construction is slated to begin in 2007. Come to CitySol on July 2 to find out more.

A River Runs Through the Wild Center

The Wild Center
Courtesy HOK Tupper Lake, near Lake Placid, NY, is home to The Wild Center, a new natural history museum opening July 4. Situated on a 31-acre campus in Adirondack Park, the HOK-designed museum seamlessly integrates interior and exterior spaces. The main exhibit space, known as the Great Hall of the Adirondacks, features a "living river" inhabited by amphibious and aquatic animals. A soaring, two-story rotunda with high glass walls affords spectacular views of the surrounding forests.

Steven Holl Meanders in Helsinki

Meander
Courtesy Steven Holl Architects Steven Holl Architects has won an international housing competition for the Taivallahti Residential Area in Helsinki. The project, known as Meander, will be located in the city's cultural and historical district. The 180-meter-long glass building with a height varying from two to seven floors "meanders" across a rectangular courtyard. The glass skin of the building slightly varies in shade from transparent to opaque with thermal elements, and at night the building will glow. All 49 apartments will have private saunas with a rooftop sauna, also. The firm is collaborating with Helsinki-based Vesa Honkonen Architects who worked with Steven Holl Architects in 1998 on the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

World Monuments Fund Crosses Globe

Bartolomeo Colleoni waits in his warehouse to be reintroduced to the elements.
Courtesy WMF The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has completed a three-year restoration of one of Italy's most celebrated Renaissance sculptures—the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice—after nearly a century of exposure to the elements and airborne pollutants generated by industrial development. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, the WMF has embarked on a restoration project and workshop, in partnership with the Preservation Trades Network (PTN), in the historic Holy Cross community, which was inundated by flooding from Katrina.

What Happens When You Cross an Office with a Cubicle?

Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy's "officles" at 555 Madison Avenue.
Courtesy Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy You get an "officle." And the new 6,500-square-foot midtown office that Coldwell Banker Commercial Unlimited Properties and Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy New Developments Division share, has 16 glass "officles," which architect David McAlpin, AIA, of Fradkin & McAlpin Associates says offers brokers both privacy and openness. A padded interior absorbs sound while a glass exterior allows for communication, cooperation, and transparency.

City Certifies Minority and Women Owned Businesses
Buyers at New York City agencies are required by local law to buy more goods and services from companies certified in the City's Minority and Women owned Business Enterprise Program (M/WBE). Starting July 1, NYC plans to award 50% of all purchases under $5,000 to M/WBE's who are City-certified. You are eligible to certify as an M/WBE if your company is at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or a member of an ethnic minority group, and has been in business for at least one year. Download an M/WBE certification application online or call 212.513.6311. Once certified, your company will be listed for free in the NYC Online Directory of Certified Companies, the first place buyers at city agencies look for certified M/WBE's.

Waste Not—Look for the WaterSense Label
The EPA has launched WaterSense, a new water efficiency program to educate consumers on making smart water choices that maintain high environmental standards and save money without compromising performance. The WaterSense label will be secured on products and services that perform at least 20% more efficiently than their counterparts. Manufacturers can certify these products to meet EPA criteria for water efficiency and performance by following testing protocols.

Construction Management Goes Ivy League
Columbia University's School of Continuing Education will start a part-time Masters of Science in Construction Administration this coming fall. The program caters to the commercial and residential sectors of the industry from design through building. Courses include in-depth coverage of key topics such as cost estimating and project financing, construction techniques, human and material resources, construction law, conflict resolution, and environmental safety and conservation. During their final two terms, students develop and complete a master's project, working individually and in teams on the analysis of plans and specifications to create the final management plan and manual for a real-world construction project.

Annual Chapter Meeting Recognizes Local Architects
On June 20, the AIA New York Chapter bestowed 16 awards and citations for architectural excellence at the Chapter's annual meeting. The recipient of the highest award—the Medal of Honor—went to Rogers Marvel Architects, founded in 1992 by Robert Rogers, AIA, and Jonathan Marvel.

Honorees Paul Seletsky, Assoc. AIA (VP for Professional Development Citation), and Signe Nielsen, ASLA (Honorary Member).
Kristen Richards

Mark Strauss, FAIA, Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, Edgar Tafel, FAIA, and Rick Bell, FAIA.
Kristen Richards

Other awards given out at the annual meeting included the Public Architect Award to Frances Huppert, FAIA (Senior Vice President for Design and Construction at the Empire State Development Corporation); the AIANY Award of Merit for non-professional contributions to the profession to Carol Willis (Founding Director of the Skyscraper Museum); the George S. Lewis Award for contributing to the betterment of New York City to Frank Braconi, Ph.D., (Former Executive Director of Citizens Housing and Planning Council); the Harry B. Rutkins Award for Service to the Chapter to Ernest W. Hutton, Jr., Assoc. AIA, (co-chair of the AIANY Planning Committee and co-chair of the AIA/New York New Visions Disaster Task Force); the Oculus Award for excellence in architectural journalism to Peter Slatin (founder of The Slatin Real Estate Report); the Andrew J. Thomas Pioneer in Housing Award to James McCullar, FAIA (co-chair of the AIANY Housing Committee). McCullar was also named 2007 AIA NY VP/President Elect.

Special Citations went to the New York Landmarks Conservancy for its Advocacy Programs; Shaun Donovan, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development for his innovative contributions to quality housing; the Art Commission of the City of New York for its steadfast commitment to design excellence in the public realm; Anthony Tria, NYPD Deputy Inspector and commanding officer for the NYC Police Department Capital Construction Division, for his contributions to streamlining the design process for NYPD facilities. A Special "Architecture as Public Policy" Citation was also awarded to Terrence O'Neal, AIA, 2006 AIA New York State President, who has inspired local leaders to achieve greater civic involvement.

Three Vice Presidential Citations were also awarded. The AIANY Committee on the Environment (COTE) received the Vice Presidential Citation for Public Outreach for its outstanding achievements in promotion of sustainability as an integral part of the design process. Frank Greene, AIA, received the Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence for local and national contributions to the Academy of Architecture for Justice and for promoting design excellence in courthouse design. Paul Seletsky, Assoc. AIA, Chair of the AIANY Technology Committee, was awarded the Vice Presidential Citation for Professional Development for his outstanding efforts to encourage the architectural community to understand and utilize technology to its best advantage.

A special honor was presented to Edgar Tafel, FAIA, who visits and interacts with the Center daily at 94 years old: the Center's lecture hall is now named the Edgar A. Tafel Hall. In addition to these awards, six architectural firms were named as winners of the group's first annual New Practices Showcase, which recognized the emerging talent within young practices in New York. For more information about the winners, click here.

Next Generation's Architects Strut Their Stuff
By Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

Overall exhibition grid seen from the Center for Architecture, inside and out.
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

1846 Edgar Allan Poe's Cottage is at center of block off Fordham Road, The Bronx (School: P.S. 97)
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

This house comes with red roof deck and water tanks (School: St Luke's School).
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA

It's never too soon to start. On June 15, children from kindergarten through 12th grade and hailing from 27 New York City public and private schools converged on the Center for Architecture to inspect their own design handwork, on view in the exhibition, "Building Connections: 10th Annual Exhibition of K-12 Design Work." The show features a suspended, open 3-D grid display system courtesy of Montana, which is clearly visible to sidewalk watchers, day and night.

The children's work embraced a wide range of building types, a mix of houses and more ambitious projects, such as a complete Bronx block along Fordham Road containing the 1846 Edgar Allan Poe Cottage. Produced by third graders from P.S. 97, the model was constructed at approximately one-eighth-inch scale, with teachers Josephine dePace, Jeannette DiPollito, Mickey Mariash, and Leslie Wohl, and design educator Jane Cowan. Choosing from a selection of cardboard, styrofoam, paint, glue, plaster, tempera, and more, the team built a realistic facsimile of the block.

The value of process
In one sense, the real value, both of the Poe Cottage project and the other 90 models on display, rests as much in research and exploration as in the actual design and construction. Anthony, a St Luke's School student and creator of the Longhouse, talked about how much he had to uncover about Native American longhouses and their function and social purpose before he could build his own. Sophie, a first grader at P.S. 3, proudly showed off a small paper house that boasted two bird nests.

Continues…

Affordable Housing Takes Spotlight
By Karen Kubey and Carolyn Sponza, AIA

The New Housing New York Legacy Project steering committee (partially shown here) was more than pleased with the turnout for the NHNY Kick-Off event on June 19.
Kristen Richards

More than 300 people (some from as far as Rome!) came to learn about the competition for an affordable, sustainable, mixed-income housing development in the South Bronx.
Jennifer Finley

The New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project Kick-Off event launched the NHNY Legacy Project, a design competition for affordable, sustainable, mixed-use housing in the South Bronx. The project emerges from an historic collaboration: a volunteer committee of experts in housing design, development, and financing has teamed with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the AIA New York Chapter. Following a two-step, juried selection process, NYC will sell the 40,000-square-foot NHNY site—valued at $3.4 million—to the winning team for a nominal fee. The jury includes community and city representatives, architects, and specialists in development, financing, green design, and urban anthropology.

In anticipation of the announcement of the 2006 New Housing New York Legacy Project, the New York Times published an article on June 11, headlining the question: "Who Wants to Become A Working-Class Designer?" An excerpt:

"In an effort to bring better design to working-class housing, the Bloomberg administration and an architects' group are to announce today a competition to pick an architect and a developer to build an apartment complex on vacant city-owned land in the South Bronx. Sponsored by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the competition is said to be the first of its kind in the city. It is intended to produce a building that is innovative in its design, environmentally friendly, financially viable and replicable by others."

NHNY invites designer-developer teams to submit qualifications by July 24; a pre-submission conference will take place June 27 at the Center for Architecture. Five finalist teams will receive a stipend of at least $10,000, plus $5,000 of in-kind technical advisory services from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to create design proposals. Sponsors include Enterprise, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the Center for Architecture Foundation, the City College of New York, and AIA150. For more information, or to get involved in the New Housing New York Legacy program, visit the website.

Karen Kubey co-chairs the NHNY Steering Committee with Tara Siegel, Assoc. AIA, and is a founding member of Architecture for Humanity New York.

Times Call for a TIMELINE!
To help celebrate the 150th Anniversary of AIA in 2007, AIANY is developing a timeline that will be exhibited on the street level of the Center for Architecture from April through June 2007. Acknowledging the Chapter's role in founding the professional organization in 1857, the graphic display will include significant events in the history of the Chapter, illustrated with notable architectural elements of New York City, and will incorporate additional data.

Do you have suggestions about items to include, or how the exhibition should be organized? A "kick-off" meeting will be held soon. For more information, contact Jerry Maltz (212.777.5131), or Suzanne Mecs (212.358.6115).

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THE MEASURE

Submit your response for the latest poll: Rumors are floating about developing a major-league soccer stadium in Flushing, Queens. In the spirit of the World Cup, do you think NYC needs to seriously consider this option?

Results from last issue's poll:

Note: Poll results are not scientific.

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OF INTEREST

The sixth annual 2006 ChallengeNY Architects Regatta is scheduled for Thursday, July 27. If you are interested in signing up your firm, contact Gerry Dolezar via email or call 212.566.7777.

Past winners of the regatta include: Chris Choa with HLW; Carlos Rodriguez with team Kohn Pedersen Fox; Daniel Allen, AIA, with team Allen Killcoyne; Jonathan Marvel with team Rogers Marvel; and Richard Gluckman, FAIA, with team Gluckman Mayner.

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NAMES IN THE NEWS

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NYC Department of Environmental Protection have announced that the NYC Department of Transportation New Sunrise Yard facility, designed by Gruzen Samton Architects, has been named Grand Winner in The Green Building Competition for New York City. Other winners include: Kiss + Cathcart Architects for the Stillwell Avenue terminal train shed, and Common Ground Community Pitt Street residence; and FXFOWLE Architects for the Bronx Zoo Lion House conversion, and The Helena. Honorable mentions were awarded to: the Bronx Library Center (Dattner Architects); W Studio plus caretaker (Thread Collective); Median Income Housing (Ryall Porter Architects); Ana Pereira Gardens (Francoise Bollack Architects); Stuyvesant Cove Environmental Learning Center (Kiss + Cathcart Architects); and the Grand Avenue bus depot and central maintenance facility (di Domenico + Partners)…

The Museum of Modern Art has chosen Barry Bergdoll as The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design… Magnusson Architecture and Planning has promoted Christine Hunter, AIA, to associate principal, director of affordable, senior, and supportive housing…

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SIGHTED

New Yorkers made their mark in the North American Canstruction competition at the AIA convention in L.A.: "CHICK-Can of the Sea" by Butler Rogers Baskett won Best Use of Labels, and "The CAN-cobra: Scaling Back Hunger" by Polshek Partnership won Honorable Mention. Finalists included: Perkins Eastman Architects; Platt Byard Dovel White; and Robert A.M. Stern.
Kevin Wick

At Mancini Duffy's gala anniversary celebration at the Rainbow Room, the firm was presented with a special citation from the AIANY Chapter; (l-r): Mancini Duffy President Dina Frank, AIA; Chairman Emeritus Ralph Mancini; AIANY President Mark Strauss, FAIA; and Mancini Duffy CEO Anthony P. Schirripa, AIA, who was also named Chairman of the firm.
Kristen Richards

The Society for Marketing Professional Services New York Chapter (SMPSNY) 10th Annual Honors Awards were presented to (l-r): Barbara Thayer, PE, RA, President, B. Thayer Associates; Cheri C. Melillo, Hon. AIA, SDA/C, President & Executive Director, Canstruction, Butler Rogers Baskett Architects; Marcy Stanley, Business Development Director, Structures Division, Weidlinger Associates; Amanda M. Burden, AICP, Hon. AIA, Chair of the NYC Planning Commission & Director of the Department of City Planning; Michael McCann, CPSM, Director of Marketing, Urbahn Associates; and Vishaan Chakrabarti, AIA, Vice President, The Related Companies (not pictured: Jane Kolleeny, senior editor, and Charles Linn, deputy editor at Architectural Record).
Kristen Richards

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NEW DEADLINES

Oculus 2006 Editorial Calendar
Ideas/Submissions Deadlines (projects can be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based). Contact: Kristen Richards kristen@ArchNewsNow.com.
September 20: Winter: The Business of Practice

Note: All deadlines that have been announced in e-Oculus are now incorporated into the new and improved Calendar.

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ON VIEW

At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place:

Gallery Hours
Monday–Friday: 9:00am–8:00pm
Saturday: 11:00am–5:00pm
Sunday: CLOSED

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About Town: Exhibition Announcements

Reflection passage at night.
Chris Vespermann

Ongoing
Reflection Passage

MacArthur Fellow and architectural artist James Carpenter has constructed a site-specific installation entitled "Reflection Passage" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan. In this work, Carpenter captures New York Harbor's ephemeral qualities of light and water and re-presents them inside a main passageway of the waterfront museum, creating a shimmering and ever-changing reflection.

Museum of Jewish Heritage; 36 Battery Place

Eli Kince, Fruits of our Labor, from Spirit Breakers series, Will to Live—Fear of Dying installation, 1994. Acrylic on paper. 23 × 17 in. (58.4 × 43.2 cm.) Collection of the artist.
Courtesy New York Historical Society

Through 01.07.07
Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery

A host of critically acclaimed contemporary artists reflect upon how America's history of racially based slavery has shaped our society. Some of the artists, who work in a variety of media, borrow actual documents from history and install them in startling new contexts. Several of the artists are architects, including Algernon Miller, designer of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Circle Plaza to be installed at the corner of Central Park West and 110th Street.

New-York Historical Society; 170 Central Park West

Note: All exhibitions that have been announced in e-Oculus are now incorporated into the new and improved Calendar.