Click Crit
By Rick Bell, FAIA

The Spring 2016 cover of Oculus created for the movie, Click.
Courtesy Sony Pictures

Click, starring Adam Sandler as New York architect Michael Newman, is less about architecture than how hard it is to be married to an architect, especially one as self-absorbed and work-obsessed as the character played by Sandler.

Kate Beckinsale, as Sandler's wife Donna, draws the Mary Tyler Moore stay-at-home soccer-mom role. She evokes, instead, the Demi Moore of Indecent Proposal, where architect husband Woody Harrelson gets down a bit too much with his own designs. There is cold comfort in knowing that Beckinsale could have really kicked Click alive, with a few more good lines. Moore is less.

In another architect-meets-deadline movie, The River Wild, Meryl Streep gets more physical when her time-cuffed architect husband brings his hand-drawn sketches along on the family's white water rafting trip. With Click, the story is about completely missing out on family life while fast forwarding through design charrettes. For Newman, subliminally depicted on a 2016 Oculus cover, extra time is needed to design a hotel project overnight. His universal remote gives the clueless architect a glimpse of what clients really want.

Client demands and lack of time propel Michelle Pfeiffer as the architect in One Fine Day, her son literally missing the class-trip Circle Line boat. And in The Lake House, architect Keanu Reeves is two years behind Sandra Bullock more-or-less reprising her Chicago architecture-tour hospital-happy role of While You Were Sleeping. But time stands still for Newman. He gets fat and flatulent—his remote giving him time most architects do not have to eat lunch.

As Will Smith intones, after zapping his own galactic device at the end of Men in Black, "what you think you saw you did not see." Hopefully Click will be playing at the AIA New York Center for Architecture in real time.

Tax Incentives Provide Greener Future
By Jeremy Edmunds, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

The Solaire was one of only seven buildings to benefit from the New York green building tax credit initiative.
Courtesy thesolaire.com

Event: Economics of Green Development
Speakers: Hillary Brown, AIA, founding principal, New Civic Works; Russell Albanese, President, Albanese Organization; Peter Smith, President, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; moderator Timothy Carey, President & CEO, New York Power Authority
Organizers: Urban Land Institute New York
Location: The Union League Club, 06.21.06

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?—Henry David Thoreau (as quoted by Russell Albanese, President the Albanese Organization)

Issues of cost and returns on investments in green design continue to prevail. There is a zero to five percent green cost premium associated with LEED-certified buildings. Incremental costs vary widely by building type, and premiums range from one to two percent for commercial office buildings on the low end, to as high as 15% for residential rental buildings, according to Albanese's estimates. Some of these costs can be defrayed with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) New Construction Program, promoting green building through tax incentives and research assistance grants. Already in place, New York's green building tax credit initiative—the first of its kind in the country—brought benefits to only seven new buildings, including Albanese's Solaire. Next year, these incentives will be capped at $2 million per applicant to increase the total number of projects assisted.

Next year, all city-funded projects will have LEED requirements. According to Hillary Brown, AIA, LEED, founding principal of New Civic Works, many green building features currently considered cost prohibitive will mainstream as natural resources become more limited. Green is not new anymore and awareness of the issues grows as the climate changes and health data is updated. Despite the costs and complexities of green building, Albanese sees an opportunity to turn a healthy profit. At the end of the day, thanks to progressive lawmakers, incentive programs, and informed consumer consensus will provide for a greener future.

Jeremy Edmunds, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is a sustainability advisor to Cherokee Northeast. He also serves on the AIA national board of directors.

JaneFest in Washington Square Park
By Kristen Richards

Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney declaring June 28, 2006, as Jane Jacobs Day.
Kristen Richards

Event: Jane Jacobs: A Public Celebration
Organizers: The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
Sponsors: Center for the Living City at Purchase College, The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Location: Washington Square Arch, Washington Square Park, 06.28.06

Politicians, preservationists, economists, and urbanists—along with about 150 community activists and local residents—gathered under the arch in Washington Square Park for "Jane Jacobs: A Public Celebration." It was a fitting location—the park was the site of Jacobs first of many victories over Robert Moses: forcing the removal of car traffic from the park. Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney read a Mayoral Proclamation that declared the date as Jane Jacobs Day "celebrating the legacy of a remarkable New Yorker, whose fundamental principles remain the bedrock of authentic urbanism."

There followed an impressive roster of speakers that included NY State Senator Tom Duane, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer ("We face a lot of Robert Moseses…"); Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Roberta Gratz (co-founder, with Jacobs and others, of the Center for the Living City at Purchase); and Ron Shiffman, former City Planning Commissioner and Director of the Pratt Center for Community Planning and Development.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) Executive Director Andrew Berman highlighted Jacobs's legacy with a litany of "Were it not for Jane…," and said, "She taught us to never give up." Paul Goldberger, New Yorker architecture critic and Joseph Urban Professor of Design and Special Advisor to the President on Urban Programs, Parsons The New School for Design, expressed his concern with the "byproduct" of such a legacy: "people who claim to agree with her, but have a very different agenda" (i.e. the West Side stadium). For Hillary Brown, AIA, LEED, principal of New Civic Works, a sustainable design consulting practice, "Jacobs introduced me to the nuanced idea of urban ecology, which integrates physical and social sciences into the urban project…[her] provocative yet accessible words and illuminating examples have helped bring economists and ecologists and executives to the same table."

A light-hearted moment was provided by Jacobs's son, Ned, who reminisced about his childhood in the Village when, as a small boy, he wore a sandwich board protesting Moses's plans for Washington Square Park: "I'm relieved the controversy about the park today doesn't involve an expressway." His thoughts on the plans to redesign the park: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The Project for Public Places has a web page dedicated to Jane Jacobs that includes her biography, perspectives on major issues, quotes, publications, links to interviews, and more.

"Requiem" for New York's Industrial Heritage
By Carolyn Sponza, AIA

The Con Edison Power Station is one of the many NYC industrial buildings no longer in existence.
Courtesy Municipal Art Society

Event: A Eulogy to the East River's Lost Industrial Heritage
Speakers: Frank E. Sanchis, III, Senior Vice President, Municipal Art Society; Francis Morrone, writer, architectural historian; and a cast of various eulogists
Organizers: Municipal Art Society
Location: Urban Center, 06.27.06

This mock memorial brought together architects, historians, and New Yorkers to talk about their experiences in the vanishing NYC warehouses, factories, and shipyards. Buildings, like people, are "invariably missed when they are gone," as Frank Sanchis, Senior Vice President at the Municipal Art Society (MAS), sadly noted. More than simply providing a look back, these narratives presented a platform to discuss how the public could be engaged in helping to save the rapidly disappearing industrial fabric of the city (much like the recent rally around Manhattan's re-envisioned High Line).

Less of an opportunity to mourn, this program asked questions about the importance of retaining our industrial heritage. Often simply designed and dirty, these buildings are associated with a blue-collar existence that much of New York has turned its back upon. In order to save more buildings from destruction, political alliances should be strengthened to leverage historic designation, with more creative adaptive reuse solutions being implemented locally to motivate community action.

A number of NYC industrial buildings highlighted were included in the MAS exhibition, "Preservation on the Edge: Our Threatened East River Heritage—Six Months On…" Among the buildings profiled were the recently departed (or unequivocally altered) Greenpoint Terminal Market, Long Island City Power House, and Con Edison Power Station, and the imperiled Domino Sugar Refinery Building, Sohmer Piano Factory, and Austin Nichols & Co. Warehouse.

It's Outdoor Festival Time in Manhattan
By Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA

A pavilion constructed with cardboard tubes and a vertical garden made from stranded car tires, designed by Situ Studio, demonstrate ideas for greening New York.
Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA

Event: CitySol
Organizers: Solar One, o2 NYC, Bright Power
Location: Stuyvesant Cove Park, 07.02.06

A summer music festival and outdoor market, called CitySol, is proliferating the greening of New York. Each free event, located at Stuyvesant Cove Park along the East River, features renewable energy-powered live music and an eco-product marketplace offering information about everything from compact fluorescent light bulbs to sustainable clothing. CitySol "is powered by the belief that bringing environmentalism to New York means first putting more New York into the environmental movement," according to the website.

The centerpiece of the event is Solar One, New York City's first solar-powered green energy, arts, and education center. On a sunny day, such as July 2, the solar panels on the roof fully power the outdoor stage. Solar One is a prototype for the future location of Solar 2, a larger facility—8,000 square feet—designed by Kiss + Cathcart Architects to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. This festival, which continues on July 23 and August 13, hopes to raise awareness of this project and it will hopefully help spur on local enthusiasm for its construction.

Interactive exhibitions, designed by Brooklyn-based Situ Studio, educate visitors in renewable and recyclable design with computer fabrication techniques and green design. Nearly 2,000 cardboard tubes were reused from construction sites and carpet dealers to construct columns, seating, and a canopy for a pavilion. The passive solar design maximizes shading from the heat, and the canopy incorporates plants to demonstrate the feasibility of green roofs. Adjacent to the pavilion is a vertical garden made with car tires collected from the banks of the East River. One-ton blocks of compressed recycled material obtained from a local recycling plant provide the bases for stage seating. Situ Studio is also exhibiting proposals for painting a new fleet of hybrid taxis.

Anything but Squared
By Carolyn Sponza, AIA

Sustainable development in China is crucial on a global scale.
Photo by Robert Humphreys, courtesy design-e2.com

Event: Screening of two segments of the television series "E²: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious" and panel discussion with members of the movie's creative team
Speakers: Eva Anisko, series producer; Brandt Gassman, series production assistant; Rich Allen, series editor; Beth Westrate, series producer; moderator Jessica Strauss, AIA, co-chair, Committee on the Environment
Organizers: AIANY Committee on the Environment; Emerging NY Architects Committee Sponsor: DIRTT
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.22.06

Questions of economy and culture were highlighted in this two-part screening of "E²: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious," which revealed both the symmetries and divergences between the U.S. and China's pursuits of sustainable building design. Both episodes touched on the role government policies play in forcing designers to consider green choices, but also acknowledged that consumer purchasing trends are an important influence in the decision to build sustainably.

The first episode, "The Green Apple," revealed that New York renters are willing to pay upwards of a 3% premium for green housing, as evidenced at the Solaire in eco-friendly Battery Park City. Relying on lessons learned from this and other projects, including One Bryant Park, the segment stressed that material manufacture innovation should work in tandem with more resourceful engineering practices to develop sustainable structures. The larger question, posed by Susan Szenasy, interviewee and Metropolis Editor-in-Chief, looked beyond construction of individual buildings, asking: "How do we turn this culture into something sustainable?"

This query provided transition to the second episode, "China: From Red to Green," which investigated the reality of building for a rapidly urbanizing culture. In a society quickly becoming more affluent, one interviewee asked if there was a "way to raise the standard of living while reducing energy consumption." Indeed, China's government aims to quadruple the economy by 2020, while only doubling the country's energy use. While Americans are firmly entrenched in their cities, the Chinese are facing questions of sustainable city planning on a much larger scale.

To see trailers, download podcasts, and find out more about future series, go to Design: E².

Artists Build Cities Named Desires
By Bill Millard

Urban consumption, literally. Song Dong's temporal "Eating the City" made entirely from biscuits.
Photo by Nic Walker, courtesy Flikr.com

Event: 3×3 A Perspective on China: CHIN[A]RT
Speakers: Song Dong, installation artist; Yin Xiuzhen, installation artist; Bert de Muynck & Wei Wei Shannon (bilingual translator), People's Architecture; moderator Zhu Tao, co-founder, ZL Architecture
Organizers: Center for Architecture, People's Architecture
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.22.06

In a culture that is modernizing at a breakneck pace, art that offers commentary has to work fast. Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen—internationally recognized artists who have been married for 15 years—work with disposable materials, earthy comedy, and minimal technology. Fleeting impressions preserve consciousness and value as "a hundred years' worth of development is shoved into twenty years," articulated Dong, but both these Beijing-based artists are alert to the cultural dissonances brought on by China's accelerating engagement with the outside world.

Dong's installations, photographs, and videos present cityscapes in simple, evanescent forms. In "Broken Mirror," Dong smashes a mirror reflecting an old building with a claw hammer to reveal modern structures behind it. The image of urban consumption reaches its pinnacle in "Eating the City," an installation at Selfridges in London: an entire metropolis was sculpted from 70,000 biscuits and cookies. Hungry audiences invariably made short work of this piece.

As ancient urban and rural forms give way to the quickly proliferating skyscrapers of Beijing and Shanghai, Dong and Xiuzhen generate visual metaphors of portability, consumption, and even cannibalism. Xiuzhen's "Portable Cities" series, begun in 2001, presents urban forms inside suitcases; she has commissioned 10 rural women and 10 of their city-dwelling counterparts to construct their ideal living quarters on traditional square blankets, yielding a roomful of humble utopias evenly spaced on the floor.

Perhaps the most moving installation was the assemblage of Dong's mother's possessions in "Waste Not." Like many of her revolution-straddling generation, traumatized into seclusion by widowhood, she kept everything—broken household electronics, plastic buckets, discarded shoes, extra bars of rationed soap, and building materials after the government forcibly demolished her home—in an effort to preserve the memories and ambience of life she had shared with her husband. Dong adapted the volume of random objects into an installation to help cure her depression. With her belongings resituated, she began visiting the gallery daily and re-engaged with others. If, in Dong's words, "cities are built from desires," the desire to literalize the therapeutic power of artistic interactions can also work surprising transformations in the border zone between private and public life.

Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in Oculus, Icon, Content, and other publications.

Luminous Clouds Hover Over Modern Museums
By Matthew Tanteri, IES, IALD

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (1972)
Esto

Event: Richard Kelly and Daylighting
Speakers: Davidson Norris, CNC; Matt Franks, Arup Lighting; Stephen Rustow, AIA, SRA Consultancy; moderator Matthew Tanteri, Tanteri + Associates
Organizer: Center for Architecture
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, 06.26.06

Drawing a line back to two works of architecture and the legacy of lighting master Richard Kelly, daylighting experts spoke about their individual approach to bring sunlight and diffuse skylight into interior space. Louis Kahn's Kimbell Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX, and Yale Center for British Arts and Studies, New Haven, CT, embody what has been described as the "perfect communion" of architect and lighting consultant. Both these museums' passive sunlighting strategies use two fundamentally different daylighting systems to respond not only to local sky conditions but also a strict set of curatorial requirements laid forth by each of the museums' directors.

From the gallery skylights and courtyard glass ceiling of the Louvre Museum to the 14-story Solar Light Pipe suspended in a Washington, D.C. law office atrium, a wide variety of projects were presented. The technical and aesthetic challenges posed by a dynamic natural light source are apparent. With a limitless range of solutions, several common visual qualities emerged that express Kelly's language of light energy impacts—namely ambient luminescence, focal glow, and play of brilliance. Davidson Norris offered a poetic conclusion, describing an imaginary Luminous Cloud that Kelly once alluded to in a lecture he attended while in graduate school that has echoed in his mind and work ever since.

Matthew Tanteri, IES, IALD, is principal of Tanteri + Associates, a lighting design firm specializing in daylighting and electric light integration. He is also an adjunct professor in the Masters of Architectural Lighting program at Parsons The New School for Design.

Manhattan: More Than Just a Drink
By Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA

Times Square was the center of NY nightlife in the 1930s.
Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA

Event: New York Night: The Mystique and Its History
Speaker: Mark Caldwell, critic, historian, professor at Fordham University Organizers: Skyscraper Museum
Sponsors: Skyscraper Museum, Center for Architecture
Location: Center for Architecture, 6.28.06

Self-conscious New Yorkers never look up at skyscrapers. As a new New Yorker, I find myself looking up constantly—a phenomenon author Mark Caldwell discussed in his lecture of the same name as his book, New York Night: The Mystique and Its History, winner of New York Magazine's 2005 Cultural Award for "Best New York Book." But what exactly do skyscrapers have to do with nightlife?

From the 1630s, when taverns were said to comprise 25% of all structures in the budding settlement, to the 1930s, when Midtown was at its prime, glittering with the opulence of the Rainbow Room, the night has always held promise. These days, the center of nightlife has shifted farther downtown to the Village; smaller brick structures with dark crevices and endless allure lend themselves to intimate encounters between smaller groups of people.

New York is a multi-layered city. From the subway tunnels beneath the surface to the antenna-tops of skyscrapers, this is a city of contrasts. Just as rigid social divisions present during the day seem to dissolve at night, the possibilities are limitless. Soaring skyscrapers frame our views and perceptions, serving as iconic points of orientation while seemingly revolving around each other (especially after a Manhattan or two). Strategically lit spires beckon us to experience all the night has to offer. Here's to always looking up.

Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA, is proposal manager for Polshek Partnership Architects and editor for AIA AssociateNews.

Harlem's History Revealed
By Anne Lefferson

Harlem makes a comeback.
Courtesy Harlem Community Development Corporation

Event: The History of Harlem
Speaker: Barry Lewis, architectural historian & PBS host
Location: The New York Historical Society, 06.20.06

Harlem throughout the years has changed from a middle class outgrowth to African American cultural apex to a haven of disrepair and, presently, to fertile ground for development. Architectural historian and PBS host Barry Lewis provided highlights of Harlem's rich history and predictions for its future.

Developed for middle class citizens who were being pushed out of downtown due to increased cost of living, Harlem began to grow from the 1860s to 1890s. In order to lure these citizens to the neighborhood, the development of the 4/5/6 train line provided uptowners with an easy 50-minute commute to Wall Street. Brownstones were constructed because houses were viewed as more respectable than lower-class apartments. It was not until 1897 that the neighborhood density forced developers to build apartments.

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s seduced the African American community, and with it, its music, politics, and art. Speaker's Corner provided a famous platform for free speech and performance. Despite growing cosmopolitanism, prejudice began to separate Harlem from the rest of Manhattan, however. A wall was proposed to separate Harlem from Caucasian communities.

Even though the wall was not constructed, time began to show wear and tear on Harlem, and by the 1970s it was in disrepair. Recently, the neighborhood is making a comeback. Gentrification is bringing new development, and historic preservation and restoration is making Harlem potentially the next trendy place in NYC to live.

Anne Lefferson is an associate at BBG-BBGM.

Showhouse Showcases Hampton Designers

Courtesy Peter Cook, AIA The sixth Hampton Designer Showhouse, presented by House & Garden, will run for six weeks—July 15 through August 27—in Bridgehampton. Approximately 30 interior and decorative designers have turned a lavish Arts and Crafts mansion at 141 Highland Terrace into a font of design ideas. In addition to the interior, Grun Landscape Design designed outdoor living spaces. The Showhouse itself was designed by Peter Cook, AIA. Admission is $30 and proceeds will benefit Southampton Hospital.

The Designer's Designer
Peter Marino, FAIA, will add Ermenegildo Zegna, a men's fine clothing designer to his list of fashion retail clients (Armani, Barney's New York, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton) as he has been selected to designed the House of Zegna's flagship stores in both New York and Milan. The 10,000-square-foot store on New York's 5th Avenue and the new 7,000-square-foot store on Milan's via Montenapoleone will open in late 2007.

HDC Digitizes Historic Neighborhoods

Courtesy Historic Districts Council The Historic Districts Council (HDC), an advocate for New York City's historic neighborhoods, has launched its Digital Image Library, which will be an essential resource for researchers and enthusiasts alike. The collection of contemporary photos presents a snapshot of the architectural character, styles, details, and streetscapes throughout the city. In some cases, the photos Illustrate changing neighborhoods spanning three decades of preservation oversight, and in others, before-and-after effects of historic landmark designations are demonstrated. To take a virtual stroll through Cobble Hill In Brooklyn, Morris Avenue in the Bronx, Carnegie Hill In Manhattan, Stockholm Street In Queens, Farm Colony/Seaview Hospital In Staten Island, or even Governors and Ellis Islands, visit the website.

New Façade for New Rochelle's Main Street

The Curtain Shop in New Rochelle, after the Main Street facelift.
Courtesy Susan Doban, AIA Peeling back the cracked stucco and metal panels, Brooklyn-based architect Susan Doban, AIA, found what she was looking for—turn-of-the-century stone and terracotta store fronts on Main Street. The New Rochelle Business Improvement District (BID) provided matching grants to restore five façades on Main Street—the Curtain Shop, General Store, New Rochelle Trust Company, Diamond Glass, and Talner Jewelers—as part of the Model Development Block project. The architect's mission was to preserve the city's historic character using materials, forms, and proportions that would appear convincingly historical while making use of readily available, economic materials. Also, the designs must enhance the character of upper Main Street and receive approval by the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). In addition, the firm created Façade Renovation Design Standards, a book of guidelines for building façade restoration, signage, awnings, and lighting that will improve the appearance of the business district.

1st Annual Design Awards Luncheon Celebrates 25 Years
By Kristen Richards

AIANY 2006 Design Awards program celebrated 25 years with the 1st Annual Awards Luncheon; (back row, l-r): founding Design Awards Committee Chairs Eric Goshow, AIA, James McCullar, FAIA, and Alan Gaynor, AIA, and AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA; (front row, l-r): AIANY President Mark Strauss, FAIA; Awards Luncheon Chair Ronnette Riley, FAIA; and 2006 Design Awards Committee Chair Lorenzo Pagnamenta, AIA.
Kristen Richards


AIANY Chapter President Mark Strauss, FAIA, with keynote speaker John Maeda.
Kristen Richards

NYC Department of City Planning Chair Amanda Burden, Hon. AIANY, with Richard Tomasetti, Hon. AIA, co-chairman of Thornton-Tomasetti Group.
Kristen Richards


Luncheon Chair Ronnette Riley, FAIA, with AIANY 2007 President-elect Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA.
Kristen Richards

On the 52nd floor of 7 World Trade Center, with a 360-degree view of the city in the background, more than 700 members of the A/E/C community and their guests celebrated the 2006 Design Awards winners. In her opening remarks, Awards Luncheon Chair Ronnette Riley, FAIA, noted that the current Design Awards program was launched 25 years ago—with a grand total of six winners in one category: architecture. She then asked that every architect present who had contributed a winning project over the past 25 years to stand—and many stood! (A directory of every winner is included in the Awards Luncheon program booklet.) Riley also thanked the Awards Committee, chaired by Lorenzo Pagnamenta, AIA, and the AIANY staff for "helping to organize such an ambitious 25th Anniversary event."

Elisabeth Martin, AIA, Center for Architecture Foundation President and principal of MDA designgroup, noted how worthwhile her several-year involvement with the Chapter's Design Awards program has been, and how rewarding her new role with the Foundation is, overseeing "activities that cultivate an appreciation and awareness of design excellence at the earliest stages of learning." Before introducing keynote speaker John Maeda, Chapter President Mark Strauss, FAIA, said, "I can't think of a better way to celebrate our theme, 'Architecture as Public Policy,' than an awards luncheon that proclaims loudly and clearly that 'Design Does Matter'."

Keynoter John Maeda, a graphic designer, artist, and Associate Professor of Design and Computation at the MIT Media Lab, offered a visual menu of seven items in a bento box as what/who has inspired/influenced him the most. Rick Bell, FAIA, then presented the award winners, asking the architects, engineers, other team members, and clients to stand as each was named.

In celebration of the 2006 Design Awards, the following evening marked the opening the 2006 Design Awards exhibition on view at the Center for Architecture through August 26.

It was also perfect timing for the prequel event. In front of a media zoo, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Design Partner David Childs, FAIA, brought the design development phase for the Freedom Tower to a close by presenting models, renderings, and mock-ups of some of the design refinements his team has made to the tower. (Click link above for images and details.)

Tallest, Strongest, and Most Creative Award goes to…
By Selina Kwan

Nikola and Sofia show off their prize-winning skyscraper design.
Emma White

Designer Myles Zhang, with consultants from Arquitectonica—Robert Aitcheson, Assoc. AIA, Selina Kwan, and Anthony Tong.
Hector Canonge

Young designers from K-12 grades expressed their architectural and structural knowledge during the second annual Center for Architecture Foundation Feats of Engineering Day. Each group competed to construct the tallest, strongest, and most creative high-rises with limited materials.

For the Tallest Building competition, many children, with the assistance of their parents, used newspaper and tape to build triangular braced skyscrapers topped with telescoping spires. The tallest structure was over 12 feet high! In the Strongest Skyscraper category, kids used gumdrops, marshmallows, and toothpicks for building materials. The winning entry, tested using sandbags, supported a load of 2 pounds and 5 ounces. The final category was an Open Design competition. Without any guidelines or restrictions, the young designers came up with the most fun, architecturally expressive, and imaginative structures.

Jurors Robert Aitcheson, Assoc. AIA, Selina Kwan, and Anthony Tong represented Arquitectonica's New York office. Emma White of the Skyscraper Museum, which co-sponsored the event, gave a brief history of skyscrapers. Gonzalo Casals and Erin McCluskey, program manager for the Center for Architecture Foundation, also assisted in the competitions.

To read more about the "Building Connections: 10th Annual Exhibition of K-12 Design Work" at the Center for Architecture, check out Next Generation's Architects Strut Their Stuff in the 06.27.06 issue of e-Oculus.

Selina Kwan is an associate at Arquitectonica's New York office.

Squatters Inhabit ENYA Discussion
By Vasso Kampiti, Assoc. AIA

Urban, political, and economic issues of Rio, Nairobi, Mumbai, Istanbul, and New York are the hot topics for an upcoming discussion with author Robert Neuwirth. In anticipation of this event, book club junkies met for an informal discussion about Neuwirth's Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World at the Center for Architecture June 27, hosted by the Emerging NY Architects (ENYA) Committee's This Will Kill That (TWKT) series. Topics discussed included: the squatter's perspective on land ownership; how squatters build; political organization in squatter communities; urban sustainability; and the virtue of being born with a home and place in the world. To participate in the follow-up discussion with special guest Neuwirth, come to the Center for Architecture Tuesday, July 25 at 6:30pm.

AIANY President Strauss Profiled Online
When profiled for the online journal Crain's New York Business, AIA New York Chapter President Mark Strauss, FAIA, AICP, noted his favorite building was "not a building, but a space: Central Park, 'the heart, soul, and lungs of New York City'." The June 29 article focused on Strauss's year-long theme of "architecture as public policy," and how this passion has shaped and influenced the Chapter's programs. For the complete article, click here.

Crain's Offers Subscription Benefits
Crain's New York Business is offering AIANY members who are not current subscribers a free six-month subscription. Crain's provides lively news, features, and information about the New York-area economy, business people, industries, and companies. It offers extensive real estate coverage, along with special reports such as Wealthy New Yorkers, Economic Development, Agenda for New York, and the year-end Book of Lists. The "Business Lives" weekly section includes stories on the lighter side of things. For more information, click here.

Rendering collage of "Upper Terrace," with medieval fortifications in foreground.
Courtesy nARCHITECTS

Through 09.01.06
Chimères

This exhibition, a fabrication of disparate parts, is united by the shared inspiration derived from perception of landscape. The installation features Wind Shape, two outdoor pavilions that dynamically change with the wind, designed by New York firm nARCHITECTS and constructed with the help of Savannah College of Art & Design students.

Galerie Pfriem and City of Lacoste; Lacoste, France

Courtesy ENYA

Through 07.30.06
Southpoint: from Ruin to Rejuvenation Awards Exhibition

Featuring visions for a Universal Arts Center at the Southpoint Park site on Roosevelt Island, this exhibition features winners and jury selections from the competition for emerging architects by the same name, hosted by the Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Committee AIA New York Chapter.

Gallery RIVAA; 536 Main Street, Roosevelt Island

"L.I.C. (Lovely Infrastructure Capriccio)," by Linda Ganijan, 2006.
Courtesy Storefront for Art and Architecture

Through 08.05.06
PORTABLE

This exhibition proposes a rethinking of the use of the term "nomad," and how the concept operates in contemporary society. Works by artists Linda Ganjian, Kim Holleman, and Marie Sauvaitre use the languages of sculpture, installation, and landscape photography to represent points of intersection, where landscapes (urban and rural) and nomadic architectures meet.

Storefront for Art and Architecture; 97 Kenmare Street