A Day of Remembrance
Photographs by Frank Ritter—RitterPhoto.com

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Drama Hits Lower Manhattan
By Illya Azaroff, Assoc. AIA

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Lower Manhattan was home to a burgeoning theatrical community, with theater houses cropping up around City Hall on Nassau and Beekman Streets and Park Row, among others. These venues featured everything from opera and ballet to comedies, musicals to Shakespearean plays. Today that is not the case; most theater, even 'downtown' theater, is located above Canal Street. The most publicized potential downtown theater projects are the on-again off-again Drawing Center and Signature Theater. Art institutions billed as community anchors are caught up in the maelstrom of politics and power at Ground Zero. This begs the question: is anything really happening in Lower Manhattan to meet the transformative goals set forth by designers, city officials, and community residents?

Looking closely, theater is developing in Lower Manhattan. Beneath the feet of the giant interest groups and private investment companies, small and meaningful projects are taking root. As an example, the new DNA—Dance New Amsterdam Theater—opened its doors several months ago. Located at 280 Broadway, directly behind City Hall, this 135-seat theater marks the first new performance venue in Lower Manhattan in recent history. Billed as a center for dance, education, and performance, DNA has a continuous slate of international performance companies lined up for the coming years. Although DNA is a small theater, its significance lies in its location and list of major contributors. This small theater and other similar projects fulfill not only the mission of the city government, but also the expectations of area residents. Undoubtedly DNA will add to the cultural landscape of Lower Manhattan.

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) has also opened several swing space locations at 15 Nassau Street, 45 John Street, 125 Maiden Lane, and Pier 17, to name a few. The Swing Space Program matches artists with temporary vacant commercial space in Lower Manhattan and is designed to address short-term needs for a range of projects including performances, installations, gallery spaces, multimedia presentation spaces, and workshops. The swing space program started in 1997 and has provided temporary space for over 200 emerging artist.

Successful programs such as these are encouraging as NYC citizens wait for the larger pieces of Lower Manhattan to come into reality. If history holds true, art seems to find a way to take root and grow, ultimately making any area in flux not only stable but attractive for the long-term investor or prospective resident. Let's hope these smaller projects will start an avalanche of cultural projects downtown despite the seeming inactivity at Ground Zero.

Illya Azaroff, Assoc. AIA, is the director for design at the Design Collective Studio, located in lower Manhattan, where he regularly collaborates with visual and performing artists.

Venice Biennale: Five Impressions
By Johannes Knoops, Assoc. AIA, FAAR

The "Cities, Architecture and Society" exhibition.
Johannes Knoops


Inverted aerial gateway.
Johannes Knoops


New York City section.
Johannes Knoops

Density models.
Johannes Knoops

Included in this report:

• The Big Picture
• U.S. Pavilion
• Don't Ms. Spain
• New Yorkers
• What Happened Since 1985

The Big Picture
As I approached Corderie dell'Arsenale (the rope factory of the Venetian Republic's Arsenal) at the 10th International Exhibition of Architecture at the 2006 Venice Biennale, I was shocked by the ability of the 300-meter-long exhibition, "Cities, Architecture and Society," to visually engage and trigger my humanity and sense of architectural responsibility. Sixteen global cities were separated by an inverted gateway allowing dynamic aerial views. With urban soundtracks and pictorial essays, each city exhibited a variety of provoking statistics and urban projects currently in progress. I offer you the following snippets to whet your urban interests:

1. On average, 1,000 new cars are added to São Paulo every day.
2. For every 100,000 residents in Caracas there are 132 murders.
3. Bogotá has had an 82% drop in crime.
4. There is less than one square meter of green space per person in Cairo.
5. 80% of Los Angeles workers drive to work.
6. For the first time in 39 years, New York held a social housing competition: New Housing New York.
7. 60% of Mexico City lives in squatter housing.
8. 33% of Johannesburg is younger than 20 years old.
9. 35,000,000 vehicles cross through Milan and Turin each year.
10. 45% of Berlin is dedicated to open space or recreation.
11. Since 1994, 95% of the people moving into London are foreign-born.
12. Since 1992, the number of tourists to Barcelona has tripled.
13. With only 89 cars per 1,000 residents in Mumbai, 10,000,000 use public transportation daily.
14. 40% of Tokyo is built on landfill.
15. 5,000,000 people living in Shanghai are registered as residing in another province.
16. Istanbul has seen a 900% urban growth in the last 50 years.

Although I would have liked to have seen more comprehensive urban propositions, included were Zaha Hadid Architects' soft planning for a cultural district in Istanbul, Atelier Bow-Wow's re-categorization of Tokyo, and NY-based SHoP's rethinking of New York's edge condition.

Continues…

Revisiting Louis Kahn's Legacy
By Robert F. Gatje, FAIA

Perspective, 1973.
Courtesy Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania & the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Efforts to build the Franklin D. Roosevelt Monument, designed by Louis Kahn for Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island, have continuously proceeded since the idea was first announced in 1970 (see "The Responsive Roosevelt," New York Times, 04.12.70). Welfare Island was officially renamed Roosevelt Island on September 24, 1973, in anticipation of the monument that had been commissioned in 1972 by the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), now the Empire State Development Corporation, and the Four Freedoms Foundation, which merged with the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in 1982. It was seen as a fitting tribute both to FDR and to the island that was to be reborn based upon principles inspired by his ideals. The choice of Kahn—an architect whose conviction about the ability of enlightened design to better mankind echoed the purpose of the New Deal—could not have been more appropriate.

At the time of Kahn's death in 1974, the design was complete and had been approved by the UDC. Three months after his death, UDC contracted with Kahn's associates and NYC-based Mitchell/Giurgola Architects to finalize the construction documents in accordance with Kahn's design. New York Governor Malcolm Wilson set aside $2.2 million of his budget for the monument. The project was put on hold when the city underwent a fiscal crisis in 1975, but efforts to raise the funds privately continued. In the 1980s, drawings and cost estimates were submitted to several state agencies for review, including a special bi-partisan committee appointed by then Governor Cuomo, which overwhelmingly supported the project. In the 1990s, the site was cleared, graded, and sculpted to the triangular form of Kahn's design (it is only because of this work that the public has been allowed access to the site in recent years for events such as July 4th fireworks). The current RFP for work at Southpoint Park that is to be done under the auspices of the Trust for Public Land leaves the monument site untouched.

The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, headquartered in Hyde Park, NY, has opened an office in New York City dedicated to the construction of the project. Extensive background material and images used in The Cooper Union School of Architecture's 2005 exhibition about the project may be found on their website.

Given the current state of the country, there has never been a more important time to commemorate the legacy of FDR. This magnificent piece of land should be used for the purpose to which it was originally promised. This project, by one of the country's greatest architects in honor of one of the nation's greatest presidents, is worthy of everyone's support.

Robert F. Gatje, FAIA, is a former Chapter president and current member of the board of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.

One Young Firm Breaks New Ground
By Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA

Architecture In Formation's installation in the Häfele New York Showroom.
Matthew Bremer

Event: New Practices New York: Six young firms set themselves apart
Speaker: Matthew Bremer, AIA, principal, Architecture In Formation
Organizers: AIANY in association with The Architect's Newspaper and Häfele America Co.
Location: Häfele New York Showroom, 09.14.06

The high-end kitchen renovations are often for workaholics who end up using only the coffee pot and storing their menus in the Viking oven, Matthew Bremer, AIA, joked. Ultimately, it's all about finding the right client who will trust in the designers' abilities. Intrigued by spaces that are "everyday and ephemeral," Architecture In Formation (AIF) has completed many kitchen, bath, and loft renovations, the core of every 'struggling' NY practice, according to AIF principal Bremer. He sees his designs as "stage sets for living" rather than "sculptures for viewing."

The name Architecture In Formation, laden with double meanings, was intended by Bremer to: a) keep his name off the door, and b) define a brand and represent what the firm could become. It's also a pun on the computer catch phrase "information architecture." Many new firms are more interested in digital technology, Bremer believes, but AIF is focused on the "richness of daily experience."

Architecture In Formation's most recent project is an exhibition at the Häfele Showroom, the first of six similar exhibitions highlighting the New Practices New York program, a new AIANY initiative. Rather than the typical approach of creating presentation boards to hang behind the podium, AIF took advantage of the prime Madison Square Park storefront to engage pedestrians and passing traffic. The site-specific installation is constructed with simple materials: string, threaded rods, nuts, and bolts. Images of the firm's work are woven into the taut string, which can be read as sheet music.

The "New Practices New York: Six Young Firms Set Themselves Apart" exhibition at the Center for Architecture closes 09.23.06, so stop by to see all six selected firms. And, if you are interested, contact Amanda Jones to join the AIANY New Practices Committee.

Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA, is the Proposal Manager for Polshek Partnership Architects and is Editor for AssociateNews, the national monthly newsletter of the AIA's National Associates Committee.

Small Town Italian Architect Goes Global
By Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA

The Cagliari Urban Center draws together different urban forces inspired by the city's personality and aesthetic qualities.
Paolo Riani

Event: Paolo Riani: uncharted territories
Speaker: Paolo Riani, Italian architect & urban planner; Massimo Vignelli; Saf Fahim
Organizers: AIANY, presented as part of the Experimental Architecture series sponsored by the AIANY Dialogue Committee
Sponsors: Italian Cultural Foundation
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.07.06

"Life is architecture and architecture is life." Italian architect and urban planner Paolo Riani summed up over 40 years of practice in one simple phrase. To understand Riani's architecture, one must understand his family, his home in a small town in Italy, and his travel-enriched life. As Riani sees himself a citizen of the world, his designs are site-specific incorporating the social and cultural predilections of each community.

From his early work that focuses on individual buildings, to his later involvement in urban planning, Riani's latest book, Uncharted Territories, surveys the full range of his practice. A critical moment for him in making this transition was breaking off from Kenzo Tange Associates to develop the master plan for Kyoto, Japan. Disagreeing with Tange's approach of developing a line of tall buildings through the city's center, Riani proposed a plan sensitive to the needs of the local community.

Historically, land is the most important aspect of Kyoto to its inhabitants. Bound by surrounding hills, families construct houses that are made to last for one generation. When a new generation takes over, the houses are demolished and new ones more relevant to current needs are built. Practicality overrides beauty. Riani's plan incorporates the flexible nature of the community and structures can be modified as time progresses.

Buildings should be without façades, they should open to the cities—a statement by Riani that Saf Fahim recalled from a former conversation. If communities are designed to enhance their individuality, a new urbanity can be defined in which inhabitants can be naturally comfortable and enjoy. To read more about Paolo Riani, see A Closer Look, by Saf Fahim, published in e-Oculus 08.22.06.

So Long, Big Ben
By Linda Miller

Aluna: the world's first tidal-powered Moon Clock.
Aluna © Laura Williams 2002; image © Mark Glean 2004

Event: The Aluna Project: where enlightenment and illumination meet
Speaker: Laura Williams, concept designer, project director
Organizer: International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD)
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.06.06

"Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care about time?" sings the rock group Chicago. British artist Laura Williams cares about time, so much so that to build Aluna, the world's first tidal-powered moon clock, she is leading a team of structural engineers, opto-electronic engineers, landscape architects, lighting designers, theologians, astronomers, and even a master time coder. Returning to a cyclical measure of time more in keeping with the natural world, Aluna is proposed to measure approximately 130 feet in diameter and 40 feet tall, and is estimated to cost $8-10 million. The project, designed by Williams and inspired by shimmering moonlight on the Thames River, will contain three concentric translucent rings, a steel skeleton clad with locally-collected recycled glass, illuminated by 1,500 LEDs, and powered by the tides using turbines. By observing how each ring is illuminated, one can follow the moon's movements and its current phase as well as the ebb and flow of the tides. The project has garnered vocal support from architect Sir Terry Farrell, master planner for the ongoing Thames Gateway project, and seed money from the Docklands Light Railway. Williams hopes Aluna will be sited in London along the Thames in time for the 2012 Olympic Games. For more information, click here.

Spanning Cuban Modernism
By Bob Mayers

Parque Central in Havana, Cuba.
Bob Mayers

Event: Cuban Architecture from the Colonial to the Present: News about an architectural research trip to Cuba
Speaker: Bob Mayers, founding partner, Mayers & Schiff Associates & former professor of architecture, Pratt Institute
Organizers: AIANY International Committee; The Center for Cuban Studies; Marazul Charters
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.14.06

During the mid 1900s, many modernist architects made Cuba their home—among them Marion Romanach and Max Borges. Trends in Havana in the 1970s-90s led to prefab mass housing development constructed by "microbrigades" of amateur builders. Now, in an effort to preserve the rich history of Old Havana, extensive restoration is being carried out by the City's Historian Office.

With a special interest in Cuba's heritage of modernist buildings from the 1940s-60s, I have been studying Cuban architecture firsthand. Under current U.S. policy, one of the few categories of permitted travel to Cuba is open to full-time professionals engaged in research in their fields, with the intention of disseminating their research after their return. Currently, I consult on an architecture research program organized by Marazul Charters. The next trip is scheduled for 11.10-11.19.06, with an itinerary including Havana, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba. Qualified professionals who are interested can contact Marazul Charters at 800-223-5334 x 16 or email Bob Mayers.

A Memorial to Honor Mothers of Soldiers

Gold Star Mothers memorial.
Courtesy Peter Gaito, AIA Sited in Memorial Park in Eastchester, NY, a half-acre park with plantings, monuments, and benches will be unveiled September 28. A memorial, designed by Westchester County-based architect and designer Peter F. Gaito + Associates, Architects and Planners, will honor the Gold Star Mothers, a 78-year-old national organization that honors mothers whose children served and were killed in war. According to Peter Gaito, AIA, the seven-foot bronze statue will depict a mother and her young son holding hands and walking into the future.

ICRAVE STK

The interior of STK steakhouse.
ICRAVE Design Studio Coming soon, to where else but the Meatpacking District, is a restaurant called STK. Designed by ICRAVE Design Studio, the three-story restaurant will reinvent the cuisine and décor of traditional steakhouses. Described as a blending of a modern New York steakhouse with a downtown lounge, the classic cozy hearth is replaced by a 10-foot-tall lavender-colored glass fireplace. There are no standard cattle horns; instead, a white, flowing horn-like sculpture hangs above the bar. The 3,300-square-foot main floor features a central lounge with leather banquettes and a main dining area with seating for up to 200. The second floor has private dining rooms named for burlesque stars that seat from 20 to 70 diners, and a nightclub/lounge is in the basement level.

Midtown Gets New Electronics Zipper
Billboard-sized LED screens designed by the WalkerGroup dominate the façade of the corporate offices and studios of FUSE, a 24-hour music television network. Located on 7th Avenue, across the street from sister Cablevision-owned property Madison Square Garden, FUSE's logo covers 85 feet of the building's façade, is elevated 23 feet in the air, and projects 15 feet over the sidewalk. A new type of electronic text ticker or "zipper" snakes in and out of two-story window bays, down into the sidewalk, and ends at the display installation's logo and LED video screens. Featuring promos and programming information, the ticker's content can be quickly changed to interface with events, including those at the Garden, as they happen.

Peter Marino Pays Tribute to Pierre Chareau

Library-office for a French embassy designed by Pierre Chareau, 1925.
Courtesy Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; photo by Philippe Chancel One of the world's leading decorative arts museums, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, has reopened after a $46 million restoration of its historic building. Since its founding in 1905, the museum has amassed some 150,000 pieces by manufacturers, artists, and artisans in every style and movement, from Gothic to Nouveau, Art Deco to Modern. New York-based architect Peter Marino, FAIA, who has an office in Paris and is a member of the board of the International Committee of L'Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, is the donor and designer of the newly redesigned and reinstalled galleries of architect and designer Pierre Chareau's 1925 Bureau de l'Ambassade Francaise, which until now, has never been on view to the public.

A Swiss-American Collaboration Opens in D.C.

The Swiss Residence in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy Steven Holl Architects The Swiss Residence in Washington, D.C., designed by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with the Swiss firm, Rüssli Architects, officially opened. Sited on a hill, the building's design is based on overlapping spaces drawn through a cruciform courtyard plan. From the entrance hall, one can see diagonally through the building to the terrace and Washington Monument beyond. Public areas include an arrival square, reflecting pool, reception courtyard, herb garden, two formal dining rooms, three salons, reception hall, and stone terrace. The ambassador's private quarters are on the second floor and include guest and staff rooms. The residence was built according to Swiss "Minergie Standards," stricter than the U.S. Council for Green Building's LEED standards. The architectural partnership won an anonymous competition over 10 other Swiss-American teams in 2001.

Architects: Mentor Architecture Students
Become a mentor! This is a rare chance to make a difference in the life of an architecture student studying design at the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. For 13 years the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has partnered with the NYC Department of Education and the High School of Art & Design, where volunteer mentors are paired with students. Please contact Elizabeth Ward for more information.

Architecture Goes Back to School
By Carolyn Sponza, AIA

Event: arch schools-public view(ing)
Organizers: AIANY
Exhibition Design: Gia Mainiero/Edwin Rodriguez
Graphic Design: Gia Mainiero
Sponsors: Lead Sponsors: Peter Schubert/Hillier; KPF; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Additional sponsorship: Arquitectonica; Audrey Matlock Architects; Bentel & Bentel, Architecture/Planning/Design; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners; Butler Rogers Basket Architects; Deborah Berke & Partners Architects; Gabellini Sheppard Associates; Hillier; HOK; Paul Segal Associates Architects; Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects; Rafael Viñoly Architects; Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Thomas Phifer and Partners; Tsao & McKown Architects. Special thanks to: Heather Philip-O'Neal, AIA, Director, Educational Affairs; Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, former Director, Educational Affairs, and Peter Schubert, AIA, Director, Programs and Strategic Planning.
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.05-11.10.06

As a reminder to those mired in practice that the wheel of the academic engine is turning again this fall, the Center for Architecture is currently hosting its second annual exhibition of area architecture schools, arch schools—public view(ing).

The 13 presenting schools were given the same amount of display space, though some ingeniously re-interpreted the format. Yale University screen printed information on a lift-up shade that doubles their display. New Jersey Institute of Technology uses a video slide show to highlight student work from two urban outreach studios, preferring to cross section a critical mass of work rather than highlight individual projects. Columbia University's digital display explores brand and architecture, providing context to the highly graphic projects displayed behind. Small-scale physical models supplement print and digital work by a number of schools—among them Princeton University, City College of New York, and Pratt Institute. The University of Buffalo displays photos of architectural mock-ups students constructed, which Associate Professor and Department Chair Mehrdad Hadighi noted were "constructed at full scale, either as architecture, or experienced as such," counterbalancing the theoretical aspect present throughout the exhibition. The display might have benefited from an installation of one of these massive models.

Work chosen for the exhibition is meant to be viewed in the context of the 2006 AIA New York Chapter's theme, "Architecture as Public Policy." Schools were responsible for curating and presenting their own work; Gia Mainiero and Edwin Rodriguez unified the graphic and exhibition design. Writing about the projects chosen for display by her university, Sarah Whiting, Princeton Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, notes, "each [project] does respond very clearly to real problems or issues, each offers innovations that might help the discipline of architecture redefine what it understands to be 'real.'" Lawrence C. Davis, RA, Chair of the undergraduate program at Syracuse University School of Architecture, writes that his school's projects "represent what seems to be a broadly held interest of the students in looking at programmatic and urban problems in the postindustrial cites, particularly in the American Northeast, as well as issues connected with global consumptive culture."

True to academic form, come armed with questions for the Dean's Roundtable and Exhibition Opening on September 20, 2006.

For those willing to make their own brief sojourn back to school for an evening or weekend, e-Oculus has compiled a list of fall lecture links to New York City architecture schools. Lecture listings reveal that the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina are still reverberating one year later; discussions on social and planning issues influenced by this natural disaster are disbursed throughout the schools. Podcasts or other recordings of lectures are available, as noted.

Continues…

Let's Get Physical
By Allannah Thomas, Executive Director, Helicon, Inc.

Charlie creates a suspension bridge using straws at FamilyDay@theCenter.
Erin McCluskey

Family teams first took an "entry-level" quiz covering such conceptual physics topics as projectile motion, density, specific gravity, center of mass, and torque in a physics-themed FamilyDay@theCenter. Then they created hands-on displays that demonstrated the concepts covered in the quiz. Each person walked a balance beam carrying poles of varying lengths; weighed bars of soap and put them in a tub of water to observe whether they sank or floated; and watched a computer simulation of two balls simultaneously dropped and thrown. In the second part of the workshop, teams built beam and suspension bridges out of straws and performed load tests to see which type of bridge was the strongest.

Anyone interested in attending future physics workshops (either as participants or teacher-assistants) held by the Center for Architecture Foundation and Helicon, the Mathematics Resource and Support Center for Females, please contact Erin McCluskey at the Center for Architecture Foundation (212.358.6136) or Allannah Thomas at Helicon, Inc. (212.529.0244).

National Newsletter Editorial Position Opens
The AIA National Associates Committee (NAC) is accepting nominations for editor of its monthly email newsletter, AssociateNews. Applicants must be motivated, energetic, and involved Associate AIA members. The editor will serve a term of one year. For more information on the position, click here.

Passings…Richard Blinder
By John H. Beyer, FAIA, AICP, and John Belle, FAIA, RIBA

We met Richard Blinder in 1961 while we were working at Victor Gruen & Associates' New York office. Sharing with him the same vision of renewing our cities, we joined together in 1968 to put our passion into practice. From the first, our common belief in the necessity to unify social and design objectives shaped the firm. As we undertook early work on affordable rehab housing, Dick was so proudly our leader. Even later, after he found great satisfaction in his major cultural projects, Dick never lost that sense of commitment. Our shared values sustained our partnership over the course of almost 40 years, as much as our bonds of love and friendship did. Dick always maintained an extraordinary ability to be completely absorbed in the things he believed in, and refused to be pulled away into things that he considered inappropriate to his art. When he saw that the next steps in our firm's development should be taken in China, he was the one who insisted that we should open an office there and, once again, he was right. He truly found a new beginning in his work in China, even delighting in getting around Shanghai as the Chinese do—on a bicycle. When he died, so suddenly and shockingly, our friend and colleague was very much an architect ascending.

An expanded obituary is available to registered users on the New York Times website.

Photo © Yujian Liu

Through 10.06
here: remembering 9/11

The perimeter fence at the World Trade Center site is the location of this outdoor photography retrospective, the first exhibition of the World Trade Center Memorial Museum, featuring 52 images from the collections of here is new york: a democracy of photographs and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

World Trade Center site; Church Street between Vesey and Liberty Streets

"Stoop"
Photo by Jonathan Hyman, courtesy Build the Memorial

Through 10.08.06
9/11 and the American Landscape: Photographs by Jonathan Hyman

Jonathan Hyman has traveled the United States photographing personal tributes and memorials created in response to the 9/11 attacks. The exhibition features 63 photographs, that present a unique chronicle of post-9/11 society.

7 World Trade Center; 250 Greenwich Street, 45th floor

Through 01.13.07
United Response: Commemorating 9/11

An exhibition of more than 55 images documenting the heroism, courage, and sacrifice that took place during 9/11, the photographs on display highlight how people from all walks of life came together to help New York City.

New York City Police Museum; 100 Old Slip

World Trade Center under construction, view from south.
© The Skyscraper Museum

Through 03.25.07
GIANTS: The Twin Towers & the Twentieth Century

At their completion, the Twin Towers were both the tallest and largest skyscrapers in the world. The exhibition commemorates the World Trade Center, viewing its creation in the context of the technological ambitions of the 1960s and the 100-year evolution of New York City's skyline.

The Skyscraper Museum; 39 Battery Place

Team 10

Through 10.20.06
Team 10: A Utopia of the Present

The first major show about Team 10, this multi-media exhibition pays homage to a coterie of Pan-European architects who, challenging the orthodoxies of Modernism in post-War Europe, raised issues of urban design that continue to reverberate today.

Yale Art + Architecture Gallery; 180 York Street, New Haven, CT

Through 11.08.06
Making the Connection: Moving Forward with Regional Rail

As plans for Moynihan Station are developed, this exhibit details a proposal for creating a comprehensive regional rail network connecting Manhattan's two main train stations and the extensive systems they serve.

The Municipal Art Society; 457 Madison Avenue

"Garden for the Accused"
Dennis Oppenheim

Through 11.08.06
Alternative Landscape Components: A New Land Art

Presented by the City of New York Parks and Recreation, this exhibition includes an uptown and downtown installation (at Thomas Paine Park and Arsenal Gallery respectively) featuring the work of earth artist Dennis Oppenheim.

Central Park and The Arsenal Gallery; 5th Ave at 64th Street
Thomas Paine Park; Foley Square at Worth, Lafayette and Centre Streets

The first gallery of the U.S. Pavilion.
Johannes Knoops

San Francisco-based Eight Inc.'s housing entry.
Johannes Knoops

San Francisco-based Anderson Anderson Architecture's inflatable damming devices called Alluvial Sponge Combs.
Johannes Knoops

Anderson Anderson Architecture's housing entry.
Johannes Knoops

MIT's floating housing for New Orleans.
Johannes Knoops

The United States Pavilion
In the spirit of social awareness, the U.S. Pavilion examined New Orleans's devastation with the installation, "After the Flood: Building on Higher Ground." Organized by Robert Ivy, FAIA, Suzanne Stephens, and Clifford Pearson of Architectural Record, the installation conveyed the severity of Hurricane Katrina and exhibited proposals from the recent Record/Tulane University housing competition, Designing the Future of New Orleans. The clearest lesson came from Reed Kroloff, Dean of Tulane University School of Architecture, who stated in a symposium, "It was not Katrina that caused the devastation; it wasn't the rains; it wasn't the winds that destroyed New Orleans; but it was the failure of the levies, a failure of the Army Corps of Engineers, and a Federal Government failure."

Don't Ms. Spain

The glowing entry to Spain's pavilion.
Johannes Knoops Seeing all 50 installations of the participating countries is as difficult as choosing a favorite, but should you go I recommend visiting the Spanish Pavilion. Kiosks arranged in a grid pattern, which some likened to a Clinique counter, feature interviews with 100 Spanish citizens, artists, architects, government officials, curators, students, and historians discussing the word "cities." Since the word "ciudad" is feminine in Spanish, the designers, led by Commissioner Manuel Blanco, only interviewed women, reminding me of a Pedro Almodòvar movie—all of its protagonists are female and have something to say.

New Yorkers

The exterior and interior of "Targets," an installation by Joyce Kozloff.
Johannes Knoops
Julie Harvest's insertion into Café Florian.
Johannes Knoops Though not architects, two New York artists contributed to Venice's global sensibilities with installations of their own. Julie Harvest inserted her Telestar-inspired piece into the coffered wood ceiling of Café Florian greeting all citizens and collaging Venice with the celestial skies. Artist and peace-activist Joyce Kozloff exhibited, "Targets," in Thetis Spa, a non-profit art space. An inverted globe takes center stage in her show "Voyages + Targets." Comprised of many paintings that re-chart the world, the globe maps various American military objectives since WWII. Both installations run through 10.31.06.

What Happened Since 1985
By comparison, this Venice Biennale contrasts sharply with my first Biennale in 1985, when Robert Venturi, FAIA, patterned the Accademia Bridge, and Raimund Abraham designed a theater atop Ca' Venier dei Leoni. Much has changed in 16 years. Expect no formal indulgences at this year's Biennale; instead, consider the world.

The 10th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale runs through 11.19.06. For more information, interviews, photographs, blogs, videos, and more, check out the website.