07.10.07
With the heat wave settling in and noise regulations in place this week, I hope you enjoy some quiet, cool shelter by attending the many architectural events around town.
- Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
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Event: ENYA Networks | Guggenheim Young Collectors Council 
A string of starchitect-designed musuems makes up the Cultural Master Plan of Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation The Guggenheim Museum has not only reinvigorated Bilbao, Spain, creating a “Bilbao Effect” with its Frank Gehry Partners-designed museum, it has had an impact now sought after by arts organizations worldwide, including the Guggenheim itself. Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, is the next target of cultural development for the museum, aiming to create a critical mass of art in a field of iconic architecture. By 2012, the Guggenheim expects completion of museums designed by Frank Gehry Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, and Tadao Ando, Hon. FAIA, not to mention a biennale park and educational facilities as well. Saadiyat Island is a natural island adjacent to Abu Dhabi City. Currently, there is nothing there but sand — a blank slate. Gensler is master planning the island comprising six districts. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is working with the Guggenheim to master plan the Cultural District featuring the east-west coastline. At 10,000 square meters, the smallest of the planned museums is the Maritime Museum designed by Ando. Inspired by the wind, boats, and sails, it celebrates the area’s pearling and fishing history by featuring a central reflective pool, hovering dhow boats, and a café under a waterfall. Moving east along the shore, the Performing Art Centre designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, sited at the center of the island, will be the island’s largest building. Its organic shape is formed by the intersection between the island’s central axis and the curve of the shoreline. Theaters are stacked to take advantage of city and sea views. Ateliers Jean Nouvel will take advantage of the water by providing access to the Classical Museum (operated by the Louvre Museum) both by land and sea. A large protective dome will feature motifs that filter light and heat. Boxy volumes reference an archaeological excavation, apropos for a classical museum. At the eastern-most edge, Frank Gehry Partners’ Guggenheim Abu Dhabi juts into the Persian Gulf. With four levels of courtyards, galleries radiate inward from large to small, inspired by wind towers. With over 20,000 square meters of exhibition space, this Guggenheim is expected to be 40% larger than Guggenheim Bilbao. For the biennale park, 19 pavilions designed by a range of firms from Asymptote to Greg Lynn Form will speckle the promenade among the large museums. The educational facilities, to be run by Yale University, are yet to be determined. A competition is currently underway for the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, which will be located at the center of the island, on axis with the Performing Art Centre. The shortlist comprises 13 firms including: Bernard Tschumi Architects and Eisenman Architects; Foster + Partners; Hans Hollein; Shigeru Ban; and Snohetta. The AIANY Emerging NY Architects (ENYA) invited the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council (YCC) to the Center for Architecture to discuss the project which both groups follow closely. Presented by Min Jung Kim, director of strategic development, Asia, and Robert McGary, project manager at the Guggenheim, this event was the first ENYA Networks program, teaming up local emerging professionals to discuss common interests in an informal setting. A reciprocal program is being planned. This program also marked the first collaboration between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and AIANY since they announced the partnership to provide discounts to their members. AIANY members can redeem a 15% discount on membership to the Guggenheim. For more information, see “AIA Members Receive Discount off Guggenheim Memberships,” Around the AIA + Center for Architecture, e-Oculus, 05.15.07. Event: Designing for Emergencies: New York City’s New Office of Emergency Management (OEM) 
An abandoned structure from the 1950s has been upgraded with security measures needed for major disaster relief. Courtesy Shen Milsom & Wilke Less than six years after the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) lost its headquarters in the collapse of the original 7 World Trade Center on 9/11, and one day after this June’s partial electrical blackout, New Yorkers attending this panel on the agency’s new building, designed by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, understood how vital such a center is when any form of chaos intrudes. “This is in such a prominent location! A terrorist could just bomb it,” suggested one citizen. “Shouldn’t it be in a more secure location?” Amid edgy laughter, panelists expressed confidence in OEM’s security systems; they’d already cited a range of reasons why the converted American Red Cross building on Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza is an appropriate site. With Walt Whitman Park and various limestone-clad federal, state, and city courthouses nearby, OEM now occupies a district defined by sober, imposing civic structures. But the question exposed this building’s unsettling implications: however much confidence its advanced technologies and award-winning, LEED-certified design may inspire, it remains vulnerable. Henry Jackson, deputy commissioner for technology at the OEM, first sketched OEM’s history and mission, from its roots in the 1940s Civil Defense program and its establishment as a mayoral disaster-planning office in 1996, to its post-9/11 peregrinations through various temporary headquarters — including a bus, a West Side pier, and a police-academy library. The agency has been resilient and improvisatory, returning to operation 72 hours after losing its original home and beginning the search for a new permanent site within a week. Site-selection criteria included securability, avoidance of flood zones, easy accessibility via multimodal transportation, and the capability of supporting diverse backup systems for power cogeneration and telecommunications. As Joseph Aliotta, AIA, principal at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, recounted, after the Red Cross offered this abandoned 1950s-era three-story structure, the gut-rehab job and adaptation for OEM’s functions constituted a technical tour de force. Contractors stripped away everything but the concrete, moved the central mechanical core to an addition on the south perimeter to create spaces large enough for urgent gatherings, and elevated the roof to accommodate the extensive wiring and large-screen sightlines needed in the third-floor Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Here, police, fire, utility, and other officials will assemble to share information under emergency conditions. The unspoken goal is to keep interagency communication from ever again being as uncoordinated as they were on 9/11. The EOC’s audiovisual and multimodal communication gear is as advanced as any cinematically imagined operations center. Systems expert Steve Emspak, partner at Shen Milsom & Wilke, recounted how the EOC and the 24-hour watch-command center were organized to maximize connectivity and flexibility. With extensive audio systems and data networking (29 miles of assorted cables in the building’s 60,000 square feet, plus wireless access), along with a “scoreboard” in the EOC comprising 160-inch main video screens and multiple auxiliary screens, Emspak says, “any piece of information can appear anywhere” during a large meeting. Acoustics are tuned for clear conversations amid the hubbub of a crowded disaster-response scenario. Media facilities allow for rooftop broadcasting through 54 antennas and reasonably comfortable ergonomics for reporters enduring marathon sessions likely if the center sees active duty. Emergencies on a 9/11 scale are rare, but less cataclysmic events, Jackson pointed out, can bring the EOC to active status some four to six times a year. Severe weather, Con Edison foul-ups, and water main breaks account for most such circumstances. In between events, the bulk of OEM’s work involves planning for disasters (both specific and conjectural), public education about emergency readiness and evacuation procedures, and periodic training to keep city personnel from confronting steep learning curves should they encounter this building’s systems during “an actual emergency.” Emspak takes understandable pride in the state-of-the-art facility, while voicing what’s on the minds of everyone pondering its purpose, and what may not have changed much since the Cold War: “I hope to hell it’s always empty.”
Event: Retrofitting Green: Why It Makes (Dollars and) Sense! 
NYMEX retrofitted its headquarters to achieve LEED-EB certification. Courtesy Forest City Ratner Companies (fcrc.com) Approximately 85% of the buildings that will exist in NYC in 2030 exist today devouring over 70% of the total energy consumed, according to Rohit Aggarwala, Ph.D., director of the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. Although LEED for Existing Buildings, LEED-EB, has not gained market traction the way LEED for new construction has, it warrants a larger share of attention, especially in highly-developed regions like NYC. Michael De Chiara, Esq., partner at Zetlin & De Chiara, moderated a discussion on the strategies and challenges attendant to greening existing buildings — a must if we are to meet the carbon targets set forth in Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030. As the world’s largest energy futures marketplace, LEED certification was more of a corporate mandate than a money saver for the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) headquarters. Patrick Conti, vice president of facilities at NYMEX, and Joseph Olgiati, director of engineering at Cushman & Wakefield, highlighted the $600,000 retrofit of the building — NYC’s first LEED-EB certified project. Sustainable aspects included upgrading light fixtures, composting food waste from the cafeteria, and the use of non-toxic cleaning supplies. Building maintenance subsequent to the retrofit is critical for sustaining its benefits, and re-commissioning the building systems periodically is required for certification, stated Sylvia Smith, AIA, LEED AP, principal at FXFOWLE Architects. As the lone architect on the panel, she aptly described her role in advancing green building as that of a salesperson and process facilitator. The majority of the tactics are engineering and maintenance based. The New York government has begun to implement programs to encourage the greening existing buildings. NYC has proposed a $2.4 billion fund, raised through an increase to the System Benefits Charges already levied on consumers, to be administered by a yet-to-be-created intra-governmental authority. This fund will help finance the greening of existing buildings by partially offsetting the initial costs, thus reducing the building’s payback period to less than five years. The NY State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) is currently assisting building owners in Con Edison service areas with revenue from the existing System Benefits Charges, largely in the form of design assistance programs, energy audit subsidies, and low interest loans. The discussion closed with consensus that the way to achieve certification within a five-year payback period is to start with little things, like motion and carbon dioxide sensors, not flashy wind turbines and solar “gizmos.” To mainstream, retrofitting must make sense financially. With help from Albany, a wave of green retrofits seems like a welcome certainty for NYC.
Event: BRANDISM: ARCHITECTURE/IDENTITY/COMMUNITY 
Dubai’s Internet City — branding at an urban scale. Courtesy Dubai Internet City Branding can be dismissed as laboring over logos and aesthetics — visual representations that are easily recognizable and symbolic. These days, however, it has come to mean a total identity package; a name is attached to an entire lifestyle, not just a single product. In this way, architecture may be a powerful instrument in orchestrating the experiential aspects of brands. The question, then, is what this involvement with branding could mean for our urban environments. A city like Dubai seems to be the quintessential example of branding at the urban scale. With names like Internet City, Healthcare City, Humanitarian City, and Knowledge Village, these smaller entities each maintain their own logo, slogan, architectural icons, and even web presence, but together form a “Dubai Land.” Yet, built without an existing population or history, one must wonder what depth there is to these cities and their pre-established identities. Arguably, excesses of free land and lax economic zoning make Dubai more of an exception than a rule as an urban branding strategy. This congregate of cities is more accurately reflected in special-interest communities in America, rather than major metropolitan areas. In actuality, a city like NYC could even be said to represent urbanism that resists this type of branding because, as is commonly noted, the grid takes prominence over the buildings. While the fickleness of style and taste plays itself out, the city is able to retain its cohesive urban identity. Though branding has and will play an important role in the business of architecture, architects put the field at risk when they position themselves at the disposal of marketing trends. The consumerism that comes with branding may reveal itself in the form of short-term dollar signs for developers and landlords, but it could be at the cost of long-term urban design. Branding breeds homogeneity, and designers should not compromise their individuality for the latest fashion. As participants in a discipline that inherently must look toward the future to accommodate the needs of people and their communities, architects should set the trends, not follow them.
Event: Biomimicry for a Sustainable Built Environment Proponents of biomimicry argue that 3.8 billion years of natural evolution has yielded strategies often more efficient and less wasteful that those developed by humans, who have been around only a fraction of that time. By looking at natural forms, processes, and ecosystems, biomimcry can influence design, as been attested to by many practicing architects including Cook + Fox Architects for the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for the Pearl River Tower under construction in China. One source of biomimicry-based design is in the industrial design field. A fan developed by PAX Scientific is based on the Fibonacci sequence. With noise reduction, an increase of energy use for the same output, and a reduction in manufacturing costs because less material is wasted, the “PaxFan” blades can be used in kitchen range hoods, refrigerator evaporators, and HVAC fans. The Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car is a new concept car that mimics the shape of a boxfish. Even though the car has an angular, cube-like shape, it is more aerodynamic than many other cars and achieves 78-miles-per-gallon. The evening lecture given by Biomimicry Guild co-founder Dayna Baumeister, Ph.D., kicked off a two-day workshop held at the Center for Architecture and at the Interface Showroom, a condensed professional workshop given by the Biomimicry Guild to designers.
(left) The Liquid Sky entry proposed by Ball-Nogues for the 2007 Young Architects Program, and (right) Liquid Sky on opening day. ©2007 The Museum of Modern Art (left); Jessica Sheridan (right) I have mixed feelings about this year’s MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program installation, Liquid Sky by Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues. While it engages the senses and alludes to the sea — appropriate for a “beach” — the piece as a whole feels unfinished. Dispersed throughout the main courtyard, six “towers” constructed from untreated utility poles act as supports for “community hammocks” while providing an armature for red-tinted Mylar “petals.” Water shoots out of the top of the towers sprinkling visitors below. Two platforms are situated on opposite ends of the adjacent outdoor gallery with a Mylar-netted Droopscape stretched between. Above the platforms are troughs of water that periodically tip over and drench bystanders. While the elements of water and sand are included every year (this is the eighth year for the program), Liquid Sky amplifies the beach-like experience. The wood of the utility poles, ropes used for the hammocks, and even the existing gravel in the courtyard remind me of boat docks. As the Mylar blows in the wind, the sound references kites and sails in the wind. When the water hits the Mylar and the troughs douse the platforms with water, I think of ocean waves. The Mylar petals are supposed to form “a tensioned surface that reconfigures the horizon, cresting above the walls of the P.S.1 courtyard,” according to the Liquid Sky press release, and this is where I feel the work falls short. The petals at the towers are in tension, but they do not reach the perimeter walls, nor do they reach the center of the courtyard to complete a canopy. It seems as if the design team ran out of material. The bottom-most petals wilt with the weight of the water that has been sprinkled on them. There is little shelter from the sun where there could have been a fully shaded field of color. In 2005, Ball-Nogues designed a summer-long installation in a courtyard in Los Angeles called Maximilian’s Schell Installation. A yellow Mylar canopy stretched over a plaza with a central “vortex” reaching down in the center. From the photographs online, Liquid Sky appears to have very similar goals (and a similar description). I feel that my criticism of the work was resolved in a previous iteration of a similar project. This leads me to think that perhaps the design team did not have enough time to finish, and maybe they will add more material over the next few days. As the installation is on view through September 28, I hope to return later in the summer to a more complete project. In this issue: Sustainable Software Begins with Headquarters Expansion 
SAP’s HQ Expansion. FXFOWLE Architects Ground was recently broken for the new corporate headquarters for SAP America, the world’s third largest independent software provider, designed by FXFOWLE Architects. Located west of Philadelphia, the new 425,000-square-foot complex will provide additional office, meeting, conference, and amenity space for the company’s 1,500-plus employees. FXFOWLE won an invited competition to design what will be the first corporate-owned LEED Platinum building in the mid-Atlantic region. To conserve existing wooded areas and, in particular, a large grove of chestnut trees, the buildings curve along the land’s grade. The sculptural form of the buildings serves as the basis for the application and integration of calibrated, sustainable strategies. The interior organization is an open plan that focuses office areas to the north side of the complex to capitalize on the views of the landscape; service and fixed elements are grouped together in nodes along an anchoring spine. The circulation spine along the south guides employees and visitors along the length of the complex, feeding into the office spaces. Other systems and materials will be incorporated to maximize energy conservation capabilities including geothermal wells, an ice storage plant, green roofs, under-floor air distribution system, and daylight sensors. Message in a Klein Bottle 
Infinity Chapel’s sanctuary. hanrahanMeyers Construction has begun on the hanrahanMeyers architects redesign of the Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist in Greenwich Village. The design of the 8,000-square-foot Infinity Chapel is based on the idea of a Klein bottle or a Mobius strip, which has no beginning or end and symbolizes infinity. In front of the sanctuary and visible to pedestrians via a newly renovated glass façade is a combined lobby and Christian Science Reading Room, designed as an open and relaxed space for study. The project also features a below ground space for Sunday school and boardroom, with borrowed natural light entering from light monitors projecting through the first floor. Completion is scheduled for February 2008. Shirtsleeves Fit Arts Center 
Herning Center of the Arts. Steven Holl Architects Ground was broken on the Steven Holl Architects-designed Herning Center of the Arts located in the mid-Jutland region of Denmark. The center will unite three different cultural institutions creating a single venue for both music and visual arts. The 5,600-square-meter center will contain orthogonally shaped galleries with moveable walls for permanent and temporary exhibitions. In addition, the center will house a 150-seat auditorium, music rehearsal rooms, restaurant, media library, and administrative offices. Relating to a 1960s shirt factory building in the shape of a shirt collar across the street, a fabric theme carries through the project — the building’s shape resembles shirtsleeves from above and incorporates fabric-like wall finishes. In 2005, the firm won an international design competition for this scheme that fuses landscape and architecture, transforming a flat field into a bermed landscape of grass mounds and reflecting pools that conceal parking and service areas. Israel Museum Expands Campus 
Daytime view of the gallery entrance pavilion (center) set within The Israel Museum’s original Mansfeld-designed buildings. Courtesy James Carpenter Design Associates Inc. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, founded in 1965 and known for its extensive holdings in biblical archaeology, most notably the Dead Sea Scrolls, has launched a comprehensive $80 million project. The design team of NY-based James Carpenter Design Associates with Tel-Aviv-based Efrat-Kowalsky architects and Lerman Architects & Town Planners will unify the 20-acre terraced complex, increasing accessibility to main exhibition spaces while remaining faithful to Alfred Mansfeld’s original 1960s design. The multi-year program will create new entrance facilities, an enclosed route of passage throughout the campus, access to curatorial collection wings, reorganized and expanded collection galleries, and centralized temporary exhibition space. Overall, 80,000 square feet of new construction will be added and 200,000 square feet of gallery space will be renovated, with an opening anticipated for the museum’s 45th anniversary in mid-2010. Yes in Meier’s Backyard 
166 Perry Street. Asymptote Architecture On a site adjacent to Richard Meier & Partners, Architects’ Perry Street condos, Asymptote Architecture is designing an eight-story residential condo. Containing 22 lofts and two penthouses, each occupying its own corner of the building, the building’s sculptural glass façade will appear to materialize or dematerialize with the daylight, according to the press release. The interiors will have laser-cut and patterned operable metal scrims, translucent glass floating walls, sculptural forms concealing kitchen functions, and other features deployed throughout open floor plans to provide optimal transparency. Every home will have its own private terrace and lap pool. Hoboken Clock Tower Will Tick Once Again 
Hoboken Ferry Terminal Clock Tower. Stantec The New York office of Stantec (formerly Vollmer Associates), in coordination with the New Jersey State Historical Preservation Office and the Historic Sites Council, is replicating the historic Clock Tower at the Hoboken Ferry Terminal. Built in 1907, the original clock tower was designed by Kenneth Murchison in the Beaux Arts style typical of large public buildings of that time, but was demolished in the 1950s. True to the original, the new 134-foot-high clock tower will have a steel frame structure with a solid copper skin and roof. New exterior fiber optic lighting will recreate the traditional look of incandescent lighting. In addition to architectural design, the firm is overseeing the mechanical and electrical engineering, exterior lighting design, and all historic preservation measures. In this issue: Sign Up for AIANYS 2007 Convention Today 
Courtesy AIANYS Online registration for the AIANYS 2007 Convention, to take place October 4-6 at the Grand Hyatt New York, is now available. This is the first time the convention will be located in NYC, and with the theme “Past as Prologue,” the AIA continues its celebration of the 150th Anniversary of its founding. To make overnight room reservations, call Central Reservations at the Grand Hyatt (1-800-233-1234) and identify that you are with AIANYS October 4-6, 2007. Reservations must be made by phone to receive the special group rate: $359 for single/double room plus taxes. Reservations must be made by September 12 to receive the special rate. AIANY Calls Architects to Support plaNYC The fate of the Mayor’s plaNYC 2030, including transportation plans such as the Congestion Pricing program, is now in the hands of the NY State Legislature and NYC Council. AIANY is urging all members to contact their city and state representatives. Let them know you support the plan and request them to push for adoption in time to receive available federal funding. Visit NYC Council, NY State Assembly, and NY State Senate. The deadline is July 16. Individual Jurisdictions to Set Timing for ARE At the annual meeting on June 25, member boards of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) voted to allow individual jurisdictions to determine when a candidate is eligible to begin taking the Architectural Registration Examination® (ARE). The AIA supports architectural registration boards allowing interns for licensure candidacy to take the ARE following graduation from a NAAB-accredited degree program and concurrent with enrollment in the Intern Development Program (IDP). The adopted-as-amended Resolution 07-8 states: “To begin taking the ARE an applicant shall have fulfilled all requirements for eligibility established by his or her jurisdiction and shall have enrolled in IDP by establishing a Council record.” The resolution also states, “It is the intent and policy of the Council that all jurisdictions accept NCARB certification as a basis for reciprocal registration without the application of any other state requirements applicable to initial licensure in such state.” Until now, NCARB has had no position on the sequencing of the three requirements for licensure (education, experience, and examination), however, it recommended candidates earn an NAAB-accredited degree, complete IDP, and then pass the ARE. For more information on individual registration boards, visit the NCARB website. Architects Gain accessArchitecture Access Architecture is a joint program between AIANY and Reed Construction Data to better engage architects in their business of publishing project leads, project plans, and project specifications to building product manufacturers and contractors. By creating an open network of information, architects share in the value of the content they provide by gaining valuable tools, marketing exposure, and project leads for no out-of-pocket expense. In addition to the direct benefits (firms get paid $35 for each accepted entry), Reed Construction Data will share the value of this content with AIANY and the AIAS. Specifically, they will pay $10 to AIANY and $5 to AIAS Freedom by Design program for every qualified project contributed. To register, click here or call 1-800-424-3996. Students Build Connections at the Center 
Skyscrapers float in the exhibition “Building Connections: 11th Annual Exhibition of K-12 Design Work.” Sam LaHoz The Center for Architecture’s storefront gallery and mezzanine have been filled with model bridges of the bascule, draw and suspension types, colorful groupings of skyscrapers, the landmarks of Chinatown, and many other specimens from New York’s built environment. The Center for Architecture Foundation’s annual exhibition, Building Connections, opened June 28 as guests were tantalized by the architectural models created by K-12 students who participated in the Foundation’s Learning by Design:NY in-school residencies and numerous Programs@theCenter. Building Connections was opportunity for students from the metropolitan region to share their ideas about NY’s past, present, and future. The variety of projects reflects the Foundation’s involvement in many learning contexts. Students’ experiences are culled from engagement with buildings and neighborhoods near participating schools or from the Center for Architecture’s exhibitions. Student work offers a unique interpretation of NYC shown side-by-side with ideas presented by many of NY’s practicing architects. The exhibition itself is a celebration of experimentation. 1100 Architect donated time toward design, prototyping, and installation of the exhibition’s unique system of strands that suspends each model. Fishing line was hung in a matrix that gives the models the illusion of weightlessness and suspended animation. The architects worked closely with Casey Maher in developing a graphic design that ties the works together. The collaboration also included the talents of Sophie Stigliano and Rosamond Fletcher, the Center’s exhibition experts who work wonders in transforming the galleries into dynamic visual and spatial experiences. Legislative Session Wraps Up The Senate went into recess on June 21 and the Assembly the following day, wrapping up a generally unproductive legislative session which some have described as the most dysfunctional ever. It is expected that the legislature will re-convene later this year. Here is a listing of where the AIANYS legislative priorities ended. ♦ Passed Both Houses ♦ Passed One House Historic Tax Credit, the bill would amend the tax law in relation to providing a tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic properties and expands upon the tax credit enacted last year by authorizing additional homeowners to qualify and by removing the cap on commercial structures, passed the Senate. Corporate Practice of Design Professions, the bill that would have allowed professional design firms to offer key personnel an equity interest in the firm, passed the Senate. Smart Growth-Livable Communities, the bill that sets a smart growth policy for the State’s public works development in a manner that would maximize existing infrastructure and minimize the negative effects if dispersed development and sprawl, passed the Assembly. ♦ Crossed ♦ Died in Committee ♦ Successfully Opposed Announcements: New Organization/Government Initiatives ♦ NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) announced the beginning of public review on new regulations for commercial and community facility parking lots that impose new regulations for landscaping, perimeter screening of the lots, and requirements for canopy trees in planting islands within the lots. ♦ The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has released a “High Performance Buildings” video highlighting the benefits of sustainability, energy efficiency, and the financial opportunities available through NYSERDA’s New Construction Program (NCP). ♦ The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), together with the United Nations Environment Programme, Deutsche Gesselschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Hewlett Foundation, and Viva, announced the publication of the Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide, the most comprehensive effort to date to provide detailed technical guidance for developing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. ♦ The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, NC is teaming with Scott Shuford, AICP, former Asheville planning and development director, and the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina Asheville to develop a practical manual for American planners. “Planning for Climate Change, A Handbook for City, Town and Rural Area Planners” should be completed in 2008 and is intended to guide planning and decision makers in areas such as land use, transportation, natural resources management, structure and site management, public safety, public infrastructure, economic development, and social services. Changing Room 
The Changing Room photo/installation/performance. Deborah Lohse photo ©Anja Hitzenberger Architectural performing arts are thriving throughout the city this summer. Changing Room is a photo/installation/performance series presented by Anja Hitzenberger in an abandoned storefront at 145 Nassau Street in Manhattan. Each week a new installation by Illya Azaroff, Assoc. AIA, Director of Design, the design collective studio, is installed for live performances. Hitzenberger also photographs performers and dancers of different body shapes and movement backgrounds every week. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 8pm and performances begin every Friday at 6pm through July 28. For more information and performance schedule, click the link. Metapolis II 
Ballet National de Marseille performs the North American premiere of Metapolis II, an evening-length convergence of contemporary dance with cutting-edge architecture created by Frédéric Flamand, the Ballet National de Marseille’s artistic director, and Zaha Hadid, the Pritzker Prize-winning Iraqi-British architect. Pino Pipitone, courtesy Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts And, if you haven’t heard, Metapolis II, a collaboration between choreographer Frédéric Flamand and Zaha Hadid, Hon. FAIA, will be making its North American premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival 2007. Performed by the Ballet National de Marseille, there will be three performances at the New York State Theater July 25, 26, and 27. The piece synthesizes video (some created in real time) with the dancers’ bodies and Hadid’s moveable sculptures. Click the link to order tickets. The Rockefeller Foundation announced two recipients of the inaugural Jane Jacobs Medal: Barry Benepe, FAIA, received the Lifetime Leadership award, and Omar Freilla received the New Ideas and Activism award… Living Steel announced 18 shortlisted firms for the 2nd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing, including NY-based firms Perkins + Will and nARCHITECTS… The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced on June 19 that it will commit $1 million to green building research. Funds will be targeted at increasing research in areas such as energy and water security, global climate change prevention, indoor environmental quality, and passive survivability in the face of natural and man-made disasters… The Society of American Registered Architects/New York Council (SAAR/NY) 2007 Design Awards winners include: Medallion of Honor: Frank J. Sciame, Hon. AIANY; Firm of the Year: HOK Sport Venue Event; Project of the Year: Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum — with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners). Award of Excellence: A+I Design (Interior Design: CSTV); Bentel & Bentel Architects (Interior Design: Craftsteak); The Stephen B. Jacobs Group (Housing: 325 Fifth Avenue); Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (Rehabilitation: Office of Emergency Management); Butler Rogers Baskett (Educational: Hamilton College); Students: Craig Maniscalco and Felix Baez. Award of Merit: Rietveld Architects (International: Eisenhower Residence); Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (Design: Astana - Scheme 2); Cannon Design (Design: BSC Group Buffalo); Mancini-Duffy (Interior Design: Latham & Watkins); Scarano Architects (Housing: Manhattan Park); A.L. Maldonado, Architect (Housing: Mazzei Woodland Retreat); Amiaga Photography and Oculus Consulting (Non-Buildings/Arts); Students: Paul Foenka and Ayesha Tarar. Award of Honor: Bentel & Bentel Architects (Interior Design: Café 2/MOMA); Scarano Architects (Design: 2626 Jackson Avenue); Edwards & Kelcey (Non-Buildings/Planning Design: College Station Cemetery and Aggie Field of Honor). Special Recognition Award: MSA Collaborative (Design: Marble Court); Papadatos Partnership (Design: Chapel for St John the Devine)… The Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) annual Design Award winners include, in the category of Honor Awards: Arizona Cardinals Stadium, designed by Pentagram Design (NY) with Entro Communications (Toronto) and with design architect consultants Eisenman Architects (NY); and National World War I Museum, Ralph Appelbaum Associates (NY). Merit Awards include: The High Style of Dorothy Draper at the Museum of the City of New York, designed by Pure+Applied (NY); Sarah Lawrence College Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Poulin + Morris Inc. (NY) (clients: Sarah Lawrence College/Polshek Partnership Architects); Children’s Museum of the East End, Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership; Absolut® Flavor Suite, The Rockwell Group; The Hearst Building Sign Program, C&G Partners (architect: Foster + Partners; architect-of-record: Adamson Associates, interior architecture: Gensler); Newport Tower Marketing Center, Gensler; 7 World Trade Center, Pentagram Design (architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, media installation: Jenny Holzer); and The Museum of the Portuguese Language, Ralph Appelbaum Associates… The winner of the Lot with a Little Award is 365: AIGA Annual Design Exhibition 27, Design360; and the Jury Award winner is the Griffith Observatory Exhibits, C&G Partners… 
06.13.07: IESNY Lumen Awards Gala: Francesca Bettridge and Michael Hennes of Cline Bettridge Bernstein accepting the Lumen Award of Excellence for 7 WTC (all the winners are featured in the 2007 Design Awards issue of Oculus). Ahron D. Weiner, Bulbphoto 
Shoshanna Segal and Carrie Hawley, co-chairs of the Lumen Committee present Leni Schwendinger and Charles Cameron of Leni Schwendinger Light Projects with a Lumen Citation for the Coney Island Parachute Jump. Ahron D. Weiner, Bulbphoto 
06.20.07: AIANY 140th Annual Meeting (l-r): William Singer, AIA, Design Awards Committee Chair; Anna Torriani, AIA, Public Architects Committee Co-Chair; Michael Plottel, AIA, Public Architects Committee Co-Chair; Lorenzo Pagnamenta, AIA, 2006 Design Awards Committee Chair. Sam Lahoz 
Medal of Honor winners Michael Manfredi, FAIA, and Marion Weiss, AIA, of Weiss/Manfredi; and Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP, AIANY President. Sam LaHoz 
Susan Chin, FAIA, with Joyce Lee, AIA, LEED AP. Sam LaHoz 
(l-r): Mary Burke, AIA; Abby Suckle, FAIA; and Suzanne Mecs. Sam Lahoz 
06.28.07: Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) School Program Manager Tim Hayduk and Director Erin McCluskey at the opening of “Building Connections: 11th Annual Exhibition of K-12 Design Work.” Kristen Richards 
At the “Building Connections” opening (back row, l-r): Eric Ratkowski, design educator; CFAF School Program Manager Tim Hayduk; (front row, l-r): Maggie Jacobstein, CFAF Program Coordinator; Jenny Lee, design educator; Erin McCluskey, CFAF Director; Lita Riddock, design educator; Connie Rath, 1100 Architect. Sam LaHoz 
06.26.07: Society of American Registered Architects/New York Council President Pierre Guariglia, ARA (left), presents Frank J. Sciame, Hon. AIANY, with the Medallion of Honor at the SARA/NY 2007 Design Awards dinner on June 26. Kristen Richards The AIA’s Architecture Knowledge Review Podcast Series recently featured a discussion with Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, about current dialogues and debates between architectural education and practice recorded June 26, 2007. Click 2007 Recipent of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education to listen. Students at the New York Institute of Technology have been making headlines recently as they plan their entry to this October’s 2007 Solar Decathlon. On June 17, Valerie Cotsalas wrote, “The Green Home of Their Dreams” for the New York Times, and on June 26, Olivia Winslow contributed “Workers build a case for solar energy” to Newsday. In February, the AIA Young Architect Forum 15 Summit convened in Washington D.C., to identify issues important to architects within 10 years of graduating from professional school, and to strategize on how to best advocate for young architects within the profession and AIA. Architecture Radio has posted audio recordings from the summit. Oculus 2007 Editorial Calendar 07.13.07 Submission: Healthcare Design Magazine 07.31.07 Submission: International Design Awards 07.31.07 Competition: KVB International Art Competition 09.14.07 Competition: James Marston Fitch Foundation’s Mid-Career Grant Award 11.19.07 Competition: Shrinkage Worldwide Award
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