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11.13.07
With this issue Stephen Kliment, FAIA, joins e-OCULUS as Editorial Director, a position he will also fill at OCULUS beginning with its winter issue. Kliment, an architect, journalist, and teacher, is a former chief editor of Architectural Record, founder of the Wiley Building Type Basics book series, and current editor of A/E Principal’s Report. His role will be to focus on editorial, graphic, and business initiatives at e-OCULUS and OCULUS, working closely with editors-in-chief Kristen Richards at OCULUS and myself at e-OCULUS.
Please note that there is a slight schedule change for the next issue of e-Oculus. Instead of reaching you the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as originally scheduled, the next issue will appear in three weeks, on 12.04.07. I hope by then the turkey-generated lethargy will have worn off so you can focus on all you’ve missed!
- Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
Event: 35th International Conference & Exposition: Embrace Commitment. Community. Change
Location: Orlando, FL, 10.25-27.07
Organizer: National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
Host: NOMA Orlando
(left) Southwest Public Safety Center in Detroit, designed by Hamilton Anderson Associates, won the First Place NOMA Design Honor Award; (right) Cornell University’s project, “Soft Boundaries,” won the 2007 NOMA Student Design Competition.
Clayton Studio; Cornell University
The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) conference theme, “Embrace Commitment. Community. Change,” resonated throughout this event, from seminars and keynote addresses to the design awards competition. Seminars focused on sustainability, building information modeling, real estate development, and the correlation between design and culture. The many seminars on architects and public policy reflect the growing interest in this important topic.
Introducing the NOMA 35th International Conference and Exposition, 2008 NOMA president, Carlton T. Smith, NOMA, AIA, invited members to “make a commitment to one another in order to effect change collectively for the betterment of our communities.”
Luncheon speaker Chauncey Mayfield of Mayfield Gentry, a real estate holding company in Detroit, MI, said clearly to all: successful professionals should always reach back and assist those who are starting out. “Don’t pull up the ladder,” he said. “Leave it in place to assist others on their way up.” And he speaks from experience. After winning its first large-scale project, Mayfield Gentry continued to grow. After forming a relationship with a German company, the firm transformed itself into a major property management company with developments in several states. He noted that the lack of diversity in real estate was even greater than in architecture. In fact, you could count the number of minority-owned property management companies in the U.S. on the fingers of one hand. The number of major African-American developers, he added, is similarly low, and he saw no real efforts as yet to increase diversity in the industry.
Design Awards keynote speaker Dr. E. Lance McCarthy, president and CEO, Metropolitan Orlando Urban League, spoke of his admiration for Ayn Rand’s fictional character Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, stressing that architects should stay true to their ideals no matter the opposition. The first place Design Honor award went, for the third consecutive year, to Hamilton Anderson Associates of Detroit. This year’s honored project, Detroit’s Southwest Public Safety Center, houses a police precinct and a fire station, providing one-stop service for the public. The open plan and glass façade offers a spacious setting for community meetings.
The student design competition centered on a “New Urban K-12 School” sited in the predominantly African-American community of Parramore in downtown Orlando, identified as a community in transition. Open to National Organization of Minority Architecture Student (NOMAS) chapters nationwide, the program encouraged students to complement Orlando’s overall master plan for the area, “Pathways for Parramore,” by designing a school that would improve the depressed aspects of the neighborhood. First prize went to the Cornell University team (for the second consecutive year), with a scheme that invites the community to take part. Exterior courtyards intertwined with transparent interior spaces reinforce the team’s concept, “Soft Boundaries.”
AIA National President RK Stewart, FAIA, and President-elect Marshall Purnell, NOMA, FAIA, were active in the conference, highlighting the AIA’s commitment to closer ties with NOMA. Both Stewart and Purnell offered support and stressed the common interests of each organization. Next year’s convention will be held October 2-4, 2008, in Washington, DC, with the theme “Evolve: Expanding our Horizons.”
Terrence E. O’Neal, AIA, principal of Terrence O’Neal Architect, was 2006 President of AIA New York State, and will serve as New York Regional Director on the AIA National Board 2008-2010.
Event: Big Sibs
Location: San Francisco, 10.11-12.07
Participants: AIA Atlanta; Boston Society of Architects; AIA Chicago; AIA Dallas; AIA Houston; AIA Los Angeles; AIA Minneapolis; AIA New York Chapter; AIA Philadelphia; AIA San Francisco; AIA Seattle; AIA Washington, D.C.
Connie Wolf, Director/CEO of The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, gives a walking tour during the Big Sibs conference.
Rick Bell
Big Sibs, a group of the largest AIA urban chapters with more than 1,000 members, brings focus on urban issues such as affordable housing, infrastructure and transportation, pollution, and urban sprawl. Every year, the Big Sibs gather for a “show-and-tell,” providing an opportunity to hear what AIA components are doing for their members and get a feel for how the construction industry is faring nationwide. Right now, business is booming everywhere, but there is an overall sense that we have reached the peak and will start heading downhill soon.
AIANY’s Center for Architecture has become a hot topic for other components. Many of them are suffering from “Center Envy,” and as a result centers are springing up like mushrooms after a rain. Richmond, VA, opened a center April 1, 2006. AIA San Francisco just built out a new headquarters, including a large exhibition/multipurpose space open to the public. The local SF Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is constructing a new building that uses LaGuardia Place as a model. Houston and Austin have recently opened centers. Dallas is also planning new centers. Even our national AIA headquarters is getting a big overhaul that will make it more open, transparent, public, and green (complete with a geothermal system similar to NYC’s Center).
Hearing that so many chapters are engaging more with the public was really inspiring. It made me appreciate individuals like Margaret Helfand, FAIA, Rolf Ohlhausen, FAIA, George Miller, FAIA, Dennis Kuhn, FAIA, and many more, who had the vision and foresight to conceptualize the Center and the guts to take the chance on actually seeing it through.
Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP is the 2007 AIANY President.
Event: Livable Streets: A New Vision for the Upper West Side
Location: Jewish Community Center, 11.06.07
Speakers: Jan Gehl, Dr. Litt., Architect MAA, FRIBA — Professor Emeritus of Urban Design, School of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, & Founding Partner, Gehl Architects; Janette Sadik-Khan — Commissioner, NYC Department of Transportation; Mark Gorton — Executive Director, The Open Planning Project (TOPP); Paul Steely White — Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives
Organizers: NYC Streets Renaissance; Transportation Alternatives; TOPP; Project for Public Spaces
Courtesy Upper West Side Streets Renaissance
The challenge of reshaping city streets, and New York City government’s newfound willingness to rise to that challenge, can be explained by two photos shown by Jan Gehl, Dr. Litt., Architect MAA, FRIBA. One, distilling the bodily effects of neglected public space, showed a staircase leading to a San Diego building labeled “FITNESS,” with escalators on the sides; the only human figures were riding the up escalator. The other, taken during city officials’ recent fact-finding trip to Gehl’s hometown of Copenhagen, shows NYC Department of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, Hon, AIANY, and NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on bikes, beaming. For an audience packed with Upper West Siders and Transportation Alternativists, the commissioners’ smiles carried news that they get it, and now they’re the ones calling the shots.
The “tsunami of cars” in recent decades, Gehl points out, has fostered large-scale collective amnesia about the historic purposes and joys of cities: as meeting places, marketplaces, sites of cultural mixing, and all-around enjoyment. Every city has a traffic department, he notes, but none has a Department of Pedestrians and Public Life. For cars to figure so prominently in planning processes, everything moving at a slower pace steps aside. The result is abandoned public space, mechanized human movement, and other ills compounding the consequences, environmental and otherwise.
Gehl’s studies of “the re-conquered city,” particularly those featured in his 2001 book New City Spaces (Barcelona, Lyon, Strasbourg, Freiburg, Portland, Curitiba, Cordoba, Melbourne, and Copenhagen), focuses on how these communities have won back public space through a combination of defensive and constructive measures. To slow down the onslaught, he advocates a range of traffic-calming strategies, including limits on free parking, congestion pricing where applicable, and incremental narrowing of high-speed streets; the corresponding positive steps include expansion of pedestrian plazas, upgrading of street furniture, support for art and other amenities in public space, and promotion of bicycling, which statistics suggest becomes dramatically safer as numbers of cyclists rise.
The success of Gehl’s approach is evident in soaring rates of bike commuting even in snow-prone Copenhagen, repeated high rankings for Melbourne (”one of the most dull and lifeless city centers in the world” just 10 years earlier) in global livability polls, and the sharp reduction of auto traffic in London’s congestion-pricing zone. Now, as consultant to PlaNYC 2030, he aims to bring similar results to NYC.
Each of the combined efforts can make headway, and NYC has taken one significant step in this direction with the new Ninth Avenue bike lane. But the most critical change, Gehl insists, is in the public mindset: to build a more livable and sustainable city, people need to overcome fatalism about the inevitability of auto traffic. The crowd’s uproarious support indicates that at least parts of NYC are more than ready for change. The UWS community has historically been progressive enough to serve as a testbed for Gehl’s strategies. The real challenge, of course, will come when he brings his message to audiences whose ideologies and interests still favor King Car’s single melody over the rich harmonies of human-scale city life.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, and other publications.
Event: Women in Modernism: Making Places in Architecture
Location: Museum of Modern Art, 10.25.07
Speakers: Gwendolyn Wright — Author & Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Sarah Herda — Executive Director, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Toshiko Mori, FAIA — Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect, Department Chair & Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Karen Stein — Writer, Editor, Architectural Consultant; Beverly Willis — President, Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (Introduction)
Moderator: Barry Bergdoll — Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art & Professor of Architectural History, Columbia University
Organizer: Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation with Museum of Modern Art
Courtesy www.bwaf.org
“If ‘Modernism’ is a term that, in its definition, questions the status quo, then why aren’t more women architects known in Modern Architecture?” asked Gwendolyn Wright, author and professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The argument is not whether women architects existed from 1950-1980, but that women practitioners of the era were “erased” from history. “Evidence does not triumph over cultural bias.”
Four institutions — schools, museums, publications, and organizations — are responsible for excluding Modern women architects, stated Wright. Those who have hindered gender equality — and those with the power to make a change — are professors, curators, editors and writers, and executives. One example of gender erasure occurred in 1944. Elizabeth Mock, head of the Museum of Modern Art Department of Architecture and Design, organized Built in USA: 1932-1944, a follow-up to Philip Johnson’s 1932 Modern Architecture: International Exhibition. The exhibition featured colloquial architecture by architects of both genders and suggested a different definition of Modernism from that established by Johnson. He subsequently fired Mock and developed the similarly-entitled Built in America: Post-War Architecture exhibition in 1952, featuring work by male architects more suited to his personal definition of Modern Architecture.
Wright alleges that he thus erased both Mock and the diverse history she aimed to
create.
Despite the past, times are changing and women are beginning to re-establish themselves. Toshiko Mori, FAIA, chair of the architecture department at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, disputes that a glass ceiling prevents women from succeeding; instead, there is just a “thick layer of men.” Running through a list of women principals, she is not alone holding a position of power. And if the number of women architecture students is any indication of the future, soon women will surpass men in the field.
History is both predictable and uncertain. One conversation has the potential to impact history significantly. Writer, editor, and architectural consultant Karen Stein suggested that perhaps this symposium was all that was needed to begin a chain of events that will permanently institute women practitioners, both past and present, in Modernism.
Event: Can One Woman (Still) Make a Difference? Jane Jacobs and New York
Location: St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, 10.31.07
Speakers: Christopher Klemek — Co-Curator, Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York; Roberta Brandes Gratz — Urban Critic; Samuel Zipp — Assistant Professor of American Civilization and Urban Studies, Brown University; Julia Vitullo-Martin — Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation; Laurie Beckelman — President, Beckelman & Capalino (Introduction)
Moderator: Joseph Giovannini — Architectural Critic & Author
Organizers: Municipal Art Society
Courtesy Municipal Art Society
As one who rose from ordinary citizen to celebrity, Jane Jacobs continues to fascinate readers and rouse conversation about what makes cities work. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she encouraged fellow citizens and readers to “look closely at real cities. While you are looking, you might as well also listen, linger and think about what you see.” At this event panelists of urban experts who have written about Jacobs’s work and/or knew her personally provided vignettes into her persona and work.
Urban critic Roberta Brandes Gratz, who knew Jacobs, described her as someone who was both interested in and cared about real people, how they lived, and what their lives were like — important things to know to resolve urban issues. Christopher Klemek, co-curator of Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York now on view at the Urban Center, called Jacobs a “Madisonian” who sought ways to prevent any one faction from obtaining tyrannical control. He noted that Mayor John Lindsay had made overtures to Jacobs to work in government. Klemek reported that later in life she had some regrets about not taking Lindsay up on the offer, but she cared more about creating coalitions and organizations. Besides, both sides of the 1960s political spectrum embraced her ideas, stated Samuel Zipp, assistant professor of American civilization and urban studies at Brown University.
Questions remain about whether current city planning actually incorporates Jacobs’s thinking. Gratz lamented that lessons of the West Village have never been fully realized. While community-oriented structures have been put in place since the 1960s, “private market imperatives dominated by corporate developers, including nonprofits, have gone largely unquestioned,” added Zipp. In some instances, nonprofits are competing for what Jacobs would have regarded as self-isolating land, argued Julia Vitullo-Martin, senior fellow at Manhattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation.
Still, times have changed for the better because of Jacobs, believes Vitullo-Martin, citing successful developments citywide from Brooklyn waterfronts to Frederick Douglas Boulevard between 116th and 125th Streets. Jacobs’s influence spreads beyond NYC as well. The local fishing community is taking civic planning action in New Jersey to preserve Liberty State Park. So there is still hope for a Jacobs-inspired future. Jacobs has set a precedent for citizens to get involved, coalesce, and shape development of their communities.
The Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York exhibition aims to “energize a new generation of New Yorkers to observe and recognize the best of our city and become citizen activists for possible change,” according to Laurie Beckelman, president of Beckelman & Capalino, who introduced the event. For more information about the exhibition and related events, and to read blogs and see video podcasts, click the link above.
Marianne R. Lau, AIA, is a Manhattan-based architect.
Event: High Line Section 2 Community Input Forum
Location: Cedar Lake Theater, 10.23.07
Speakers: James Corner — Principal, Field Operations; Ricardo Scofidio, AIA — Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Robert Hammond — Co-Founder, Friends of the High Line
Organizers: Friends of the High Line (FHL); New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Section 2 of the High Line will include everything from sumac trees to an open lawn.
Jessica Sheridan
The High Line is a rare civic-activism success story, and its progress, cheered by a devoted constituency well ahead of its opening, carries both the energy and the risks of high expectations. At the unveiling of new designs for the structure’s Section 2, between 20th and 30th Streets, Ricardo Scofidio, AIA, principal of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, said that only six years ago “a former mayor of this city” signed orders for the High Line to be demolished. Its preservation as a public park — thanks to Robert Hammond, Joshua David, and the other Friends of the High Line (FHL), media-savviness and effective legal work, convincing photography by Joel Sternberg, a well-publicized design competition, and other key public officials — shows that propertied interests and the autocrats who serve them need not always prevail in land-use disputes.
Throughout, there’s an effort to respect what landscape architect James Corner, principal of Field Operations, called the “characteristics that people have come to love about the High Line: its wildness, its autonomy, its strange, found, melancholic properties.” Section 1, extending from Gansevoort to 20th Street, is under construction and scheduled to open in 2008 (see New High Line to Open in 2008, by Kathryn Carlson, e-OCULUS 10.02.07). The future of Section 2 is secure though it is unknown when work will begin, and the fate of Section 3 (the railyard from 30th to 34th Street, owned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority) remains unresolved. The designs displayed at Cedar Lake Theater (unfortunately not yet ready for publication) will be worth the wait. Features include thickets of sumac trees and wild grasses, an open lawn near 23rd Street, and a ramp or “flyover” where
visitors may stroll at treetop-canopy level. Plantings in the various areas are sequenced for variety.
As FHL morphs from an advocacy group to a conservancy that will manage the High Line in conjunction with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, the space is to remain public. Hammond deliberately debunked advertising-driven rumors of private access for residents of the area’s new luxury developments. Specific programming decisions favor sanctuary and relaxation: dogs will be welcome, but not rollerblades, and bicycles will have to stay at street level (in custom-designed bike storage). The lighting scheme will be a continuous, eerie glow. Access points, Corner explained, will be limited for crowd control.
The 1.45-mile stretch of planned wildness above the Meatpacking District and Chelsea is a beloved oxymoron. There’s enough buzz and mythology about the High Line to make huge crowds inevitable; the challenge now is to raise funds and manage the specific features that can sustain this site’s uniqueness beyond the point where its novelty fades.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, and other publications.
Event: Architecture Inside/Out Symposium
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.27.07
Speakers: (Panel 1) Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP — 2007 AIANY President & Principal, Perkins + Will; Rocco Giannetti, AIA — Principal & Interior Project Manager, Gensler; Kitty Hawks — Interior Designer; Peter Schubert, AIA — Principal, RMJM Hillier; (Panel 2) Calvin Tsao, FAIA — Co-Founder, Tsao & McKown Architects; Charles Renfro, AIA — Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; S. Russell Groves — Principal, S. Russell Groves; Goil Amornvivat — Co-Founder, TuG Studio
Moderator: Susan Szenasy — Editor-in-Chief, Metropolis
Organizer: AIANY; AIANY Interiors Committee; Center for Architecture Foundation
Sponsors: Underwriter AFD Contract Furniture; Patron Certified of New York; Lead Sponsor Zumtobel Lighting; Sponsors BBG-BBGM, depp Glass, Spartech Coporation, STUDIOS architecture; Supporters Jack L. Gordon Architects, Perkins + Will; Friends Enterprise Lighting Sales, Gensler, InterfaceFLOR, Knoll, Mancini Duffy, Steelcase, Stephan Jaklitsch Architects, The City Bakery
Courtesy AIANY
Peter Schubert, AIA, principal at RMJM Hillier, paraphrased a Mercedes Benz slogan popular about a decade ago — “It doesn’t work unless it’s beautiful and it isn’t beautiful unless it works.”
Perceptions of interiors vary across the design field. An architect in NY State may practice both architecture and interior design. And some firms take on both with a can-do-across-the-board attitude. Others feel they can’t be everything to all clients, and prefer to partner with interior design firms. Some clients typecast practitioners as architects or designers (but not both), whereas others see their architects as shamans and look to them alone for guidance.
“Collaboration” is the current buzzword. Panelist Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP, 2007 AIANY president and partner at Perkins + Will — an architect and interior designer — believes that interiors professionals need to be brought into the design process earlier. She reminded the audience that the Fall Issue of OCULUS is dedicated to collaboration. People do not understand what commercial design is, she continued. It’s heating, cooling, data wiring, interlocking systems on a large scale — and that requires a unique skill set. Interior designers work with hundreds of thousands of square feet, and the sooner they participate in a project, the more successful the project will be. For example, interior decorator Kitty Hawks spoke of a project where she was brought in so late that some fundamental planning issues were forgotten — such as working on a project that had “no place to hang your coat.”
Part of the naiveté about the interior design profession appears as early as design school. Often architects, interior designers, and interior decorators have a collective beginning, but then separate into their respective fields. Schubert believes design schools should teach students to collaborate. The result of mutual respect established early in designers’ careers would be a more integrated profession.
Event: This Will Kill That? presents Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblage
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.23.07
Speakers: Saskia Sassen — Sociology Professor, Columbia University
Organizers: AIANY Emerging NY Architects (ENYA) This Will Kill That? Committee
Sponsors: SoHo Reprographics
Saskia Sassen holding her book, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblage at the Center for Architecture.
Katerina Kampiti
Nation-states often sacrifice their national identities for globalization. But don’t ignore national identities, including their economic histories, if you want to comprehend the global environment. This is the argument made by Saskia Sassen in her latest book, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblage (Princeton University Press, 2006).
Sassen explains globalization by using analogies, tracing their progress through history. One example is the corporate environment. In the past, companies were small entities. They were housed in one building, and the firm’s identity was apparent in the architecture, the advertising, the owners themselves, and the location of the business. This was long ago. After years of technological advancement and evolving infrastructure, businesses have become more global and less identifiable. Satellite offices and the Internet allow for multi-national establishments, creating what Sassen terms “specialized assemblages.”
In a way, corporations parallel larger global trends. Whereas countries used to be entities within themselves, now boundaries are blurred. Countries will thrive if they can successfully make this transition.
Serena Chen, Assoc. AIA, works at DeWitt Tishman Architects and is an ENYA member. Vasso Kampiti, Assoc. AIA, is the 2007 AIANYS Associate Director.
Event: Canstruction; 15th Annual Design/Build Competition Awards Gala
Location: New York Design Center, 11.08.07 (exhibition through 11.21.07)
Organizers: The Society for Design Administration; AIANY; The New York Design Center
(l-r): “Best Structure”: Tree by Platt Byard Dovell White; and “Best Labels”: Decoding Hunger by JCJ Architecture; “Honorable Mention”: D-CAN-A by Gilsanz Murray Steficek.
(l-r): Matthew J. Lalli; Matthew J. Lalli; Amy Tsim
Canstruction is an annual event where teams of architects, engineers, and other design/construction-related firms disobey the axiom, “Don’t play with your food.” Challenged to conceive structures created solely out of cans and other food products, these virtuosos never cease to amaze with their gravity-defying feats of visual canplexity.
While Canstruction is first and foremost a charity donating all food proceeds to City Harvest, it is also an impassioned competition among the participants, many of whom have entered for more than 10 years. Though many of the designs are whimsical, some integrate social commentary. Gensler’s More Than Just “TwoCANS” Feeding, a team led by yours truly, exhibits a mother toucan feeding her chick. Butler Rogers Baskett Architects’ An UnBEARable Truth incorporates the world’s environmental crisis with two polar bears surviving a melting ice cap.
There are also eye-catching designs that redefine structural integrity, such as Platt Byard Dovell White’s Tree. Having won the Structural Ingenuity award for the past four years, their creations always set a high bar for other entrants. This year, the structural engineering firm Gilsanz Murray Steficek met, and nearly jumped over, that bar winning an Honorable Mention for their interpretation of a DNA Helix. When asked how GMS has grown since last year, team captain Eugene Kim said that it was pre-planning, pre-builds, three-times as many volunteers, and three-times the cost.
Whereas GMS has grown from experience, “rookie of the year” JCJ Architecture depended on passion and a fresh outlook to win Best Use of Labels for its entry Decoding Hunger, a depiction of the Mona Lisa. According to Anthony Arce, AIA, principal at JCJ, “a great team building experience and a chance to give back to the community” were the reasons his firm entered. When asked about their strategy, team member Raphael Charles said, “We wanted to do something iconic.”
The Canstruction exhibition may be seen at the New York Design Center, 200 Lexington Avenue, from November 8-21. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm. Admission: one can (or more) of food.
Wes Anderson has directed a series of AT&T commercials that feature the busy lives of various professionals. As a fan of his work, I was excited that one of the commercials features an architect. The commercial moves frame by frame through the busy life of a partner of the fictional firm, “Lea Nakamura Architects.” Dressed in black with thick-framed glasses, she oversees everything from design development through construction. At first watch, I thought the commercial celebrates architects; it even makes a statement about gender equality by featuring a woman in power. The more I watch the ad, however, the worse she — and the profession — looks.
With each frame, disasters appear. Her design team is not living up to her standards; the architect-of-record confuses an elevator for a chimney; a cement order was cancelled on the job site; there are electrical problems. The architect deals with each situation in a blasé, not-my-problem kind of way. It seems as if everyone is scampering to get the job done, and meanwhile the architect is sitting on a stool with her cell phone brushing them all off. In the end, the project gets done (it’s a white, rectangular room), and the viewer is left questioning what the architect actually accomplished. Yes, she is aware of all the issues because she is able to communicate with everyone on her phone, but she hasn’t solved any of the problems.
This ad is uncalled for to say the least. When the ad should commend architects for handling the various sticky situations on job sites, and AT&T should sell the phone as a way to help architects handle disasters, it makes them look foolish instead. So much for progress.
In this issue:
·Louis Armstrong House Museum Expands Across Lot
·21st Century Tools Revamp Metropolitan Museum of Art
·CyberDoorman At Your Service
·The Alexander Rises in Midtown
·Institute’s a Matter of NanoScience
·Louisville’s Slugger of a Skyscraper
·A Housing First for Greater Boston
Louis Armstrong House Museum Expands Across Lot
After a national search, NY-based Caples Jefferson Architects has been selected to design the Visitors Center for the Louis Armstrong House Museum (a NYC and national historic landmark) in Corona, Queens. The Visitors Center is across an empty lot, donated to Queens College in 1986 by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, from the museum. In 2006, NY State awarded Queens College and the City University of New York (CUNY) $5 million to design and construct the center, and this July the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs awarded an additional $5 million to the project. Expected to open in three years, the new center will offer concerts, lectures, exhibitions, community events, and other services and programs.
21st Century Tools Revamp Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Following a $75 million, three-year renovation and complete reconfiguration by CT-based Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art re-opened. The 25,000-square-foot center includes the museum’s first art study room designed for teaching with original artworks, studio facilities, and a lecture hall. All classrooms and lecture rooms are equipped to document and archive lectures and presentations, and to support distance-learning and video-conferencing. High-speed communication networks will enable students, artists, and teachers to have access to educators, students, and other museums worldwide. The firm has directed the master planning for the museum since 1967.
CyberDoorman At Your Service
441 East 57th Street.
FLAnk
Positioned in an enclave between two circa 1920’s brick co-op buildings on Sutton Place is 441 East 57th Street, now under construction by design/developer firm, FLAnk. When completed in 2008, the luxury 15-story residential condo will contain four duplexes, a triplex, and a penthouse. The building boasts light from three sides, with a façade edged in anodized metal in fritted glass, employing 51 panel typologies totaling over 1,500 framed “puzzle pieces.” Amenities abound in this “smart” building — including entries controlled by a “CyberDoorman” that is operated via a key fob or biometric thumbprint reader.
The Alexander Rises in Midtown
The Alexander.
Sydness Architects
The Alexander, a 24-story, 88-unit luxury residential building, designed by Sydness Architects, is under construction on the corner of Second Avenue and 49th Street. To respect the scale of the residential block’s masonry-clad, low-scale buildings, a 19-story curved glass tower bookended by panels of tan-colored terra cotta will rise from a five-story podium. Shops will comprise the podium’s first two glass-clad levels, with large terraced apartments on the next three levels clad in deep red terra cotta panels. The building is scheduled to open in 2009.
Institute’s a Matter of NanoScience
The central courtyard of California NanoSystems Institute.
Rafael Viñoly Architects
Rafael Viñoly Architects reports the December opening of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) on the UCLA campus. Located on the Court of Sciences, CNSI is a seven-story building housing laboratories for nanotechnology, a multidisciplinary field addressing the control of matter on a molecular level. The building is partially below grade and is sited on a narrow, steep lot adjacent to a parking structure. At first considered an obstacle, the parking structure became inspiration for the design with three floors constructed over part of it. The entrance lobby connects the parking structure to the research floors through a zigzag network of suspended bridges and stairs in the building’s central courtyard, realizing the client’s goals of interdisciplinary cooperation and socialization.
Louisville’s Slugger of a Skyscraper
Museum Plaza.
REX
Construction has begun on Museum Plaza, a $490 million tower in Louisville, KY, that will transform the city’s skyline. Designed by NY-based REX, the 62-story skyscraper combines the arts, commerce, and residences in one cultural center with 165 luxury condominiums, 300,000 square feet of class-A office space, a 260-room Westin Hotel, and the University of Louisville Master of Fine Arts program. An island, located 24 stories up, will be a hub of activity with a 35,000-square-foot, world-class contemporary arts center, a luxury spa, pool and fitness center, a condo club, ballroom, restaurants, and retail. In addition, the plaza will feature a new three-acre public park with connections to the Muhammad Ali Center and riverfront.
A Housing First for Greater Boston
303 Third Street.
Cetra/Ruddy
NY-based Cetra/Ruddy recently celebrated the topping out of 303 Third Street in Cambridge, MA, the first residential community in the Boston area marketed with the University Residential Community at MIT (URC). The 605,000-square-foot project consists of 292 residential apartments and 167 co-ops, sited around a landscaped courtyard reminiscent of the university quads of Harvard and MIT. The apartments are marketed exclusively to the URC community consisting of Harvard, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital faculty, staff, and alumni. Cetra/Ruddy designed amenities one would find “on campus” including: a club/library; flexible meeting spaces for lectures, community activities, and business meetings; and a private dining club.
In this issue:
·Policy Report: AIANY Wants to Put the Governor Back in Governors Island
·AIA Partners with Energy Star
·DOB Raises Construction Standards
·Middle School Students Green Their Future
·Demystifying the ARE IV
Policy Report: AIANY Wants to Put the Governor Back in Governors Island
AIANY has signed onto the attached letter drafted by the Governors Island Alliance to Governor Spitzer regarding funding for Governors Island. This letter is timely as the budget-drafting season has begun and the design competition results featured in this summer’s exhibition The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island at the Center for Architecture are expected in the next couple of months. The Alliance is also drafting a similar letter to Mayor Bloomberg.
AIA Partners with Energy Star
The AIA is an official partner with Energy Star®, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to promote energy efficiency. Formed in 1992, Energy Star has become a household name for labeling office equipment and home appliances. More recently, Energy Star has also begun to label residential and commercial buildings that meet certain efficiency requirements as well.
By signing on as an Energy Star Partner, the AIA will track its own headquarters’ energy performance, update Energy Star on its efficiency progress, develop a plan to improve energy savings, and spread the word regarding energy efficiency and its benefits to AIA members and components, according to AIA’s EVP/CEO Christine McEntee.
In addition, the AIA will continue to support the Energy Star Challenge, a national call-to-action to improve energy efficiency in the nation’s commercial and industrial buildings by at least 10 percent. The AIA will participate in a special Energy Star Challenge for Architects, which will culminate at the 2008 AIA National Convention in Boston. In 2007, 23 firms submitted 32 buildings that earned the Energy Design Intent label.
Visit the Energy Star website for more information on Energy Star Partners or the Energy Star Challenge for Architects.
DOB Raises Construction Standards
Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster, FAIA, has given a progress report on the Special Enforcement Plan to raise the bar for construction standards citywide. Announced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in July, Phase I of the Enforcement Plan outlines measures to form new multidisciplinary enforcement units, focuses resources on identifying and holding repeat offenders accountable, and increases oversight of the professional certification program. Under Phase I of the Enforcement Plan, $6 million was allocated to the Buildings Department to create new staff lines to support the department’s new multidisciplinary enforcement model. Of the 67 enforcement positions, the Buildings Department is still accepting applications for 19 positions as it continues its recruitment drive. For more information, go to the NYC Department of Buildings website.
Middle School Students Green Their Future
By Michelle Dezember, design educator at the Center for Architecture Foundation
A student drafts an idea for a green building using modified LEED guidelines.
Courtesy Michelle Dezember
Event: “Sustaining the City” series for middle school students
Location: The Center for Architecture, 10.06.07 & 10.27.07; The Skyscraper Museum, 10.13.07; The Cloud Institute, 10.20.07
Organizers: Center for Architecture Foundation; openhousenewyork; The Skyscraper Museum; The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
Sponsor: National Endowment for the Arts
In PlanNYC 2030, Mayor Bloomberg emphasizes the need to plan and create a city in which we want our children to live 25 years from now. “Sustaining the City” was a collaborative program hosted by the Center for Architecture Foundation, openhousenewyork, The Skyscraper Museum, and The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education that challenged middle school students to dictate their own future and play a part in creating awareness about environmentally sustainable building design.
Every Saturday in October a group of eight 10-14-year-olds explored the needs of large buildings and how to minimize their environmental impact. In addition to receiving in-depth tours of each institution, students took a private tour of the Battery Park City Authority’s The Solaire, traced the life cycles of sustainable and non-sustainable buildings, and studied architectural design. The program culminated in each student creating a model containing sustainable methods and materials. Projects incorporated green roofs, considered alternative transportation (i.e. bike storage), and integrated energy conservation and efficiency. Some students were interested in creating solar panels, or even harnessing wind and water as energy sources with wind turbines and greywater systems.
The main challenge the students faced was not only attempting to design functional buildings, but also to meet as many of the standards found on a modified LEED checklist. “Designing and building the building was very, very hard,” commented one of the budding architects. “I learned about green building. I have never seen or heard of one before.” Most students found themselves struggling with challenges similar to those architects face in designing green structures. But in the end participants were proud to present their models to their parents, who were arguably the proudest members in the room.
Demystifying the ARE IV
Due to popular demand, the Emerging NY Architects (ENYA) Committee and the Round Table Committee have scheduled another session to discuss challenges and anxieties about the licensing exams. The panel on 11.28.07 will feature Roberta Washington, FAIA, and Margot Woolley, AIA, members of the NY State Board for Architecture Registration; former board member Sarelle Weisberg, FAIA, will moderate. Click the link for more information and to RSVP.
Have you ever served on a local community board?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
It was announced that fashion designer John Varvatos will install his boutique store in the former CBGB club. What do you think?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
Architects, urban designers, and planners are needed on NYC’s 59 Community Boards to provide knowledgeable and experience-based input on development and planning, land use, zoning, and service delivery issues. Every board has 50 members, a budget, district manager, and staff to represent the voice of its community. The Borough President makes all appointments — half are unilateral, and half are upon recommendation by city council members. The next round of applications are due in January 2008 for Fall 2008 membership. For more information about the position, go to Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer’s website. If interested, contact your Borough President’s Office and the office of your local city councilmember, also.
Perkins Eastman has acquired Basler Mosa Design Group and The Liebman Melting Partnership. Principals making the transition include Shawn Basler, AIA; Ibrahim Mosa; Theodore Liebman, FAIA; and Alan Melting, FAIA, AICP…
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will receive a special honor at the New York Housing Conference (NYHC) and National Housing Conference (NHC) 34th Annual Awards Luncheon in December…
Slovenian artist and architect Marjetica Potrc will serve as a fellow at the The New School’s Vera List Center for Art and Politics for the 2007-08 academic year…
Joanne M. Minieri has been named president and chief operating officer of Forest City Ratner Companies… IA Interior Architects announced that Jennifer Hatton has been promoted to Director of Global Business Development and David Bourke, AIA, Managing Principal, has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer… Swanke Hayden Connell Architects has named Robert Vail Cole, AIA, a principal of the firm…
10.11.07: AIANY and the Center for Architecture Foundation hosted Heritage Ball 2007 at Chelsea Piers. With a sold-out crowd, this year’s “academy awards of architecture” did not disappoint. Mayor Bloomberg received the 2007 Center for Architecture Award for his contribution to improving NYC through the Department of Design + Construction’s Excellence Initiative. George H. Miller, FAIA, AIA vice president and partner at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners was honored with the 2007 President’s Award. Joan K. Davidson, Hon. AIA, President Emeritus of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and president of the Fund’s Furthermore program received the 2007 AIANY Chapter Award. And the 2007 Foundation Award was presented to Architecture for Humanity.
(l-r): Heritage Ball dinner chair Douglas Mass, PE, LEED AP, Cosentitni Associates; Rick Bell, FAIA, AIANY executive director; Linda Yowell, Center for Architecture Foundation president; Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP, 2007 AIANY president; award recipient George Miller, FAIA, AIA vice president; Erin McCluskey, executive director for the Center for Architecture Foundation; award recipient Joan K. Davidson, Hon. AIA, president emeritus of the J.M. Kaplan Fund; and award recipients Cynthia Barton and Cameron Sinclair, Assoc. AIA, director and founder of Architecture for Humanity.
Neelesh Jetwa
Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP, 2007 AIANY president, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Neelesh Jetwa
Mayor Bloomberg receiving the 2007 Center for Architecture Award reciprocally celebrated architects for their contributions to NYC.
Neelesh Jetwa
Richard Hayden, FAIA, managing principal at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects with Fanny Gong, AIA, of Fanny T. Gong Consulting Services.
Neelesh Jetwa
(l-r): Andy Frankl, president of Ibex Contruction; Sophie Stigliano, director of exhibitions at the Center for Architecture; Dieter Schoellnberger, associate at TEN Arquitectos.
Neelesh Jetwa
Guests of Costas Kondylis & Partners enjoying the dinner program.
Neelesh Jetwa
Heritage Ball centerpieces were made by students during Center for Architecture Foundation programming.
Neelesh Jetwa
10.11.07: After the Heritage Ball, hundreds of architecture enthusiasts gathered at the Center for Architecture for the Party@theCenter sponsored by Kawneer.
Party@theCenter attendees were greeted with gift bags from sponsor Kawneer.
Neelesh Jetwa
(l-r): Damian Mendoza; Nektarios Ioannidis; Kahisf Saleem; Franklin Ortiz; Violeta Petijevic.
Neelesh Jetwa
Illya Azaroff, Assoc. AIA, New York NOW exhibition designer, with Harold Feldman, president of Live Wire Enterprises and exhibition underwriter.
Neelesh Jetwa
Party@theCenter partygoers.
Neelesh Jetwa
Enrique Norten, Hon. FAIA, greets Saskia Sassen at the 10.23.07 Emerging NY Architects Committee This Will Kill That? book series. Sassen spoke about her book Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblage. See Gauging the Shifting Global Environment to read about the event.
Katerina Kampiti
At the 2007 National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) Design Awards Banquet, Cornell University design competition winners (l-r): Diana Lin, Gary He, Max Davis, Clayton Henry, Wilma Lam, Oscar Hernandez-Gomez, Andreka Watlington, Justin Chu, Alice Lin, Maketa Mabane, Andrew Nahmias, Marvine Pierre. (Missing) Core Team Members: Brandon Bailey, Jeremy Siegel, Andrew Kim, Henryck Hernandez; Production Assistants: Mengni Zhang, Sebastian Hernandez, David Temidara, Julianna Valle-Vellez, Julio Torres, Deimte Dem Princewill, Imani Day, Patricia Ciras, Davis Temidara, Marco Andrade.
Courtesy Cornell University
Celebrating the launch of their new book What Is Exhibition Design at Urban Center Books at the Municipal Arts Society 11.09.07 (l-r): Authors Craig Berger, Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD); Lee H. Skolnick, FAIA, NY-based Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership; and Jan Lorenc, Assoc. AIA, GA-based Lorenc & Yoo Design.
Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership
11.30.07 Submission: BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Good Design is Good Business
The second biannual awards program honors architects and clients worldwide who best use design to achieve strategic business and civic objectives. Projects must be completed since January 2005 on Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. Submissions span seven categories: public projects; residential; commercial; planning; historic preservation; green design; and best client. Winners will be featured in Architectural Record China and BusinessWeek China edition, and an awards ceremony will be held in June 2008.
12.14.07 Submission: AIAS/AIA Trust Scholarship Program for Emerging Professionals
This scholarship is intended to assist financially challenged students by paying their tuition and/or other direct educational expenses. The program’s sponsors expect the scholarships to remove some of the barriers to an architecture career. Five scholarships of $750 each will be awarded to students either in the fifth year of an undergraduate professional degree or the first year of graduate professional degree.
12.31.07 Proposals: 2008 Conference Education Proposals
The League of Historic American Theatres calls for proposals for education sessions for the 2008 annual conference and theater tour. Theater managers, other historic theater staff leaders, service providers, and speakers or trainers are invited to submit proposals for sessions reflecting best practices and emerging trends in theater operations, theater programming, management, and defining the field.
01.31.08 Call for Entries: NAHB National Green Building Awards
This year’s National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) residential green design and construction practices award categories include: Green Building Program of the Year, Green Advocate of the Year, Outstanding Green Marketing Program, and Green Project of the Year. Classifications consist of: Single-Family, Multifamily, Development, and Remodeling. Entrants must be NAHB members. Awards will be presented at a gala dinner during the NAHB Green Building Conference in New Orleans, May 11-13, 2008.
02.01.08 Call for Entries: The National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association 2008 Honor Awards
The NTMA awards honor the best terrazzo installations completed during 2007 and are judged on excellence in craftsmanship, idea originality, design intricacy, artistic and faithful reproduction of the architects’ or designers’ drawings, scope of work, and quality of construction materials. Architects, designers, building owners, and others are eligible to submit entries, but an NTMA member contractor must have completed the terrazzo floor.
Center for Architecture Gallery Hours
Monday-Friday: 9:00am-8:00pm, Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm, Sunday: CLOSED
Join an Architalker for a Hosted Tour of Center for Architecture
Exhibitions
Join us for free Architalker-hosted tours of the Center for Architecture exhibitions Fridays at 4:00pm. To join one of these tours, meet in the Public Resource Area on the ground floor of the Center for Architecture.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
November 8 - January 26, 2008
Berlin — New York Dialogues: Building in Context
Galleries: Judith and Walter Hunt Gallery, Mezzanine Gallery, Kohn Pederson Fox Gallery, HLW Gallery, South Gallery
Two of the world’s most dynamic urban centers, Berlin and New York, are making radical transformations in their streets and skylines. Berlin — New York Dialogues investigates the changes in these two cities by looking at the contemporary built environment and mechanisms of urban regeneration: the social, political, economic, and cultural processes that affect building.
As the exhibition delineates, the sustainability of these cities’ neighborhoods is increasingly dependent on a critical mixture of identity, diversification, and infrastructure.
Against a background of data Berlin — New York Dialogues brackets three areas of each city. High-end projects and informal initiatives are featured and made comparable by a set of overarching topics: Culture as Catalyst, Community Activism, Gentrification, Open Space, and Governmental Intervention. Focus is given to the stories and forces behind the projects — the urban context.
Berlin — New York Dialogues is presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall as part of Berlin in Lights, a festival taking place November 2-18, 2007.
In partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Berlin in Lights, a festival taking place in November 2007 celebrating the cultural connectivity between Berlin and New York.
This exhibition is presented as part of the Center for Architecture’s Global City Dialogues series exploring differences and commonalities between distinctive international cultural centers and New York City.
Organized by:
Center for Architecture and the German Center for Architecture DAZ in Berlin
Curatorial Team: Lynnette Widder, Kristien Ring, Sophie Stigliano, Rosamond Fletcher, Lutz Knospe
Research Assistants: Anthony Acciavatti, Elizabeth Snow, Anna Vallye
In cooperation with:
Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, Deutsches Haus at NYU,
and Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Exhibition Design & Graphics: Project Projects
Exhibition Architecture: MADE
Commissioned Photography: Noah Sheldon
Underwriter: RFR Holding, Digital Plus
Patrons: Eurohypo; IULA
Lead Sponsors:
Carnegie Corporation of New York; Tishman Speyer Properties
Supporter:
The German Consulate in New York
 Friend: Getmapping
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Thanks to the generous support of the Alfred Herrhausen Society the exhibition will travel to the DAZ (LINK www.daz.de ) in Berlin in March 2008. The exhibition will open on March 7 and be on view through June 2008. An exhibition symposium will take place at the Akademie der Künste on March 8/ 9, 2008.
New York NOW
October 11 - December, 2008
Galleries: Edgar A. Tafel Hall
New York NOW celebrates the diversity of the AIA New York Chapter and Center for Architecture membership by displaying non-juried submissions of member projects. The exhibition will include works of all scales: small, large, commercial, residential, public, private, interiors, historic preservation, engineering, landscape, and urban design.
The exhibition presents the depth and breadth of professional activity and the variety of its impact. The resulting dialogue between different practitioners encourages a deeper understanding of what is happening in the New York architecture and design world now.
Exhibition Design: Illya Azaroff + the design collective studio
Underwriter:
Exhibition organized by the AIA New York Chapter
Architecture Inside/Out
September 19 - December 8, 2007
Galleries: Gerald D Hines Gallery, Street Gallery, Public Resource Center
Architecture Inside/Out demonstrates the unfolding of space by exposing architectural interiors through a range of typologies with an inward focus, including libraries, hotels, retail and work spaces. This exhibition challenges conventional categories and explores alternative typologies. The design of interiors has evolved into a complex and nuanced problem and addresses circulation patterns, use and adjacencies, sociologies of hierarchy and networks, and sustainability. The fully integrated interior considers light, color and materiality, but also new ways of programming space, the latest technological advances, innovative methods of construction and green practices.
Traditional representations such as section, plan and elevation, in addition to models and details will provide a lens to reveal inherent characteristics of featured interiors, exposing materials, structure and spatial relationships. Architecture Inside/Out takes the familiar architectural conventions and places them parallel to alternative ways of seeing and revealing. When these alternative methods of understanding space are applied to typologies, they provide views of the interior that shed new light on familiar places.
Curator:
Lois Weinthal, Director of Interior Design, Parsons
Exhibition Design: Freecell
Graphic Design: Language Arts
The exhibition and related programming are organized by the AIA New York Chapter in collaboration with the AIA New York Chapter’s Interiors Committee and the Center for Architecture Foundation.
Underwriter: AFD Contract Furniture
Patron: Certified of New York
Lead Sponsor: Zumtobel Lighting
Sponsor:: BBG-BBGM; Spartech Corporation; STUDIOS Architecture
Supporter:
Jack L. Gorden Architects; Perkins + Will
Supporters:
InterfaceFLOR
Knoll
Mancini Duffy
Perkins + Will
Steelcase
STUDIOS Architecture
More Than Just “TwoCANS” Feeding by Gensler.
Darris James
Through 11.21.07
Canstruction
Bring a can of food and feast your imagination! Teams of architects, engineers, and contractors were given one night to build structures out of canned and boxed food for the 17th Annual Canstruction competition, organized by AIANY, the Society for Design Administration, and the New York Design Center. The cans will be donated to City Harvest, and since its inception, 10 million pounds of food have been donated to aid in the fight against hunger.
New York Design Center
200 Lexington Avenue, New York
“Prairie” from Skurvognsmorfologier, 2006
Pernille Skov and Søren Holm Hvilsby
Through 12.22.07
Land Grab
The artworks on view explore the process of claiming and naming a piece of land. Contrary to work in the 1960s and 1970s that considered unused or abandoned territories as blank slates, every piece integrates socioeconomic, historical, and political contexts.
Apexart
291 Church Street, New York, NY
eCalendar includes an interactive listing of architectural events around NYC. Click the link to go to to eCalendar on the Web.
The Public Information Exchange (PIE) is an AIANY initiative designed to create an archive of NYC projects, proposals, programs, and exhibitions presented or discussed at the Center for Architecture. It is a forum for public discussion, both general and professional, that includes continuous commentary from users and participants. Click the link to take part.
ADVERTISE IN THE eOCULUS CLASSIFIEDS!
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Your ad will run in the next available posting. eOCULUS is sent out every other Tuesday.
Would you like to have your message featured in eOCULUS? Spotlight your firm, product, or event as a marquee sponsor of eOCULUS, the electronic newsletter of the AIA New York Chapter. Sponsors receive a prominently-placed banner ad. Your message will reach over 10,000 architects, decision-makers in the building industry, and design enthusiasts via e-mail every two weeks (and countless others who access the newsletter directly from the AIA New York web site). For more information about sponsorship, contact: listadmin@aiany.org or 212.358.6114.
Looking for help? See resumes posted on the AIA New York Chapter website.
Digital Building Professionals
Gehry Technologies is an international building industry consulting and technology development firm. The firm pursues innovative applications of technology to building projects and emerging models of digitally integrated practice. We are a cross disciplinary team of architects, engineers, builders and computer scientists, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Paris. We have immediate opportunities for building industry professionals experienced in applications of technology, innovative building design and construction projects.
Desired qualifications include professional experience and a graduate degree in architectural design, engineering, or construction management, with emphasis in digital applications. We are interested in junior and intermediate candidates with advanced knowledge of CAD modeling and scripting; and senior candidates with project management experience in BIM centric projects and methodologies.
Gehry Technologies offers competitive salaries and benefits commensurate with experience. We are an equal opportunity employer.
Qualified candidates may submit resumes to hr@gehrytechnologies.com or:
Human Resources
Gehry Technologies
12541-A Beatrice Street
Los Angeles, CA 90066
Tribeca firm seeks licensed architect with ten years of experience for project architect/management position to work on a variety of projects, including new construction, adaptive re-use and restoration. Our small office environment offers a wide range of experience for an energetic, self-directed architect to make a significant contribution. We foster independence in a collaborative setting. Experience in leading project teams and nurturing clients is a key asset. Please visit www.fgca.com to tour the firm and email us at info@fgca.com.
Herman Miller currently has a home office based opportunity for a Healthcare Designer in New York City metro. You will design clinical, administrative, and public spaces within the healthcare environment. Log onto http://www.hermanmiller.com/careers posting #170 for more information.
HNTB Architecture
An award winning design practice is seeking an experienced architect to work on a mixture of project types. Ideal candidate will have strong CAD and 3-D rendering skills. Responsibilities include design development, construction documents, specifications, etc.
Bachelor’s degree in Architecture with 3-6 years of experience required.
Please apply on line at www.hntbcareers.com or submit resume to kduckworth@hntb.com.
EOE — M/F/D/V
NYC Parks seeks talented individuals for positions in landscape architecture, engineering fields, and construction supervision.
If you have the vision to design and build innovative public spaces, we need your expertise as we create the parks of the 21st century.
To get started, visit us at www.nyc.gov/parks.
EOE
Intermediate/Senior Architects
Santiago Calatrava (New York office) is seeking intermediate and senior architects for large-scale projects in the U.S. and abroad. Applicants should have 6+ years experience, proficiency in AutoCAD and the ability to work in a fast-paced and demanding environment.
Please send cover letter, resume and 2-3 work samples in PDF format to job.newyork@calatrava.com.
INTERMEDIATE AND PROJECT ARCHITECTS
3-7 years experience required. Must be able to take responsibilities and have good communication skills.
Design oriented published architectural firm. Project Types; Residential thru Commercial; New Construction; Adaptive Reuse; High Performance Sustainable Design; paul@castrucciarchitect.com
NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal seeks independent individual to fill the position of Senior Architect in our NYC Office. Must have two years of architectural experience involving the preparation or review of complex plans and designs for large institutional buildings or for projects involving a team of other architects, engineers and/or contractors. In addition, must have a NYS Architect’s License and registration.
Must possess a valid NYS driver’s license or otherwise demonstrate ability to meet the transportation needs of the job. Appointment to this position is provisional, pending examination. Starting salary $61,517 plus $1,302 location pay. Excellent benefits package. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Send resume to:
NYS DHCR, Personnel, 38-40 State Street, Albany, NY 12207, Fax (518) 486-5007,
or Email dhcrinfo@dhcr.state.ny.us
NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal seeks independent individual to fill the position of Senior Landscape Architect in our NYC Office. Must have two years of landscape architecture experience; demonstrate knowledge and experience specifically in site development and site improvement projects in order to: review plans; visit and troubleshoot projects; oversee the duties of consultants and contractors to verify work being performed as specified in the construction documents for rehabilitation of State supervised multi-family housing developments.
In addition, must be a Registered Landscape Architect (RLA), licensed to practice in NYS.
Must possess a valid NYS driver’s license or otherwise demonstrate ability to meet the transportation needs of the job. Appointment to this position is provisional, pending examination. Starting salary $61,517 plus $1,302 location pay. Excellent benefits package. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Send resume to:
NYS DHCR, Personnel, 38-40 State Street, Albany, NY 12207, Fax (518) 486-5007, or Email dhcrinfo@dhcr.state.ny.us
RARE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN GLOBAL DESIGN FIRM IN NEW NYC HEADQUARTERS
SEEKING ENERGETIC AND TALENTED INDIVIDUALS WITH
A DESIRE TO GROW AND BECOME THE FUTURE OF THE FIRM
SENIOR DESIGNERS (7-15 YRS EXP)
PROJECT MANAGERS (8-12 YRS EXP)
PROJECT ARCHITECTS (5-8 YRS EXP)
INTERMEDIATE ARCHITECTS (3-5 YRS EXP)
INTERIOR DESIGNERS — FF&E (3-5 YRS EXP)
PROJECT ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT (1-2 YRS EXP)
WE DESIGN MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT, RETAIL, CORPORATE WORKPLACE AND MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT (BROADCAST & MISSION CRITICAL FACILITIES)
YOU WILL WORK IN A BEAUTIFUL OFFICE & EXCELLENT LOCATION.
Experience in Design and Construction Detailing. Software skills to include:
Microstation or Autocad, Sketchup, Form-Z, Photoshop, Excel, Powerpoint
Send Resumes to resume@wpa-works.com and indicate position sought in Cover Letter.
LEASE Opportunity to Design and Construct your company’s custom architectural office suite in Greenwich Village / NYU Washington Square campus. 3,100 total s.f. on floors 1 and 2 in a wonderful historic loft building. High-traffic location.
Ragone-realestate.com
212-691-4753 Ext. 11
Significant opportunities exist for resourceful, talented project architects and intermediate level architects to contribute to our firm’s award-winning projects in NY, China and India. Candidates must have a professional degree, a minimum of 5 — 10 years of experience with a full range of project responsibilities, ability to lead and motivate fellow team members, and proficiency with AutoCAD and other graphics programs.
The studio environment at Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects is recognized for its creative and pragmatic approach to design at a variety of scales. Our current work embraces commercial, residential, educational, public and transportation projects as well as historic structures.
Please email your cover letter and resume to mjames@lhparch.com. No phone calls please.
OWP/P is seeking principal-level Architectural Design Leader to join our expanding Retail Studio. Responsibilities include vision and leadership, developing character and context of design within Retail Studio, and leading design staff, processes, and products. For information, go to www.talentstar.com/owpp.html or e-mail owpp@talentstar.com.
Designers/Project Architects, 7-10 yrs exp, SoHo
CCS Architecture, an award winning San Francisco based architectural firm is seeking a Designer/ Project Architect with 7-10 years experience to join our expanding SoHo firm. High-end residential and restaurant experience preferred. Applicants must have experience in Schematic Design through Construction Administration. AutoCAD proficiency and 3-D modeling required. Masters Degree and New York Architectural license a plus. Architects only apply.
We offer great growth potential for motivated individuals who are looking to advance their careers and are willing to take on responsibility.
Compensation is commensurate with experience and ability.
View our work at: www.ccs-architecture.com
PC platform.
HOW TO APPLY:
Please send your letter, resume and work samples by mail to our San Francisco office, or by email in PDF format. Be sure to include the job title and New York Office in the Subject line.
Email: Stacy@ccs-architecture.com
Mail: Stacy Oakford
CCS Architecture
44 McLea Court
San Francisco, CA 94103
*** NO PHONE CALLS ***
Project Architect/Project Manager
NBBJ, a growing international design firm, has opportunities for qualified professionals to join teams working on innovative healthcare projects and exciting international commercial projects. To learn more or apply, please visit http://www.nbbj.com/#join/openings.
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