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01.27.09
This issue introduces a new column, Preview: AIA Guide to NYC. Penned by Fran Leadon, AIA, co-author with Norval White, FAIA, of the fifth edition of the AIA Guide to NYC, each monthly installment will provide a sneak peek into the book leading up to its 2010 publication. Also, be sure to read the editorial by AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, on current events, Bloomberg & Obama in Concert. And if you are LEED accredited, or considering becoming accredited, read my Editor’s Soapbox about LEED 2009, More Red Tape to Complicate Going Green.
- Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
CLICK ON BLOG CENTRAL: AIANY BLOG: The AIANY Chapter’s Blog Central features opinion pieces on architectural issues relevant to NY-based designers, firms, and projects, along with spotlights on debates and discussions at the Center for Architecture and AIANY. It is an informal discussion board. To become a regular contributor to Blog Central, please e-mail e-Oculus. Pen names are welcome.
Note: Following is the inaugural address given by 2009 AIANY President Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, at the 2009 AIA Board Inaugural, 12.11.08.
Each of us, interns and architects, has chosen to study and practice in a field that has seen great heights, but has struggled to sustain its members in economic downturns. The study of architecture is wide-ranging; it covers history, technology, and art, and through those doorways we learn about our cultures, discover scientific advances, and create objects of beauty and statements for society. My goals for next year include providing new programs to support us during lean times and opportunities to celebrate the citizen-architect and nurture a broader audience for our work.
Since the Center for Architecture opened in 2003, each AIANY president has chosen a theme to focus on excellence in some aspect of our work: encouraging diversity, speaking on public policy, designing interiors — and last year Jim McCullar, FAIA, raised the bar by looking at building types: housing, cultural facilities, health care, and hospitality, while examining each against the city’s plan to create a development framework for 2030.
Our spotlight in 2009 will examine what we as citizen-architects can do to raise the bar: through our government, through our community, and through our schools to create a climate of design literacy that demands more from institutions, developers, and architects.
Continues…
Event: Global Dialogues: Seoul, Newark, and New York
Location: Center for Architecture, 01.23.09
Speakers: Young Gull Kwon — Deputy Mayor and Chief Design Officer, Seoul, Korea; Stefan Pryor — Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Newark, NJ; Alexandros Washburn, AIA — Chief Urban Designer, Department of City Planning, NY
Moderator: Rick Bell, FAIA — Executive Director, AIANY
Organizers: AIANY; NY Projects, Inc.
Sponsor: NY Projects, Inc.
(L-R): Stefan Pryor, deputy mayor for economic development in Newark; Alexandros Washburn, AIA, chief urban designer at the NYC Department of City Planning; and Young Gull Kown, deputy mayor and chief design officer in Seoul, Korea.
Courtesy AIANY
Three cities at very different stages of their evolution are looking to the design professions for guidance to achieve a green future. As recounted by AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, Newark’s new mayor Cory Booker has emphasized that a prominent place for green thinking in cities isn’t just a pleasant amenity; it’s an urgent priority. The Seoul Design Olympiad last October launched a campaign to inform the world about Seoul’s progress, with a visionary architect/planner, Dr. Young Gull Kwon, as its deputy mayor. Newark, smaller and more troubled, is applying progressive planning to its physical environment for the first time in its history, and has made surprising headway toward a green-collar economy. NYC, Newark, Seoul have things to teach each other, and the intersection of their perspectives afforded an opportunity for cross-cultural communication.
Seoul, energized economically by its information-technology industry, is dramatically reconfiguring itself from a “hard city” based on construction and heavy industry to a “soft city” that’s ecologically healthier, culturally vibrant, driven economically by ideas and high technology, and determined to prioritize the pedestrian experience over automotive speed. Kwon discussed the steps Seoul has taken both to rebuild and redesign itself, from major infrastructural changes (demolishing 3.7 miles of downtown highway to restore the Cheonggyecheon stream and recreational park), to carefully coordinated micro-level design strategies (a uniform font for signage, a palette of official city colors, a streamlined subway map, and even a new civic mascot, the protective lion-like mythical creature Haechi).
Seoul, like Curitiba, Belgrade, and very few other cities, benefits from design-savvy leadership, i.e., an architect in high office. Kwon has collaborated with Mayor Oh Se-Hoon and Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak (Seoul’s previous mayor) to bring about a logical and thorough rethinking of public space according to a “total design concept” combining traditional building styles with contemporary minimalism and advanced information technology. Kwon’s visuals, an “airy city… [observing] an aesthetic of emptiness,” amount to an argument that cities worldwide should consider giving architects more civic clout.
Newark is a different case, badly damaged by 1960s “urban renewal” and consequent riots, out-migration, and economic decline. Deputy Mayor Stefan Pryor acknowledged the problems, emphasizing the utter disregard for design in much of Newark’s housing stock (the dreaded “Bayonne box”), but also offered encouraging news. Under Booker, with a one-third drop in the murder rate, a return to inward migration (population has risen since the 2000 census), and coordinated efforts toward transit-oriented development and affordable housing, Newark is bouncing back. Efforts to revitalize the Passaic riverfront hold polluters accountable for remediation costs, limit auto parking, build quality-of-life features like greenways, and incentivize green development through tax abatements and payments in lieu of taxes are putting Newark in a position to make the most of its assets, including the nation’s second-largest seaport and extensive transit infrastructure.
Alexandros Washburn, AIA, chief urban designer of the NYC Department of City Planning, connected the principles represented by NYC’s two dominant 20th-century urban-planning figures, Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, into a new synthesis that redefines the Athenian notion of civic virtue in contemporary ecological terms. What today’s cities need, he said, and what NYC under PlaNYC should get, is a form of sustainable modernization that combines the quantitative scale of Moses-era projects with the qualitative sensibilities prized by Jacobs. The success of the High Line’s redevelopment could be a precursor for wide application of this philosophy. Along the Hudson, the Han, and the Passaic rivers, policies and priorities are converging to make a sustainable urban future look increasingly credible.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, The Architect’s Newspaper, and other publications.
Event: Not Business As Usual
Location: Center for Architecture, 01.07, 01.21.09
Organizers: AIANY; Center for Architecture Foundation
Sponsors: AMX; Chief Manufacturing; Lutron Electronics
As the economy has yet to take a turn for the better, AIANY and the Center for Architecture Foundation continue to make an effort to ease the situation for design professionals in the city. In the last issue of e-Oculus, the report “AIANY, Center for Architecture Foundation Address Economic Woes”, introduced the Not Business As Usual series — lunchtime forums bringing together the community to brainstorm ways to cope in these difficult times.
After two general sessions, the forums will be topical going forward. The next meeting focused on advocacy will take place February 11 at 12:00pm at the Center for Architecture, and the following will be an opportunity fair on February 25 at the same time. A website has been created with information about recent discussions and future events, as well.
Here is a summary of what’s been brought to the table so far in terms of advocacy (by Rick Bell, FAIA), volunteer opportunities (by Jaime Endreny and Suzanne Mecs), presentation skills (by James McCullar, FAIA), training programs (by Ken D’Amato), and virtual communication (by Abby Suckle, FAIA, LEED AP, and Diana Darling):
Advocacy
By Rick Bell, FAIA, AIANY Executive Director
Energy Survey. Modeled on the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), which uses trained professionals to assess building conditions, an energy survey or audit of public and private structures in the U.S. would create employment opportunities and provide a starting point for a facility-based discussion of energy conservation and physical remediation.
Design Corps. Based on the AmeriCorps approach to channeling the idealism of recent graduates, a design-oriented component of an expanded AmeriCorps or Opportunity Corps would allow young design professionals to find employment in nationwide design-related endeavors. In NYC, Design Corps members could be posted to public sector offices such as the Department of Design + Construction, non-governmental organizations such as Architecture for Humanity or the Center for Architecture Foundation, or possibly even to private offices working on public projects.
Infrastructure. Advocating for an expansive and inclusive definition of infrastructure is timely as the AIA and other professional societies increase their outreach to the new administration. The Economic Stimulus proposals in Congress presently address the importance of “ready to go” projects that lack funding, such as school projects as well as bridges and roadways. Discussing other types of urban infrastructure, including, for example, window replacement at NYC Housing Authority structures, can also incorporate energy considerations into the discussion of funded tasks and commissions. Collaboration on the definition of infrastructure with the engineering community was felt to be most needed, particularly in the context of the Make It Work: Engineering Possibilities exhibition at the Center for Architecture.
Continues…
Event: On Architecture: A Conversation
Location: Scandinavia House, 01.21.09
Speakers: Ada Louise Huxtable, Hon. AIA — Architectural Critic; Kent Barwick — President Emeritus, Municipal Art Society
Organizer: The Architectural League of New York; co-sponsored by the Municipal Art Society
Courtesy walkerbooks.com
Trained as an art historian, Ada Louise Huxtable, Hon. AIA, was the first architectural critic for the New York Times, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism in 1970. Currently the architecture critic for The Wall Street Journal, Huxtable recently sat down with Kent Barwick, president emeritus of the Municipal Art Society, to discuss the history and future of architecture and urban planning in NYC as well as her latest book, On Architecture. Her high regard for structure, aesthetics, and function has remained potent throughout her career. “You cannot separate what makes a building stand up and what it looks like,” she said. But it was her marriage to an industrial designer that “made all the difference.”
Huxtable’s affection for NYC is similarly nostalgic as she recalled touring Lower Manhattan on foot with her husband, noting the richness of authenticity residing in every corner. Certain buildings in the city, of course, stand out to her. She praised Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building for its success of proportion, sensitivity to detail, and pertinence to its time. She appreciates SANAA’s New Museum because of its coherence of space and collection — a quality she compares to Gehry Partners’ Guggenheim Bilbao. Museums to Huxtable are secular monuments in which to find repose, and she attributes her critical eye to the time she served as a curatorial assistant at the Museum of Modern Art before she began her writing career.
On Architecture is a collection of Huxtable’s writings from the 1960s onward including an extensive chapter on NYC and The World Trade Center, which the author terms “a real New York story.” This is not a complete anthology, however, and in anticipation of future architectural developments she stated, “I want to stick around awhile.”
Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.
Event: The Beginnings of Suburbanization: Federal to Greek Revival Row Houses in the 1830s (initial lecture, “Architecture and Changing Lifestyles”)
Location: Urban Center, 01.14.09
Speaker: Francis Morrone — Adjunct Instructor, New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies & Fellow Emeritus, Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America
Organizers: Municipal Art Society
The Merchant’s House on E. 4th Street, late-Federal in most exterior features but Greek Revival in its entrance and parlors, illustrates the transition between the styles.
Courtesy merchantshouse.org
If the U.S. is in the process of recognizing a combined ecological/economic/infrastructural crisis and adapting the built environment to it, the past offers examples of leadership responding energetically to comparable challenges. Architectural historian Francis Morrone suggests looking to an often-overlooked statesman who took constructive risks at times of transition and trouble: DeWitt Clinton, NYC’s 10-term mayor (1803-1815), then governor (1817-1822, 1825-1828) and, critically, Canal Commissioner (1810-1824). Morrone connected the details of residential construction to the deeper channels of social evolution, interpreting the scale and style of doorways and rooms as subtle indicators of national change.
Going beyond the topic of the city’s Federal Style and Greek Revival houses, Morrone made the case for the 1830s and 1840s as a pivotal era in NYC’s history as well as urban modernization. As mayor, Clinton commissioned the surveying and mapping of Manhattan’s street grid in 1811, envisioning the orderly growth of a city populous enough to fill the island — this at a time when urban planning was an unknown concept, most of Manhattan was forested wilderness, and settlements extended from the Battery only about as far north as Houston Street. By spearheading the construction of the Erie Canal, the largest public-works project undertaken in the Western world, Clinton also connected the city with the shipping lanes of the Great Lakes and the agricultural economy of the nation’s interior, thus making that growth possible. After its construction, Morrone noted, NYC became not only the world’s largest seaport, but larger than the nation’s next four combined. In the 1820s as now, revolutions in transportation infrastructure drove the economy. Morrone called Clinton “without question the most visionary mayor New York ever had.”
The built legacy of Clinton’s era and shortly afterward, Morrone asserted, indicates that NYC’s expansion involved processes similar to what today’s urbanists decry as gridlock and sprawl. Horse-drawn omnibuses and their successors, the rail-guided horse-drawn streetcars that ran from 1832 to 1917, created the congestion that defines modern street life. Amid unprecedented growth in population and a migration, by those who could afford it, away from the deadly epidemics found in crowded downtown streets, Greenwich Village changed from the home of craftsmen into something Morrone sees as an early form of a suburb. Brooklyn Heights, he says, was likewise the first commuter suburb, with business life and domesticity separated by the East River ferry.
The elaborate sequence of stages, sheltered spaces, and entrance decoration of a Greek Revival house, in contrast to the smaller, more modest doorways of the Federal Style, suggests to Morrone the rising ideology of familial privacy, or “cult of domesticity,” that characterized Victorian-era America. A building with a full entablature and prominent columns radically separates the public street space from the interior. There, later-19th-century technical innovations such as indoor plumbing and the telegraph, which created “communication” as a distinct concept no longer synonymous with transportation, would make private life a new type of frontier.
The remaining lectures in this series, continuing with a January 28 talk on later-19th-century apartments, should provide insights into the counterpoint among technologies, belief systems, and built forms.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, The Architect’s Newspaper, and other publications.
In his 2009 State of the City Address, delivered at Brooklyn College on January 15th, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke of creating jobs, strengthening the quality of life in every NYC neighborhood, and stretching every dollar further. Job creation, he said, starts with investing in new infrastructure. And in this fiscal year, the mayor reported that there will be an all-time high of more than $10 billion in capital projects, creating more than 25,000 construction-related jobs. He gave as examples not only the #7 Flushing line extension, but also the new Police Academy in Queens, a new police precinct in Staten Island, libraries in every borough, the Queens Museum expansion, and the High Line build-out.
Relating construction to federal funding, Bloomberg had this to say: “For the past year, we’ve been pushing Washington to focus the Federal Stimulus on ready-to-build infrastructure. In all fairness, they’ve finally come around — and thanks to all the work we’ve done over the past several years, we’re ready to build. We look forward to working with Congress and President-elect Obama — not just on the stimulus package, but on re-thinking the entire way we fund infrastructure projects in this country.”
Those old enough remember the special relationship that existed between NYC and the federal government during the heyday of the Works Progress Administration and its funding of municipal projects. Mayor LaGuardia had a direct line to President Roosevelt, and many NYC Department of Health District Health Centers, among many other federally funded projects, came about as a function of that lifeline.
Continues…
Leadon’s dog-eared copy of the fourth edition of the AIA Guide to NYC, showing the many changes to the SoHo section (left). Leadon used a newspaper stand as a temporary desk while tracking down new construction sites in Tribeca (right).
Fran Leadon
Last spring Norval White, FAIA, asked me to co-author a new version of the AIA Guide to New York City. The fifth edition, the first new edition since 2000, will be published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. White, now living on a hilltop in the south of France, needed someone with time and energy to do the groundwork in New York. Every café, newsstand, cornice, mural, and stoop mentioned in the Guide would have to be re-visited, re-photographed, and reappraised, I told him I would be happy and honored to do it.
I remember first seeing the Guide when I was a graduate student at the Yale School of Architecture in the early 1990s. It was intimidating in its girth and weight, a book you couldn’t possibly read in less than five years, ridiculously ambitious in its scope. It included not only the physical facts of the built environment (the cupolas, pediments, gables, and mullions), but people and stories, too: the rivalries between long-dead architects, the unsuccessful fight for Penn Station, the hubris of Stanford White, the East Village tenement where the outlaw Butch Cassidy lived, the Upper East Side tenement where the Marx Brothers were born. What started in 1967 as a thin volume for an AIA convention, the Guide, tall and narrow, roughly brick-shaped, theoretically pocket-sized, has gradually become an epic poem.
Each edition has become both thicker and more astute in its appraisal of the city. The Guide explains things in layers. It tells the tale of just about every significant building on every block in each of the five boroughs: who designed it, when they designed it, why they designed it, in which style and with what materials, what was there before it, what is planned there in the immediate future, and what might have been ill-advisedly planned there at some point in the past, but (”happily” White would say) ended up as a future that never happened. Buildings, architects, and clients are generally treated by the Guide with the analytical respect of an archeologist as much as the razor edge of a critic. The writing, reduced to a prose more spare than Hemingway, is terse. “Prune and distill,” White tells me.
My involvement in the new edition represented an opportunity for White to re-establish a collaborative process with a co-author (founding co-author Elliot Willensky passed away in 1990 and the fourth edition was completed solo by White). One tradition of the Guide has been that it’s all eyewitness reporting: either White or Willensky personally visited and photographed each site. So I go out each day with a list of sites, camera in hand and good walking shoes on my feet. I check to see if the building is still there, jot down any alterations (additions, renovations, demolitions), and then upload the photos to our database. We’re completely re-writing the existing text and adding descriptions of significant new construction. One of us writes a new description, and the other re-writes it, back and forth.
In the coming year, I’ll offer a monthly preview of the new Guide in progress leading up to its publication in 2010, including excerpts from a revised SoHo section, a new Gansevoort Market section, and an expanded Brooklyn section.
Norval White, FAIA, is an architect, architectural historian and professor. He has designed buildings throughout the U.S., and in addition to the AIA Guide to New York City, is the author of The Architecture Book and New York: A Physical History. He currently resides with his wife Camilla in Roques, France.
Elliot Willensky (1934-1990) was an architect and architectural historian. He served as vice chairman of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and was the official Borough Historian of Brooklyn. He also wrote a popular history, When Brooklyn Was the World, 1920-1957.
Fran Leadon, AIA, is an architect and professor at the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design at the City College of New York. He lives in Brooklyn.
This year the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) is launching a new version of LEED. Instead of streamlining the process, or making the system more clear to professionals seeking accreditation for themselves or their buildings — not to mention to the clients — the new version is sure to create many levels of confusion.
First of all, titles will change. Individuals who are already accredited professionals (APs) will become Legacy LEED APs, and unless they change their status they will no longer appear as active LEED APs. Individuals who have passed the exam but are not presently working on a LEED project will be called LEED Green Associates, while those who are working on a LEED project will be designated LEED APs. There is a category of LEED AP Fellows for those who are “distinguished by their years of experience,” to be determined by a peer review that is not outlined on the website. One of the differences between LEED GAs and LEED APs is that the latter will a have higher application fee (new in 2009), a higher exam fee, and double the number of required continuing education hours (also new in 2009). I, personally, do not understand a need for a distinction between professionals who are working on LEED projects and those who are not. Everyone should have the same requirements, pay the same fees, take the same test, and benefit from the program universally. It’s bad enough the exam will be more difficult, claiming a pass rate of only 20% compared to the current 34%.
Secondly, a new point system has been created that is weighted using what the GBCI calls “Life Cycle Assessment Indicators.” Priority will be given to Climate Change, as it is currently the most pressing issue. In the future (new versions will launch biennially), if environmental and societal priorities shift, so will the point system. In addition, local chapters may allow for bonus credits based on issues unique to their locales. For a building to obtain certification the scale has increased from 69 to 100 points — certified projects require 40 points, silver 50, gold 60, and platinum 80.
Since the system will keep changing, I understand the need for LEED APs, or LEED GAs, to complete continuing education requirements. Plus, I feel it is important to stay up to date on new developments in the industry. However, with the new AIA sustainability requirements for CEUs, the ARE exams changing to reflect more green issues, the new building code taking a cue from the more environmentally sound International Building Code, not to mention other local initiatives, I wonder why the GBCI needs to add another layer of red tape to the process. How come the GBCI did not collaborate more closely with the AIA (as far as I know) when coming up with continuing education requirements?
Overall, I am not averse to change. What I do protest, though, is making the process more complicated, much more expensive, and ultimately more difficult for those dedicated to sustainable design.
In this issue:
· Music and Art Breathe New Life into Firehouse
· Transparency Opens Up Conference Center
· The Smith Keeps Up With the Jones’s in Boerum Hill
· Hungary Returns to the Beaux Arts
· Greater Hanoi Develops a Master Plan
Music and Art Breathe New Life into Firehouse
BP Music Center.
HOK
The NY office of HOK unveiled the redesign of former Engine Company 204 Firehouse, turning the space into the BP Music Center. Shuttered in May 2003 due to budgetary reasons, the Cobble Hill firehouse will be the permanent home for the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Create!, a non-profit organization for children’s art education and training. HOK’s pro-bono gut renovation of the 4,250-square-foot, 19th century building will incorporate a multi-purpose space for performances, meetings, lectures, and other community uses on the ground floor, as well as offices of for the two organizations and a music rehearsal room on the second floor. The brick exterior will be restored to its natural color, and a modern, all-glass entrance, complete with marquee, are in the works.
Transparency Opens Up Conference Center
Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Michael D. Szerbaty + Associates
NY-based Michael D. Szerbaty + Associates has completed a newly renovated conference center for Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). Located in midtown Manhattan, the center’s expanded public areas, conference rooms, and teaching facilities offer an upgraded learning environment and comfortable teaching and public spaces. A glass-walled resource center that contains carrels with computers and most of the center’s research books opens up what had been a closed off library. The dining area’s waist-high walls allow views to the perimeter windows, providing natural light and a visual connection with the city. By integrating these low walls and floor-to-ceiling glass, conference attendees also can have a quick take on who is there and find ample room for a quick conversations or meetings. The $1.3 million project is the latest in a series of teaching, conference, and research facilities that the firm has designed for ILR and Cornell University.
The Smith Keeps Up With the Jones’s in Boerum Hill
The Smith.
Meltzer/Mandl Architects
Meltzer/Mandl Architects has completed the design of The Smith, a new 13-story, mixed-use complex in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. The 116,000-square-foot project will contain a 93-room hotel with 50 condominiums above. The condos are primarily two-bedroom homes, with the 12th floor consisting of duplexes with rooftop terraces. In addition, 1,100 square feet of medical offices and retail space will front Atlantic Avenue, and there will be below-grade parking for 64 vehicles. In keeping with the character of the brownstone and contemporary townhouse neighborhood, the building steps down to four stories along its State Street frontage.
Hungary Returns to the Beaux Arts
Exchange Palace.
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners
Tippin Corporation, a Budapest-based real estate development firm, has commissioned Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners to create an adaptive re-use and restoration plan for the 500,000-square-foot Exchange Palace, a historic landmark in the center of the city. Designed by Ignacz Alpar and built in 1905 to house the Budapest Stock and Commodities Exchange, the Beaux Arts-style building is notable for its ornamental details in the Art Nouveau style of the Hungarian Secession. In 1956, it was converted into the Hungarian State Television station, and major interior modifications were made to accommodate television sound stages. The historic façades will be restored, as will the remaining, intact grand interior spaces — most notably the main entrance stair hall and the central domed rotunda. All new mechanical and vertical transportation systems will be installed to create a state-of-the-art, modernized facility. Located on Freedom Square, a variety of new uses are being considered for the building, including office and retail space, as well as space for cultural programs. The restoration of the ground floor storefronts will once again allow cafés with sidewalk seating to animate the streetscape.
Greater Hanoi Develops a Master Plan
Out of a field of 21 international competitors, Perkins Eastman was selected by the government of Vietnam to lead a team of two Korean firms — Posco E&C, and Jina Architects — that will develop a master plan for Greater Hanoi. Preserving the city’s historic core and its 1,000-year-old architectural legacy was among the main themes for the design, along with meeting the needs of a city that is expected to grow from the current six million inhabitants to more than 10 million by 2030, and channeling the population growth into several satellite cities linked by a new transit system. In addition, the team recommended a strategy for preserving more than 40% of the area for natural preserves, recreational space, and agricultural uses. In 2007, this same team completed a master plan for part of Hatoy Province, which was recently annexed into the expanded Capital District.
In this issue:
· AIA Makes Policy Recommendations to Congress
· Engineers Sue NYC
AIA Makes Policy Recommendations to Congress
The AIA semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast projects an 11% decline in design and construction activity in 2009. To revitalize the building sector, which accounts for about $1 of every $10 of the U.S. GDP, the AIA developed the Rebuild and Renew Plan, which details its recommendations for the allocation of funds in President Obama’s economic recovery plan. The AIA is calling on the new administration and Congress to create policies that ensure these monies are spent on the planning, design, and construction of energy efficient, sustainable buildings and healthy communities. If implemented correctly, the nearly $100 billion plan would create 1.6 million jobs throughout the design and construction industry.
Recent reports estimate that the economic recovery package may total as much as $800 billion, with at least $350 billion dedicated to infrastructure projects. However, the AIA’s recommendations call for longer planning and design periods for projects to help ensure that they are carried out in the most effective, cost-efficient manner, and that funds are not poorly spent due to the projects being hastily planned and executed. Providing funding for projects across 24 months will ensure a steady stream of funds for job creation over the likely life of the recession.
The plan is comprised of five key policy areas for immediate attention: 21st-century schools; green commercial, residential, and institutional buildings; historic preservation projects; transit, mixed-use development, and complete streets projects; and tax relief for businesses. For more information on the AIA’s Rebuild and Renew Plan, or to download the full report, click the link.
Engineers Sue NYC
The NY State Society of Professional Engineers (NYSSPE) is bringing a lawsuit against the City of New York to restore the licensure requirement for the Commissioner of Buildings. Recently, the NY City Council passed legislation removing the requirement that the commissioner be a licensed professional engineer or registered architect. The NYSSPE believes that this law not only diminishes and undermines their profession, but more importantly, puts the public at risk. They believe this law is in violation of the NY State Engineering Licensure Statute and hope to reverse it in a court of law.
Musician Quincy Jones is petitioning President Obama to appoint a Secretary of Arts. Do you agree with the proposal?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
As the year comes to an end, how are you feeling about the profession and the state of the economy?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) NY Chapter is looking for volunteers to help out with its annual support of Publicolor, a non-profit organization with the mission to use color, collaboration, design, and painting to empower students to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities. Volunteers will work alongside the students, not only brightening up their environment, but also providing them with important exposure to positive role models and opportunities for informal mentoring. The event will take place Saturday, 02.21.09, from 10:30am-3:00pm. There is a $10 donation to cover lunch, and volunteers will be accepted on a first-come/first-served basis. RSVP to jbarr@tedmoudis.com or call 917-340-1857.
Photographer Peter Aaron, Guy Nordenson, Metropolis, and DOCOMOMO US have been awarded 2009 Collaborative Achievement Awards by the AIA… The Department of Small Business Services announced this year’s Celebrating Successful Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Awardees including MWBE of the Year, Everardo Agosto Jefferson, AIA, and Sara Elizabeth Caples, AIA, of Caples Jefferson Architects, and MWBE Rising Star Award winner Elizabeth Kennedy of Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects…
The AD 100, a selection of the top architects and interior designers whose work has been featured in Architectural Digest over the past several years includes NY-based Penny Drue Baird; John Barman; Samuel Botero; Geoffrey Bradfield; Thomas Britt; Mario Buatta; Diane Burn; Robert Couturier; Elissa Cullman; Joanne de Guardiola; David Easton Mica Ertegun; Ferguson & Shamamian; William T. Georgis, AIA; Peter L. Gluck; Mariette Himes Gomez; Alexander Gorlin, FAIA; Michael Graves, FAIA; Victoria Hagan; Alexa Hampton; Thad Hayes; Ike Kligerman Barkley; Peter Marino, FAIA; Juan Pablo Molyneux; Juan Montoya; Sandra Nunnerley; Campion Platt; AIA; Jennifer Post; Jaquelin T. Robertson, FAIA; Harry Schnaper; Annabelle Selldorf, AIA; Roderick N. Shade; Stephen Shadley; Shelton; Mindel; Marjorie Shushan; Sills Huniford; Scott Snyder; Robert A. M. Stern, FAIA; Carleton Varney; Alan Wanzenberg, AIA; and Dennis Wedlick, AIA…
Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture announced that Abby Hamlin has been elected as Chair of the Van Alen Institute Board of Trustees… Jessica Lansdale, AIA, LEED AP, is now the manager of SBLM Architects’ new Healthcare & Wellness division…
01.22.09: The MAKE IT WORK. Engineering Possibilities exhibition opened at the Center for Architecture.
(L-R): AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA; exhibition designers Urshula Barbour and Isaac Gertman; 2009 AIANY President Sherida Paulsen, FAIA; exhibition designer Paul Carlos; and AIANY Director of Exhibitions Rosamond Fletcher.
Tyler Coburn
(L-R): James Dunphy, Isaac Gertman, Paul Carlos, Urshula Barbour, and Joanne Chew of Pure + Applied, the exhibition designers, with Rick Bell, FAIA.
Tyler Coburn
Partygoers gathered at the Center.
Kristen Richards
The exhibition allows for many types of interaction.
Kristen Richards
Make It Work advertisements are plastered throughout the city bringing people from all over to the Center for Architecture. Here, a couple of Irish tourists plan on stopping by.
Rick Bell
11.06.08: The Capauchin Food Pantries hosted its ninth annual “Doodle For Hunger” event at Tavern on the Green. The celebrity art auction consisted of signed original works by artists, athletes, entertainers, politicians, and business icons, and the money raised goes to help feed those in need in the NY area. Ted Moudis, AIA, founder and senior principal at Ted Moudis Associates, co-sponsored the event.
(L-R): Event host Ernie Anastos and guest of honor Rosanna Scotto of Fox 5 News; Ted Moudis, AIA; and Nick Gregory, Fox 5 chief meteorologist.
Courtesy Ted Moudis Associates
2009 Oculus Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. The themes:
Spring Issue: Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All. Closed.
Summer Issue: AIANY 2009 Design Awards and AIANY/BSA Biennial Design Type Awards. Closed.
Fall Issue: Carbon Neutral Now. The new green frontier, carbon neutrality, researched, explored, planned, and designed at all scales by New York architects.
06.01.09: Suggestion Deadline
Winter Issue: Health & Architecture. Architecture designed to promote fitness, health, and wellness will be profiled. Projects selected from within this growing field will demonstrate sensitivity to generational and demographic issues, sustainability, and technology.
08.01.09: Suggestion Deadline
If you have suggestions, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards.
02.20.09 Call for Presentations: ASLA 2009 Annual Meeting and EXPO
The 2009 ASLA Annual Meeting theme will be Beyond Sustainability: Regenerating Places and People. Proposals for consideration are now being accepted online. The meeting and EXPO will be held 09.18-21.09 in Chicago. Speakers selected to present at the meeting will receive a complimentary full registration ($450 value) and one-night hotel stay ($250 value; ASLA retains the right to assign the hotel).
03.06.09 Call for Entries: International Public Competition for an Architectural Project for Exploratory Science Museum in Brazil
State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil announces a two-phase competition open to any registered architect. The exploratory science museum will be approximately 5,200 square meters situated on a 28,000-square-meter site, prominently located at the edge of campus. The estimated budget for the is around $5 million.
03.23.09 Call for Entries: Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space (TOGS) 2
Art Alliance Austin announces its second installment of the ideas competition TOGS 2. Through a continued partnership with AIA Austin and Austin Foundation for Architecture, Art Alliance Austin is now also partnering with AIANY. The competition will generate proposals for temporary space for the exhibit of fine art, which ultimately will enhance Art Alliance Austin’s annual outdoor art festival “Art City Austin” by providing gallery space for selected artists. A Grand Prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the winning design. Second- and third-prize winners will be awarded $500 and $250 respectively.
03.27.09 Call for Entries: Designing in Teheran
This international competition, open to designers and architects, calls for the design of two multi-story buildings set in Teheran, Iran. The goal is to collect ideas and identify solutions that will provide the best and most coherent integration of the structures in the local urban and commercial setting while maintaining a clear identity. The spaces will be used for commercial premises and offices. The total prize money is Euro 30,000.00.
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
January 22 — April 25, 2009
MAKE IT WORK. Engineering Possibilities
Today’s engineers are working across disciplines and driving innovation. MAKE IT WORK. Engineering Possibilities looks at how engineers are envisioning and realizing the future of our built environment by transforming structures, improving environments, enhancing materials, re-inventing building technologies, and advancing forms. This exhibition highlights how inventive strategies for building are born from multidisciplinary research and integrated practice. Small engineering firms, large engineering firms, engineering schools, university labs, materials labs, artists, inventors, and architects are all part of the exchange of ideas — plotting trajectories of innovation.
Building on observations, analysis, and mathematical principles, engineers have developed the profession from empirical analysis into a field of expertise based on predictability and synthesis. With digital simulation and processing capabilities, engineers are utilizing comprehensive models to explore different options for optimizing structures and systems.
Twenty-first century engineers are tackling some of the most challenging concerns of our day. Exceeding LEED standards for sustainable building, engineers are conceiving of new ways for buildings to harvest and manage energy — floors that create electricity and facade systems that respond to the sun. Anticipating dwindling global resources, engineers are designing structures to new standards of efficiency and economy — stadiums that use 50% less steel and towers formed for optimal wind-loading.
These solutions are the product of creative and collaborative pursuit. This exhibition highlights how inventive strategies for building are born from multidisciplinary research and integrated practice. Small engineering firms, large engineering firms, engineering schools, university labs, materials labs, artists, inventors, and architects are all part of the exchange of ideas — plotting trajectories of innovation.
Exhibition Curatorial Team:
Rosamond Fletcher
Eli Gottlieb
Zak Kostura
Erik Madsen
Jonah Stern
Beth Stryker
Exhibition Designer:
Pure + Applied
Framing Space Installation by:
Phillip Anzalone and Stephanie Bayard, aa64
The Trusset Structural System, invented by Phillip Anzalone and Cory Clarke, is a project of the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University in collaboration with the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Research Assistant:
Ginger Nolan, Columba GSAPP Ph.D Candidate
Research Intern:
Alicia Arroyo
Special Thanks to our Advisory Committee:
Julie Applebaum, Center for Architecture Foundation Board
Phil Bernstein, Autodesk
Vincent Chang, Grimshaw
John Hennessy, ACEC President
Marvin Mass, Cosentini
Dan Nall, Flack + Kurtz
Craig Schwitter, Buro Happold
David Scott, Arup
Susan Szenasy, Metropolis
Richard Tomasetti, Thornton Tomasetti.
Underwriter:
Patron:
Lead Sponsors:
Supporters: American Council of Engineering Companies of New York, Josef Gartner USA, and Weidlinger Associates
Friend: Grimshaw Architects
Supporter: American Council of Engineering Companies of New York
The Framing Space Installation is generously provided by aa64 with additional support from:
Alusion, a product of Cymat Technologies Ltd.
Contrarian Metal Resources
General Plastics Manufacturing
Indalex Aluminum Solutions Group
Maloya Laser, Inc.
Panelite
Related Events
Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 6:00 — 8:00pm
Multi-disciplinary Innovation
Saturday, February 21, 2009, 11:00am — 5:00pm
Symposium: Energy Engineering
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 6:00 — 8:00pm
100% BIM
Thursday, March 19, 2009, 6:00 — 8:00pm
Tapered, Tilted, Twisted Towers: a lecture by David Scott, Arup
Friday, March 27, 2009, 6:00 — 8:00pm
Screening of Bird’s Nest, a film by Christoph Schaub & Michael Schindhelm
01.31.09 through 5.10.09
Building Brainstorm
Building Brainstorm.
Courtesy Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Building Brainstorm is a building design and construction studio that presents special building challenges for children to research and solve. Through hands-on and inquiry-based activities, children investigate aspects of city planning, architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and green design. Kids and adults will experiment with building materials, and engineering problems, as well as researching the effects of color, light, patterns, and texture through their in-depth explorations of the art and science of the built environment.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
145 Brooklyn Avenue at St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
02.05.09 through 3.28.09
Out My Window
“Out My Window.”
Courtesy Design Trust for Public Space
Gail Albert Halaban created this exhibition for her photo urbanism fellowship from the Design Trust for Public Space. Over the past year and a half, Albert Halaban has created a series of portraits in private homes across the five boroughs, focusing on the views that shape New Yorkers’ everyday lives. Incorporating photojournalism and its anthropological approach, Albert Halaban also finds precedence in the characters of Edward Hopper’s universe, using architecture to suggest the inner psychology of her subject and the subtle interactions of urban life.
Robert Mann Gallery
210 Eleventh Avenue, NYC
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.
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Looking for help? See resumes posted on the AIA New York Chapter website.
Allen + Killcoyne Architects, 12 West 27th Street
17th Floor, New York, NY 10001
Shared architectural office space –
The open loft office has great natural light and views. Up to eight workstations with 5 foot wide front and rear desktops and a chair are available. Shared spaces include conference room, pantry and product shelves.
tliebl@allen-killcoyne.com
Commercial Loft sublet:
New construction, prime Soho location. Private office and workstations available within architect’s office. Sun-filled office loft, access to all amenities including conference rooms, roof terraces. 24/7 building access. Contact Elaine Suben 212-524-8512 elaine.suben@subendougherty.com for further information.
website: www.subendougherty.com
SHARED OFFICE SPACE FOR SUBLET IN NEW YORK CITY (28 WEST 25TH STREET, NY, NY)
Boutique Architectural Firm has 8 workstations approximately 8′ x 8′ and 1 small room available immediately.
- Heat & A/C included
- Shared Conference Room, Kitchen, Restrooms
- Receptionist Available
- Furnished with Desks & Chairs
Reasonably Priced. Call 212-627-1150. Ask for Lorrie.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES AT THE COOPER UNION
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art presents AIA approved courses (most HSW and SD rated) in its Green Building Design program. The LEED exam prep course is our latest offering.
Other spring term courses: Sustainable Design Principles for Buildings and Masterplans, The Ecological City, Indoor Environmental Quality, Daylighting, Sustainable Construction Methods, Building Electrical Power, Green Buildings and New York City, Measuring Green, Bioclimatic Design, Distributed Generation and Renewable Energy, Whole Building Performance Analysis, Acoustics for Architects, and Architectural Photography Workshop. Most of these courses count towards the 110-hour Certificate in Green Building Design. For more information or registration, go to our website, www.cooper.edu/ce or call David Greenstein, Director of Continuing Education at 212-353-4198.
(Continued from above)
Government
Our 150th anniversary exhibition, curated by Diane Lewis, AIA, examined the thesis that the formation of the AIA was tied to the realization that we needed a strong professional organization to partner with strong governmental institutions to demand better design to better people’s everyday lives. The design competition for Central Park was a part of that thinking. We are fortunate in NY to have had civic leadership that created the Art Commission, now the Public Design Commission, the City Planning Commission, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, all with a mandate to provide our city with the finest environments for our varied population.
AIANY’s board and committees seek to continue to provide platforms for the profession and the city agencies to communicate and exchange ideas, as we have in the past years, especially with the Department of Buildings, the Department of Design and Construction, and the Department of Health, to name a few.
Community
As architects, we need to stay on top of the latest trends in design, not only in architecture, but graphics, landscape, and engineering, and the Center for Architecture is a tremendous resource for our members and allied professions. In addition, an effort to broaden cooperation and partnership with the Architectural League of New York, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Van Alen Institute, and the Design Trust for Public Spaces will allow for greater access to the broadest thinking about the architectural world today.
The Center is also a great place to provide non-architects with information to help them make choices about their own neighborhoods. Our exhibitions, library, and Public Information Exchange act as doorways to ideas for the many communities throughout our city, and we will focus board and staff attention on making all more accessible.
Schools
Our schools need to be modern environments for learning, and it is important that we invest in the buildings and infrastructure that allow students to achieve the most that they can; but we also believe that that education should include a strong curriculum in the arts, and that integrating architecture is essential to learning about history, technology, mathematics, and art.
Our Center for Architecture Foundation’s programs in Learning by Design:NY and Family Days@theCenter can be a unique introduction to the built environment and how it gets constructed, and we look forward to supporting the Foundation in its programs.
2009 Outlook
The gloomy forecast for our profession and allied industries requires the AIANY board of directors to constantly monitor our offerings. This year, the executive committee will rise to the challenges in the following ways:
First, our members: as AIANY Executive Director Rick Bill, FAIA, mentioned, we will be starting programs here at the Center for architects and interns who are looking for employment. In addition, our member services committee, led by AIANY Secretary Abby Suckle, FAIA, LEED AP, will announce a variety of programs this year designed to increase those eligible for licensure, and to support all of us in our efforts to maintain our presence in the profession (Editor’s Note: See Architecture Community Comes Together: Advocacy, Volunteerism, Expertise to read about the Not Business As Usual forums).
Second, our board and committee chairs will undergo a careful update of our long-range plan, and that effort will be led by First Vice President / President-elect Anthony Schirripa, AIA, IIDA. Our long-range plan and subsequent business plan were last reviewed and implemented five years ago, and the Chapter and the Center have grown up a bit; the need to take stock, and look at the relationship to the national AIA’s strategic plan is critical to our organization’s efficient use of your membership investment.
Our budgets will be monitored closely this year to ensure that your member dues are spent wisely and well. This activity will be led by Treasurer Kenneth Ricci, FAIA, and I have asked that we update our budgets on shorter time frames so that we can respond quickly to any drastic changes in our economic outlook.
The committees, the lifeblood of the chapter, will continue to meet, present panels, and organize exhibitions around specific building types and interest areas. The three vice presidents, Margaret Castillo, AIA, LEED AP, for Public Outreach, Illya Azaroff, AIA, for Design Excellence, and Joseph Aliota, AIA, LEED AP, for Professional Development, will provide the board with updates and leadership for each of these interest areas.
These officers are the leaders of the Chapter, develop our policy positions for outside comment, and deserve a round of applause for their commitment to the profession.
The other members of the Board of Directors provide connections to the non-AIA world; they represent the profession to academia, related professions, the state board and the general public, and are the people that bring the Center for Architecture to a world outside the profession, and that world back to the AIA. They will be bringing new opportunities to increase our audiences through these connections.
And last but not least, the AIANY and Center for Architecture staff members, led by Rick Bell and Managing Director Cynthia Kracauer, AIA, LEED AP, are always on the lookout for new ideas and programs that can be discussed at the Center. Rick’s initiatives to keep the AIANY Chapter on the national and global stages are done with energy and creativity, and deserve our thanks; Cynthia’s intelligence and managerial expertise are put to the test everyday in running the Center, from the geo-thermal system to the allocation of spaces for events, as she supervises the best staff of people dedicated to bringing architecture to life in as many ways as possible.
Conclusion
We architects have a special responsibility to the public and patrons that use and commission our work. This Center is our means of communication to those groups, and it is our work this year to expand our partnerships to reach greater audiences to the benefit of all. To serve you as President of the AIANY Chapter is a huge responsibility, and one that I intend to rise to — the need to elevate architecture by increasing design literacy will lead to inspirational architecture for all.
(Continued from above)
Apart from these three principle concepts, five other ideas were elaborated. There was enthusiasm for more competitions at the Center, including those following the models of the Emerging NY Architects (ENYA) Committee’s international ideas competitions, and the second New Housing New York “Legacy Project” competition, which involved partnering with a public agency that controlled a site allowing for the eventuality of construction of the winning proposal. Also presented was the idea that additional technical assistance team charrettes for both urban design and sustainability should be welcomed, either through AIA National and its Design for Communities efforts, or locally, as was done through AIANY’s Planning & Urban Design committee for 23rd Street. Advocacy for more involvement in a variety of issues having to do with health care, the aging population, and accessibility were discussed. While the Center’s Fit City program recognizes the policy implications of the connection between design and chronic diseases prevention, more can be done to make our sidewalks and neighborhoods safer for those with limited mobility.
Changes in credential requirements were discussed in regard to such areas as substitute teaching. Investigation of current NYC Department of Education standards, and what might be revised to encourage unemployed architects to find temporary employment in the public school system is needed. Easing reciprocity of architectural licensure in other states was also discussed along with the need for further discussion with NCARB on the impact of a changing economy. Finally, it was agreed that any efforts that promote the design community’s involvement in sustainable initiatives would be useful.
Volunteer Opportunities
By Jaime Endreny, Executive Director, Center for Architecture Foundation Executive Director and Suzanne Mecs, Director of Membership, AIANY
The discussion centered on current Center for Architecture Foundation programs and opportunities for volunteerism and more limited paid opportunities.
New programming ideas include:
· Organized building tours coordinated by volunteers.
· Resource development to connect with other community groups like Architecture for Humanity and community boards.
· Invite community board members to the Center so they may help architects understand their communities’ needs. “Ask an Architect” day or program could help make the connection.
· Provide counsel and architectural help about housing issues.
· Examine business models and frameworks and recommend adjustments.
· Individuals could become mentors. The Chapter has launched a Mentor-Match program, which is currently seeking volunteers. Contact mentoring@aiany.org for more information.
· Coordinate with other volunteer community groups and link opportunities online.
· Coordinate a panel on how people have survived other recessions.
· Explore how volunteer work may feed into AIA continuing education requirements.
· Share the Learning by Design:NY curriculum with the public.
Presentation and Marketing Skills
By James McCullar, FAIA, 2008 AIANY President
Greg Silk of API Partners and Dana Byrne of RMJM North America led a discussion on the importance of communication, grooming, and portfolio presentation skills. Recommendations included: setting up portfolio and marketing training programs; developing a database on building types (i.e., health facilities) and areas less affected by the recession; joining AIANY committees to develop organizational and speaking skills; participating in reading clubs, or starting an architectural reading group, to hone speaking skills.
The current downturn offers opportunities to develop skills that will be critical in the future:
Registration. Professional registration will be extremely important when the economy revives. AIANY and the Emerging NY Architects committee have organized ARE courses beginning in February offering reduced charges for members.
LEED Certification. The USBGC will be a leader in President Obama’s green energy programs and the revival of the economy where LEED certification will be important.
Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is viewed as an equally important skill set to develop. It was recommended that the Chapter initiate a training program.
Continuing Education. Continuing to develop knowledge in both design and other fields will provide new opportunities.
Building Social Capital. Volunteering to serve on Community Boards, Habitat for Humanity, and other civic organizations to share experience, develop skills, and network.
Sharing Experiences. Older architects have experienced previous recessions and found ways to adapt, such as working in related fields like construction, the arts, and community organizations.
Training Programs
By Ken D’Amato, IMAGINiT Technologies
The discussion led by Paul Seletsky, Assoc. AIA, senior manager of digital design technologies at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, focused on ways to help the profession re-tool toward BIM and LEED during the economic downturn. He would like to set up a new service where contributors create BIM models of federal buildings with the aid of government funding.
There is a continued need for learning and a group should bring together evangelists for continuing technical learning. BIM should be as up-front in the industry as LEED has been. In fact, the USGBC is interested in integrating green initiatives into BIM modeling technology. We have an opportunity to implement this now. Also, the AIA is pushing for its new Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Standards. This group could push the standards through with the BIM process.
Virtual Communication
By Abby Suckle, FAIA, LEED AP, AIANY Secretary, and Diana Darling, founder and publisher of The Architect’s Newspaper
A new website, Exchange Place, will be set up to include free postings of jobs, resumes, available space, and volunteer opportunities. The website will launch in a few weeks, but in the meantime, AIANY is posting important dates and information at http://www.aiany.org/notbusinessasusual. A set of paper files for resources is now located in the Center for Architecture’s Common Room, as well.
(Continued from above)
Mayor Bloomberg recalled those years in his State of the City speech: “Until recently, the New Deal and the 1930s seemed like a distant memory — something we read about in history books. But last year, when the sub-prime mortgage write-down became a global financial meltdown, the bank panics returned and today, more people are worried about losing their jobs, their savings, and their homes than at any time since the Great Depression… Time and again, the future of our city has been in doubt. Time and again, we have faced moments of truth. And each time, we have pulled together as New Yorkers and come out stronger, together.” He continued: “Our job is to help all those who are struggling — help improve their chances for a job, for keeping their homes, for making ends meet, and to do it all without new funding — because the city just doesn’t have the money. Instead, rather than spending new dollars, we have to redeploy resources and repurpose budgets — and we will.”
The reference to the Great Depression continued near the conclusion of Mayor Bloomberg’s speech: “Over the history of our city — no matter how severe the blow we’ve been dealt, no matter how uncertain the future — we have always found the strength and optimism to rise to new heights, as New Yorkers, together. No one better exemplifies that than the man who is responsible for building the college where we sit today: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We all know how in his first speech as President, FDR reminded us that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. But you may not know that on the last full day of his life, he wrote this: ‘The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.’”
In the first speech as President given by Barack Obama, the echo of the Entente cordiale between LaGuardia’s NYC-resilience and Roosevelt’s New Deal will-power came across loud and clear: “For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.”
It seemed to many in the audience of billions, as well as to commentators and bloggers that President Obama’s Inaugural Address was restrained rhetoric, not reaching for unrealizable goals nor raising unachievable expectations. In this regard it was a building program, not a rendering. It was detailed enough to serve as blueprint and specifications for the near future, for a fast-track start, a shovel in the ground.
In the first week of February, architects from around the nation will converge on Washington, DC, for the annual AIA Grassroots legislative and leadership conference at which issues are raised with Members of Congress and others in government. AIA President-elect George Miller, FAIA, an AIANY past-president, is leading this national conjunction under the banner of the acronym “VIA! AIA” for Vision, Influence, and Action. The AIA’s Rebuild and Renew policy statement is a call to action. We expect that it will find, this year, friendly ears.
One of the zingers about halfway through President Obama’s Inaugural Address last week was: “Know that your people will judge you on what you can build….” Let’s not be wanting.
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