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12.22.09 Editor’s Note: This is the last issue of 2009. Happy Holidays, and look forward to e-Oculus next year. The first issue of 2010 will be published Tuesday, 01.12.09.
- Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
Correction: In the last issue, “Architects Travel to Cuba for Global Dialogues,” should have stated that Judith DiMaio, AIA, is the dean, and Frank Mruk, AIA, RIBA, is the associate dean of the School of Architecture and Design at New York Institute of Technology. We apologize for the error.
Note: Be sure to follow Tweets from e-Oculus and the Center for Architecture.
Note: The following speech was presented at the 2010 AIA New York Board Inaugural that took place 12.08.09 at the Center for Architecture. Tony Schirripa, AIA, IIDA, is the 2010 AIANY President.
Past AIA New York presidential themes have celebrated the work that architects do. And that work, the final, finished project, is all that most of the general public knows of us. Now it’s time to celebrate and elevate the “complete” architect — the designer, planner, innovator, and leader. As we begin to emerge in 2010 from one of the worst recessions of our lifetime, architects will have the opportunity not just for more work, but for designing projects that will lead our industry, this city, and the nation on the road to recovery and growth. We will be asked to show the way in designing sustainable buildings, to help communities plan for a healthy and viable future, and to lend the full breadth of our knowledge and skill to policy decisions — local and global — in this increasingly interdependent and integrated world.
I have established as the 2010 theme “Architect as Leader.” We will explore the role of the architect in the leadership of projects and firms, in communities, and the political arena.
Through this theme, we will explore the following topics:
· Leadership in Sustainable Design will highlight the ways in which architects contribute to building a sustainable world. We are, after all, the designers of energy-efficient, cost-effective, smart buildings. The USGBC, LEED, Green Globes, and Energy Star — all the standards and rules in the world — are only pieces of paper until we interpret them and bring them to life. But our role goes far beyond design: it is our responsibility to teach people how to use sustainable buildings, how our buildings can be catalysts for sustainable communities, and how design and behavior are interdependent.
· Not Business as Usual will continue to provide the necessary resources and support to our members during the recession. Through the series we will enhance job skills, training, and provide new opportunities for professional development to all members of the design community.
· Leadership Training in partnership with a major university will explore methods and challenges of running a successful business today. Our architectural education does not include a thorough exploration and study of the business of architectural practice; it is expected that we will learn what we need through on-the-job experience. That may have been adequate in the past; today the world is far too complex for ad hoc, on-the-fly learning. We need a higher level of knowledge and skill, gained through a more formal, integrated education in the business of managing people — especially a younger, mobile, and more diverse generation of professionals — in developing and implementing a strategic business plan. We also must train for today’s challenges, like preparing for a smooth ownership transition, and maintaining a healthy practice no matter the economic conditions.
Continues…
Event: East Side Access: Bringing the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal
Location: Center for Architecture, 11.11.09
Speakers: Elton Elperin, AIA — Chief Architect, East Side Access; Maria Tarczynska, AIA — Senior Project Architect, East Side Access
Cross-section of the East Side Access.
Courtesy MTA
Good things come to those who wait. And wait. And wait. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) estimates that Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuters will save 40 minutes a day in travel time to Midtown and the East Side when the East Side Access (ESA), connecting the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal (GCT), is completed. The MTA projects that, by 2020, there will be a 50/50 split between ridership to Penn Station and GCT via the ESA.
The idea of linking the LIRR with GCT has been gestating for more than 40 years. The ESA is an enormous MTA capital project — the largest construction project ever undertaken by the authority. Seven miles of new tunnels are being built 100 feet below the surface and through the bedrock of Manhattan. The new tunnels, completely independent of those traveling to Penn Station, will eventually join the existing 63rd Street Tunnel and new tunnels originating in Sunnyside, Queens.
“GCT was designed as a complex,” said Elton Elperin, AIA, of AECOM, who has been working on the ESA since 2001, “and this project extends the GCT complex.” The AECOM team, which is being led by Elton and senior project architect Maria Tarczynska, AIA, is a member of the General Engineering Consultant (GEC) team that is designing the estimated $7.2-billion ESA, which will sit 90 feet below GCT and will include: new entrances; a 300,000-square-foot concourse’ eight tracks on four platforms that lie beneath the existing Metro-North lower level tracks; eight linked mezzanines; and ticketing and waiting areas, retail, and exhibit space. “Aesthetic features keep changing,” Elperin said, but the project is on track and the design of the ESA is expected to be complete by August 2010.
The most visible change to pedestrians will be a new open public space on 50th Street between Park and Madison Avenues. EDAW, a subsidiary of AECOM, is designing the public space that will feature a landscaped plaza with seating and a water feature designed by Waterline Studios of Fort Collins, CO.
Four townhouses had to be demolished to create a new ventilation building, but due to public input, the team reduced its height and relocated more of the functions underground. Another ventilation structure is being constructed on 44th Street. Its neighbor, the Yale Club, was adamantly against having a “ventilation monstrosity” nearby, so the team designed a low-rise structure to camouflage the system and it is illuminated to appear as if people are at work inside.
One of the greatest challenges, according to Elperin, is the weaving of the space through the numerous obstacles set by Metro North, the buildings, and infrastructure in the area. He admitted that the project has “suffered the loss of additional entrances to the street, but those can be phased in later — it’s simply a question of money.” When asked if there was any analysis done to connect the new tracks to the Second Avenue Subway, for which AECOM served as the prime consultant for the engineering and design, he said that he didn’t know, “but there’s got to be a feasibility of it somewhere.”
For more information on the ESA visit http://www.mta.info/capconstr.
Linda G. Miller is a NYC-based freelance writer and publicist, and a contributing editor to e-Oculus and OCULUS.
Event: Lunch at the United Nations Headquarters
Location: United Nations Headquarters, 12.08.09
Speakers: John Hanna, Jr. — Chair, Archives Partnership Trust; Ramu Damodaran — Deputy Director, UN Outreach Division; Stephen Schlesinger — Historian & Author; John Clarkson — Deputy to the Executive Director, Capital Master Plan; David Fixler, FAIA — Principal, EYP Architecture & Engineering
United Nations Headquarters.
Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering
The headquarters of the United Nations is a prime example of Modernism with a capital M. However, time has taken its toll on the early 1950s complex that bears the signatures of internationally renowned architects including Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Recently, leaders from the Archives Partnership Trust, the UN Outreach Division and Capital Master Plan team, along with designers from EYP Architecture & Engineering, gathered to discuss the progress of the revitalization of the buildings for 21st-century use.
Ramu Damodaran, deputy director of the UN Outreach Division, is often asked why it’s taking so long to complete the renovations. “The Lord had the great advantage of working alone,” he replies, referring to the multitude of committees and teams involved in the planning process. The design team alone includes EYP with Helpern Architects, HLW, R.A. Heintges & Associates, and Syska & Hennessy Group. However, the process is moving forward in earnest, with an ambitious projected completion date at the end of 2013 on a budget just under $2 million.
Although the original complex included six buildings with around 2.7 million square feet of space, the UN has experienced vast growth in the past 60 years. While there were initially 70 member states, now there are 192. When the complex was constructed, only 1,500 meetings were held per year, but now it struggles to accommodate 5,800. Space planning is a major issue. Instead of new expansions, subtle tweaks will make room for modern technologies and result in uncluttered, open space, which the designers hope will foster teamwork.
Mainly, the renovation project involves infrastructure upgrades. The UN lacks modern security devices, and, according to John Clarkson, deputy to the executive director of the Capital Master Plan, the “level of risk is unacceptable.” The buildings are in dire need of upgrades to fire alarm systems and sprinklers as well as inefficient heating and cooling systems. Roof leaks, fire separation issues, and asbestos must also be addressed to comply with the NYC Building Code.
David Fixler, FAIA, a principal of EYP, stated that the design team’s primary goal is to “preserve and enhance the symbol and history” of the complex. Guided by a collective “moral consciousness,” the team faces the challenge of integrating modern technologies within the original design. The preservation of industrial products is also important, including lighting and diffusers. Audio components necessary to translate speeches into many languages are integrated directly into new stations for delegates to minimize unsightly wiring. Instead of using surface-mounted plasma screens, the designers specified built-in electronic signs that will blend better with the architecture, and the font from the original signage throughout the UN is being replicated.
Fixler realizes that it is impossible to exactly preserve some spaces, and the team has established a language for necessary interventions such as ADA ramps. The designers also carved new conference rooms out of a basement.
Sustainability has been a major driver in design decisions; the team is aiming for a LEED Silver equivalent. The curtain wall of the Secretariat building is being restored to its original clear glazing in place of the current blue-tinted Mylar film, the result of an earlier renovation. The new double-glazed skin will help cut heating and cooling costs. While not currently in the scope, sustainable strategies such as recycling rainwater and installation of renewable energy sources are being considered for the future, which is only appropriate for a 21st-century global institution.
Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is a freelance architectural writer and a contributing editor to e-Oculus.
Event: The Architecture of Community
Location: Urban Center, 12.09.09
Speakers: Léon Krier — Visiting Professor, Yale School of Architecture
Organizers: Congress for the New Urbanism; Municipal Art Society
Where would civilization be without extremists? Its progress may depend on some of them — sometimes even the ones who don’t believe in progress. An internally coherent and uncompromising position that rejects mainstream core assumptions may never see its ideals realized in the literal form its adherents envision, but such a stance can shift the center of gravity of debate; at the very least, it forces opponents to clarify their ideas. Such may be the ultimate effect of Léon Krier’s advocacy of neotraditional town planning and architectural forms adhering to a classical/vernacular continuum. Though American New Urbanism, British Windsorism, and related movements have translated some of his ideas into practical planning and construction, his direct and undiluted message comes as a shock even to those familiar enough with his writings to expect one.
By “looking at cities in non-sentimental ways,” Krier dismissed not just architectural modernism but modernity itself as a petroleum-gulping, civility-eroding abomination. His argument, he stressed, is not about subjective style preferences but about the technologies that make communities possible and the kinds of communities that might endure if current technologies fail, as he believes they inevitably will. Krier is an unabashed radical, not a fashionable one — but a real one.
Krier addressed a New York audience at the end of his book tour. Apparently prepared to encounter defenses of a city that he said passed its prime around 1910, he seemed at times surprised at the respectful reception he received. He has seen enough of the U.S. in recent months to be appalled not only at its horizontal sprawl but at the skyscraping cities he calls “vertical sprawl,” comprising overdeveloped clusters of “vertical cul-de-sacs.” He minces no words about what we need: “This country has to be entirely reorganized.”
We are headed, Krier warned, for a societal collapse as described in James Howard Kunstler’s The Long Emergency, Jeremy Rifkin’s Entropy, and Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, among several sources he recommends. The consequences are likely to be asymmetrical: the decline in fossil-fuel production may be much steeper than its recent rise, he noted, and the Corbusian building forms that correlated with that rise strike him as ill-suited to the days ahead. He advocates dismantling the modern city and building only historically familiar forms on biologically based scales: a ten-minute walking radius, plus a height limit low enough to define his vision of “mature urbanity” as more village than city. Even bicycles and elevators apparently fail to meet his sustainability criteria. “If I was President of the United States,” he said, “…I would impose constitutionally that no one should in the future ever build anything more than three stories.” He quickly dismissed arguments linking urban density with sustainability on the grounds that skyscrapers “are buildings which need enormous empires to maintain.” There is essentially nothing about the modern city that he finds beautiful or useful enough to keep.
Krier sees civilization on the brink of collapse. Those tempted to dismiss him over ideas like the three-story limit also need to reckon with ideas of his that they might welcome from a less alarmist source: polycentric mixed-use layouts, unstigmatized affordable housing, the priority of pedestrian life, and the critical civic role of public squares — preferably, he says, organic European-style piazzas. His proposal that some entity buy up four-block areas in American cities and build regularly spaced urban piazzas, varying the artificial geometry of our Jeffersonian grid along with providing natural congregation points, could do a great deal to relieve the anti-communitarian effects of our built environment.
“Unfortunately, architectural education has lobotomized most people who are of common intelligence and sensitivity,” he is convinced, but when the concept of progress strikes him wholesale as illogical and unsupported by evidence, one looks in vain for reciprocal sensitivity to nuance. In dismissing all technologically based visions of the sustainable metropolis, he sometimes relies more on assertion than actual refutation. At times Krier appears to go out of his way to provoke opponents into ignoring his warnings; this ill serves a set of ideas whose gravity calls for serious scrutiny. And, if we are lucky, for the refinement that comes through head-on debate with the champions of the modern city’s capacities for exuberance and resilience.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, The Architect’s Newspaper, and other publications.
Event: Toward ANARCHITECTURE: A Conversation between Architects and Artists
Location: Center for Architecture, 12.16.09
Speakers: Vito Acconci — Artist, Designer, Acconci Studio; Dan Graham — Artist; James Wines — Founder & President, SITE
Moderator: Beatriz Colomina — Professor of Architecture & Founding Director, Program in Media and Modernity, Princeton University
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee
Mur Island, Graz, 2003, by Acconci Studio.
Elvira Klamminger
Gordon Matta-Clark defined “anarchitecture” as “an attempt at clarifying ideas about space which are personal insights and reactions rather than socio-political statements.” Matta-Clark was not anti-architecture; he re-interpreted the discipline’s formal definition. In the fourth and final panel discussion of the series “Toward Anarchitecture,” a collection of designers whose portfolios reflect Matta-Clark’s school of thought discussed their work and trajectory of thought throughout their careers.
James Wines, founder and president of SITE and author of several books on the fusion of art and architecture, cited Le Corbusier as an innovator in cross-disciplinary context and hybrid design. His chapel in Ronchamp is exemplary of an “edifice as a piece of sculpture,” rather than sculpture being applied to a building as art, Wines claimed. In his own work, he found that by revisiting formal strategies he could uncover “a way of dissecting and transforming prejudices about buildings.” His work is sensitive to art and ecology, and operates in a domain that Wines described as “high risk,” explaining that its indefinable character causes architecture to be threatened by it and art to lack an understanding of it.
The works of artist Dan Graham and artist and designer Vito Acconci similarly cross borders. Graham creates habitable spaces and employs materiality and texture to create detailed interiors. He believes that all artistic work should be quasi-functional, breaking out of the confines of a gallery and creating site-specific work that is both spatial and sensory. “Everything I’ve done has been a hybrid,” he said.
Acconci’s career, stemming from an interest in writing, integrates multi-disciplinary thought, from fashion to industrial design. Acconci’s revelation that art is a field without inherent characteristics allowed him to use other disciplines in his work. Throughout his career, he slowly removed both himself and the envelope in which he worked, allowing his art to create its own spatial definitions through public participation. “I don’t think I wanted viewers, I wanted inhabitants, participants. The thing that drew me to architecture and design is that you can deal with all the everyday occasions of everyday life,” he reflected.
Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.
Event: Toward ANARCHITECTURE: A Conversation between Architects and Artists
Location: Center for Architecture, 11.19.09
Speakers: Joseph Grima — Director, Storefront for Art & Architecture; Alanna Heiss — Founder, Art Radio WPS1.org; Katrin Sigurdardottir — Artist; Didier Faustino — Architect; Chris Perry — Partner, Servo; James Angus — Artist
Moderator: Farnaz Mansuri, Assoc. AIA — Principal, De-Spec
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee
Storefront for Art and Architecture.
Courtesy Storefront for Art and Architecture
The synthesis of creative disciplines often results in an experience that defies tradition and probes curiosity. A growing collective of artists and architects are re-examining their mediums to invent a new hybrid discipline.
The Storefront for Art & Architecture continues to embody the spirit of cross-disciplinary intervention under the leadership of Joseph Grima, who views architecture as “a channel for political agency, a metaphor for society, and a platform for intervention.” This open ended view of architecture is literally present in Storefront’s façade — designed by Vito Acconci and Steven Holl in 1993 — which opens the length of the gallery to the street, blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor space. Alanna Heiss, director of P.S.1 from 1976-2008, provided insight into the days of Gordon Matta-Clark, who parlayed his architectural background into art. Contemporary artist, Katrin Sigurdardottir continues to be inspired by Matta-Clark in her work, which resides between perceived and embodied space, encouraging a new participatory relationship between viewers and art.
Matta-Clark’s innovative perception of traditional disciplines has engendered a community of anarchitects who continue to mold and translate the creative box within which they design. The presence of public art in architecture is recognized as a vital complement to many contemporary buildings. Similarly, many artists are exploring 3-dimensional multi-media works that focus on creating objects and space rather than the interpretation of them.
Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.
Event: Saving Lieb House (2009): Premiere
Location: NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 12.11.09
Speakers: James Venturi — Director, Light from Light Films
Organizers: Light from Light Films; NYU Tisch School of the Arts
The Lieb House sailing past the Brooklyn Navy Yards.
Kristen Richards
Lieb House, designed by Robert Venturi, FAIA, and Denise Scott Brown and built in 1969, nearly came to a bad end last winter. Selling the land beneath the fabled “little house with big scale” became a necessity for Sheila and Leroy Ellman, a couple who had owned it and protected it for three decades but faced a medical-expense burden; the new buyer, developer Michael Ziman, wanted only the land, planning to build a larger rental property. Ziman did not relish the prospect of demolishing an icon, but his business interests did not include the beach house with the unmistakable round window, tapering staircase, top-floor family room, and supergraphic numeral 9. He had also taken on commitments requiring a tight construction timetable. To those who knew its history and appreciated its quirks, however, the building that Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, calls “the first Pop house” deserved whatever efforts might be needed to stave off the wrecking ball.
Luckily for the house and its architects, their son Jim Venturi joined with longtime friend and associate Schwartz in assembling and coordinating an inspired group of rescuers to arrange for its relocation — first to a safe parking lot nearby in Barnegat Light, NJ, then, after six weeks, northward by barge along the Jersey shore, up the East River, and into Long Island Sound toward Glen Cove, Long Island. There, thanks to the generosity of new owners Drs. Deborah Sarnoff and Robert Gotkin, it joined another Venturi Scott Brown Associates work, the larger Kalpakjian House, as a waterfront guest residence. Its voyage, familiar to readers of this and other publications (see “Lieb House Sets Sail for New Horizons,” e-Oculus, 03.10.09), is now celebrated in a 25-minute documentary directed by Jim Venturi and John Halpern, assisted by writer/producer Nora McDevitt, cameramen Mead Hunt and Todd Sheridan (with a 13-camera crew on moving day), editors Angelo Corrao and Russell Greene, and a host of post-production collaborators. Saving Lieb House tells this happy story.
The house itself is the real star of the film, but quite a few heroes make an appearance and/or made their presence felt behind the scenes. Jim Venturi took the advice of Nathaniel Kahn, director of another filial film, the Louis Kahn biopic My Architect (2003), to override his original inclination and include himself on camera; he comes across as humble, witty, and extraordinarily dedicated. Schwartz invested enormous energy in the project, handling arrangements at the Glen Cove end in parallel with Venturi’s efforts at Barnegat, and offering scene-stealing, colorfully cantankerous commentary throughout the process. Drs. Sarnoff and Gotkin funded the entire move, including rush-job approvals at both ends and special interventions by utility firms. Bit players like a Verizon representative, who promised Venturi his company would not be the reason the project failed, can also share some credit.
One helpful factor was the refreshing absence of obstructionists. Jim Venturi, speaking last winter in the midst of the planning, hastened to credit Barnegat mayor Kirk Larson and landowner Ziman for supporting the move. Once the destination site was identified and the plan in place, Glen Cove mayor Ralph Suozzi and other local and state officials were comparably helpful. At any of hundreds of moments, a single administrative foul-up, overlooked detail, or objection forcing a lengthy environmental review might have derailed the whole endeavor — but, as Venturi described, “we managed in record time by disposing of the concept of dependencies. In any plan, you have a Gantt chart with dependencies: you do this before you do that, because it’s a prerequisite. But another way to do it is just to do everything, assuming that the prerequisites will be met…. Things that would [ordinarily] take months have taken a day.” Even the weather was cooperative: a winter storm might have delayed local utilities’ work ensuring the house’s safe passage under power and phone lines, but the critical days, for both the initial move off its pilings and the final move from storage site to barge to Glen Cove, were clear and bright.
“People seemed to get that they were saving something,” said Venturi after the screening. “There’s something about this house that is moving to people who have no relation to it…. People really cheered this thing on.” Saving Lieb House began as footage for the forthcoming feature Learning from Bob and Denise but gradually assumed its own narrative shape, so that Venturi and colleagues spun it off as a separate film. The cheering is likely to continue when the two films are eventually screened together — and it ought to grow even louder if the Lieb House experience, provided luck and dedication hold out, inspires similar efforts the next time a unique building is threatened.
Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, The Architect’s Newspaper, and other publications.
Event: Preserving 20th-Century Modernism
Location: Museum of the City of New York, 12.02.09
Speakers: Belmont Freeman, FAIA — Founder, Belmont Freeman Architects; Nina Rappaport — Chair, DOCOMOMO/New York-Tristate & Editor, Constructs; Frank Sanchis — Senior Vice President, Municipal Art Society; Theodore Prudon, FAIA — President, DOCOMOMO/US
Moderator: Andrew S. Dolkart — Urban Architectural Historian, Author, Guide to New York City Landmarks (Wiley & Sons, 1998)
Organizer: Museum of the City of New York
TWA Terminal, New York International (now John F. Kennedy International) Airport, New York, circa 1962.
Photography by Balthazar Korab, ©Balthazar Korab Ltd., courtesy Museum of the City of New York
“If you had the option,” asks Frank Sanchis, senior vice president of the Municipal Art Society, “wouldn’t you rather travel in and out of Grand Central Terminal, rather than Penn Station?” Sanchis, who passionately advocates for the preservation and re-use of the TWA Terminal for air travel, made his point. “Today,” he continued, airports are like bus stations.” There was no travel experience like flying in or out of the TWA Terminal at JFK.
Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal, a NYC designated landmark, could be called a poster child for the preservation of Modern masterpieces, and its situation is one of the most difficult to remedy. Jet Blue’s new Terminal 5 stands behind it and the iconic flight tubes join the two. Since the demise of TWA, the terminal suffered from benign neglect, until the Port Authority hired Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners to make costly renovations, including repairs to the roof and drainage systems, removal of accretions, and asbestos abatement of the enormous ceilings over the lower and upper lobbies. It will also include restoration of the original flooring, seating areas, the flight information board, and information desk. The Port Authority says it “is expected to begin a process that ultimately will provide a vibrant new life for the structure by adapting it to new airport-related uses, which are yet to be determined.”
Saarinen, and the current exhibition “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future” at the Museum of the City of New York, is a perfect springboard to discuss preservation. He worked during an era when architecture was key to the identity of corporations. Due to corporate mergers and a down economy, Saarinen’s Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ, is not the only modernist white elephant in an empty space. It is, however, high on the list for preservation and adaptive re-use for DoCoMoMo NY/Tri-State. The organization gathered a group of 38 design professionals and architects from NYC to Philadelphia to address the problems that surround the sustainable re-use of Saarinen’s buildings. Ideas such as re-use for healthcare, mixed-use, and education were presented to the building’s current owner, Somerset Development. Unable to secure the necessary approvals from the township, the development company sponsored its own community event to present its own mixed-use proposal to the public.
The panel was asked if adaptive re-use is the answer? Sanchis firmly believes that “it’s best use is its original use,” and that what you want to change a building into and the intensity of the design of the original are both factors. Theo Prudon, FAIA, feels that “9/11 changed the terminology,” especially in terms of the TWA Terminal. He feels adaptive re-use is a 1970s term and “continued re-use” is more appropriate today.
Linda G. Miller is a NYC-based freelance writer and publicist, and a contributing editor to e-Oculus and OCULUS.
As the decade comes to a close, many stories highlighting the architecture of the “aughts” seem to be focusing on starchitecture and a supposed era of design gluttony. Those stories claim that the 20-teens will bring an end to the big dreams and excessive indulgences of developers riding the coattails of Robert Moses. However, while I agree that there were plenty of large-scale proposals that could prove to change the face of future development — from the World Trade Center to the West Side Rail Yards to Atlantic Yards — many of those proposals have been put on hold, placed aside (temporarily?) and replaced by watered down compromises.
For me, the decade in NYC is defined more by the smaller-scale, community-driven projects that have sizably impacted public space. The projects that immediately come to mind are the High Line Park, by James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro (See “High Line Opens With Design Appeal,” Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 10.23.09), and Times Square with the pedestrian mall and TKTS Booth and Environs, by Choi Ropiha with Perkins Eastman and PKSB (See “NYC’s Answer to the Spanish Steps,” Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 10.28.08). These projects both garnered enormous public support and continue to draw massive crowds. They exemplify the 2009 AIANY Theme, “Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All.” It is because of projects such as these that architecture and design has gained new (and positive!) respect among otherwise pessimistic New Yorkers. I hope 2010 will bring more neighborhood-conscious designs to the streets.
In this issue:
· Diana Center Opens on Broadway
· The Wright Stuff
· College Undergoes Fashionable Renovation
· New Theater Leaps to the Future
· Collaborative Design Studio Popped Up in the West Village
· Groundbreaking for a New Academy for New York’s Finest
Diana Center Opens on Broadway
Diana Center.
Photo credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto
When Barnard students return next semester, they will have access to the new Diana Center, designed by WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism. Located adjacent to Lehman Lawn, the 98,000-square-foot, multi-use building will serve as a new nexus for the campus and the community in Morningside Heights. The center’s wedge-shaped design frames a sightline from one end of the campus to the other, linking Barnard’s entrance gates to Milbank Hall. The seven-story building has an ascending, double-height glass atrium and a glazed staircase that brings in natural light and views through gradient patterns on the curtain wall. The building’s façade is composed of 1,154 clear and etched color glass panels of varying widths. LEED Silver certified, the center’s facilities include classrooms, studios, a library, and administrative and gallery spaces for Barnard’s architecture and art history departments. The building also houses dining rooms, a public café, a 100-seat black box theater, and a wood-paneled event space. The $70 million building is the capstone of the college’s multi-year master plan to increase spatial efficiency, improve infrastructures, and add academic and administrative space.
The Wright Stuff
The Wright.
©2009 Philip Greenberg
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a new restaurant, called The Wright, in honor of the museum’s architect, has opened. The 1,600-square-foot space, designed by Andre Kikoski Architect, references the building’s architecture by featuring sculptural forms, including a curvilinear wall of walnut layered with illuminated fiber-optics; a torqued bar clad in a skin of custom metalwork and topped in seamless white Corian; an undulating banquette with blue leather seating backed by illuminated planes of a woven grey texture; and a layered ceiling canopy of a taut white membrane. A site-specific sculpture, The horizon produced by a factory once it had stopped producing, by British artist Liam Gillick, was commissioned for the space. The piece comprises a sequence of horizontal planks of powder-coated aluminum mounted to the walls and ceiling that creates a modular skin on the interior’s surface.
College Undergoes Fashionable Renovation
Multi-functional space and reception area at LIM.
Photos by Paul Warchol
After a gut renovation of a circa 1880 six-story townhouse on East 53rd Street off Fifth Avenue, Butler Rogers Baskett (BRB) designed a new facility for LIM, the College of Business and Fashion. BRB sought to remedy the ad hoc architectural changes made throughout the school’s 30-year residence in the building. Given a modest budget, their goal was to refashion the cramped townhouse into a contemporary, creative environment. Renovations include new fashion studios, classrooms, computer labs, and offices. On the ground floor, BRB created a multi-functional public space that can seat 75 for lectures, fashion shows, and industry social events. A 20-foot-long, sliding, red lacquer millwork door with a clear glass, elliptical window is one of the key image-defining objects in the new design. This elliptical shape has evolved into the school’s newly branded logo and is used throughout the building to identify and reinforce areas of importance. C&G Partners was commissioned to create some of the signage.
New Theater Leaps to the Future
Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
WASA/Studio A
The newly renovated 238-seat Jerome Robbins Theatre at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) on West 37th Street, designed by WASA/Studio A, now accommodates dance, music, and theater. Designed to achieve LEED certification, the space juxtaposes new and old materials. Cor-Ten steel with a warm patina wraps around seating areas, sustainable wood panels are employed for acoustics, and glowing synthetic resin is used for stair handrails, and each seat has superior sightlines. A fully motorized rigging system allows for elaborate production capabilities with multiple set changes. Advanced variable acoustics were achieved using removable wall panels. The new theater, scheduled to open in early 2010, is an organic extension of the existing center.
Collaborative Design Studio Popped Up in the West Village
The Pop-Up Design Clinic was open from 12.05-13.-09.
re:design ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS
As an antidote the slowdown in business, six professionals banded together to open a Pop-Up Design Clinic in the West Village. The storefront window advertised “FREE Design Consultation,” and during the nine days it was open, more than 170 “clients” came in to take advantage their architecture, interiors, and construction expertise. The projects ranged from gut renovations, new additions to existing homes, space planning, bathroom and kitchen renovations, and advice on furniture placement. Clients varied, too — a 13-year-old wanted help designing her bedroom, a woman with MS needed to design an accessible bathroom, and an 80-year-old woman about to move into an assisted care facility wanted her new home to be well designed and sensational. The Pop-Up Clinicians anticipate that some of the free consultations will translate into paying clients. Nevertheless, they are satisfied enough to already be making plans to resurrect the project next spring/summer. Called Design.Starts.Here., the collaborative design studio consisted of Brenda Bello, AIA, Jonathan Lundstrom, Basil Walter, AIA (Basil Walter Architect), Poonam Khanna, AIA (Re:Design Architecture + Interiors and Basil Water Architect), Ed Gavagan (PraxisNYC), and Jonathan Baker, AIA (Baker Works Architecture).
Groundbreaking for a New Academy for New York’s Finest
NYPD Police Academy.
Perkins + Will
Construction is underway on the new NYPD Police Academy designed by Perkins + Will. Located on a 30-acre site (and former NYPD Auto Pound) in College Point, Queens, the new facility will consolidate training facilities for civilians, recruits, and active police officers that are currently scattered throughout the city. The first phase of the campus includes: an academic building; classrooms; tactical gyms that simulate street conditions; instructional offices; and administrative support spaces. This phase of construction is a joint venture of Turner Construction Company and STV Incorporated. Subsequent phases of the project will include a new firing range, a tactical training village, and a vehicle training course. Once completed, the new academy will be able to train approximately 2,000 recruits at any one time. The complex is being designed to achieve a LEED Silver rating. The total cost for the first phase of the new academy is estimated at $750 million and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. In 1989, Mayor Koch proposed that a new academy be built and finally, at the close of 2009, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly took part in the recent groundbreaking ceremony.
In this issue:
· Procrastinators’ Days 2009
· Job Opportunities at the Center for Architecture
Procrastinators’ Days 2009
By Tara Pyle, AIANY Senior Marketing and Events Manager
Each year, the AIA New York Chapter organizes Procrastinators’ Days, a continuing education conference for members to fulfill year-end education requirements. The conference, now in its sixth year, has grown from offering just a few courses to a 36-course, three-day event.
The Chapter reaches out to manufacturers, vendors, and service providers who are registered to deliver AIA CES credit courses. Registration fees from more than 20 course providers have helped Procrastinators’ Days become the Chapter’s third largest annual fundraiser. This year, Kallista and Barrier 1 served as the presenting sponsors.
For the event, AIANY accepts proposals from course providers that cover topics ranging from masonry walls to door security systems to window insulation. In 2009, the most well attended courses were “Efficient Mechanical Systems for Architects,” presented by Community Environmental Center, and “Advanced Building Technologies,” presented by AKF Engineers. The popularity of sustainability-focused courses reveals the membership’s interest in learning more about sustainable building practices.
The larger AIANY community is involved with the production of Procrastinators’ Days. Chapter staff solicited board and committee leadership to present courses on 12.05.09. Popular courses included a talk by Pat Sapinsley, AIA, on “A Little Information About A Lot of Green Products,” and a panel discussion with Frank Greene, FAIA, and Carol Loewenson, AIA, about justice facilities, titled “A Place at the Table: Hierarchy, Iconography, Anachronism.”
The course presenters set up tabletop displays on the ground floor of the Center for Architecture, allowing further professional exchange.
AIANY Programs Manager and Chapter CES Administrator Jesse Lazar cited the event as one of the Chapter’s most innovative happenings. “Putting on Procrastinators’ Days is one of our most valuable services to members in terms of the number of CES credits available, the scope of the courses, and the opportunity to network with vendors and fellow architects,” said Lazar.
To learn more about giving a presentation at Procrastinators’ Days 2010, contact Tara Pyle at tpyle@aiany.org.
Job Opportunities at the Center for Architecture
Development Consultant. The Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY) seek an experienced development consultant with extensive grant research and writing experience to develop a grant fundraising plan for both individual organizations and the joint activities of both organizations. The position begins as a temporary position in which the consultant will create a comprehensive grants fundraising plan for both organizations, and apply for select grants. Based on the success of the fundraising plan, the Consultant may be hired to execute this development plan including writing, cultivating, and managing all new and existing grants. For more information, visit the Jobs page on AIANY’s website. Applications due January 15.
Policy Coordinator. The American Institute of Architects New York Chapter is looking for an individual to serve as the Policy Coordinator for the Chapter. The AIANY Policy Coordinator will be a motivated, passionate individual who will work with senior staff, chapter committees, and the Board of Directors to identify and develop consensus on specific policy issues of importance to the AIA. This person will manage the Chapter’s governmental relationships and strengthen them. Working together with the AIANY Policy Board, Executive Director, Director of Communications, and the AIANY lobbyist consulting firm, the Policy Coordinator will be responsible for media outreach and strategy for these positions and messages. We are looking for an individual with excellent writing and communication skills, as well as professional knowledge of architecture, energy conservation, codes, and urban policy issues. Experience with policy and political entities is essential. Read more about the position at the Jobs page on AIANY’s website. Applications due January 22.
Center for Architecture Foundation.
Catherine Teegarden
With new membership opportunities, a new website, and a new Facebook page, the Center for Architecture is easier to stay in touch with than ever before. The Foundation has launched a series of public membership options that offer many exciting benefits. Individual, Family, and Patron members all receive special invitations and program discounts at the Center, including VIP invitations to exhibition openings, member prices for AIANY lectures, and discounted admission to special events. Patron members have the opportunity to book a child’s birthday party at the Center. All memberships help support youth and family programs as well as scholarships and grants at the Center. For more details visit the new Center for Architecture Foundation website.
The new website is designed to be more user-friendly. We hope that the easy-to-read tabs and clean aesthetic make the site easier to navigate. Scholarship and grant applications will soon be available online as well as online registration and payment for Foundation programs. The website is a great way to keep up-to-date with the Foundation’s vacation camps, Family Days, and new building tours.
In addition to the new website, the Center for Architecture Foundation has a new Facebook page. Become a fan of the Foundation and receive invitations to programs and special events via Facebook. Help the Foundation introduce more young people to architecture and design as well as share an insider’s perspective on innovative new buildings in New York by inviting your friends to become a fan too! Hope to see you on the web or at the Center soon.
Did you attend the recent 5-part series at the Center about the energy code?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
Have you listened to one of the new AIANY podcasts?
Note: Results from this poll are non-scientific.
ICLEI USA has unveiled a 55-page Comprehensive Toolkit for Greening Cities and Counties, modeled after the PlaNYC guide. It is comprised of best practice examples, checklists, templates, and guidelines. Steps covered include building the planning team and tips on structuring the planning process. The sustainability toolkit’s table of contents, overview, and related free resources are available online, however, the full publication is available only to local governments that are ICLEI members.
Free to all is Perkins + Will’s Precautionary List, which helps designers avoid materials that are damaging to the environment and public health. It also includes alternative products to specify as well.
The 2009 Queens & Bronx Building Awards winners include, in the category of Residential One, Two, Three Family & Apartment Buildings, The Sequoia by Raymond Chan Architect; Ohm Building by The Stephen B. Jacobs Group; Vernon Jackson Condominium by Studio V Architecture; Anderson Avenue Rental Apt. Building and George T. Douris Tower by SLCE Architects; Ellington-on-the Park by MAP Architects; Bergen Dean by RKT&B; The Solara by Danois Architects; West Lake Tower Condominium by Lin & Associates Architects; Alameda Residence by Arnold S. Montag, AM/PM Design Consulting; and Waterbury Estates by Mario R. Vergara Architect…
In the category of Rehabilitations, Alterations & Additions (Exterior or Interior), winners include Dyker Beach Club House by Page Ayres Cowley Architects; Astoria Park Residence by Laura Heim Architect; Highbridge Community Life Center by Graf & Lewent Architects; CIAMPA Office Building by Fakler, Eliason & Porcelli, A.I.A. Architects & Associates; Dr. Blum’s Medical Center by William Gati, AIA; Carlos And Gabby’s by Sandi Lipshitz Hacohen, AIA, LEED AP; S. Soleymani Building by John Carusone, AIA; and FSA Plaza by Lin & Associates Architects…
In the category of Commercial (Stores, Hotels, Restaurants, Banks), winners include 35-16 Bell Blvd by Gino O. Longo R.A.; 159-16 Union Turnpike by Gerald J. Caliendo, R.A.; and Chinatrust Bank by Raymond Chan Architect; and in the category of Green Efficient Building, the winner is The Eltona by Danois Architects…
Katherine Farley, senior managing director of the international real estate developer Tishman-Speyer, will be the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architecture Fellow at Yale University, where she will teach with Deborah Berke, FAIA, for the Spring 2010 term…
F+W Media has closed 55-year-old I.D. magazine, which covered the art, business, and culture of design; the January/February 2010 issue will be the last issue…
Francis Cauffman Architects has hired James May, AIA, LEED AP, as director of healthcare in its New York office… Kohn Pedersen Fox announced promotions in its New York office, including Joshua Chaiken; Brian Girard, AIA; Inkai Mu, AIA; Richard Nemeth, AIA; and Trent Tesch, AIA, who were named principals…
12.08.09: AIANY celebrated its 2010 inaugural.
(L-R): Tony Schirripa, AIA, IIDA, 2010 AIANY President; George Miller, FAIA, 2010 AIA President; and Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, 2009 AIANY President.
Sam Lahoz
(L-R): Rick Bell, FAIA, AIANY Executive Director; Edward Farrell, AIANYS Executive Director; Tony Schirippa, AIA, IIDA, 2010 AIANY President; Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, 2009 AIANY President; George Miller, FAIA, 2010 AIA President; Richard Anderson, President, New York Building Congress.
Sam Lahoz
(L-R): Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, 2009 AIANY President; George Miller, FAIA, 2010 AIA President; Christina Davis, President, Landmarks Preservation Foundation; Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, former AIANY President; Terrence O’Neal, FAIA, former AIANYS President.
Sam Lahoz
AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA (left), with Jeff Potter, FAIA, member of the AIA National Board of Directors from Texas.
Sam Lahoz
12.10.09: The AIA Queens Holiday Party was held at the Poppenhusen Institute in College Point.
Laura Heim, AIA, president of AIA Queens, and Rick Bell, FAIA.
AIA Queens
12.09.09: The groundbreaking ceremony was held for Lakeside, the Prospect Park Alliance’s new initiative to renovate 26 acres in the park’s southeast quadrant. The project involves relocating and replacing the aging Wollman Rink with the Lakeside Center, a year-round destination for recreation and fitness designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
(L-R): John Bernstein, President, Leon Levy Foundation; Brad Lander, NYC Council Member-Elect; Christian Zimmerman, Vice President of Design and Construction, Prospect Park Alliance; Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; Shelby White, Founding Trustee, Leon Levy Foundation; Billie Tsien, AIA, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; Tupper Thomas, President, Prospect Park Alliance. Rear (R-L): Henry Christensen III, Chair Campaign for Lakeside; and Albert Garner, Chairman of the Board, Prospect Park Alliance.
Prospect Park Alliance
The Architectural League of New York celebrated the opening of its new offices on 12.16.09. (L-R): Rosalie Genevro, Varick Shute, Nick Anderson, Reid Bingham, Anne Rieselbach, Cassim Shepard, Sarah Snider, Gregory Wessner (sitting).
Kristen Richards
“Remembering Hoving’s Service as Parks Commissioner,” by Ralph Blumenthal, in the New York Times City Room blog, memorializes the life of Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving, focusing on his career as the NYC Parks Commissioner.
2010 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, OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. Please submit story ideas by the deadlines indicated below to Kristen Richards: Kristen@ArchNewsNow.com
THE 2010 THEMES:
Spring: Architect as Leader: (CLOSED)
Summer: AIANY Design Awards 2010: Recognition of outstanding architectural design by New York City architects and for work completed in New York City. There are four categories of Design Awards: Architecture, Interiors, Urban Design, and Un-built Work. Click here for details.
Register/Submit entries by 02.05.09
Fall: Thinking Back / Thinking Forward and Understanding the Shift: The recession has given us the opportunity to reflect on the last decades of design and building — and what might be ahead. We will investigate trends in design, building, and marketing that are coming into play. What are the next steps in social media, BIM, sustainability, technology, competitions, stalled projects, adaptive re-use, design for flexibility, mergers and firm acquisitions?
Submit story ideas by 05.21.09
Winter: Practice without Borders: The world is growing smaller. New York is an international city, and it is easier than ever for overseas firms to work here and for New York City firms to work abroad. We will look into reciprocity, licensure, removal of boundaries to practice, and international competitions as ways to build renown.
Submit story ideas by 08.13.09
01.01.10 Request for Proposals: 2010 Homeless World Cup Legacy Center
01.08.10 Call for Expressions of Interest: Westminster: New Iconic London Landmark for the West End
01.15.10 Call for Submissions: Creative Time Open Door at P.S.1
02.15.10 Call for Proposals: Projects for Publication in Triple Canopy
03.31.10 Call for Entries: 1st Annual One Prize Award: Mowing to Growing, A Design Competition for Creating Productive Green Space in Cities
03.26.10 Request for Proposals: Taxi of Tomorrow
Center for Architecture Gallery Hours and Location
Monday-Friday: 9:00am-8:00pm, Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm, Sunday: CLOSED
536 LaGuardia Place, Between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets in Greenwich Village, NYC, 212-683-0023
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Through 01.06.10
Paired, Gold: Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Roni Horn
“Untitled” (Golden), 1995.
Thorsten Monschein, courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Suspended from the ceiling, “Untitled” (Golden) (1995) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a shimmering curtain of golden beads, acts as a site of passage, opening onto Roni Horn’s gold floor piece Gold Field (1980–82).
Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, NYC
Through 01.08.10
The Merritt Parkway: Photographs by Michael Zenreich
Acrylic Display Tables and Portrait Station.
Exhibition design by Urban A&O with Thinc Design
Realizing the difficulty of viewing the bridges on the Merritt Parkway while in motion, Michael Zenreich, AIA, recorded them photographically. He received a National Endowment of the Humanities “Youth Grant” to fulfill this goal and spent the summer of 1980 capturing them with an 8×10 view camera. In response to the World Monuments Fund (WMF) recently naming the Parkway as one of the most endangered monuments, the photographs are on view at FXFOWLE Architects’ office.
FXFOWLE Architects
22 West 19th Street, NYC
Through 01.09.10
At Land: Bodyscape & Cityscape
At Land: Photography and Video by Marina Ballo Charmet, curated by Jean-Francois Chevrier.
Storefront for Art and Architecture
The work of photographer and artist Marina Ballo Charmet, whose formal training is as a psychoanalyst, is centered on what she describes as “inattentive, unintentional observation, irrational, and without direction.” This retrospective exhibition, presents a selection of photographic and video works produced since 1995 that investigate a variety of subjects from the urban landscape to the human figure.
Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street, NYC
Through 01.30.10
Richard Woods: Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight, 2009.
Richard Woods
Nine new patterns of print blocks are used to create panels that clad sections of Lever House and its grounds, including all of the structural steel columns, Noguchi benches, and sections of the floor in the glass-enclosed lobby.
Lever House
390 Park 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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Development Consultant The Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY) seek an experienced development consultant with extensive grant research and writing experience to develop a grant fundraising plan for both individual organizations and the joint activities of both organizations. The position begins as a temporary position in which the consultant will create a comprehensive grants fundraising plan for both organizations, and apply for select grants. Based on the success of the fundraising plan, the Consultant may be hired to execute this development plan including writing, cultivating, and managing all new and existing grants. For more information, visit the Jobs page on AIANY’s website. Applications due January 15.
Policy Coordinator The American Institute of Architects New York Chapter is looking for an individual to serve as the Policy Coordinator for the Chapter. The AIANY Policy Coordinator will be a motivated, passionate individual who will work with senior staff, chapter committees, and the Board of Directors to identify and develop consensus on specific policy issues of importance to the AIA. This person will manage the Chapter’s governmental relationships and strengthen them. Working together with the AIANY Policy Board, Executive Director, Director of Communications, and the AIANY lobbyist consulting firm, the Policy Coordinator will be responsible for media outreach and strategy for these positions and messages. We are looking for an individual with excellent writing and communication skills, as well as professional knowledge of architecture, energy conservation, codes, and urban policy issues. Experience with policy and political entities is essential. Read more about the position at the Jobs page on AIANY’s website. Applications due January 22.
Looking for a future path? Love old buildings? Why not make them new again?
NYU’s new nine-month M.A. program, based in London, will give you an intense immersion in adaptive reuse and sustainable building practices. Visit http://www.nyu.edu/info/gsas/architecture for more information.
(Continued from above)
Our highly engaged program committees are poised to hold more programs than ever before in 2010, continuing an upward trajectory in the number, breadth, and depth of the Chapter’s committee programs.
Both the New Practices Committee and the Emerging NY Architects Committee (ENYA) are planning their biennial competitions. The New Practices Competition is back in New York after a brief stint in San Francisco, and will once again recognize exciting new firms in NYC, and ENYA’s biennial ideas competition will feature design proposals for High Bridge. A recently reinvigorated Marketing and PR Committee has also been very busy planning for 2010, and has more than a half-dozen programs on the horizon, the first of which will delve deeper into the topic of social media.
We will continue our relationship with the United Nations to broaden the perspective of urban experience through the third Conference on Sustainable Urbanization, and with the Department of Health to influence policy and practice around matters of health and physical activity in our fifth annual Fit City conference in May. On February 26th and 27th, the Center will showcase architectural selections from Art on Screen, featuring films from Montreal’s FIFA Film Festival. The Center for Architecture joins the Morgan Library & Museum and The New York Public Library as the newest venue for this annual festival.
In October 2010, the year’s theme will culminate with a major exhibition highlighting how architects, engineers, and contractors come together to build the structures and neighborhoods we design. The exhibition will include interactive elements that demonstrate the close collaboration of design and construction teams during the building process, from BIM to curtain wall erection and testing. Hands-on displays will teach young people about skills such as brick laying, pouring concrete, and setting studs.
In prior years the Inaugural Fund has supported major exhibitions including “Going Public” in 2006 and “Architecture Inside/Out” in 2007. Additional theme-related programs: for example, our annual Sustainable Urbanization Conference, and last year’s Greening the Iron Ribbon conference on regional transportation planning and development. We could never achieve the quality of advocacy and design excellence at the Center without the generous support of the Inaugural Fund sponsors. We thank everyone who has contributed in the past and we continue to seek funding for these great annual projects and other program initiatives.
As many of you know, AIA has launched a national campaign for carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030. In New York, we have begun and will continue to advocate for higher standards of energy efficiency. But we need your help. Mayor Bloomberg’s Greater Greener Buildings plan, one of the nation’s biggest efforts to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings, is coming to a vote at City Council as soon as Wed, 12.09.09. Please call your city council member tomorrow morning in support of this landmark suite of bills.
The Chapter understands that, beyond advocacy, architects must understand changes in energy code regulations, and we have presented a number of technical training programs on the new codes. The Chapter’s Committee on the Environment, with the instrumental aid of President-Elect Margaret Castillo, AIA, LEED AP, has developed and implemented a number of Energy Code Training Sessions. Developed in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office, ASHRAE-NY, and the Urban Green Council, these sessions present successful — and sold out — courses on “what the design team needs to know” about energy code changes. Working with the Urban Green Council, the Chapter has just responded to an RFP from NYSERDA to jointly continue these workshops and expand them statewide.
I’m looking forward to a resurgent economy, a stronger and greener Chapter recognized for its intellectual, practical, and imaginative leaders, and creating an AIA New York City that unifies the chapters in all city boroughs in 2010. And I look forward to working with all of you toward these goals.
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