August 18, 2009
by: Emily Nemens

In this issue:
· AIANY, NYC Department of Buildings Launch urbanSHED
· AIANYS Meets at MAINSTREETS
· Passing: Charles Gwathmey, FAIA


AIANY, NYC Department of Buildings Launch urbanSHED

urbanshed

A current sidewalk shed.

Courtesy Department of Buildings

AIANY and the NYC Department of Buildings launched the urbanSHED International Design Competition on 08.13.09. It’s been decades since the current standard of the common sidewalk shed hit NYC’s streets; the competition challenges the global design community to rethink that standard, and give particular consideration to safety, sustainability, and streetscape. Registration closes 09.18.09, and first-stage entries are due 10.02.09.

The competition was kicked off at a Alliance for Downtown New York-sponsored party at Cipriani’s Wall Street. The event celebrated the launch of both urbanSHED and the Re:Construction 2009 program, which incorporates temporary artworks into construction barriers. (The four 2009 works are now up for viewing around the city.) Alliance for Downtown New York Executive Director Elizabeth Berger, Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, AIANY President Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan spoke to a crowd of 200 about these streetscape-improving initiatives.

For more about urbanSHED, see “A Sidewalk Shed of the 21st Century,” by Jenny 8 Lee, 08.12.09.


AIANYS Meets at MAINSTREETS

This year, AIA New York State’s convention is joining forces with AIA Rochester, AGC of New York State, ACEC New York, NYS Society of Professional Engineers, NYS Association of Professional Land Surveyors, and the American Society of Landscape Architects, New York Chapters. The organizations will meet at the Riverside Convention Center in Rochester 09.23-26.09 for the Re-Build New York: MAINSRTEETS Convention. The weekend opens with the MAINSTREETS golf tournament, and over the course of the weekend, 61 seminars and eight tours will be offered. AIANYS members will have the opportunity to earn up to 12 LUs/HSWs credits. For more information, visit the website and view the electronic brochure. Early registration ends 08.31, and registration closes 09.16.


Passing: Charles Gwathmey, FAIA
Charles Gwathmey, FAIA, principal and founder of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, passed away 08.04.09 at the age of 71. The cause was esophageal cancer.

Founded in 1968, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects is known for Modernist designs. Projects range from master planning, architecture, interior design, and product design, with more than 400 projects for educational, health care, corporate, cultural, government, and private clients throughout the U.S. and abroad. One of the firm’s most recent projects, and recipient of a 2009 AIANYS Design Award of Excellence for Historic Preservation, is the Yale Arts Complex, comprised of Paul Rudolph’s restored and renovated Art and Architecture Building, the Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the History of Art, and Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library (See “Yale University’s Arts Complex Reaches Completion,” by Debra Pickrel, e-Oculus, 10.14.08).

For more about Gwathmey’s life and work, see “Charles Gwathmey, Architect Loyal to Aesthetics of High Modernism, Dies at 71,” by Fred A. Bernstein, The New York Times, 08.04.09, and “Charles Gwathmey, 1938-2009,” by Alan G. Brake and Matt Chaban, The Architect’s Newspaper, 08.04.09.

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