Teamwork—the theme of this summer’s Oculus issue—is hardly a new idea for us to consider. Collaboration, integration, innovation, interdisciplinarity: these are concepts the AIA New York Chapter has spent many years, many programs, many articles, and many exhibitions exploring, constantly investigating what they mean, why they matter, and how the profession is approaching them.
What is different about today? If we’ve always valued teamwork, why dive into this subject again now?
We’re living through a confusing and challenging moment as individuals, as a profession, as a community, as a city, and as a nation. Economic dislocation and polycrisis are being exacerbated by chaotic and hostile policymaking in Washington, D.C., and many of us are struggling to imagine and plan for the future. As with any fraught moment, the value and need for deeper collaboration reveals itself. Teamwork is not a luxury or a nice thing to aim for because it feels good—it is essential to advancing the work we care about.
To be sure, we have seen how atomization and isolation—whether at a personal, business, or an institutional level—make us more vulnerable and less able to stand up for our values, protect our communities, and respond to challenges.
AIANY is a part of civil society in New York City. It is a key instrument for the architecture and design community to advocate for its values and interests. Alongside the Center for Architecture, our vision is to advance the value and practice of architecture to promote just and sustainable communities. The only way we can meaningfully pursue this goal is through deeper collaboration and new ideas about how to work with others.
For our members, this means creating as many opportunities as possible for impactful meetings, resource sharing, and networking among individuals and firms so they can more easily find mutual benefit. This work is not new to us, but we are renewed in our commitment to its meaning and urgency. On an institutional level, we are exploring new and deeper ways to connect and collaborate with like-minded organizations across the city—including our sister chapters in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx—and our colleagues at the many other incredible architecture and design organizations that so many of us support and appreciate. In the meantime, the Center is experimenting with broadening its programming by developing new partnerships with communities and organizations outside our immediate circle, including a robust collaboration this year with the Queens Public Library.
Of all the challenges our members, firms, colleagues, and fellow organizations are navigating during a distressing and uncertain 2025, one thing is sure: we need one another, and the answers—however hard to conceive of at the moment—will come through the work we do together.
