by: admin
NPNY 2012 (l-r): Garrett Riccardi, Assoc. AIA (formlessfinder); Christian Wassmann, Int’l Assoc. AIA (Christian Wassmann); Amanda Schachter, AIA (SLO Architecture); Tobias Holler, AIA, LEED AP (HOLLER architecture); Alexander Levi, AIA (SLO Architecture); Emily Abruzzo, AIA, LEED AP & Gerald Bodziak, AIA, LEED AP (ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS) (not pictured: David Benjamin, Assoc. AIA (The Living); Julian Rose, Assoc. AIA (formlessfinder)
Sam Lahoz
Event: New Practices New York 2012 Exhibition Opening
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.14.12
Speakers: Joe Aliotta, AIA, LEED AP, AIANY Chapter President; Michael Reiman, International Projects Consultant, Hansgrohe; Marc Clemenceau Bailly, AIA, and Philipp von Dalwig, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, Co-chairs, AIANY New Practices Committee.
Exhibiting Firms: ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS; Christian Wassmann; formlessfinder; HOLLER architecture; The Living; and SLO Architecture.
Organizers: AIANY New Practices Committee
Underwriters: Axor Hansgrohe; NRI
Patrons: Sure Iron Works; Thornton Tomasetti
Supporter: Samson Rope
Media Sponsor: The Architect’s Newspaper
Taking its cue from “Future Now!” – 2012 AIANY President Joe Aliotta’s presidential theme – the “New Practices New York 2012” exhibition offers glimpses into the many possible fates of the architectural profession. Some of the winning firms, for instance, include architects licensed in the United States, while others do not. In addition, many offices elect to integrate other design disciplines into their practice, possibly as a means to diversify their skills and guarantee alternate streams of income during difficult economic times. Notable is how few of the 2012 winners seem to be pursuing a conventional path to professional success.
The exhibition itself displays the full range of fine-grained and often transitory project types typically associated with young practices: apartment renovations, pavilions, installations, design speculations, research, and competitions. A number of the firms, however, are working on sophisticated community-based initiatives focusing on specific problems. HOLLER architecture tackle the urban sprawl inherent in suburbia in its planning solution for Long Island, cheekily titled LIRR (Long Island Radically Rezoned). SLO Architecture attempts to raise awareness of some of New York City’s lesser-loved waterways, such as the Bronx River, by floating temporary structures made of recycled materials downstream.
The works chosen for inclusion also represent the plurality of interests engaging a younger generation of practitioners: environmental sustainability, materials research, parametric modeling, modular or prefabricated systems, biomimetic design, and, quite significantly, teaching. As a result of their experiences in academia, many of the winners have already decisively impacted the youth of the industry. Indeed, there were many students and young professionals in the crowd at the opening, and the mood at the Center for Architecture was aspirational and ebullient.
One hopes that the profession can embrace the institutional change represented by the New Practices New York winners. As Aliotta related in a brief interview, “Design is design,” and the ChapterAIANY Chapter has certainly done its part to nurture and develop the next generation of architectural designers while harnessing their passion, energy, and commitment.
Matt Shoor, AIA, is an architect, writer, and educator currently employed by Macrae-Gibson Architects. He is a frequent contributor to e-Oculus, and recently received his architectural license. Matt can be reached at mshoor@gmail.com.
(Correction: a previous version of this article misstated the representative from formlessfinder in the photograph. The person pictured is Garrett Riccardi, Assoc. AIA, not Julian Rose, Assoc. AIA. The correct caption appears above.)