by: admin
Marc Clemenceau Bailly, AIA, moderates the panel discussion.
Laura Trimble
Event: Helsinki-New York Roundtable Discussion and NEWLY DRAWN Opening Reception
Location: Center for Architecture, 04.21.12
Speakers: Introduced by: Riitta Gerlander, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Finland, New York
Group 1: Tuomas Toivonen, Now Office; Philipp von Dalwig, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, Manifold Architecture Studio; Taryn Christoff, AIA, and Martin Finio, AIA, Christoff:Finio Architecture; Anu Puustinen, Avanto Architects; David Benjamin, The Living; Marc Clemenceau Bailly, AIA, Gage-Clemenceau Architects (moderator)
Group 2: Elizabeth Gray and Alan Organschi, Gray Organschi Architecture; Michael Szivos, Softlab; Stella Betts, Levenbetts; Mikko Summanen and Kimmo Lintula, K2S Architects; Tuomas Toivonen, Now Office (moderator)
Group 3: Jonus Ademovic, Archipelagos; B. Alex Miller, Taylor and Miller Architecture and Design; Janne Teräsvirta, ALA Architects; Emily Abruzzo, AIA, LEED AP, Abruzzo Bodziak Architects; Andrew Berman, AIA, Andrew Berman Architect; Philipp von Dalwig, Manifold Architecture Studio (moderator)
Performance by: Tuomas Toivonen, Urbanism in the House
Organizer: AIANY; Architectural League of New York; Finnish Cultural Institute in New York; Consulate General of Finland in New York; and the Museum of Finnish Architecture
Organizer: AIANY Professional Practice Committee and the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (NYASLA)
Three trans-national panels and an urban design rap performance animated the opening of the Breakthrough Space exhibition “Newly Drawn: Emerging Finnish Architecture” at the Center for Architecture on Saturday, April 21. The rap, from Tuomas Toivonen’s “Urbanism in the House” album, featured such lines as “How to connect and combine / bold ambition with humble quality, / sensitive responsibility with fresh concepts, local traditions with new technology.”
The “Newly Drawn” show, on view at the Center through April 30, introduced some of the most interesting young, up-and-coming Finnish architects and their latest projects, visions, and ways of working. The panel conversations were moderated by AIANY New Practices chairs Marc Clemenceau Bailly, AIA, and Philipp von Dalwig, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, along with Toivonen of Now Office, an architect, rap artist, DJ, and public sauna owner. Discussions brought together the Newly Drawn emerging Finnish firms and New Yor- based winning firms of the AIANY New Practices competition and the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices.
The program and related exhibition are part of the 10-month long New Finnish Design CITY project coordinated by the Consulate General of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Institute. They are, as well, part of the celebration of Helsinki’s designation as 2012 World Design Capital. The Finnish architects present included Mikko Summanen and Kimmo Lintula of K2S, Anu Puustinen of Avanto Architects, and Janne Teräsvirta of ALA Architects. Introductory remarks were by Deputy Consul General Riitta-Liisa Gerlander and Martta Louekari from World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.
Among the New Practices winners present, Emily Abruzzo, AIA, LEED AP, of Abruzzo Bodziak Architects, was eloquent in her pecha kucha presentation of office work in a larger environmental context consistent with the environmentalism of AIANY’s Future Now! Presidential theme. Her installation will animate the upcoming opening of the New Practices exhibition on Thursday, June 14. For Saturday’s conference and concert, the discussion was very much focused on what we can learn from each other, and how design competitions and alternative modes of practice can cross lines of demarcation.
Rick Bell, FAIA, is the Executive Director of the AIA New York Chapter.