by: admin
Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, responds to a question from moderator Laura Raskin.
Daniel Fox
Event: 2012 AIANY Design Awards Panel: Honor Awards
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.14.12
Panelists: David Allin, Senior Associate, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Michael Arad, AIA, LEED AP, Partner, Handel Architects; David Gallagher, Principal, NADAA
William Kenworthey, AIA, Partner, Cooper Robertson & Partners; Frank Mahan, Senior Designer, SOM; David Eugin Moon, AIA, Founding Partner, N H D M; Ilias Papageorgiou, Associate Principal, SO-IL; Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, Frederic Schwartz Architects
Moderator: Laura Raskin, Assistant Editor, Architectural Record
Organizers: AIANY Design Awards Committee
In introducing the panelists, moderator Laura Raskin, assistant editor of Architectural Record commented that the honored firms and projects represented “some of the best examples of ingenuity and optimism being brewed in the City – for this City and for export, too.”
It was quite an assembly. Architects representing all of the projects that won 2012 Design Award Honors – Architecture, Interiors, Urban Design, and Un-Built – delivered “pecha kucha” PowerPoint presentations, followed by a conversation that touched on some situations they face today.
When asked what it was like to have cities as clients/collaborators and how things have changed, Fred Schwartz, FAIA, who has practiced during the terms of four New York City mayors, praised the current administration and that of other cities for establishing city-based partnerships: Santa Fe, the site of his award winning project (Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza) and New Orleans, with his post-Katrina recovery projects. He was also enthusiastic about his collaboration with Ken Smith Landscape Architects and the artist Mary Miss on the Santa Fe project.
John Kenworthey (Master Plan for the Central Delaware) said that cities such as Philadelphia are now consumers of quality design. And though he feels there is no subjective way to compare eras, David Eugin Moon cited the way the municipality of Rotterdam engages architects to work on serious concerns and added that despite economic problems, we can point to bright spots like the High Line in New York.
On the subject of collaborations, David Allin (Hirshhorn Museum Seasonal Inflatable Pavilion) said that Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s history of interdisciplinary work is what made him interested in working at the firm. Kenworthy said that with collaborations, “you don’t end up with one person’s vision, but something greater.” David Gallagher of Office dA spoke about an art in public places effort on which he is currently in Austin, and claimed that “it has been extraordinary to watch several projects in an area coming together as a single entity – which is much better than working on your own with blinders on.”
The consensus was that the best way to experience these special sites is to visit them. Barring that, you can get more information about all of the 2012 Design Awards winners at the exhibit on view through 06.31 in the Helfand Gallery, and in the upcoming 2012 Design Awards issue of Oculus magazine. Michael Arad (National September 11 Memorial) provided a poignant take-away: “Our responsibility as architects is to create something that will outlast us.”
Linda G. Miller is a contributing editor to Oculus and e-Oculus.