Institute for Urban Design

International Architecture Award Winners Announced

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:50:00 +0000

The Institute’s membership is well-represented in the list of recipients for the 2010 International Architecture Awards. Honorees include Patron Steven Holl for the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art and the Knut Hamsun Center; Board Member Thom Mayne for the Cooper Union’s 41 Cooper Square building; Fellow Michael Manfredi’s Weiss/Manfredi Architects for the Wandering Ecologies project in Toronto (pictured at left); Fellow Craig Dykers’ firm Snøhetta for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet; and Fellow Bruce Fowle’s firm FXFOWLE for the Nordhaven City Regeneration project and SAP North America complex. The awards are administered annually by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Center for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.

Jane Thompson Honored at White House Event

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:02:15 +0000

Long-time Fellow Jane Thompson was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at a White House ceremony for the winners of the 2010 National Design Awards on July 21st. Ms. Thompson, of the Thompson Design Group, has been selected to receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her pioneering work in the field of urban design. The luncheon was held ahead of the official presentation ceremony, which is scheduled to take place in New York on October 14th.

Hausman LLC Organizes Kahn Bath House Tour

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:59:04 +0000

IfUD Board Member Tami Hausman is working with Ewing Township, Mercer County, Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects, LLC, and DOCOMOMO US New York/Tri-State to organize a hard-hat tour of Louis Kahn’s Trenton Bath House, currently under renovation. The tour will take place next Wednesday, July 28th, from noon to 6:00 PM. The cost is $50 for the general public, and free for members of the press. Send your registration information to John Arbuckle at rsvp@docomomo-nytri.org; to register as a member of the press, email Jocelyne Koach at koach@hausmanllc.com.

Fellows in the News: Blesso, Dykers, and Weisz

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:48:11 +0000

Board Member Matt Blesso (L) was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal for his impressive roster of charity work; also, the New York City DOT announced its selection of the design team that will plan the permanent revamp of Times Square, and the winning group includes Fellows Craig Dykers of Snøhetta and Claire Weisz of WXY Architecture + Urban Design.

Benepe, Burden, and Burney to Discuss Design in New York

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:13:45 +0000

The third installment of the Architectural League’s Conversations on New York series will take place tomorrow, July 20, at 7:00 PM in the Cooper Union’s Great Hall, 7 East 7th Street. This session will bring together the heads of three of New York City’s most design-conscious departments: Adrian Benepe (Parks), Amanda Burden (Planning), and David Burney (Design and Construction). The discussion will be moderated by New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger. League members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org; non-members can purchase tickets here for $15.

Fellow Beverly Willis Takes Her Show on the Road

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:47:04 +0000

Fellow Beverly Willis, FAIA, recently screened and spoke about the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation’s film “A Girl Is A Fellow Here”: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. A number of New York organizations also screened the film, including the 5th Annual NY Women in Real Estate Gala, where Willis gave a keynote address, the New York Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network, the New York AIA chapter Women-in-Architecture, and The School of Visual Arts.

MAS Schedules Land Use Conference

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:26:37 +0000

The Municipal Arts Society of New York will host a day-long conference Land Use & Local Voices: Is the City’s Land Use Process in Need of Reform?, from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM next Wedesday, July 21. The event’s panels will explore various perspectives on New York City’s land use process and consider proposals to improve it. As the IfUD’s next Breakfast Club, scheduled for the following Wednesday, July 28, will cover the city’s ongoing charter revision process as it pertains to land use and project approvals, Fellows may want to attend the MAS event to bone up on their land use knowledge in advance!

Portman and Sorkin at the Venice Biennale

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:53:59 +0000

Fellow John Portman and IfUD Board Chair Michael Sorkin will both participate in the High Museum of Art’s exhibition for the Venice Biennale this fall, entitled Workshopping: An American Model of Architectural Practice, which will explore the role of trans-disciplinary collaborations in architecture, spotlighting seven projects with a focus on research and social engagement. The Biennale opens on August 29th and runs through November 21st of this year.

ARCHIVE Institute Launches Kay e Sante nan Ayiti Competition

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:00:20 +0000

Leslie Voltaire, the UN’s Special Envoy to Haiti and lead planner for the Haitian Government’s reconstruction plans, as well as the Institute for Urban Design’s guest at the June 4, 2010 symposium Rebuilding a Sustainable Haiti, will return to New York today, July 12, to speak at the launch of the ARCHIVE Institute’s Kay e Sante nan Ayiti (Housing and Health in Haiti) design competition. The competition will recognize the six-month anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier this year by calling on architects, engineers, health specialists, and the general public to pool together their knowledge and submit housing designs which can mitigate transmission of airborne diseases like tuberculosis (TB). The event, which will also feature Housing Works CEO Charles King, will take place from 6:00-8:00 PM at CCNY’s Manhattan Campus in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture’s Sciame Auditorium (160 Convent Avenue). If you plan to attend, please RSVP to mf@archiveinstitute.org.

Fellows In the News: Arad, Williamson, and Safdie

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:31:29 +0000

IfUD Fellows have been popping up all over the place lately, it seems! New Fellow Michael Arad’s rooftop farming project on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was recently covered in The Architect’s Newspaper; Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin cited Fellow June Williamson’s book Retrofitting Suburbia in a recent column about mall re-use in suburban Chicago; and the Daily Mail recently featured a glamorous photo spread of Fellow Moshe Safdie’s newly-opened Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, pictured at left.