Speaking at the Center for Architecture’s Buildings = Energy symposium last month, Colin Cathcart noted that, while New Yorkers’ per capita carbon footprint was quite large when viewed at the metropolitan level, the central city’s high density provided a model for the future–both here and around the world–asserting that “Our first, last, best hope to turn this planet around is right here in New York City.” Speaking in support of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s new report on the need for an infrastructure bank, Jack Nyman noted the need for public education and outreach: “We must help every sector of the economy genuinely understand its own stake in infrastructure issues, and we must engage all sectors fully in building support for new financial models over the long term.”
Quoth the Fellows: Cathcart & Nyman
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011It’s Competition Season!
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Finalists for the National Mall design competition in Washington, DC, were announced recently, and the IfUD is well-represented: Michael Arad, Craig Dykers, Rob Rogers, Peter Walker, Barbara Wilks, and Board Member Enrique Norten will all move forward. Donald Stastny is managing the high-profile competition, while Board Member Thom Mayne is one of the jurors. And speaking of juries, Arad and Joseph Brown both spent some time on that side of the competition process recently–the former for this year’s NYC iteration of CANstruction, and the latter for the Urban Land Institute’s Global Awards for Excellence. Coming up: June Williamson will judge entries for the CNU Charter Awards (entries due by January 25th!)
Fellows’ Events & Exhibits: November 15-30, 2011
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
On 11/17, D. Grahame Shane will lead the League-hosted panel Urban Design Since 1945 – A Global Perspective in New York; also on 11/17, Donald Stastny will lead a public forum on the master plan that he has been developing for St. Louis’ Grand Center arts and entertainment district; and Bruce Fowle will join the panel discussion Benchmarking in Action: Retrofitting New York at the Center for Architecture on 11/30.
Fellows’ Awards & Honors: Balsley, Durst, Portman, & Stepner
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
At the Waterfront Center Awards, Thomas Balsley was presented with an Honor Award for Manhattan’s Riverside Park South Waterfront (pictured at left), and his Gantry State Plaza State Park project in Queens was given a tribute for its 1999 Top Honor Award; Douglas Durst was presented with the “Green God” award at the New York Restoration Project’s Hulaween gala last week; John Portman was named an Industry Fellow at this year’s American Furniture Hall of Fame banquet; and Michael Stepner was presented with the Society of American Registered Architects’ Synergy Award.
Fellows in the News: Angotti, Berman, Enquist, Fain, Flint, Griffin, Holl, Machado, Mayne, Pollak, Stastny, & Wakeman
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
In his latest Gotham Gazette column, Tom Angotti looks into NYC’s plans for its new bikeshare program; Matt Berman and his partner Andrew Kotchen launched SpruceBox, a new web platform to help homeowners visualize renovation projects; Phil Enquist won two competitions to develop master plans for a 2-kilometer stretch of the Yangtze Riverfront in downtown Nanjing and a new urban center at Duqm City in Oman; William Fain’s firm recently completed master plans for the Chinese cities of Chengdu and XiCheng; Anthony Flint argued for concentrating early development of a high-speed rail system in the US in megaregions like the Northeast Corridor; Board Member Toni Griffin joined in on the New York Times‘ most recent Room For Debate feature on the demolition of foreclosed housing; construction work has begun on Patron Steven Holl’s athletic complex for Columbia at the northern tip of Manhattan (pictured at left); Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art, designed by Rodolfo Machado’s firm, has just opened; the National Mall Design Competition, led by Don Stastny, announced its jury, which will include Board Member Thom Mayne; Linda Pollak will serve as the Lead Juror for AIA Pittsburgh’s Design Pittsburgh awards; and Rosemary Wakeman spoke to the Baltimore Sun about gentrification in that city’s Union Square neighborhood.
Fellows’ Events & Exhibits: November 1-15, 2011
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
The World Architecture Festival, for which Board President Michael Sorkin chaired the Grand Jury, kicks off tomorrow (11/2) in Barcelona; Steven Handel will deliver the Benjamin C. Howland Jr. Memorial Lecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture on 11/4; that same day, Board Member Thom Mayne will speak at Architectural Record‘s 2011 Innovation Conference; also on 11/4, Board Member Enrique Norten will speak at Yale’s Catastrophe and Consequence symposium; on 11/5, Colin Cathcart will participate in the Center for Architecture symposium Buildings = Energy; on 11/7, Deborah Gans, Matt Blesso, Mark Ginsberg, and Mark Strauss will all participate in the Architectural League’s Making Room symposium; Craig Dykers will speak at La Ciudad de las Ideas in Puebla, Mexico, on 11/11; Board Member Saskia Sassen is co-chair of the Committee on Global Thought’s Ecogram IV: China event on 11/11; Stuart Pertz will join a discussion on Planning the Future of Coney Island’s Amusement District, also on 11/11; the Reconsidering Postmodernism conference, to be held in New York from 11/11-12, will feature Robert A.M. Stern, as well as a session focusing on the work of Patrons Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown; Board Member Tami Hausman is a co-organizer of the 11/14 CfA panel What’s Your Story?; and on 11/15, Jack Nyman’s Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute will host the Zoning the City conference in New York, featuring Rick Bell, Stern, and Board Members Mayne and Toni Griffin.
Next Fellows’ Breakfast Club: Nov. 22
Monday, October 31st, 2011
We’re happy to be back on track with our monthly Breakfast Club series: on Tuesday, November 22nd, we’ll meet at the Center for Architecture to discuss the Institute’s plans for the US Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture from 8:30-10:00 AM. This will be an opportunity for Fellows to learn more about the subject of the exhibition and how they can get involved. We’ll provide coffee and light refreshments. Please RSVP if you plan to attend so that we can get an accurate head-count. We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!
Fellows in the News: Bell, Cavaluzzi, Dart, Dubbeldam, Gans, Holl, Norten, Rogers, Sauerbruch, Stern, & Willis
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
The NY Times spoke to Rick Bell about the planned expansion of the Center for Architecture, designed by Rob Rogers; the jury for a competition to re-design the Capitol Mall in Sacramento (pictured at left) included EE&K’s Peter David Cavaluzzi; the new book Beyond Shelter, published by Metropolis Books, features work by Jim Dart and Deborah Gans; the Architect’s Newspaper visited the newly-opened TASHAN restaurant in Philadelphia, designed by Board Member Winka Dubbeldam; ArchDaily recently posted a great video interview with Patron Steven Holl; today marks the start of construction on Board Member Enrique Norten’s new Rutgers Business School Building in Livingston, New Jersey; construction work on a new half-billion-dollar mixed-use complex designed by John Portman at the former site of the Shanghai Expo is just beginning in China’s largest city; IBM’s SmartPlanet.com took an in-depth look at the intricate facade of Matthias Sauerbruch’s KfW Westarkade in Frankfurt; Robert AM Stern’s George W. Bush Presidential Center in Texas recently had its topping-out ceremony; and Beverly Willis reviewed critic Paul Goldberger’s book Why Architecture Matters for the Associates of the Art Commission.
Fellows’ Events & Exhibits: October 15-31, 2011
Saturday, October 15th, 2011
Board Member Saskia Sassen will participate in the Columbia GSAPP’s Injured Cities Conference on 10/14-15; Barbara Wilks will give a talk at the New York Botanical Garden’s Midtown Education Center on 10/24; Board Member Enrique Norten will speak at the Pratt Institute on 10/24 in conjunction with the new exhibit Breaking Borders: New Latin American Architecture; Richard Sennett will join the Institute for Public Knowledge’s discussion of the new publication Living in the Endless City in New York on 10/25; Jack Nyman’s Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute will host the symposium The Waterfront: A Brooklyn Model for Preservation and Change on 10/26; Deborah Berke will talk about Development, Design and Financing Strategies for Urban Revitalization Using Hospitality and the Arts at the ULI Fall Conference on 10/26; Board Member Toni Griffin will visit Notre Dame University on 10/26 to deliver the lecture Can Planning Save the City: Facing the Challenges of Urban America; Olympia Kazi will host Board Member Thom Mayne at Van Alen Books on 10/28 for a presentation on his new book, Combinatory Urbanism; Board Member Winka Dubbeldam is on the Host Committee for the Storefront for Art & Architecture’s Critical Halloween party on 10/29; and Tom Angotti will participate in the panel Where is New York? Apparitions at Willets Point at the Columbia GSAPP on 10/31.
Open House Weekend
Friday, October 14th, 2011The annual Open House New York will take place this weekend (10/15-16), with a kick-off party tonight in Midtown. Buildings by many Fellows (Sara Caples, Linda Pollak, Claire Weisz, et al) will be open to visitors. Meanwhile, the Chicago Architecture Foundation will launch its own annual Open House series this weekend as well, featuring tours of buildings by Phil Enquist, Helmut Jahn, and many others.
