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.
Jane Thompson Honored at White House Event
Monday, July 26th, 2010Fellows In the News: Arad, Williamson, and Safdie
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
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.
Our Cities Ourselves Opens This Thursday
Monday, June 21st, 2010
The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy’s Our Cities Ourselves exhibit, which features the work of IfUD Board Chair Michael Sorkin’s firm Terreform, will open this Thursday, June 24. The exhibit asks 10 leading architects to imagine 10 cities in the year 2030, especially the ways in which walking, biking, and public transit figure into the mix. To kick things off, ITDP will host a media roundtable on the morning of the 24th, from 10:00 AM to 10:45 AM, at the Center for Architecture, at 536 LaGuardia Place in New York. For more information, check out the program website, or follow it on Twitter @ourcities.
Fellows Brown and Hutton to Speak at Consortium for Sustainable Urbanism Workshop
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Fellows Lance Jay Brown and Ernest Hutton will speak at a Consortium for Sustainable Urbanism-led workshop on How Creative and Sustainable Economies Can Lead to a Culture of Peace this Thursday and Friday, June 17-18, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The event will offer AIA CES, with 3 LUS/HSW available for June 17, and 8 LUS/HSW available for June 18. The day’s agenda is available for download here, and the registration form here.
New Design Competition: “Build a Better Burb”
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Build a Better Burb, sponsored by the Long Island Index, is seeking proposals for “retrofitting underutilized asphalt in suburban downtowns into innovative and surprising new uses, forms and urbanisms.” The competition seeks to “widen the debate about building a better – more sustainable and equitable – future for our burbs.” Register before June 21st. Guaranteed first prize of $10,000, $10,000 in additional prizes.
Institute Fellows’ New Ventures
Sunday, November 15th, 2009Institute fellow Christopher Stienon has founded Urban Matrix, a New York-based practice for urban design, planning, and environmental sustainability.
Bissera Antikarov has founded a new New York-based planning, urban design, and re/development consulting practice called UrbanVision Consulting.
Grimshaw Architects from The Architectural League
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
Hosted by The Architectural League, Institute fellow Andrew Whalley will present the current work of his firm, Grimshaw Architects, on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:00 p.m. at The Great Hall, The Cooper Union (7 East 7th Street, New York).
Cedar Hull, Atrium, and Bridges to Concert Hall. Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Troy, New York. Photo by Peter Aaron/ESTO
Olympia Kazi is Respondent for Energy Infrastructures Workshop
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Institute executive director Olympia Kazi was the respondent for the Energy Infrastructures workshop at the Center for Architecture on May 15, 2009. Prompted by the question How do energy infrastructures define us as citizens (not just consumers)?, the participants were asked to visualize an energy infrastructure that requires or produces civic engagement. Workshop participants were divided as such:
Group 1:
Mark Shepard, University at Buffalo
Denise Hoffman Brandt, City College
Susannah Drake, 2009 President New York Chapter ASLA
Group 2:
Dan Michaelson, Linked by Air
Shin-pei Tsay, Deputy Director, Transportation Alternatives
Kaja Kuhl, You are the City (TBC)
Group 3:
Anton Willis, Civil Twilight Design Collective
Eric Wilmot, Principal Strategist & Sustainability Lead, FROG
Casey Mack, Popular Architecture
Emerging Exchanges: New Architecture of India
Thursday, April 30th, 2009“Emerging Exchanges: New Architecture of India”, a two day symposium convened by Institute fellow Brian McGrath and Kazi Ashraf, was organized by The Architectural League of New York, the India China Institute of The New School, and Parsons The New School for Design. Institute board members Anthony Vidler and Michael Sorkin participated among many other distinguished figures.
Tom Angotti at Access Restricted: Capital of the World
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009As part of the lecture series “Access Restricted: Capital of the World”, Institute fellow Tom Angotti gave a talk about the history of grassroots community urban planning in New York designed to sustain neighborhoods. The lecture, called “Bottom-Up Planning in the Real Estate Capital of the World”, was organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
