Olympia Kazi will participate in a panel discussion at the 2011 D-Crit Conference on 5/4; Ethel Sheffer will participate in the panel Riverside Center: Did the Public Process Work? at the Center for Architecture on 5/9; then, on 5/12, you can return to the Center to see Deborah Gans moderate the panel Housing Innovation New York; Winka Dubbeldam will join a panel on design at WANTED: Design in New York on 5/14; and Art & Architecture, an exhibit of the work of architect-developer John Portman (a la Detroit’s Renaissance Center, pictured at left), is on view at Beijing’s Capital Museum from now through June 12th.
Fellows’ Events & Exhibitions: May 1-15
Monday, May 2nd, 2011Fellows in the News: Bubriski, Flint, Frugiuele, Greenberg, Griffin, Hoal, Holl, Kazi, Kerr, Mayne, Pasquarelli, Rogers, Thompson, Whalley, & Williamson
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Wanda Bubriski jumped into the public debate surrounding Architect Barbie at BWAF’s new blog; a recent CNN feature on urban agriculture included two projects by Colin Cathcart; Anthony Flint (whose Wrestling With Moses has been garnering fresh attention lately) wrote an article for Boston.com on Ben and Jane Thompson’s storied Design Research store in Cambridge, calling Jane’s new book on DR’s history “wonderful”; a developer announced plans for a floating marina complex (pictured at left), designed by Carlo Frugiuele, on the Jersey City waterfront; Ken Greenberg is working on a plan for the pedestrianization of part of Toronto’s famed Yonge Street; Board Member Toni Griffin and Fellow June Williamson both contributed to a Times Room for Debate feature on “the Incredible Shrinking City”; John Hoal is leading a six-team visioning process for St. Louis’ Ackert Walkway; Stephen Holl talked to the Scotland Herald about his Glasgow School of Art project, which was unanimously approved by the city; Olympia Kazi’s Van Alen Institute has been busy, announcing the mid-April opening of its design bookstore in Manhattan and launching the Life at the Speed of Rail design competition, the jury for which will include IfUD Board Member Thom Mayne; Treehugger talked to Laurie Kerr about NYC’s pioneering Local Law 84; the Architect’s Newspaper posted video of Gregg Pasquarelli discussing SHoP’s design for the Botswana Innovation Hub; Rob Rogers’ firm Rogers Marvel will handle restoration work on Manhattan’s Pier A, which will become a retail and event space; and Metropolis visited Andrew Whalley at Grimshaw Industrial Design’s new Chelsea office.
Fellows’ Events & Exhibitions: January 17-30
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
Jack Nyman will moderate the panel Cities as Accelerators of Sustainable Development at Baruch College on 1/19; Olympia Kazi will moderate the panel Plywood, Concrete, Paint 2! at New York’s Center for Architecture on 1/20; Jim Venturi, son of Patrons Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, will screen his new documentary Bob and Denise at the Las Vegas Market on 1/25; Gregg Pasquarelli will present SHoP’s recent work (pictured at left) at an Architectural League lecture on 1/26; Peter Walker will present conceptual landscape plans for the Point Wells development in Snohomish, WA, on 1/27; and Craig Dykers and Claire Weisz will take part in the discussion Reimagining Times Square Through Design on 1/27.
Fellow Brings Design Bookstore to Flatiron District
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
The Van Alen Institute, helmed by ex-IfUD Director and recently-minted Fellow Olympia Kazi, is preparing to open a pop-up architecture and design bookstore on the ground floor of its building at 30 West 22nd Street in New York City’s Flatiron District (pictured at left). A six-month trial run is being funded through a grant from the JM Kaplan Fund starting in November of this year.
Three New IfUD Fellows
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
We’re pleased to welcome three new Fellows to the Institute: Olympia Kazi, Director of the Van Alen Institute (whom you may remember from her previous position as the Director of this very Institute!); Julie Ju-Youn Kim, Owner and Principal of construcTWO in Washington, DC; and Gregg Pasquerelli (pictured at left), a Principal with SHoP Architects in New York. We’re excited to have them on board.
New York City Council Testimony
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Institute executive director Olympia Kazi testified in front of the New York City Council Environmental Protection Committee about the package of four bills that mandate energy efficiency upgrades for a great part of the existing NYC building stock. Kazi’s testimony included comments from the third fellows’ Breakfast Club that focused on the Greener Greater Buildings Plan initiative of PlaNYC. The implementation of this plan depends upon the passage of those bills. You may download the [PDF] of the testimony.
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
Actions for Urban Spaces Panel
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Art in General will host a panel discussion on April 22nd examining the construction of public space, its effects on the flow of people through urban environments, and the social and economic ramifications of such directed movements. The discussion will feature Institute Executive Director Olympia Kazi, “Actions for Urban Spaces” artist John Hawke, artist Alex Villar, and Art in General Assistant Curator Nina Horisaki-Christens. See the invitation on Facebook.
New York 2030: Plans, Visions and Reality, Moscow, Russia
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Institute executive director Olympia Kazi lectured about the latest urban developments in New York and PlaNYC at the C:CA / Center of Contemporary Architecture in Moscow. See the full lecture online at Vimeo.
ECOWEEK 2009 Empowering Youth: Ecology + Leadership + Architecture, Athens, Greece
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
A speaker at ECOWEEK 2009, Institute executive director Olympia Kazi talked about PlaNYC and the Institute’s New York 2030 research. More
