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, 2011IfUD On Screen: Hutton, Portman, Sorkin, & Stern
Friday, October 7th, 2011
Director Ben Loeterman’s feature-length film about the life and work of John Portman, A Life of Building, will have its film festival premiere at the Architecture Film Festival in Rotterdam next week before making its way to New York for the Architecture and Design Film Festival later this month. PBS will broadcast Chicago affiliate WTTW’s documentary on Robert AM Stern (pictured at left) nationally on October 9th and 10th. Online, you can catch Board President Michael Sorkin discussing the World Trade Center rebuilding process in a Telegraph video feature, and a TalkingScience clip featuring Ernie Hutton on sustainability in New York City.
Quoth the Fellows: Brown, Dixon, & Safdie
Monday, May 30th, 2011
In a post on bird-safe windows, Inhabitat dug up a great quote from Hillary Brown in a 2008 issue of Audubon magazine. Said Brown: “That’s really what good, sustainable, integrated design is–solving multiple problems with a single solution.” Contrasting showpiece City Beautiful-era public spaces like Indianapolis’ Monument Circle (pictured at left) with more dynamic contemporary spaces, David Dixon argued that “Public spaces have a new purpose, to bring a sense of shared community and destiny. The space needs to engage people rather than just offering somewhere to go.” And Moshe Safdie, speaking about his involvement in an ongoing design competition for a new terminal in Incheon, South Korean, said of airport design: “There is something beyond functionality and convenience. [An airport terminal] needs to give a sense that you are entering the great gate of the country.”
Quoth the Fellows: Fowle, Kerr, & Sheffer
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Said Bruce Fowle, president-elect of the National Academy Museum and School, on the recovery and re-opening of that once-threatened institution: “The doors are reopening on a whole other world there;” in a recent article on the many ways in which New York City is attempting to become a cleaner and greener place, AM New York spoke with Laurie Kerr (pictured at left), who noted that “Buildings have an enormous impact on the environment; building codes should reflect that;” and speaking of her involvement in the aforementioned Riverside Center project in The Villager, Ethel Sheffer noted that it was getting involved with her Community Board that led her to become a professional planner: “You have to become citizen experts.”
Fellow’s Firm Wins Sustainability Prize
Friday, February 18th, 2011
Engineering firm WSP Flack + Kurtz, led by Fellow David Cooper, was recently received the Best Overall Sustainable Design Award for 2010 Best Practices. Cooper’s firm is being recognized (along with project partners Ratcliff Architects) by the Energy Efficiency Partnership Program for Higher Education Buildings for the design for the California-based De Anza College Mediated Learning Center (pictured at left). Congratulations from the IfUD community to David and everyone at WSP Flack + Kurtz!
Sauerbruch Hutton Snags Sustainable Construction Prize
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Fellow Matthias Sauerbruch’s firm Sauerbruch Hutton has been selected as the winner of the International Honour Award of the Castilla y Leon Sustainable Construction Awards for 2010 for its outstanding work in promoting sustainable construction methods.
Upcoming: Planning For a Sustainable Future
Friday, March 5th, 2010
On March 22nd, APA NY Metro Chapter and AIA NY will host a panel discussion called Planning for a Sustainable Future: Can We Achieve Integration at the Regional Level? The discussion will take place at 6:30pm at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place, NYC). RSVP here.
Institute fellow Bissera Antikarov will serve as moderator along with Tom Jost, co-chairs of the APA NY Economic Development Committee.
1.5 AICP CM Credits pending, CES LUs 1.5; HSW 1.5; SD 1.5
The Sustainable Cities Awards 2010
Monday, November 30th, 2009
The Sustainable Cities Awards 2010, organized by the Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute, recognize outstanding and innovative programs that advance the application of sustainability principles to land use, thereby promoting their incorporation in cities and in the general real estate industry.


