| Editor-in-Chief | Daniel Fox | |
| Contributing Editors | Murrye Bernard, Assoc., AIA, LEED AP • Linda G. Miller | |
| Online Support | Ahmad Shairzay • Kevin Skoglund | |
| Editorial Advisor | James S. Russell, FAIA |
In this issue:
· The Mosque that Might Have Been
· Birds of a Feather: Reporters, Architects Share Passion for the Profession
· Emerald Necklace, The Bronx
· An Olympic Feat: A Park Restitches a City
· The Accessibility Thicket
· Book Review – Kenneth Frampton’s Five North American Architects: An Anthology
(l-r) Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, Denise Scott Brown, RIBA, Int’l. FRIBA, and Renata Holod.
Laura Trimble
Dr. Ghada Musa Rzouki Al-Slik updates the panel and audience on the Mosque competition.
Benjamin Kracauer
Event: The National Mosque of Baghdad Competition: A Conversation between Denise Scott Brown, Renata Holod, and Frederic Schwartz
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.04.2012
Speakers: Denise Scott Brown, RIBA, Int’l. FRIBA, Principal, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates; Renata Holod, Ph.D., Professor, Islamic Art and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, Principal, Frederic Schwartz Architects
Introduction/Moderator: Cynthia Kracauer, AIA, LEED AP, Managing Director, Center for Architecture
Organizers: Center for Architecture; a program of the exhibitions “Change: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present” and “City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982″
Sponsors: A. Estéban and Co. (benefactor); Buro Happold (lead sponsor); Eytan Kaufman Design and Development, FXFOWLE (sponsors); Arup, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Dewan Architects & Engineers, GAD, HDR, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, NAGA Architects, Ramla Benaissa Architects, RBSD Architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, World Monuments Fund, Zardman (supporters)
Architects worldwide have long debated the risks, potential value, and ethics of accepting work from objectionable governments. Allowing for a range of opinion on which compromises make a commission acceptable or unacceptable, two points in favor of such projects arose in this discussion about a difficult decision and a complex, fascinating project, the National Mosque of Baghdad, unbuilt but influential. One important consideration is that architecture can outlast governments (especially dictatorships); in the long run, one designs and builds for communities, nations, and cultures, not regimes. The other is the “first three rules of architecture” promulgated by Henry Hobson Richardson (though the line is sometimes attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright): “get the job, get the job, get the job.”
During the 1982 invited competition to design the National Mosque of Baghdad while Saddam Hussein was in power, Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown (now Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, VSBA) consulted with the State Department about the advisability of the project, reported Denise Scott Brown, RIBA, Int’l. FRIBA. Skeptical about working with the Iraqi state but drawn to the adventure, she was surprised to learn of a temporary policy tilt toward Saddam during the Reagan administration and the Iran-Iraq war, clearing the way for VSBA to accept its selection. Difficulties included her own inability to visit the site (being Jewish, she faced risks in Baghdad that did not affect other firm members), and an acute awareness of how badly the regime had treated Iraqi architects – even the diplomatic and globally-minded Rifat Chidirji, whom it had imprisoned, then released into a position of tightly circumscribed professional authority with orders to beautify Baghdad for a conference of nonaligned nations. The project yielded unique insights into what design can and cannot accomplish in a repressive society. “When you work in architecture, you can remove the barriers, but you can’t make people do things,” Scott Brown commented. “I’m not about to do regime change through a building – that’s delusions of grandeur.”
Had Saddam’s mosque been built, it would have been the largest in the Middle East. The program called for a scale that could hold more than 30,000 worshipers (both in stationary prayer and in mass processions), a non-hierarchical layout, and references to monuments in the Arab world reaching from Cordoba to Samarra, while avoiding features derived from Ottoman culture, since Iraq had chafed under Ottoman rule, or from Shi’a Islam (the Iraqi rulers were Sunni). VSBA’s design, displayed as a model in the Center for Architecture’s “City of Mirages” exhibition, modernizes the traditional Arab hypostyle form, aided by contemporary engineering in the form of trusses over 70 meters long, and includes a front-and-center decorative structure known as a muqarnas, a series of rotating niches mathematically tiled and ending in a small upper dome (it is not set back as a central dome, a feature associated with Ottoman design). Color and signage, with Kufic calligraphic characters the height of a human being arrayed in a distinct blue external band, establish linkages between precedents like the Cordoba mosque and the legible exteriors familiar from other VSBA projects. This design is a decorated shed on a vast scale, commented ex-VSBA staffer Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, who is now a principal of his own firm, Frederic Schwartz Architects.
Renata Holod, a cultural advisor to VSBA for the project, observed that state mosques are a recent typology, associated with postcolonial conditions in which “all these states around the Gulf became history-minded.” While study of historical contexts was essential, in many respects the firm was inventing procedures and working without a net. VSBA assembled a diverse team of consultants, translators, and scholars for the project; it was the professional opportunity of a lifetime, all speakers recalled, to solve the challenges of accommodating communal prayer on such a scale, from gender separation to bus access, while negotiating the pressures and risks presented by the Ba’athist state. Stephen Izenour in particular, Scott Brown recalled, “was fearless,” even at one meeting reportedly attended by Saddam: “At one point Steve said something and a member of the ruling party stood and said, ‘I do not want to hear any of the Iraqi architects repeating that.’ And Steve looked around, and saw all the Iraqi architects had turned white.”
A dramatic moment occurred at the end of the audience questioning period, after discussions of problems presented by a worldwide range of clients and customs. Ghada Musa Rzouki Al-Slik, Ph.D., an Iraqi architect and professor at the University of Baghdad, who was present at the original presentation in 1982, contributed a firsthand update to give the story a degree of closure. After officials scuttled plans to build the VSBA mosque, the competition was repeated in 1989 for a new site, limited this time to Iraqi and Arab firms, with cancelation and reactivation alternating during successive conflicts. War with the U.S. from 2003 to the end of his regime meant that from the chosen design, only a few columns were ever built.
Saddam did build a different garish mosque on one-fifth the scale of the Great Mosque, named Umm al-Ma’arik, “Mother of Battles” (now Umm al-Qura, “Mother of Cities”). At the original site, an international competition is currently considering designs for Iraq’s future parliament building, using the columns intended for the Great Mosque – a step toward repurposing ruins of a structure once meant to glorify a dictator, now to shelter a fragile democratic institution.
Matt Chaban of The New York Observer answers an audience member’s question. (l-r) Robin Pogrebin, Rob Lippincott, Steve Cuozzo, Matt Chaban, and moderator Julie Iovine.
Daniel Fox
Event: Architecture and the Media Series #2: Design Reportage: The Business Press and General Interest Media
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.03.2012
Speakers: Matt Chaban, Real Estate Editor, the New York Observer; Steve Cuozzo, Reporter, The New York Post; Robert M. Lippincott, Senior Vice President of Education, PBS; Robin Pogrebin, Reporter, The New York Times
Moderator: Julie V. Iovine, Executive Editor, The Architect’s Newspaper
Organizer: Center for Architecture; AIANY Oculus Committee; AIANY Marketing & PR Committee; The Architect’s Newspaper
When it comes to reporting on architecture, real estate in publications is at a premium. Journalists struggle to justify to their editors that a project is “worthy enough” for print. And, with so many current projects either stalled or on hold, it is even more difficult to find projects to write about without being repetitive. For Robert Lippincott, senior vice president of education at PBS, what determines whether or not a project gets covered depends on the reason why it is important. Generally, projects that represent a trend, controversy, or window into architecture from an outsiders’ perspective make the cut.
Panelists agreed that the starchitecture “movement” helped bring attention to the subject of architecture that wasn’t on the public’s radar. However, The New York Observer‘s Matt Chaban also thinks it gave the public the perception that architecture is a commodity, rather than a necessity. Robin Pogrebin, reporter for the New York Times, would like to check in with developers who chose to work with starchitects to see if they felt the result was ultimately worth the investment. Steve Cuozzo of The New York Post compared starchitects to modern ballet in the 1970s, when Baryshnikov brought a new audience to the art form.
In general, the panelists prefer to report on completed projects. Renderings are a fantasy, said Pogrebin, and without first-hand experience of a building, it is difficult to evaluate its merits. Also, while she enjoys hearing about architects’ intentions, what they say does not always translate into the final built structure. Chaban is skeptical when architects claim they will transform the world with their designs, and Lippincott is leery of potential ulterior motives behind architects’ presentations. Perhaps they are trying to influence a community board, or change their standing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, for example.
When asked about what they are interested in writing about currently, answers ranged broadly. Cuozzo prefers to write about projects that aren’t new and high-profile, such as the buildings in Battery Park. Chaban sees merit in writing frequently about some of the large-scale developments, including the World Trade Center and NYU, to help build momentum for the projects. Pogrebin searches for stories about unknown firms and up-and-comers, like the winners of the annual MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program. And Lippencott features programs that expose the history or culture of a place through architecture.
Ultimately, the reasons that reporters write about architecture is similar to why architects practice in the field. They share a love of the city, want to bring appreciation and discourse about policy to the forefront of public awareness, and they want to make a difference in the built environment.
(l-r) Kate Van Tassel, AICP; Margaret Newman, AIA; Signe Nielsen, FASLA; Paul Lipson; and moderator Erik Engquist.
Daniel Fox
Event: The South Bronx Greenway: Revitalization of an Urban Waterfront
Location: Center for Architecture, 04.30.2012
Panelists: Signe Nielsen, FASLA, Principal, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects; Paul Lipson, former Chief of Staff for Congressman Jose E. Serrano (NY-16), President of Barretto Bay Strategies; Margaret Newman, AIA, LEED AP, Chief of Staff, NYC Department of Transportation (DOT); Kate Van Tassel, AICP, Assistant Vice President, Development, NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
Moderator: Erik Engquist, Assistant Managing Editor, Crain’s NY Business
Organizer: AIANY Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee
After this event, the Center for Architecture was tweeted at by an attendee who questioned the composition of this program’s panel (“nxt time u talk about any hood invite residents! Let at least 1 informed resident present. They r talking bout our hood!”). A call-out reminiscent of my more politically-correct classes in college, the Tweeter nevertheless raised a curious question. The Center organizes about 1,000 programs a year, many about places far beyond the Bronx. Could or should we invite/include/”reach-out” to every possible constituent on speaker panels? If residents are included, should non-residents who work in a neighborhood also be included?
Perhaps the real issue here is that the South Bronx is a place more contentious than most, scarred by Robert Moses and, subsequently, suspicious of any outside attention. To be sure, all of the expected community consultations were made when planning the South Bronx Greenway. This is, after all, a community-initiated project at least 10 years in the making that began with a $1.25 million Fed DOT planning grant. But the ongoing city-subsidized relocation of Fresh Direct’s operations to this area has muddied the goodwill pool, making even this seemingly feel-good project a little prickly. Signe Nielsen, FASLA, a principal of Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, which master planned the Greenway, put it best when she said: “It all seemed so easy on my rendering.”
In light of all this, the South Bronx – its “Fort Apache, The Bronx” days receding – does indeed have the beginning of a complete greenway. According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), “construction is substantially complete on three of the five phase one projects: the new Produce Market Fence, Lafayette Avenue, and Hunts Point Avenue Street Improvements were all completed in Fall 2011.” The design, outlined in the three-phase, 20-project South Bronx Greenway Master Plan, was managed by the NYCEDC and two local community-based partners; Mathews Nielsen has led the design of six of the master plan’s open space projects.
The plan is clearly inspired by Frederick Law Olmsted’s “beads on a necklace” design for Boston’s Emerald Necklace parks, roads, and waterways. More than just a historical reference, the plan makes sense when one realizes that between each node in the system are the area’s predominant industrial sites, making a network of green spaces connected by refurbished and greened streets – rather than one large park, for instance – a necessity. Access to the post-industrial waterfront is also a boon.
Moderator Erik Engquist, of Crain’s, managed to lob some challenging questions at the panel, which ranged from economic (EE: Will this gentrify the South Bronx? Paul Lipson: There are no residential areas along the Greenway…) to professional (EE: What about this project keeps you up at night? Signe Nielsen: That no one will make it to the waterfront…). Between the lines of the obviously guarded answers was, nevertheless, a clear message: green, well-designed, and useable open space has been this mayoral administration’s priority, and we should be pleased that NYCEDC, DOT, and the other City agencies concerned with developing public space have been getting shovels in the ground “before time runs out.”
Robert Eisenstat, AIA, Co-chair of the AIANY Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduces Jason Prior.
Daniel Fox
Event: London 2012: The Olympics and the Legacy
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.02.12
Speaker: Jason Prior, Chief Executive of Practice for Planning, Design, and Development, AECOM
Organizer: AIANY Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee
Sponsor: AECOM
For any city, being named host for the Olympic Games is cause for celebration. Winning this bid, however, also poses many long-term challenges. “The Olympic franchise demands a lot, and then they leave, and you’re kind of left holding the baby,” explained Jason Prior, Chief Executive of Practice for Planning, Design, and Development for AECOM, which was engaged to develop the master plan for London’s 2012 games.
AECOM viewed the Olympics as a catalyst for change and offered an urban solution, dubbed the “Legacy Plan,” which considers the park’s impacts on the city 20 to 30 years after the games end. The design “avoids token gestures,” according to Prior, and focuses 75% of funds towards future uses for Londoners. AECOM examined mistakes made in the designs of past Olympic parks, such as huddling venues too close together so they are unable to disperse and become part of the urban fabric. Another astute point he made was: “Why build permanent venues for sports that aren’t even played in your country?”
The East London site selected for the Olympic park was a derelict area plagued by pollution, poverty, crime, and instability. But it did offer a major bonus: access to public transportation infrastructure. The designers located major venues, such as the stadium and aquatics center, closest to these transportation hubs, and connected all buildings with a central parkway. These buildings were designed to their completed state and will be fitted with temporary overlays, such as additional seating that can be removed following the games.
When the security fence comes down, the park will spread out and become folded into the city, stitching the community back together. According to Prior, even temporary events can build the idea of place in an area that previously lacked identity.
Peter Stratton explains Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Daniel Fox
Event: From Plans to Practice: Best Practices in Accessible Design and Construction in Affordable Housing in New York City
Location: Center for Architecture, 4.25.12
Speaker: Peter Stratton, Senior Vice President, Director of Accessibility Compliance and Consulting, Steven Winter Associates
Moderator: Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, LEED AP, Partner, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects
Organizers: AIANY Committees: Building Codes; Design for Aging; Housing; Planning & Urban Design
Peter Stratton’s goal was to give an overview of accessibility issues for affordable housing in New York City, with an emphasis on federal standards. Litigation related to accessibility and compliance with the Fair Housing Act started in the early 2000s, and accessibility reviews continue to expand. For example, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently inspecting the top 50 restaurants as listed in Zagat’s for violations. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is now working to make sure buildings it funds comply, including an architect’s certification, on which the AIA New York Chapter has worked with HPD to create a reasonable document.
There are four federal standards enforced by different federal agencies for different reasons, and which, consequently, do not fully relate to one another. Below are short descriptions of each standard and why they matter to architects.
• Architectural Barriers Act (ABA)
This first federal law related to accessibility goes back to 1968. It covers accessibility in facilities that are designed, constructed, altered or leased by or on the behalf of the federal government, and requires compliance with the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) which is produced by the United States Access Board; the current version is from 1984.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
It covers all projects, both new construction and rehabilitations, which receive federal funding. The standard for Section 504 is UFAS; it applies to developments of five or more units, and requires a percentage of units to be accessible. Substantial alterations – those comprising 75% of the replacement value of the building – require compliance with new construction rules. Other alterations may require compliance.
• American with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Title II covers structures built by state and local governments. Title III covers places of public accommodation and commercial facilities. In multifamily housing, ADA applies to spaces designed to accommodate the general public (i.e. a leasing office). In spaces designed only for residents and their guests, ADA does not apply.
• Fair Housing Act
Related to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was expanded in 1988 to include people with disabilities and children. Buildings built before 1991 are not required to comply, even if they undergo conversion. There are more than 10 fair housing safe harbors (regulations that the federal government has approved as meeting the Fair Housing Act). NYC’s code, however, is not one. The Act covers all housing with four or more units in a single building, all ground floor units, and all units in elevator buildings.
Finally, one has to comply with local codes, which may have requirements that exceed Federal Standards (i.e. Connecticut has visibility legislation).
So what does this mean for architects designing affordable housing? In sum, all projects need to comply with the local codes. Public spaces and projects built by city and state governments must comply with the ADA; projects built or used by the federal government must comply with ABA; all “ground up” housing built after 1992 must comply with the Fair Housing Act; and if a project receives federal funds (not including tax credits) it must comply with UFAS.
Book Review: Five North American Architects: An Anthology by Kenneth Frampton
Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP)
Lars Müller Publishers, 2012
Kenneth Frampton discusses his work at the 04.30.12 Oculus Book Talk.
Laura Trimble
Kenneth Frampton began his tenure at Columbia University’s GSAPP in 1972. During the subsequent years he not only shaped and impacted his students but his treatise Modern Architecture: A Critical History (1980; revised 1985, 1992, and 2007) reached far beyond the gates of higher learning to influence the most seasoned practitioner. Five North American Architects which includes our Canadian brethren, is a reflection of 21st-century architecture through the work of Stanley Saitowitz (Natoma Architects, San Francisco), Brigitte Shim, Hon. FAIA, and Howard Sutcliffe, Hon. FAIA (Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto), Rick Joy (Rick Joy Architects, Tucson), John Patkau, AIA, and Patricia Patkau (Patkau Architects, Vancouver), and Steven Holl, FAIA (Steven Holl Architects, New York).
While all five cozily share the pages inside the slim spine of this anthology, one of the things that I found to be most dynamic about this book is how the traits and views espoused by Frampton – “landscape, material, craft, space, light,” in addition to “their propensity for typological invention” – influenced each of these architects so fundamentally. Saitowitz’s seven principles of architecture, and Holl’s five axioms of architecture, which he wrote in Frampton’s honor, crystallize many of the shared philosophies and differences.
There is also something equally valuable to consider when reading Five North American Architects – that under the right vision and tutelage, an educational think tank can be more than a laboratory for students; it can inject energy and new ideas into professional practices at varying stages of their careers. Which brings us back to where we began, with Frampton, who at the age of 80 has achieved what so few in the academic world have not: a bridge of continuance and influence between educator and practitioners.
Each month, the AIANY Oculus Committee presents a Book Talk at the Center for Architecture. Oculus Book Talks highlight a recent publication on architecture or design – presented by the author. The Book Talks are a forum for dialogue and discussion, and copies of the publications are available for sale and signing. Kenneth Frampton was the featured writer on April 30. The next talk takes place on 06.11.12 and features Diana Balmori and Joel Sanders’ Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture (Monacelli, 2011).
In this issue:
• NYC Firms on Teams Selected to Transform DC’s National Mall
• New Art Institute Presents a Gateway between University and City
• Jet-Age Retro at JFK
• Yale University Art Gallery Renovation and Expansion Completed
• A Façade with Infinite Possibilities
Constitution Gardens
Courtesy Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker and Partners
Washington Monument Grounds
Courtesy OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi
Union Square
Courtesy Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond
Stretching from the Capitol, past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, and over to the Jefferson Memorial, the National Mall, known as “America’s front yard,” is about to get a $700 million makeover. The winning proposals include a performance space, terraces, gardens, restaurants, and an ice skating rink, while considering issues of sustainability, maintenance and operations, and security. Rogers Marvel Architects and Peter Walker and Partners have been chosen to redesign Constitution Gardens, which is east of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Seattle-based Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, partnering with Davis Brody Bond, will redesign Union Square. And Philadelphia-based OLIN and Weiss/Manfredi are in charge of revitalizing the Sylvan Theater, which is southeast of the Washington Monument. The first ribbon cutting is expected to take place in 2016, in time for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
Exterior and garden
Courtesy Steven Holl Architects
First floor galleries
Courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl Architects’ design for Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) was recently unveiled. Clad in pre-weathered satin-finish zinc with clear and translucent glass walls, the 38,000-square-foot institute features a series of flexible programming spaces for the presentation of visual art, theater, music, dance, and film. At the building’s heart is a double-height forum that connects to the ground floor performance space and opens up to the sculpture garden and café. Four galleries allowing for different exhibitions or for one all-encompassing show radiate out from the forum in forked arms, shaping the space of the garden. The three levels of galleries are linked through the open forum, allowing artists to create works that extend across, and visitors to circulate through, the spaces via a variety of paths. With green elements including geothermal wells, green roofs, and glass walls, the project is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification.
(c) Anton Stark
(c) Anton Stark
“Understatedly uptown, unmistakably New York,” is the design theme of Virgin Atlantic’s new Upper Class Clubhouse at JFK. Designed by Slade Architecture, the 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, located in Terminal 4, has full-height views of the jetways and aircraft on the tarmac below. In the lounge’s center is a cloud-shaped cocktail bar enclosed by a diaphanous, curving wall of stainless steel rods and walnut fins that mediate views from and through the space creating distinct sections for an Internet bar, meeting spots, dining, and even a spa. Mid-century Modern classic seating such as the Eames Lounge Chair, Saarinen’s Tulip, Bertoia’s Bird, and Arne Jacobsen’s Swan, as well as other furnishings, are reminiscent of the golden age of jet travel. Slade Architecture added its own modern touch with a custom-made Red Ball Sofa, Pebble Chair, and seats recessed into a perforated metal wall that have proved to be comfy sleeping nooks.
Exterior of Yale University Art Gallery: (l-r) Louis Kahn building, Old Yale Art Gallery, Street Hall.
(c) Chris Gardner
New sculpture terrace awaiting installation of work.
(c) Chris Gardner
Old Yale Art Gallery building, view into the European galleries.
(c) Chris Gardner
The Yale University Art Gallery has completed a $135 million renovation and expansion project that began in 1998. Designed by Ennead Architects, the project increases the space occupied by the gallery from one-and-a-half buildings – Louis Kahn’s 1953 Modernist structure, and approximately half of Egerton Swartwout’s 1928 neo-Florentine Gothic Old Yale Art Gallery – to three, encompassing the Kahn building (renovated in 2006), the entire Old Art Gallery, and the contiguous 1866 Street Hall, designed by Peter Bonnett Wight. The project unites the three buildings into a cohesive whole while maintaining the architectural identity of each. A new stairway and elevator unifies circulation, mechanical systems have been upgraded, and the thermal performance of the exterior walls has been improved. A new rooftop structure, clad in zinc and glass and set back from the perimeter of the roof, provides temporary exhibition space and adds a sculpture terrace. The gallery now contains over 64,000 square feet of exhibition space and the installation of art work has begun. The gallery is set to open on December 12, 2012.
Courtesy studioMDA
Located on what was once a 25-foot-wide-by-95-foot-long empty lot in the Tribeca Historic District, a 15,000-square-foot red brick, glass, and metal residential building designed by studioMDA has topped out. The six-story building at 137 Franlin Street contains three two-story condo units with a spandrel panel on the façade acting as the demarcation. The façade design, which complements its neighbors, was informed by combining interest in the nine-square grid and the play of light on the Hudson River at sunset. The architects conceptualized the “dissonant harmony” of the water’s surface to create a sense of randomness and infinite possibility, using Sol LeWitt’s automated drawings as a reference. Four elements were grouped in sets of three to generate a total of 72 possible combinations grouped in to 24 sets of three patterned panels on the exterior. This grouping represents the total set of possible geometries at a certain level of abstraction. Follow this link to watch a video detailing the façade concept.
THIS JUST IN…
Cornell University has chosen Morphosis Architects to design the first academic building, the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute, on its “CornellNYC Tech” campus on Roosevelt Island. The 150,000 square-foot, academic building, will be a net-zero energy structure, featuring geothermal and solar power and is expected to open in Fall 2017.
The 2012 New York Architects Regatta Challenge (NYARC) will be held this year on the evening of 09.13.12 at the Manhattan Sailing Club in North Cove. Visit the NYARC Facebook page for more information.
Forty historic places located in all five boroughs were announced as finalists competing for $3 million in grants through “Partners in Preservation,” a collaboration between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The public is invited to vote online for the preservation projects most important to them at Partners in Preservation. The top four vote-getters, to be announced May 22, are guaranteed to receive grants for their preservation projects. An advisory committee of community and preservation leaders will select sites that will receive the rest of the $3 million in grants.
Last week, elected officials in Goshen, NY, voted 11-10 against a resolution to demolish and replace Paul Rudolph’s 1967 Orange County Government Center. Suffering from water-damage, the building has been vacant since September. Plans to tear down the Rudolph building in favor of a new government building proposed by the county executive were quashed, in part because the new building was considered by some to be bland and lacking in character. Boston-based designLAB architects presented a report to the county that detailed how Rudolph’s building can be architecturally and economically renovated. Follow this link for more information on their findings.
In this issue:
• 2012 Architects in Albany Lobby Day
• Student loans got you down?
• e-Calendar
(l-r) Mary Burke, FAIA, Jill Lerner, FAIA, Joseph Aliotta, AIA, and Susan Chin, FAIA, in Albany.
Jay Bond
On 05.01.12 AIANY sent representatives to AIA New York State’s (AIANYS) Architects in Albany Lobby Day. 2012 AIANY President Joseph J. Aliotta, AIA, led a group of Chapter leaders and NYC-based practitioners: AIANY President-elect Jill N. Lerner, FAIA; AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA; 2012 AIANYS Regional Directors President Anthony P. Schirripa, FAIA, IIDA, and Susan Chin, FAIA; 2012 AIANYS Board Member Mary A. Burke, FAIA; Terrence E. O’Neal, AIA; Venesa Alicea, AIA; and 2012 AIANY Board Member Illya Azaroff, AIA. The day’s meetings were organized by AIANY Policy Director Jay Bond, AIA, who also attended.
It was a busy day in Albany: appointments started with the Office of NYS Senator Thomas K. Duane, a longtime friend and supporter of the work of Center for Architecture. AIANY also met with staff of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and NYS Assembly Member Deborah Glick, who, as chair of the Higher Education Committee, oversees licensing of the professions; NYS Senator Liz Krueger; the staff of Assembly Member Keith L.T. Wright and Senator Adriano Espaillat. This was our first meeting with a number of Manhattan legislators, and they were very receptive to our agenda. This trip to Albany was important because the Chapter pushed for vital issues: Statute of Repose and the Good Samaritan Act. The lack of the former puts New York architects and designers at a competitive disadvantage with our colleagues in other states, and without the second piece of legislation architects are unable to volunteer professional services during times of crisis or catastrophe.
The Chapter emphasized its concerns over our state’s lack of a statute of repose. Currently, 48 states and the District of Columbia have some sort of statute of repose for design professionals, while architects in New York State have to maintain their insurance into retirement. (Although there is a three year statute of limitations on actions brought by an owner or client, architects are answerable to third party claims for an indefinite period after project completion). AIANY advocates a 10-year limitation on third-party claims, recognizing that the design professional has no control over a property after construction is complete. The Chapter wanted elected officials to understand that there is a point when a building goes from being well-designed to well-maintained, and that is the point when the architect should no longer be liable.
The Chapter also addressed the Good Samaritan Act, which would allow engineers and architects to provide services in times of emergency without fear of legal action. All of the legislation mentioned are in various states of progress in the Senate and the Assembly, and it’s not clear how far they will get before the session ends in June. They are working with colleagues from around the state to get traction on the priorities. If there are particular pieces of legislation either before the state legislature or the New York City Council that were not mentioned here, please feel free to bring them to the Chapter’s attention. If you have the opportunity to see your State Assembly Members or Senators and they are co-sponsors of these important bills, take a moment to thank them for their support. If they are not sponsors, please ask them to consider joining the bills. More details on these bills, along with information on bills opposed, appear here.
Student loans got you down?
Graduates of all stripes – from BAs to MBAs to M.Archs – are graduating with more student debt than ever before. According to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outstanding student loan debt has surpassed $1 trillion, replacing credit card debt as the largest source of household debt excluding mortgages. It’s for this reason that AIA National and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) recently called for Congress to pass legislation that will offer debt assistance to interns and architects if they donate their services to their communities and elsewhere. The legislation includes architecture school graduates in the same programs that apply to other graduates. Read more about the important initiative here.
eCALENDAR
eCalendar includes an interactive listing of architectural events around NYC.
Center for Architecture Gallery Hours and Location
Monday-Friday: 9:00am-8:00pm, Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm, Sunday: CLOSED
536 LaGuardia Place, Between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets in Greenwich Village, NYC, 212-683-0023
CHANGE: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present
On view 02.22–06.23.2012
V’SOSKE Rugs by Architects: Architecture in Transition, 1979-1993
On view beginning 05.14–05.28.2012
Michael Graves, Rug #2, 1980
