Month: June 2008

Event: Designs for Living: Panel Discussion on Housing Policy
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.02.08
Speakers: Victor Bach — Senior Housing Policy Analyst, Community Service Society of New York; Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA — Senior Research Fellow, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, Project Director, Remodeling Futures Program, & Chief Economist, AIA National; Christopher Jones — Vice President for Research, Regional Plan Association & Former Special Assistant to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Development in NYC; Ronald Shiffman, FAICP, Hon. AIA — Professor of Urban Planning, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, Pratt Institute & Former Director, Pratt Center for Community Development
Moderator: Wids DeLaCour, AIA — Co-Chair, AIANY Housing Committee
Organizer: AIANY Housing Committee
Sponsors:Champion: Studio Daniel Libeskind; Supporters: Gensler; HumanScale; James McCullar & Associates; Friends: Benjamin Moore & Co.; Costas Kondylis & Partners; Forest City Ratner Companies; Frank Williams & Associates; Hugo S. Subotovsky Architects; Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti; Mancini Duffy; Magnusson Architecture and Planning; Rawlings Architects; Ricci Greene Associates; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Syska & Hennessy; Trespa North America; Universal Contracting Group

For the last 60 years housing patterns have been driven by post-war development. Now, with upcoming local and national elections, the state of the economy, and poor living conditions for low-income households, it is time to re-examine policies, infrastructure, and land-use. So argued Christopher Jones, vice president for research at the Regional Plan Association (RPA) at a recent discussion about housing trends.

The way people live has changed drastically since 1940, said Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA, senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, and AIA’s chief economist, using data collected for the 1940 and 2005 Census surveys. Pre-WWII, homes cost an average of $41,000, and half of housing units had either no indoor plumbing or shared facilities. In 2005, homes cost an average of $159,000 — a fourfold increase — with one bathroom per bedroom. In 1940, less than 40% of the population owned homes compared with more than 68% in 2005, thanks in large part to an increase in sub-prime mortgages (“and now we are paying the price,” stated Baker). Today, fewer than one-third of Caucasians live in inner cities, yet 60% of minority renters live in city centers that lack access to good schools, common amenities, and better paying jobs. No place in the U.S. does the minimum wage equal the housing wage, the hourly wages needed to afford a “decent” home. In some cities such as NYC, LA, and San Francisco, the housing wage is equal to five times the minimum wage.

NYC is a case study to speculate about the affordability crisis and examine solutions, argued Victor Bach, senior housing policy analyst for the Community Service Society of New York. Only 20% of those who fit the federal definition of poverty live in subsidized housing, and figures are worsening. Rapid population growth will put a high demand on the housing market and low-income residents will have more difficulty competing for housing. The National Housing Trust Fund, National Housing Law Project for housing preservation, and Mayor Bloomberg’s affordable housing plans are steps in the right direction, Bach believes. But outside of the housing sector, the city can develop policies that will provide cash transfers and relief to those who need to pay for residual costs besides rent.

In NYC, Jones sees opportunity at federal, state, and local levels to improve the housing situation. Nationally, a new transportation plan must be developed to aid congestion and reduce carbon emissions, and the government should encourage and preserve rental housing. Locally, transit-oriented development (TOD) needs to be improved alongside “inclusionary zoning” so infrastructure and housing can develop symbiotically. Also, state housing trust funds should be dedicated to improve affordable housing. Baker is convinced that cleaning up current mortgage lending markets, promoting increased sustainability, and preserving and upgrading existing housing (rather than constructing new buildings) will abate the crisis.

The U.S. is one of few countries that have not ratified a human rights agreement calling for a right to housing, pointed out Ronald Shiffman, FAICP, Hon. AIA, professor of urban planning at the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, Pratt Institute. With current elections at hand, architects and planners have the opportunity to influence future policies and make a difference. The AIA can push Congress to act to make housing a priority. As architects and planners, we should also be taking our personal standards beyond the government’s. We should adopt smart housing location criteria, set up guidelines for all new houses to be carbon neutral by 2010, encourage high densities (but not so high that they overwhelm infrastructure), and make sure we do not contribute to the discrimination of people’s right to housing.

Event: Design Awards Winners’ Symposium
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.19.08
Speakers: Farnaz Manusuri, Assoc. AIA — Lead Designer, De-Spec; Stephen Cassell, AIA — Principal, Architecture Research Office; Joel Sanders, AIA — Principal, Joel Sanders Architect; Sam Dufaux — Worker, Work architecture company; Peter Bentel, AIA — Partner, Bentel & Bentel Architects and Planners AIA; Stephan Jaklitsch, AIA — Principal, Stephan Jaklitsch Architects; John Lee, AIA — Principal, Workshop for Architecture; Taryn Christoff — Principal, Christoff:Finio Architecture; Lee Mindel, FAIA — Principal, Shelton, Mindel & Associates
Moderator: Paul Zajfen, FAIA, RIBA — Juror, Design Principal, CO Architects
Organizer: AIANY Design Awards Committee
Sponsors: Benefactors: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Syska Hennessy Group; Patrons: F.J. Sciame Construction Co.; HDR; HOK; Langan Engineering & Environmental Services; O’Connor Capital Partners; Richter + Ratner; Thornton Tomasetti; Lead Sponsors: Arup; Consulting for Architects; Gensler; KI; Lutron Electronics; Mancini Duffy; RMJM Hillier; Robert A.M. Stern Architects; STUDIOS architecture; Turner Construction Company; Sponsors: Armstrong World Industries; Atkinson Koven Feinberg; Building Contractors Association; Cosentini Associates; Costas Kondylis and Partners; Flack+Kurtz; Forest City Ratner Companies; FXFOWLE Architects; Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti; James G. Kennedy & Co.; Jaros, Baum & Bolles; JCJ Architecture; John Gallin & Son; MechoShade Systems; Microsol Resources; New York University; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Perkins+Will; Peter Marino Architect; Polshek Partnership Architects; Ricci Greene Associates; Rogers Marvel Architects; Swanke Hayden Connell Architects; Toshiko Mori Architect; Weidlinger Associates

2008 AIANY Design Honor Awards in Interiors (l-r): Yale University Art Gallery Media Lounge by Joel Sanders Architect; Banchet Flower Bar by De-Spec; Friedman Study Center at Brown University by Architecture Research Office.

Courtesy AIANY

There were over 140 entries in the AIANY Design Awards Interiors category this year. “It was a daunting thing looking for a reason to get rid of a project,” said jury member Paul Zajfen, FAIA, RIBA, design principal at LA-based CO Architects. “Projects were submitted that were really good, and with another set of jurors someone else might have won.” Proving this point, John Lee, AIA, principal at Workshop for Architecture, admitted his 2008 merit award-winning project, the Maritime Intelligence Group Offices, was twice previously submitted. The difference between an honor and a merit, according to Zajfen, was unanimity and, to that end, the jury selected four honors and seven merit awards.

Honor Award Winners
The Banchet Flower Bar is a shop in the meat packing district designed by De-Spec. The two-phased project transformed a warehouse space into a flower design studio at a time when the district was still a mix of meat-packing and trendy stores and restaurants. The design team spread out flowers along the shop turning it into a performance space for passers-by, according to lead designer Farnaz Mansuri, Assoc. AIA. Once open, Mansuri was pleased to hear photographers wanted to use the space for shoots and people wanted to rent it for weddings.

Brown University’s mission of interdisciplinary education was integral to the programming, and thus the architecture, of the Friedman Study Center, stated Architecture Research Office (ARO) principal Stephen Cassell, AIA. With a large floor plate, they could design several micro-environments, each furnished differently. The interiors accommodate quiet, individual study zones, interactive areas, as well as collaborative activities.

Yale University Art Gallery Media Lounge, designed by Joel Sanders Architect, was an exercise in working with many different parties — the director and curators of the museum, bookstore employees, and students. The space serves reading, film screenings, and even banquets. Custom-designed, flexible furniture is demountable quickly and easily. Since it is located in the first floor of the Louis Kahn-designed gallery, the firm incorporated four-foot floating modular display panels to divide and create.

Merit Award Winners
Anthropologie, a retailer that sells items ranging from door knobs to clothing, called upon Work architecture company to design a new store in southern California. This involved revamping the brand and creating a template for future stores. Workshop For Architecture’s design for the Maritime Intelligence Group Offices is stylistically estranged from its neighbors despite its site in a typical 1980s brick office building. The suspended ceilings are painted black and are backlit, window walls are screened with parachute fabric, and floors are concrete.

Bentel & Bentel Architects and Planners AIA’s design for Craftsteak in an old building near Chelsea Market echoed the chef/owner’s idea that cooking is a craft, not an art. Thus, the restaurant has a refined, simple palette, to echo the process of simple food preparation. The Marc Jacobs Collection in the Palais Royal in Paris occupies seven bays in the 1739 arcade, rather than one. Stephan Jaklitsch Architects gutted the space and worked with the Ministry of Culture to develop a model for future stores in the Palais.

STUDIOS Architecture mimicked Gehry Partners’ undulating exterior skin within the IAC Headquarters to create distinct areas for the company’s Internet properties. Christoff:Finio Architecture’s “untech” scheme won the New Museum of Contemporary Art’s competition for its interiors. Ten small tables rearrange into one large one, and six mesh curtains are on ceiling tracks for maximum flexibility in the space. Shelton, Mindel & Associates’ pool house on Long Island is a simple cube with a wall opened up to the outdoors. Furniture acts as indoor “pool toys” to neighborhood children’s delight.

Event: New Practices Jury Symposium
Location: Center for Architecture, 06.04.08
Speakers: Jury Members: Amale Andraos — Work AC; Jennifer Carpenter — TRUCK; Peter Eisenman, FAIA — Eisenman Architects; William Menking — Editor-in-Chief, The Architect’s Newspaper; Mark Strauss, FAIA, AICP — Principal, FXFOWLE Architects; Charles Renfro, AIA — Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (not present)
Moderator: Illya Azaroff, AIA — Design Collective Studio
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee
Sponsors: Underwriter: Häfele; Lead Sponsors: MG & Company, Poliform USA, Thornton Tomasetti; Supporters: Fountainhead Construction, FXFOWLE Architects; Beverage Sponsor: Saaga Vodka; Media Sponsor: The Architect’s Newspaper

Courtesy AIANY

Jurors claimed there were many good firms that entered this year’s New Practices New York (NPNY) competition, but the tone of the symposium was predominantly critical. Six winning firms were announced: Urban A&O won the honor award, and five finalists include Baumann Architecture, Common Room, David Wallance Architect, Matter Architecture Practice, and Openshop | Studio. Jurors agreed that 12 out of 52 portfolio entries were “interesting,” but only one “had what we were looking for,” explained Amale Andraos. Urban A&O unanimously won top billing for graphic representation, project focus, and design abilities.

NPNY, the second juried portfolio competition and exhibition in a new biennial tradition, serves as a platform to recognize and promote innovative and emerging architecture firms in NYC. The competition emphasizes both a firm’s projects and practices. Participating firms were asked to submit a “Mini Portfolio” along with a “Practice Narrative” explaining their methods of collaboration and integrated practice, influences on critical thinking about design, and the variety of their project experience, as well as the location and nature of their practices.

Jurors reported that Charles Renfro, AIA, who was not in attendance, was frustrated that the portfolios contained “nothing you had never seen before,” noting a trend towards anti-specialization among the applicants. “I didn’t see any star tendencies — and that is a very positive thing,” said Peter Eisenman, FAIA, with a touch of irony. However, he was disappointed that there was “no real stance on green architecture,” or any other over-arching concepts. Jennifer Carpenter said she was “surprised by the range of built work,” as she had expected to see more technology-based explorations.

While jurors agreed it was exciting that new practices are able get large-scale projects (many portfolios included international built work as well as developer-led projects), they debated whether this is positive or negative in terms of critical thinking about design. Eisenman, quoting Aldo Rossi, Hon. FAIA, was looking for “theory that can lead to practice” among the portfolios, but found more work or practice without the theory behind it.

The six winners will present their work in a lecture series and showcase at Häfele’s New York showroom, and work will be on view at the Center for Architecture this fall, opening September 5.

Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA, is a designer with TEK Architects and has written for Architectural Record, Architecture Boston, and Architectural Lighting.