October 2009 – Page 3 – News – What’s New at AIANY and the Center for Architecture.

Raising the Lower Ninth

Event: Make It Right: From Concept to Community
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.08.09
Speakers: Tom Darden — Executive Director, Make It Right; Sarah Howell, AIA — Project Architect, Make It Right
Organizer: Center for Architecture as part of Architecture Week 2009
Sponsors: Kohler; Kramer Levin; Solco

Make It Right house under construction.

Courtesy Make It Right

Some things just happen slower in the South. While this may be acceptable when it comes to southern drawls or crawfish boils, the pace of rebuilding New Orleans following the disaster of Hurricane Katrina is not, especially in the Lower Ninth Ward. Shocked by the devastation in the area and appalled by lack of federal support, actor Brad Pitt, along with William McDonough + Partners, Cherokee Gives Back Foundation, and Graft Architects, created the Make It Right Foundation to rebuild the neighborhood with homes that are green, safe, healthy, and affordable. For its efforts, the foundation received the 2009 Center for Architecture Foundation Award. Tom Darden, executive director, and Sarah Howell, AIA, project architect, discussed their accomplishments and goals for the future of Make It Right.

Fourteen firms — both locals and luminaries including MVRDV, Gehry Partners, and Morphosis — developed prototypes for single family and duplex homes. The architects held community meetings and design charrettes, abiding by guidelines set forth by Make It Right. Darden explained that the homes had to feature sustainable materials and systems; provide ADA access when necessary; be elevated above Katrina water levels; and provide rooftop access so that in the event of another disaster, residents would not become trapped in their attics — a cause of many fatalities in the wake of the hurricane.

Families choose from the 27 available prototypes depending on their needs and lifestyles. Many designers drew inspiration from traditional New Orleans architecture and incorporated contextual details like gabled roofs and front porches, a vital part of New Orleans culture. However, most of the designs are decidedly modern, requiring building techniques with which local contractors weren’t familiar. Howell deciphers these construction details and serves as a liaison between the contractors and the families that will inhabit the homes. “The construction site is like a laboratory,” she explained.

Working with University of New Orleans College of Engineering students, Make It Right has determined ways to build stronger walls and foundations at a lower cost. This inventiveness and willingness to explore cost-saving options has enabled them to build the architects’ designs without compromising their integrity. “Efficiency and affordability are closely linked,” Howell believes.

The cost-savings continue after residents inhabit the homes. Passive and active sustainable features such as solar panels, tankless water heaters, and LED lighting have resulted in a 10-volt average decrease in energy costs. Darden’s own electric bill was over $200 during the same month some residents’ bills were under $40.

Make It Right has pledged to build 150 homes, and Darden hopes to complete 50 by December 2009. Aside from the homes, the foundation has built playgrounds and installed pervious streetscapes and landscaping in the neighborhood, as well, all in the hope of rebuilding a sense of community.

Though 90% of Lower Ninth Ward residents were homeowners before Katrina, they are slowly and hesitantly returning. Make it Right’s safely designed homes offer peace of mind with an affordable price tag, at around $150,000, or $130/square foot. In a video short produced by the foundation, a new resident sums it up best: “This house affords us a new way of living.”

To watch a short video about Make It Right, shown at the Heritage Ball, go to the Podcasts website.

Murrye Bernard, a Louisiana native, is a freelance architectural writer in NYC and a contributing editor to e-Oculus.

DS+R Straddle Architectural Lines

Event: Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Design, the Arts and Everything Else
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.05.09
Speakers: Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, AIA — Partners, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Organizers: Center for Architecture as part of Architecture Week
Sponsors: Kohler; Kramer Levin; Solco

The Standard Hotel straddling the High Line.

Jessica Sheridan

“Media is irrelevant as long as there is an experiment,” said Ricardo Scofidio, AIA, of his firm’s work. The trajectory of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s practice has been consistent from its founding. The firm has always explored space through the mundane yet visual culture, aiming to provide a perspective about the ordinary from a different and new vantage point. As recipients of this year’s President’s Award, DS+R partners Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller presented a survey of their work at the Center for Architecture. From their first project in 1981, an invited competition by the Institute for Urban Studies to create an installation in Columbus Circle, to their latest museum in Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, under construction, DS+R seeks to redefine the possibilities of architecture.

After long operating in a self-proclaimed exile from the architecture profession, with a series of gallery installations, small structures, and a viewing platform at Ground Zero, DS+R has recently come to accept their position in the profession with several high profile projects. “We could have never dreamed to have an effect on NY the way we did,” claimed Diller when presenting the Lincoln Center redevelopment plan and the High Line. With both projects, the firm exercised restraint with unexpected results. At Lincoln Center, by focusing on making small adjustments, DS+R’s goal was to break down the implicit elitism of the “acropolean” complex. By creating public gathering spaces, providing space for impromptu street performances, and employing a single-way cable net curtain wall for maximum transparency at the Julliard School, street life is drawn into the buildings while culture spills onto the street.

The design intent behind the High Line was to create a park where visitors can enjoy the city, rather than escape from it. Admittedly, the firm unexpectedly became part of reinvigorating the Meatpacking District, which is now a goldmine of development and starchitecture. Not only that, but Diller confessed that the public is exposing the nature of the High Line more than they could have imagined — literally. With the Standard Hotel straddling the park, exhibitionism is rampant to the extent that voyeurs are bringing binoculars to the High Line to watch the exploits behind the unshielded windows of the hotel. Further north, where a construction floodlight points at a fire escape like a spotlight, the resident within performs spontaneous “renegade cabarets” for anyone willing to watch.

While the firm has enjoyed many successes, it also has suffered painful losses, including the National Museum of African American Culture in Washington, D.C., and the Munch + Sternersen Museum in Olso. Ultimately, Diller describes the DS+R’s work as “all scales, all media, sometimes ironic, inverting expectations, and sometimes simply stating the facts.” Whatever the work is, it is always critical and generative.

To watch a short video about Diller Scofidio + Renfro, shown at the Heritage Ball, go to the Podcasts website.

Robert A. Silman: Technology and Values in Architectural Form

Event: Robert A. Silman: Technology and Values in Architectural Form
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.05.09
Speakers: Robert Silman, PE, Hon. AIA — Principal, Robert Silman Associates; Kenneth Frampton — Ware Professor of Architecture, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Organizer: Center for Architecture as part of Architecture Week 2009
Sponsors: Kohler; Kramer Levin; Solco

An apt subtitle for this talk could be “Architecture from A to Z…and E is for Ethics.” When Robert Silman, PE, Hon. AIA, started his practice, clients would come to him with design challenges. His response, back then, was “let me think and get back to you.” Today, however, due to technology, engineers can do anything! But the question, according to Silman, is ethical, not scientific. The question is: “not can I, but ought I?”

Silman was a philosophy student at Cornell prior to attaining his undergraduate and masters degrees in civil engineering at NYU. He cites as his hero philosopher Han Jonas, who wrote about “The Imperative of Responsibility” which centers on social and ethical problems created by technology. As president of his structural engineering firm for the past 43 years, he has directed all phases of its operations and employs a set of ethical principles in his office. “It’s the grey areas that make for interesting discussion.”

Kenneth Frampton began what he called an “Alphabetic Aphoristic Reflection on the Relationship Between Technology and Value — at the interface Between Architecture and Engineering” that was derived from structural engineer Auguste Perrets aphoristic Contribution to a Theory of Architecture in 1952. Beginning with A is for architecture and ending with Z is for Zen, the entire alphabet follows for your consideration, contemplation, and conversation. Read it here.

To watch a short video about Silman, shown at the Heritage Ball, go to the Podcasts website.

de Portzamparc’s Challenge to NYC, and Vice Versa

Event: Wake Up the Cities: Recent Work by Christian de Portzamparc
Speakers: Christian de Portzamparc, Hon. FAIA — Principal, Atelier Christian de Portzemparc; Tony Schirripa, AIA, IIDA — AIANY President-elect; Rick Bell, FAIA — Executive Director, AIANY (introductions)
Organizers: AIA-NY Cultural Facilities Committee; La Maison Française; NYU
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.29.09

Event: Riverside Center: Presentation and Panel
Location: Center for Architecture, 09.29.09
Speakers: Christian de Portzamparc, Hon. FAIA; Signe Nielsen, Hon. AIANY, FASLA — Principal, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects; Gale Brewer — New York City Council; Paul Elston — Riverside South Planning Corporation; Paul Willen, FAIA — Architect; Craig Whitaker — Coalition for a Livable West Side
Moderator: Rick Bell, FAIA — Executive Director, AIANY
Organizers: AIANY Planning & Urban Design Committee

Hergé Museum in Louvain, Belgium.

In a rapid and thorough presentation of projects and ideas from throughout his career, architect/urbanist Christian de Portzamparc, Hon. FAIA, demonstrated the qualities that have earned him a Pritzker Prize and worldwide renown, including a coherent vision of cities’ evolution and a confident sense of form. The following morning, after presenting his plan for Extell Development’s new piece of the Upper West Side’s Riverside South waterfront puzzle, he got a firsthand look at the processes and perspectives that complicate major projects in New York. If Riverside Center defies the pattern of other recent major developments and reaches the point of realization (projected around 2017), that success will have a great deal to do with de Portzamparc’s vision of postmodern urbanity.

De Portzamparc is one of 10 architects selected by president Nicholas Sarkozy for the “Grand Paris” exercise in sustainable master planning, loosely analogous to our city’s PlaNYC. His proposal’s new high-speed elevated rail line would connect the troubled Parisian suburbs to the central city in an integrated archipelago, overcoming the disjointedness produced by the city’s ring road. Transportation and communication systems, he said, are the critical elements in a city’s evolution beyond the excessive abstractions and separations that modern cities inherited from Corbusier.

In Rue de la Loi in Brussels, the Massena neighborhood in Paris, his contribution to OMA’s master plan for Almere, the Netherlands (a mixed-use complex on an artificial meadow atop a plate concealing automotive infrastructure), and many other projects, he offers variations on a set of strategies that maximize urban variety: the open or porous block, the juxtaposition of volumes with different heights, and the welcoming the randomness of the street. In his cultural infrastructure projects — particularly the Cidade da Música in Rio de Janeiro, with a sweeping 10-meter-high terrace offering visitors a memorable vantage point amid the surrounding mountains, and the Hergé Museum in Louvain, Belgium, a shrine to the creator of Tintin, with playful colors, sweeping walkways, and comic-frame fenestration — his designs show a sensitivity to the human body. From early in his career, he acknowledged, “I was conscious that the space between buildings” had “the same importance as the building itself.”

“The city must permit the game of urbanism, which is a permanent fight between private energy and the cleverness of public organizations,” he stated; “every urban decision is the result of this fight.” In the current Riverside Center scheme, de Portzamparc’s mixed-use, varied-height towers and Signe Nielsen’s practical workarounds for landscaping a difficult site (complicated by sharp grade changes as well as proximity to rail lines, the West Side Highway, and a Sanitation Department station) add up to an improvement over the row of recent towers to the north. Community representatives, however, question: will de Portzamparc’s intent to create genuine public park space, not a private enclave, be honored by the developers in the long run? Is the view to Con Ed’s historic IRT Powerhouse to the south a valuable enough feature to override Extell’s interest in profitable square footage? Are the measurements of green-space proportions meaningful or misleading?

Paul Elston, current chair of the Riverside South Planning Corporation, offered an alternate plan premised on relocation of the highway (approved at federal and state levels, but in search of funding). Paul Willen, FAIA, one of the original architects of Riverside South, proposed removing one tower from the Extell plan to improve sunlight and public access. Craig Whitaker, cautioning that certain developers have been known to retain impressive architects only as long as administratively necessary, would prefer a square-one rethink beginning with park space and amplified street frontage, not with a “beauty pageant” of towers. The Uniform Land Use Review Procedure begins soon and should be lively.

De Portzamparc, who cited a relevant quotation from Lao Tzu as a personal influence (“My house is not the wall; it is not the ground; it is not the roof; it is the emptiness between these things, because that is where I am dwelling”), will once again need to negotiate the balance between volumes and voids to help bring Riverside Center to fruition. In this next fight, which promises to be a long and rigorous one, he will be on the kind of formal, intellectual, and political territory where his comprehension and experience place him right at home.

To listen to excerpts of their conversation after the two events, click here: Interview: Christian de Portzamparc, Hon. FAIA.

Bill Millard is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in OCULUS, Icon, Content, The Architect’s Newspaper, and other publications.

Dallas Architecture District

(L-R): Wyly Theater by REX/OMA; Winspear Opera House by Foster + Partners; Nasher Sculpture Center by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Rick Bell

The year-old Dallas Center for Architecture, located on the edge of the Dallas Arts District, hosted the 2009 convocation of the leaders of the largest AIA components, the so-called “Big Sibs.” The remarkable ground-level Center, directly across the soon-to-be-decked Woodall Rodgers Freeway from the Dallas Art Museum by Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA, has superb meeting and exhibition space. The two-day large-chapter meeting, led by AIA Dallas President Todd Howard, AIA, and Executive Director Paula Clements, Hon. TSA, held 10.01-02.09, allowed the exchange of best practices and ideas for how the AIA can best serve its members during the current recession. Present were presidents, presidents-elect, and executive directors from 14 cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Orange County (CA), Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. While in Dallas, the AIA leaders were able to see the construction sites for the Winspear Opera House by Foster + Partners and AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theater by REX/OMA, along with the Dallas Art Museum and the Nasher Sculpture Center by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Many also visited the still-sparkling Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and saw Eric Breitbart’s film “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman” at The Magnolia.

Common themes emerging from the Big Sibs discussion included the importance of:
· Emerging architects / young architects
· Continuing education and volunteer opportunities during the economic downturn
· Membership retention and development; keeping in touch with members and others whose primary e-mail has changed because of layoffs
· Budgetary projections given non-dues revenue diminishment
· Collaboration with other professional and civic groups
· Strategic planning, both local and national
· Enhancing communications and advocacy
· Centers for Architecture (6 chapters have them, three are planning a center)

For AIANY, Chapter President Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, described five initiatives growing out of our six-year-old Center for Architecture, including the Not Business as Usual response to the economy; the One AIA/One NYC effort to have the five AIA chapters in our city work more closely together; exhibitions as outreach and education, including the just-opened “ContextContrast” show on new buildings in historic districts; our municipal advocacy efforts with the Department of Buildings and other city agencies, including the urbanSHED competition; and the Open to the Public effort, using exhibitions such as “New York Now” to leverage the visibility of the Center. Also representing our Chapter was president-elect Tony Schirripa, AIA, and 2011 president-to-be Margaret Castillo, AIA.

Perhaps the most compelling part of the open discussion was a presentation by Ann Schopf, AIA, President of AIA Seattle, about the need to unite behind 2030 carbon reduction goals. In particular, the educational programs being offered by AIA Seattle, which address the measurement of carbon reduction for new and existing buildings, was seen as a model. All component leaders registered support for making this program available nationwide, with financial support from the large chapters, and possibly AIA National.

George Miller, FAIA, president-elect of AIA National was present, as was Christine McEntee, executive vice president. Miller led a discussion of the AIA’s strategic planning effort and also announced a new program for next year, possibly to be called “Architecture Now” (other ideas welcome) patterned after the AIANY’s “New York Now” exhibition, currently on view at the West 4th Street subway station. All AIA members could submit the best of their work in a non-juried nationwide exhibition that would emphasize and dramatize the importance of architecture and urban design in the creation of livable and sustainable communities. The proposal was seen as consistent with the proposed and much-discussed AIA vision statement, Design Matters!

Seven Years Out, OHNY Showcases the City

This past weekend, 10.10-11.09, architectural sites and programs opened doors to the city as part of the seventh annual openhousenewyork (OHNY). While there were many repeated sites from previous years, this year’s new highlights included: the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and The Standard Hotel, both by Polshek Partnership Architects; the New Museum, by SANAA with Gensler; and Slot House, by noroof Architects.

After participating in OHNY every year, trying to pack in as many sites clustered together as possible in the shortest amount of time, this year I decided to take it slower and explore some of the boroughs outside of Manhattan. In addition to enjoying 93 Nevins, the first LEED for Homes building, by Cycle Architecture; the Old Stone House, a reconstructed Dutch farmhouse in Park Slope where the Brooklyn Dodgers first played; and the Slot House, recipient of a 2007 AIANY Merit Award in Architecture, I found that the walk to each site was as interesting as exploring the buildings. On my way, I discovered a new section of the Gowanus Canal, including a fascinating abandoned home on 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue near an old neon Eagle Clothes sign.

On Sunday, I took the AIANY Emerging NY Architects Committee (ENYA) tour of Highbridge, South Bronx, at the site of the current HB:BX competition. Although I have explored sections on and around the Grand Concourse and Yankee Stadium, seeing the High Bridge looking back toward the water tower in Harlem gave me a new perspective of the city. On the tour, a long-time local shared stories about how the neighborhood has changed over the last 20 years. Even in the last 10 years, he said, the area has transformed from an abandoned place filled with vacant buildings to a fully inhabited, lively community. It is a true shame that the bridge has not been restored to a condition where people can access it and actually walk across from Manhattan to the Bronx, and vice versa.

Overall, I felt that OHNY was not as strong as in past years, despite the beautiful weather. Except for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant tour and the Grand Lodge of Masons, there were few sites where visitors had to wait in line, from what I heard. Perhaps it was because too many of the sites require reservations ahead of time; or maybe there was less of a marketing effort and word did not get out in time (it did not have Target as its main sponsor this year, and the guide was distributed in NY Metro rather than the New York Times). While the short waiting time was great for those participating, I wonder why this event has not taken off more in the city. With such a rich architectural history (and present), I can only hope for improvement next year.

In this issue:

· El Museo Opens New Public Face to the Barrio
· Curves in All the Right Places
· New Life for Legendary Lobby
· Pratt Institute Collaborates on Third + Bond Interiors
· Portsmouth Teams Up for Education
· A List to Watch

El Museo Opens New Public Face to the Barrio

El Museo del Barrio.

Gruzen Samton Architects

El Museo del Barrio reopens this weekend after undergoing a series of renovations that began when Gruzen Samton Architects won a design competition to renovate the building in 2000, a design that won an award for Design Excellence from the Art Commission in 2003. Priority was to give the museum, located in the circa 1920 neolcassical Heckscher building, a more welcoming public face. The firm designed a new glass façade and redesigned the 4,500-square-foot courtyard with a metal canopy. Other improvements include modernized galleries, the new Carmen Ana Unanue Galleries, an expanded shop, and El Café, which will serve as a multipurpose programming space. The museum reopens with two exhibitions — “Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis” and “Voces y Visiones: Four Decades through El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection.” The renovation was funded through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, with support by local elected officials, and administered by the NYC Department of Design and Construction.

Curves in All the Right Places

One Jackson Square.

Situ Studio

One Jackson Square, a 35-unit luxury residential condominium containing one- to three-bedroom residences, two-bedroom duplexes, a penthouse, and retail on the ground floor, has opened. The building, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) with SLCE serving as production architect, steps down from 11 to seven stories north to south, to accommodate zoning laws and mediate neighborhood scales. Undulating, ribbon-like glass bands define individual floors; the fluid form of the façade, conceived as an eroded block of wood, is reprised in the lobby. Designed by KPF with Situ Studio acting as fabrication consultants, 65 13-foot tall bamboo panels with three-dimensional undulations form tables and seating areas. Working from KPF’s surface geometry, Situ Studio developed a digital parametric model that included all construction details and all building systems that interface with the bamboo wall. Each of the unique panels was then fabricated using CNC production techniques. Sustainable features include a series of green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and ample daylighting.

New Life for Legendary Lobby

Empire State Building’s new lobby.

Photography by Whitney Cox

As part of the Empire State Building’s more than $550 million capital improvements program, a team of engineers, architects, contractors, artists, craftsmen, and historians, led Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, project manager Jones Lang LaSalle, and EverGreene Architectural Arts collaborated for two years to restore the lobby to Shreve, Lamb and Harmon’s design intent — with modern enhancements. Guided by historic photographs, on-site forensic analysis, existing architectural elements, and even decades-old dirt patterns, the restoration team employed a 26-step process to recreate the Art Deco mural using the same techniques as the original artists from Rambusch Studios. The lobby, long hidden by 1960s “modernization,” was enhanced by new lighting designed to recreate its original intensity. In addition, special entrances and new traffic flow separate office tenants and their visitors from tourists visiting the building’s renovated observatories.

Pratt Institute Collaborates on Third + Bond Interiors

Third + Bond.

Rogers Marvel Architects; Marc LaRosa

Located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Third + Bond was designed by Rogers Marvel Architects as a modern adaptation of a traditional townhouse. The residential condominium consists of eight four-story townhouses with 44 residential units. Pratt Institute alumni, faculty, and students outfitted the interiors; the three-bedroom duplex features furniture fabricated in natural wood, glass, and metal, with home accessories by former Pratt faculty Eva Zeisel, industrial design professor and alumnus Bruce Hannah, architecture professor and alumnus Bill Katavolos, and alumni Harry Allen and Giovanni Pellone. The apartment is outfitted with GROW, an ivy-like solar and wind panel system designed by Pratt alumni and acquired by The Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection in 2008. Elements of the two-bedroom floor-through model include designs made from natural and recycled/recyclable materials. A project of the Hudson Companies, Third + Bond is scheduled to be complete in the Spring 2010 and is expected to achieve a LEED Gold certification.

Portsmouth Teams Up for Education

Portsmouth Middle School.

JCJ Architecture

After a series of public workshops to develop community consensus and unite the public behind a plan to maintain the historic Portsmouth Middle School building at its existing downtown location, the City of Portsmouth, NH, has commissioned JCJ Architecture, in collaboration with Portsmouth-based associate architect DeStefano Architects, to develop the design for the renovation and expansion of the 129,765-square-foot school. The design aims to protect the historic character of the 79-year-old building and fit into Portsmouth’s architectural and urban environment. With a 650-student capacity when completed, the school will support Portsmouth’s educational program and team teaching approach for sixth through eighth grades. Every floor will be organized to accommodate two teams for each grade level around a shared breakout space. The teams will also have three general classrooms, one science classroom, and a special education classroom. In addition, the plan will improve the facility’s energy performance, meeting the criteria of New England’s Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS). The three-phased construction project will be completed by August 2013, and will add 30,000 square feet to the school’s footprint.

A List to Watch

The Merritt Parkway.

Credit World Monuments Fund

New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch, calling international attention to sites in every type of environment, from urban centers to barren plains, threatened by war, natural disasters, urban sprawl, and neglect. The list includes 93 sites now at risk in 47 countries. In the U.S., there are nine sites listed — the Cultural Landscapes of Hadley, MA; Marcel Breuer’s Atlanta-Fulton Central Library; Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe Miami Marine Stadium; Phillis Wheatley Elementary School; St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans; Taliesen and Taliesen West; Taos Pueblo; and one in the Metro area — the Bridges of the Merritt Parkway. Completed in 1940, the Merritt winds 37.5 miles through the wooded landscape of southern Connecticut. Many of its 68 bridges, ranging in design from French Renaissance and Neoclassic to Art Deco and Rustic, may be at risk due to necessary infrastructure work required to maintain the thoroughfare. Click here for the complete list.

In this issue:
· Licensing Registration Fee Increase Goes into Effect
· AIA Supports Draft of New Energy Bill

Licensing Registration Fee Increase Goes into Effect
In August Governor Paterson signed legislation that approved a 15% increase in professional licensing registration fees, including the architecture profession. Applying to all professionals, except physicians, under the Education Law’s Title VIII list, the three-year registration fee increased from $210 to $242 as of 09.25.09. For re-registering architects, the new fee will be $242 plus the $45 continuing education fee, for a total of $287. For new registrants, there is the $242 registration fee and a $135 license fee, for a total of $377. The increase, the first in 20 years, will assist the Office of Professions to maintain the safety and wellbeing of New Yorkers. More information is available at the Office of Professions website, http://www.op.nysed.gov/.

AIA Supports Draft of New Energy Bill
A draft of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill was unveiled late last month, and quickly won the support of AIA’s national leadership. Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer have put forth the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which includes two provisions relevant to the AIA’s priorities to lessen the environmental impact of the built environment. The bill encourages green retrofits and strengthens green energy codes. While the bill has to go through revision in committee and be combined with a house version of the bill, it represents some of the strongest environmental legislation in U.S. history. To read more about AIA’s campaign to “walk the walk” of carbon neutrality, visit their website.

Greenwich South: the New ‘It’ Neighborhood?

A publication by the Alliance for Downtown New York featurese ideas for “Greenwich South.”

The Alliance for Downtown New York

The Alliance for Downtown New York completed a study of the 41 acres south of the World Trade Center site between Broadway and West Street, dubbed Greenwich South. While Lower Manhattan has traditionally been a business district, the Alliance advocates reconnecting this area with other neighborhoods while establishing it as a destination of its own, containing residences, retail, and entertainment options intermingled with public space. A variety of well-known firms participated in the study, contributing their visions for Greenwich South, including: Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis/LTL Architects; Transsolar; Architecture Research Office (ARO); IwamotoScott; Coen + Partners; WORKac; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners; and Morphosis. The Alliance produced a document containing their ideas supplemented with drawings and renderings. A number of the proposals are on view at the Center for Architecture’s Helfand Gallery for the month of October.

I.M. Pei has been awarded the 2009 RIBA Royal Gold Medal…

The New York City Department of Buildings and AIANY announced the three finalists for the urbanSHED International Design Competition: “urbanCLOUD,” developed by Kevin Erickson, Brodie Bricker, Dan Campbell, Johann Riscahu, and Mathew Strack of KNEStudio, NY, NY; “Urban Umbrella,” developed by Young Hwan Choi from the University of Pennsylvania; and “Tripod MOD(ule),” developed by Jonace Bascon, AIA, Derrick Choi, AIA, Lynn Hsu, RA, Stephen Lew, PE, and Andrew Stark, PE, of XChange Architects, Brookline, MA… Honorable mentions were awarded to: Tenzin M. Phuntsok of the Cranbrook Academy of Art; “Kit-Of-Parts,” developed by Craig Tooma, Asaf Yogev, Frank Scanlon, Tim Jagisch and Jiro Baskin, NY, NY; and “64.8265,” developed by Michael Sullivan of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. See the winners here.

PREFAB 20*20: Visions for 400 SF Homes has announced winners and shortlisted entries including projects by NY-based firms: Jason David Designs (Urban (Tree) House), Honorable Mention; Studio Sanglot (Light Infill); and Measured Works Architecture (Scaffolding House: A Modular Prefab Home for Urban Rooftops), Shortlisted Entries…

Nordhavnen City Regenerative masterplan by FXFOWLE Architects received a WAN (World Architecture News) Urban Sector Award in the Unbuilt category… RMJM’s Global Education Studio won the Cityscape award for Best Islamic Architecture for the design of Al Asmariya University-Zliten campus in Libya…

The 26th Annual IALD International Lighting Design Awards recipients include an Award of Excellence for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts by Auerbach Glasow French; an Award of Merit for The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano Building Workshop with FXFOWLE Architects with Gensler (interiors), for Façade Lighting by Office for Visual Interaction Architect; and a Citation for the TKTS Booth in Times Square by Perkins Eastman based on a competition-winning concept by Choi Ropiha Architects with lighting design by Fisher Marantz Stone…

Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau will be honored with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Distinguished Public Service Award at a dinner on 10.28.09, which will directly benefit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park…

Management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite and engineering media specialists Stagnito Media named EYP Architecture & Engineering one of the nation’s “Best Firms to Work For”…

The 11 teams participating in the 2009 Architects Regatta placed as follows:
Fuller & D’Angelo / Pei Partnership (1); Polshek Partnership I (2); William Nicholas Bodouva (3); Rogers Marvel Architects (4); HOK (5); AIANY (6), Mancini Duffy (7); Polshek Partnership II (8); Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (9); Cetra Ruddy (10); and Daniel Frisch (11)…

Will Alsop has been appointed to lead the new London-based studio “Will Alsop at RMJM”… Carol Karasek, AIA, has joined STV to lead the firms Health & Science group, which is a part of the firms Buildings and Facilities Division…