Month: March 2011

SO-IL Springs into Design and Practice

Event: New Practices 2010 Winner Presentations: SO-IL
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.03.11
Speaker: Jing Liu — Principal, SO-IL
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee
Sponsors: Lead Sponsors: Dornbracht, MG & Company; Valiant Technology; Sponsors: Espasso; Hafele; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Media Sponsor: The Architect’s Newspaper

SO-IL’s “Pole Dance” as it was installed in the P.S. 1 Courtyard.

Jessica Sheridan

Solid Objectives — Idenburg Liu, or SO-IL, is a two-and-a-half year old architectural practice established by Florian Idenburg, Int’l Assoc. AIA, and Jing Liu. Their timing could have been better: they started the firm right before the recession hit, and though their first commission was commendable — a home for graphic artist Ivan Chermayeff — it fell through due to the financial crisis. “We have an elastic way of living,” Liu explained. This attitude has allowed the young firm to thrive, despite the economic situation, and is part of the reason they are a 2010 New Practices New York winner.

SO-IL’s “Pole Dance” was selected as the winner the 2010 MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program. Idenburg and Liu positioned 80 fiberglass poles on a grid and wove them together with elastic bands and netting filled with large, colorful plastic balls. The poles moved via pivot connections attached to individual concrete foundations, creating a ripple effect. Throughout the courtyard, several “activators,” including hammocks and plants, were positioned to “contribute to the playfulness of the game,” Liu said. “The rules were invented by the users.”

The Kukje Gallery, sited within the old city fabric of Seoul, South Korea, received an Honor Award in the Un-Built category of the 2011 AIANY Design Awards program. Organized as a simple box with a skylight, the building’s circulation elements were pushed to the exterior. A fabric-like envelope wraps the entire form, stretching to accommodate the external elements. To translate their fabric-covered model into an architecturally feasible material, SO-IL worked with a manufacturer in China to create thousands of yards of chain mail.

Other projects by SO-IL reflect their fascination with surface and movement. They chose to turn a student housing complex 90 degrees within an infill lot in Athens, Greece, to create a side-yard for social activities and circulation. A “side façade” planted with greenery is intended to provide a calming view from each unit. The Flockr Pavilion for Beijing and Shanghai is clad in thousands of pink-tinted, mirrored panels. Though it wasn’t the designers’ original material of choice (stainless steel proved too expensive), the shiny panels move in the wind and create a shimmer effect. By remaining elastic in both their attitude and practice, SO-IL is succeeding despite the downturn.

Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is freelance architecture writer and contributing editor to e-Oculus.

Tony Hiss Travels In Motion

Event: Oculus Book Talk: Tony Hiss, In Motion
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.14.11
Speaker: Tony Hiss — Author, In Motion (Knopf, 2010)
Organizer: AIANY Oculus Committee

Courtesy Knopf

Geography, whether it is a street in Greenwich Village, or a mountain road in Dharmasala, have physical coordinates and characteristics we could all intellectually agree upon. Our individual experience and perception of these places would not be as predictable. Let’s take that seed of thought further, to where a walk around the block has as much a story curled inside of it as a trip to Gabon. This is where our adventure with Tony Hiss begins, in a place that is familiar, tucked within a world not previously experienced.

Written with the intellect and vision of a highly accomplished cartographer, Hiss’ In Motion: The Experience of Travel takes the reader on the journey of “Deep Travel, a wider awareness in which nothing is taken for granted and everything we encounter seems fresh and new and awaiting discovery. It is like waking up while we’re already awake,” Hiss writes. As for “Shallow Travel,” one can relate that to being perceptually disengaged while moving through a series of sequential events, which I can personally relate to as moving from deadline to deadline.

In Motion: The Experience of Travel is filled with insight, humor, and teachable moments on the study and practice of living, architecture, urban design, landscape design, and transportation planning — places where being visually alive and engaged is critical to making a rich contribution to the human experience within the built environment. Yes, this is also a book that is fun… it is, after all, about travel… and so the joy of the unexpected is very much in play.

Maxinne Rhea Leighton, Assoc. AIA, is a member of the AIANY Oculus Committee. She is a business development, public relations, and marketing professional in NYC and Washington, DC. Her expanded project base includes cause-related marketing, and the integration of social media with traditional-based forms of communication for non-profit and cultural institutions.

Note about Oculus Book Talks: Each month, the AIANY Oculus Committee hosts a Book Talk at the Center for Architecture. Each talk highlights a recent publication on architecture, design, or the built environment — presented by the author. The Book Talks are a forum for dialogue and discussion, and copies of the publications are available for purchase and signing. This article is a preview for Tony Hiss’s upcoming talk on 03.14.11. Click here to RSVP.

Relative Resilience and the Coefficient of Friction

(L-R): Paul Bello, PE, 2012 Chair, ACEC New York; Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith; Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP, 2011 AIANY President.

Rick Bell

Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith addressed the membership breakfast of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of New York on 03.03.11 at the Union League Club. After a glowing introduction by ACEC New York 2012 Chair Paul A. Bello, PE, of AKF Engineers, the Deputy Mayor for Operations spelled out NYC’s economic condition, and what Mayor Bloomberg, his deputies, and commissioners are doing about it. “It is true that because of the relative resilience of the city’s economy, revenues are higher than the Office and Management & Budget had expected,” was his opening line, followed quickly with: “But the expense side is something else.”

Much of the speech reviewed the reasons that “the cost of government is going up at a higher rate than revenues” with much attention focused on the pensions of former municipal workers and the need for lay-offs beyond those leaving city employ by attrition.

Of keen interest to the many engineers and two architects (including 2011 AIANY President Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP) in the room were the issues of procurement reform and review of regulatory processes. The former was noted in regard to the time it takes to issue, analyze, and award contracts through Request for Proposals. With Marla Simpson, director of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, at the head table, the Deputy Mayor joked about the administration’s remaining time in office perhaps being shorter than some consultant hiring decisions, adding that “how we do procurements is on the table.”

One of the recent hires was a consulting firm to analyze the operations of the NYC Department of Buildings as part of the Mayor’s “Simplicity” program “to reduce the friction of working with government.” Goldsmith noted, “There is a culture clash at the Buildings Department between two missions: policing safety and building buildings,” and that “mediating between those is the major issue of process change.”

The extent of capital expenditure reductions in the city’s proposed budget was also discussed, with particular mention of the difference between an across-the-boards cut of 10% or 20% on all projects versus the elimination of a set number of projects totaling that amount of the capital budget. The Deputy Mayor said that “there is a great variation between agencies on costs.” More radical was his mention that the city incurs costs by outsourcing all risk. He noted that it might be possible to change municipal contracts and the bonding process to cut costs by allowing for more risk.

Good news for the engineers present was the Deputy Mayor’s mention of the city’s green infrastructure program, creating “new opportunities in hydroelectric and sludge.” He noted “if we can take some of the gray infrastructure and make it green infrastructure and have more permeable surfaces and save some money while we do it, everyone will be happy.”

He invited those present to get involved in the issues of regulatory reform, including the problems of sequential and conflicting reviews, and concluded by saying, “In the end, we also have to get health costs under control, but we have to first figure out how to make city government more simple, more efficient, and less full of friction.”

In this issue:
· Prague 4- Pankrác Master Plan Underway with City Green Court
· New High Line Neighbor Grows Roof Gardens
· Affordable Housing Continues to Rise in Spring Valley
· Turkish Delight — Godiva Opens in Istanbul

Prague 4- Pankrác Master Plan Underway with City Green Court

City Green Court.

Renderings by Vize.com, courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners Architects

Construction is in progress on City Green Court, designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects (RM&P). This is the third in a cluster of buildings designed by the firm in Prague, Czech Republic. The buildings are part of the Prague 4-Pankrác Master Plan, also designed by RM&P, which began almost a decade ago with the intent to transform a once neglected area into a revitalized business, commercial, and residential district filled with green public spaces and amenities. The eight-story building features a curtain wall composed of vertical solid panels with fins angled according to the sun’s orientation on the south and west sides, as well as balconies, clear vision glass, and shadow boxes. A grand canopy marks the formal entrance that leads into a single-height lobby that then opens into a multi-story atrium topped with a green roof. The building is organized around the central sky-lit space surrounded by office floors. The atrium contains a black olive tree, an ivy covered wall, and bridges that span the space, in addition to a freestanding stair that connects the first four floors. The project is expected to receive LEED Platinum certification.

New High Line Neighbor Grows Roof Gardens

500 West 23rd Street.

GKV Architects

500 West 23rd Street, a new 12-story, luxury rental, designed by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel (GKV) Architects recently celebrated its topping off. The building, which is adjacent to the High Line in West Chelsea, contains 111 units from studios to three-bedrooms, some featuring private terraces. The building’s façade is composed of translucent glass set within an ornamental cast-in-place concrete frame. The building includes three common roof gardens with a lawn, outdoor furniture, and cabanas to create a visual link with the High Line. Developed by Equity Residential, the project is scheduled to be completed by November 2011.

Affordable Housing Continues to Rise in Spring Valley

Main Street Urban Renewal Plan.

Magnusson Architecture and Planning

The recent ground breaking on a new, mixed-use, multi-family housing development, designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP), marked the start of the second phase of the downtown revitalization plan for Spring Valley, NY. Part of a comprehensive Main Street Urban Renewal Plan, the $16 million Spring Valley Family Apartments will provide 55 units of affordable housing for families earning 60% of the Rockland County AMI and will contain one-, two- and three-bedroom rental units, 7,000 square feet of street-front commercial space, a landscaped terrace, a community room, and parking. The project is located across the street from the Spring Valley Senior Housing project with 53 units of housing in addition to 11,000 square feet of commercial retail space. Future plans call for the construction of eight single-family affordable townhomes behind the senior housing. MAP is the project architect for all three phases being developed by the partnership of Community Preservation Resources (CPC), Rockland Housing Action Coalition, and the Village of Spring Valley.

Turkish Delight — Godiva Opens in Istanbul

Godiva Istanbul.

Photo by Ali Bekman

Long Island City-based d-ash design has created the template for future Godiva Chocolatier retail locations with the recently opened, two-level, 3,000-square-foot flagship store in Istanbul’s Nisanti district. In collaboration with Linda Lombardi, Godiva’s vice president, global store design, and visual merchandising, the new design is inspired by Belgian Art Nouveau, a reference to the company’s birthplace. The “retail experience” includes a two-story vertical vitrine in place of the traditional chocolate display case, a 16-foot-long carrera marble-topped table where customers can create custom boxes, and a café that serves cocoa. Godiva has completed four other high-end locations — another in Turkey, two in Shanghai, and one in Hong Kong, with Atlanta opening this spring. A New York store will follow in the summer.

In this issue:
·Solar Decathlon Relocates Back to the National Mall
·eCalendar

Solar Decathlon Relocates Back to the National Mall
In recent months, e-Oculus has featured reports on an announcement made by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to relocate the Solar Decathlon from the National Mall (See “Solar Decathlon Update,” in Around the AIA + Center for Architecture, 02.09.11, and “U.S. Department of Energy Sends Crushing Message to Architecture Students,” in the Editor’s Soapbox, 01.25.11). AIA Chapters from all over the country, students, professors, professionals, and elected officials (including New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer) lobbied against the move, the DOE rescinded its announcement and has revealed that the Solar Decathlon will be sited on the Mall. DOE Officials were concerned that the competition would interfere with a planned $600 million Mall renovation. However, the site has shifted from the former, central location to West Potomac Park, beyond the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, near the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. The Decathlon will be held 09.22-10.02.11.

eCALENDAR
eCalendar includes an interactive listing of architectural events around NYC. Click the link to go to to eCalendar on the Web.

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

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Jugaad Urbanism: Resourceful Strategies for Indian Cities

On view February 10 – May 21, 2011

High Performance Landscape Guidelines: 21st Century Parks for NYC

On view February 14 – March 31, 2011

Building Connections 2010

Print

On view November 4, 2010 – March 12, 2011

High Bridge: Bronx, Building Cultural Infrastructure (HB:BX)

LogoOnColor

On View November 11, 2010 – March 26, 2011

Making the Most of a School Vacation

Event: Studio@theCenter
Location: Center for Architecture, 02.22-24.11

Two “Street Smart Designer” students (left); third-sixth graders participate in the “From Books to Building” program.

Catherine Teegarden

Public schools were closed last week, but learning didn’t stop for the 34 students who participated in Studio@theCenter, the Center for Architecture Foundation’s three-day school vacation program. Studio programs give 3rd- through 12th-grade students a chance to explore architecture and design through hands-on projects and field trips to local designers’ offices. Two programs were held this February: “From Books to Buildings” for 3rd-6th graders, and “Street Smart Designer” for 6th-12th graders.

Students in “From Books to Buildings” were given a photograph and asked to create a story for that setting. Going from buildings to books helped students identify the elements that give spaces a certain quality — learning how differences in scale, form, and materials can make a place feel spooky, dangerous, or cozy. Then, students crafted models of their spaces, down to minute details such as laundry lines and theater curtains, after which they gave presentations to their parents. The class also was given a tour of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, where students learned about the work of an architect and how models and digital renderings are used to develop and present their designs.

In “Street Smart Designer,” students created digital and physical models of their own designs for multi-purpose street furniture using both Google Sketch-Up and cardboard and glue. Working in pairs to come up with designs that combined two or more functions, students created bench/bike racks and streetlight/garbage cans with emergency response phones. Students also paid a visit to Urban Movement Design, a firm dedicated to promoting healthy living and movement through innovative designs for the home and urban environment. The elements of accessibility, movement, and play were highlighted to give each student insight into how their designs could best serve the community. Even the professionals were wowed by the students’ Sketch-Up animations and carefully crafted models.

Special thanks to H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture and Urban Movement Design for donating their time to the Center for Architecture Foundation. Additional Studio@theCenter programs, “Green NYC 2030” for 3rd-6th graders and “Digital Design with Google Sketch-Up” for 7th-12th graders, will be held 03.22-24.11 and 04.19-21.11. Registration is also open for the Foundation’s Summer@theCenter programs. Visit http://www.cfafoundation.org/summer for more information.

CB12, ENYA Come Together Over Common Goals for High Bridge

Last week, the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) presented its HB:BX, Building Cultural Infrastructure competition to the Parks & Cultural Affairs Committee of Community Board 12, walking members through the competition background, the winning boards, and some common trends that were repeated throughout the entries. CB12 members responded positively to the environmental and ecologically-driven entries, and focused particularly on those that incorporated water access. It was great to see that the competition resonated with the community board (their only criticism was that we hadn’t contacted them earlier in our process), and hopefully some of the ideas will infiltrate future plans to open the High Bridge.

It was apparent that the goals for the High Bridge and surrounding Highbridge Parks were universal to both CB12 and ENYA: the bridge should be open to the public, celebrate views of the city, and create access that is both welcoming and hospitable from both sides of the bridge. Currently, the NYC Department of Design + Construction is developing plans for the bridge and parks that include infrastructure upgrades, structural stabilization, educational signage, and transportation and bike/pedestrian access. As relayed to ENYA, at a recent CB12 meeting, however, the main point of contention was a proposal for fencing that will extend along the balustrade on either side of the bridge.

It appears that there are six options on the table (see p.16 of the schematic design presentation), and many CB12 members feel that none of the proposals are suitable to the above goals. They stated that the mesh will prohibit views, and it will create a foreboding barricade along the edge of the walkway. It seems as if there is a double standard to install tall chainmail for a walkway that spans between Harlem and the Bronx. One CB12 member mentioned the Walkway over the Hudson, the Poughkeepsie Footbridge, which has high fencing above the residential areas and train tracks, but then opens up over the Hudson River. Another member brought up the low walls of the High Line. I thought of the Top of the Rock with its tall glass walls that are spaced to allow cameras to poke through for photographs. All three of these solutions are simple and provide both protection and access to the open air and views not offered by mesh fences.

I am very excited that the High Bridge will open again in the near future (estimated for the fall of 2013). This is a key moment for the connection between Manhattan and the Bronx, and opening up a walkway between the two is symbolic as well as practical. Hopefully, the city will ultimately provide a design solution that is accessible and sought-out by locals and tourists alike.

Note: Special thanks to Elizabeth Lorris Ritter, chair of the CB12 Parks & Cultural Affairs Committee, who attended the ENYA “High Bridge” exhibition opening at the Center for Architecture and invited the committee to present to CB12.

Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP, 2011 AIANY President was recently interviewed by NY1 about the new benchmarking law requiring owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to record energy and water use. Click “New Benchmarking Law Has City Buildings Track Energy, Water Use” for the full article and video… Castillo was also featured in The Architect’s Newspaper: “New Hand at the Helm in New York,” and the New York Times: “Square Feet: The 30 Minute Interview/ Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo.”

David Rockwell, AIA, is the honoree of the 2011 Lawrence Israel Prize by the Interior Design Department at FIT/SUNY…

“Smart Grid Athletic Light” by Andrew Burdick, AIA, in association with Ennead Lab was selected as one of eight finalists for the Philips Livable Cities Award…

Even though the U.S. Department of Energy has chosen to continue siting the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall, the team from the City College of New York has posted a blog voicing its disappointment with the new, less central location. Read more here: “Back on the National Mall…?”

2011 OCULUS Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. Please submit story ideas by the deadlines indicated below to Kristen Richards: kristen@ArchNewsNow.com.

2011 Themes:
Spring (President’s Theme): Design for a Change: Buildings, People, Energy
[Closed]

Summer: AIANY Design Awards 2011
[Closed]

Fall: Interior Activity
Architects as interior designers; Changes in corporate culture = transformation of the workplace; Architects designing products/Multi-disciplinary cross-overs; Rebranding hospitality, restaurants, retail to attract new audiences; Interiors as laboratories for small firms.
Submit story ideas by 04.22.11

Winter: Up, Down, and Sideways: Density and Transportation
Density enabled by transportation: mass transit, cycling; Moynihan Station; Regional connections; Housing Authority: former purposeful disconnect, now reintegrating back into neighborhoods; How a century of New York skyscrapers has/is/will affect the architecture, planning, and culture of the city and the world.
Submit story ideas by 08.19.11

For further information, contact OCULUS Editor Kristen Richards: kristen@ArchNewsNow.com.

03.21.11 Call for Entries: Kaiser Permanente Small Hospital, Big Idea Competition

03.31.11 Call for Entries: Weaving Love, Creating Hope Textile and Product Design Competitions

04.18.11 Call for Entries: The Air We Breathe: The Chicago Clean Air Design Challenge

04.28.11 Call for Entries: ThyssenKrupp Elevator Architecture Award

04.30.11 Call for Entries: ONE PRIZE 2011: Water as the Sixth Borough

05.31.11 Call for Entries: ECOSTRUCTURE’s Evergreen Awards