Month: June 2011

Event: Dialogues for a New Japan — Japan: Brainstorming
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.24.11
Speakers: Yasuhisa Kawamura — Deputy Consul General of Japan in New York; Toru Hasegawa — Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP); Joji Kurumado, JIA — General Manager, Takenaka Corporation; Mutsuro Sasaki, JIA — Founder, Sasaki Structural Consultants; Motoko Shoboji, AIA, LEED AP BD+C — Member, Global Dialogues Committee.
Panelists: Joji Kurumado; Mutsuro Sasaki; Paul Katz, FAIA, HKIA — Managing Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; Clifford Pearson — Deputy Editor, Architectural Record; Leslie Robertson, Hon. AIANY — Leslie E. Robertson Associates; Rafael Viñoly, FAIA, JIA, SCA, Int. FRIBA — Principal/Lead Designer, Rafael Viñoly Architects
Moderator: Toru Hasegawa
Introduction: Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP — 2011 AIANY President & Principal, Helpern Architects; Noushin Ehsan, AIA — Chair, Global Dialogues Committee
Organizers: AIANY Global Dialogues Committee; support by Consulate General of Japan in New York; JETRO; Japan Society; Japan Institute of Architects
Sponsors: Japan by Design; TOTO USA; Hilton, New York

Ocean energy distribution forecast map for the 2011 Sendai earthquake from the U.S. NOAA.

West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In the wake of devastating natural disasters, what strategies can we employ to prepare ourselves for future incidents? Japanese and American architects and structural engineers posed variations on this query during a symposium focused on the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Paul Katz, FAIA, HKIA, managing principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, remarked that the Tohoku earthquake might be the most visually well-documented natural disaster in history. However, as Toru Hasegawa, adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University GSAPP, iterated that imagery does not tell the entire story. At a magnitude of 9.0, the earthquake is tied for the fourth largest documented seismic event since 1900. Surprisingly, the tremors themselves did very little damage. Indeed, Mutsuro Sasaki, JIA, founder of Sasaki Structural Consultants, mentioned that the Sendai Mediatheque, which he had engineered in collaboration with Toyo Ito, Hon. FAIA, suffered no structural damage following five minutes of shaking.

Instead, the earthquake triggered the tsunami that inundated Eastern Japan, reaching as far as 10 kilometers (six miles) inland, and flooding 470 square kilometers (more than 181 square miles) of terrain. Of the more than 15,000 dead, approximately 92% perished by drowning. Although Japan had dramatically upgraded its seismic design codes in response to the 1995 Kobe earthquake, it was unprepared for walls of water reaching from 3.2-38.9 meters (10-127 feet) in height. According to Takenaka Corporation General Manager Joji Kurumado, AIJ, most of the breached sea barriers were no more than 10 meters (33 feet) high.

Japanese planners are perplexed as to which policy to employ to prevent future harm. Most of the panelists agreed that isolated applications of solutions, including raising the height of tsunami walls or placing a moratorium on building within a defined distance from the coastline, would prove ineffective.

Rafael Viñoly, FAIA, JIA, SCA, Int. FRIBA, of Rafael Viñoly Architects, suggested that Japan consider implementing a comprehensive and holistic land-use plan along the coastline. Architectural, environmental, infrastructural, and recreational concerns could all be integrated into one scheme. In this case, disaster design could become a societal concern, and all of Japan could participate in the discussion to protect its future.

Matt Shoor, LEED AP, is a freelance designer, educator, and writer living in Manhattan. He is currently teaching sustainable design to Bronx high school students, and recently completed his architectural license exams.

Event: PlaNYC Update: Next Steps to a Greener, Greater New York
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.26.11
Speakers: David Bragdon — Director, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, LEED AP — President, Citizens Housing and Planning Council & Founding Partner & Principal, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects; Tricia Martin — President, NYASLA; Celeste Layne — Co-Chair, Transportation Committee of the APANY Metro Chapter
Introduction: Ernie Hutton, Assoc. AIA, FAICP — Co-Chair, New York New Visions & Principal, Hutton Associates; Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP — 2011 AIANY President & Principal, Helpern Architects
Organizers: New York New Visions; AIANY; APANY Metro Chapter; ASLA NY Chapter; Citizens Housing and Planning Council

Courtesy PlaNYC 2030.

New Yorkers are used to PlaNYC being a hot topic, but it has also drawn the attention of the international architecture community, remarked Margaret O’Donoghue Castillo, AIA, LEED AP, 2011 AIANY president. “Having the Center for Architecture here with so many international travelers, I hear over and over again how remarkable this plan is,” she said. It’s an ambitious plan, but now — four years after its release — how much has it lived up to its promise of creating a greener NYC? The plan was recently updated, making this a logical time to reexamine it. David Bragdon, director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability (OLTPS), gave a talk that dissected some of the plan’s successes and disappointments so far.

There’s no doubt that NYC is greener now — literally. In the past four years, more than 430,000 trees have been planted, so we’re well on our way to the goal of a million new trees by 2030. And thanks to the city’s new investments in parks and public spaces, there are now “250,000 New Yorkers who live within 10 minutes walk of a park who did not… five years ago,” Bragdon noted.

By contrast, transportation has been a source of some frustration, he said. The state legislature’s failure to approve congestion pricing was a disappointment for the Bloomberg Administration. The city has made progress on other projects, such as creating faster, more frequent bus service and moving ahead on construction of the Second Avenue subway. The city is also planning to launch a bike-share system in the coming months, Bragdon said.

Though PlaNYC sets the goal for New York to have the cleanest air of any big city in America, the city still has far to go in improving its air quality. The updated plan emphasizes reducing pollution caused by buildings using heating oil Number 4 and 6, two of the dirtiest heating oils. Number 6 heating oil is the worst contributor of particulate matter to the air over NYC, creating “more particulate matter than all the cars and trucks in the city combined,” Bragdon alleged. Timed to coincide with the release of the update in April, the Bloomberg Administration issued a new rule phasing out the use of Number 6 oil by 2015 and Number 4 oil by 2030.

Often it’s best to offer both regulation and incentives for sustainable practices (the stick-and-carrot idea), according to Bragdon. In addition to enacting legislation such as the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, the city has been pursuing ways to make green retrofits easier and more profitable. A corporation is being created that will provide financing for people to make efficiency-related improvements. In addition, the OLTPS helped create a “green lease” meant to obviate the “split incentive” problem for landlords; the lease ensures that both landlords and tenants receive financial profits resulting from energy retrofits, Bragdon explained.

Though PlaNYC has drawn international attention, it’s important for our city to keep looking elsewhere for inspiration, too. “We can learn from Melbourne, Australia, about urban forestry, and we can learn from Philadelphia about green infrastructure. We can learn from La Paz about bus rapid transit,” Bragdon said. “New York, though, increasingly has more and more to teach, as well.”

Lisa Delgado is a freelance journalist who has written for OCULUS, The Architect’s Newspaper, Architectural Record, Blueprint, and Wired, among other publications.

Event: 2011 Design Awards Panels: Urban Design; Unbuilt Work
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.17.11; 06.02.11
Speakers: Urban Design: Paul Buckhurst, ARIBA — Director, BFJ Planning; Stephen Cassell, AIA, LEED AP — Principal & Founder, Architecture Research Office (ARO); Nicholas Cates, AIA, LEED AP — Project Architect, FXFOWLE Architects; Susannah Drake, AIA, RLA — Principal, dlandstudio; Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA — Senior Associate, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Larry Gutterman, AIA, LEED AP — Senior Architect & Project Manager, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners; Richard Kennedy — Associate Partner, James Corner Field Operations; L. Bradford Perkins, FAIA, MRAIC, AICP — Founder, Perkins Eastman; Matthew Urbanski — Principal, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Unbuilt Work: Lonn Combs — Principal, EASTON+COMBS; Jonathan Dreyfous — Partner-in-Charge, CR Studio; Kevin Erickson, Assoc. AIA — Founding principal, KNEstudio; Iannis Kandyliaris — Project Architect, SO-IL; Philip Lee, Assoc. AIA — Philip Lee Workshop; David Leven, AIA — Partner, LEVENBETTS; Jennifer Sage, AIA, LEED AP — Principal, Sage & Coombe Architects; Joel Sanders, AIA — Principal, Joel Sanders Architect; Heidi Werner — Philip Lee Workshop
Moderators: Urban Design: Howard Slatkin — Director of Sustainability & Deputy Director of Strategic Planning, NYC Department of City Planning; Unbuilt Work: Kelsey Keith — Editor-in-Chief, Architizer
Organizers: AIANY
Sponsors: Benefactor: Vanguard Construction and Development; Patron: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FXFOWLE, Trespa; Sponsors: Arup; Buro Happold; Ennead Architects; F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.; Gensler; Halcrow Yolles; Ibex Construction; Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP; Jaros, Baum & Bolles; Knoll/Lane Office; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; Mancini Duffy; MechoShade Systems, Inc.; New York University; Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Roger Ferris + Partners; Sage & Coombe Architects; Stalco Construction, Inc.; Structure Tone Inc.; Studio Daniel Libeskind; STUDIOS Architecture; Swanke Hayden Connell Architects; Syska Hennessy Group; Turner Construction Company; Weidlinger Associates, Inc.

Lower Manhattan: A New Urban Ground (Urban Design Honor Award), by Architecture Research Office and dlandstudio (left); Kukje Art Center (Unbuilt Work Honor Award), by SO-IL (right).

Architecture Research Office and dlandstudio (left); SO-IL (right)

The projects that won this year’s AIANY Design Awards “show the vitality of the architecture and design community, and the dedication of AIANY to celebrate its diversity,” said Lonn Combs, principal of EASTON+COMBS, recipient of an Unbuilt Merit Award for Changing Room, at the AIANY Design Awards panel for Unbuilt Work. And while the categories of Urban Design (UD) and Unbuilt Work (UW) may intuitively seem disparate, all of the projects set their sights high with an ambition to improve the world in which we live.

In urban design, water was key to many of the projects. Lower Manhattan: A New Urban Ground (UD Honor), by Architecture Research Office and dlandstudio, focused on creating a fluid edge condition for Lower Manhattan that integrates water more thoroughly into the city’s infrastructure, with a porous street system, under-surface water collection, and wetland distribution. At Brooklyn Bridge Park (UD Honor), by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and Maryann Thompson Architects, the design team wanted to create a park where visitors could access the water. The project expands programming on piers, and builds up the on-shore landscape that raises the park above the 100-year flood plain in response to rising sea levels. For the QianHai Water City (UD Merit), James Corner Field Operations proposed smoothing the transition between the urban edge of this port city with “water filtration fingers” to help define mixed-use districts.

Water also played into some of the unbuilt work, as well. At Marine Company 1 (UW Merit), CR Studio Architects aimed to create a morphology between the civic presence of the pier in which it is sited and the eroded past of city’s waterfront history. PhXcaseXcase: Cactus Flower Housing (UW Honor) in Phoenix, AZ, by LEVENBETTS, takes inspiration from a local cactus in that housing units are organized around a central wet core (bathrooms, kitchen) that transitions to a dry, prickly exterior thanks to sun shading. The project is sited along a canal, and the firm chose to orient the complex toward it, making the canal an amenity linking neighboring buildings. Just Add Water: A Proposal for the NYC Shaft Sites (UW Merit), by Philip Lee Workshop, proposed installing fixtures that would tap into the city’s water infrastructure to cool public spaces and help mitigate storm water runoff.

A couple of the projects focused on improving cities by programming to local needs. The Hanoi Master Plan to 2030 and Vision to 2050 project (UD Merit), by BFJ-Perkins Eastman, Posco E&C, JINA, and the Vietnam Institute of Architecture, is a 20-year comprehensive plan for Hanoi’s growth. The plan, which is expected to move forward this month, creates a central urban hub with outlying satellite craft villages, agriculture, and integrated mass transportation to enhance the regional complexity and provide future infrastructure and industrial zones required to make the city an international capital city by 2050. “Hanoi is currently about 25 years behind China. We have an opportunity to learn from its successes and failures, and make better choices for Hanoi’s future,” said Bradford Perkins, FAIA, MRAIC, AICP, principal of Perkins Eastman.

On a smaller scale, the Kukje Art Center in Seoul (UW Honor) is a gallery on the site of a large development that SO-IL felt was out of scale with the neighboring community. In response, the design sinks much of the program below grade, and sheaths the exterior with a translucent skin and a custom, reflective chain-link façade to blur the boundary between exterior and interior.

Other projects featured small moves that help enhance existing urban spaces. Kevin Erickson, Assoc. AIA, of KNEstudio sees sidewalks as “the most important public space” in NYC, noting that currently the city’s sidewalk sheds would cover half of Central Park if ganged together. For UrbanCLOUD (UW Merit), an entry in the urbanSHED competition, the firm proposed a hexagonal frame suspended by outriggers to create the image of a cloud floating over the sidewalk. Changing Room (UW Merit), by EASTON+COMBS, created an installation in a gallery space in Chicago that aims to provide an intimate space within the public realm. Under extremely tight budget constraints for the Bronx River Art Center (UW Merit), Sage and Coombe Architects sought to take advantage of the building’s oblique shape, its prominent position in the street, and its visibility from the subway. In collaboration with the center’s marketing team, brightly colored paint would make the façade stand out in the community.

Finally, two projects focused on redefining typologies within an urban context. For the Lincoln Center Public Spaces, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FXFOWLE Architects, and Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (UD Honor) faced the challenge of creating a cohesive work over multiple sites. The team achieved this by reorganizing public spaces, connecting the center to the street (literally and figuratively), and designing spaces for impromptu performances. At the LGBT Retirement Community (UW Merit) in Palm Springs, CA, Joel Sanders Architect sought to integrate independent living with assisted living, two types of retirement communities that are typically segregated. By doing this, and by creating a network of lap pools that both connect and separate units, the firm hoped to reflect the cultural diversity — medically and domestically — for the LGBT community.

In this issue:
· Annual Meeting — 06.21.11
· Passing: Anna M. Halpin, FAIA
· e-Calendar

Annual Meeting — 06.21.11
The 144th AIANY Annual Meeting will be held Tuesday, 06.21.11, 6-8pm at the Center for Architecture. We will be voting on the 2012 slate, which includes Chapter President Joseph Aliotta, AIA, LEED AP, and Jill Lerner, FAIA, as president-elect. The Chapter will also be bestowing a number of awards, including the Medal of Honor to Daniel Libeskind, AIA. RSVP here .

Passing: Anna M. Halpin, FAIA
Anna M. Halpin, FAIA, of Oklahoma City, formerly of NYC, died 05.09.11 after a brief illness. She joined the AIA in 1963 and became a member of the College of Fellows in 1976. Her obituary can be read in full here, and her life is honored in this personal remembrance by colleague, Sarelle T. Weisberg, FAIA:

Anna’s introduction of the “Resolution on the Status of Women in the Profession” at the 1973 AIA National Convention was remembered, at a farewell event we held at the Chapter when she moved away from the city. I know she was very proud of that historic contribution, but on a more personal note:

Anna was an irreplaceable, exceptional role model and mentor for all of us during her many years in New York. Having worked in the design aspect of our profession, as well as very successfully in the corporate world, she was always a leader and a special friend to so many women and minority members.

She enthusiastically showed us how to use the Chapter in the best way for career advancement and development. She encouraged us to apply to become Fellows of the AIA, as well as to serve as local and state officers and committee leaders.

When she was an executive at McGraw-Hill, she served annually as its host for the spectacular Opening Party at each of the National AIA Conventions; I have very special memories of her in these unique National AIA settings!

I was very fortunate to have visited Anna in Oklahoma City a few years ago, where she and her niece introduced me to the range of architectural sights, architects, and the diverse ethnic origins characteristic of Oklahoma! As a New Yorker, I was not at all aware of all the history, cultural aspirations, and accomplishments of Oklahomans!

I did feel that her special warmth, helpful professionalism, and the enduring nature of her friendship to me and many others in the Chapter deserve a special acknowledgment.

— Sarelle T. Weisberg, FAIA

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