Month: April 2013

Before there were “the Hamptons,” there was “the Rockaways.” Positioned between the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay, people flocked to the Rockaways to escape the city streets in the summer. They enjoyed it so much that they planted roots, and today the peninsula contains many diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Living in Rockaway can be heavenly, but after Superstorm Sandy, we now know it can also be a deadly struggle between man and nature.

“Each time a disaster strikes, we bounce back and do better,” says AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA. “And there are lessons to be learned from Sandy.”

With this in mind, the FAR ROC competition, jointly sponsored by NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the team of L+M Development Partners, Bluestone Group, and Triangle Properties, along with Enterprise Community Partners and the AIA New York Chapter and its Committee on the Environment (COTE), was announced at the Center for Architecture on 04.16.13. Continue reading “Announcing FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway]: A Design Competition to Explore Resilient and Sustainable Development in Waterfront Areas”

Aging is not a mysterious process. We have been familiar with it for thousands of years, yet we tend to avoid thinking about how we can accommodate to it. This frequently, and unfortunately, results in people living the last several years of their lives in situations and places in which they do not want to be, such as nursing homes.

Matthias Hollwich, co-principal of Hollwich Kushner (HWKN), wants to stimulate a revolution in attitudes toward aging: start young and be prepared; declare yourself old at 40 and think through your wants and needs as you contemplate your future; increase your awareness of how architecture and the design of the total physical environment have a significant effect on your ability to remain independent; realize that many of our homes tend to trap us, preventing independence rather than enabling it. And many of our difficulties are due to social deficits, which can be prevented. People are encouraged to talk to bankers about financial preparedness, but they do not think about talking to architects about environmental preparedness. Continue reading “NEW Visions of AGING”

In our 21st-century corporate climate, the concept of a distinct and palpable office culture has practically become a maxim of good business. A company’s culture is typically based upon specific goals or principles laid out by founders or management, and it is anticipated that exemplary employees will absorb, demonstrate, and perpetuate this ethos. To paraphrase Eric Bacolas, chief talent officer of 360i, a digital marketing agency, “culture is everything.” Continue reading “When Creating Company Culture, Teamwork Trumps Talent”

Dedicated to exposing new and evolving forms of architecture, the AIANY New Practices Committee organized the panel discussion “RE:THINK Profit” to do just that. Speakers’ firm sizes ranged from a two-person practice to a 600-person global architecture firm. Chris Leong, director of the firm Leong Leong and New Practices co-chair introduced the event and posed the question “How can young architects approach the market?” to a panel made up of both architects and non-architects, all of whom were self-described entrepreneurs. The responses, though various, all touched on the issue of branding. Continue reading “Let’s Make Some Money: Rethinking the Architect as Entrepreneur”

The Planning Game: Lessons from Great Cities
Alexander Garvin
W.W. Norton & Company (2013)

I first met Alex Garvin, Hon. AIANY, during the post-September 11^th planning charrettes. He was clearly a person – a force – who understood the planning and visioning process and knew how to play the game, moving it along within a highly-charged environment. While this is not the focus of Garvin’s masterly work, it is indicative of the author’s depth of lived experience into how public planning works. Continue reading “Oculus Book Review: Alexander Garvin’s “The Planning Game””