Author: Camila Schaulsohn - Editor

Un/Fair Use: Copying and Copyright in Architecture

Join us for the opening of “Un/Fair Use” on 09.18.15 at the Center for Architecture.

Copying is as much part of architecture as the expectation of novelty. Architecture advances via comment, criticism, parody, and innovation, forms of appropriation that fall under the umbrella of fair use, a loophole in copyright law to safeguard culture from monopoly. But what happens when appropriation is deemed unfair? Where and how are the lines drawn around permissible use? Un/Fair Use probes that legal boundary, illuminating the strange constellation of protections provided by the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990 (AWCPA).

Un/Fair Use presents models of common, and therefore uncopyrightable, architectural tropes and formal themes next to those protected under the AWCPA. Video interviews with key players in the development of the 1990 architectural copyright language – Bill Patry, Michael Graves, Karen Nichols, David Daileda, and Jane C. Ginsburg – provide a first-hand account of the legal and legislative questions answered en route to resolution.

While here, you can also take a look to admire our recently-renovated spaces!

Names in the News

Architectural Record will honor Billie Tsien, Founding Partner, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (Design Leader); Meejin Yoon, AIA, Principal and Co-founder, Howeler + Yoon Architecture (New Generation Leader); Anna Dyson, Professor of Design, Technology, and Theory, School of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Founding Director, Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (Innovator); Pat Sapinsley, AIA, LEED AP, Managing Director of Cleantech Initiatives, Urban Future Lab, New York University (Activist); and Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Dean, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania (Educator), at the Second Annual Women in Architecture Forum & Awards program on 10.06.15. Continue reading “Names in the News”

New Deadlines

09.17.15: Call for Entries: Homemade Dessert’s Casablanca Bombing Rooms

09.20.15: Call for Entries: FIGMENT, AIANY ENYA, and SEaONY City of Dreams Pavilion 2016

09.25.15: Request for Qualifications: Pershing Square Renew Challenge

09.27.15: Call for Entries: London Public Library Competition

09.30.15: Request for Information: US Department of Energy (DOE) – High-Performance Efficiency Measures in Tenant Spaces Continue reading “New Deadlines”

On View

At the Center for Architecture

“Un/Fair Use”
Opening 09.18.15

At the Center for Architecture @ the Seaport

“Sea Level: Five Boroughs at Water’s Edge” at Center for Architecture at the Seaport Cultural District
Through 12.31.15

About Town

“Affordable New York: A Housing Legacy” at the Museum of the City of New York
Opening 09.18.15

“Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and Design, Midcentury and Today” at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
Through 09.27.15

“Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Through 01.03.16

“Saving Place: 50 Years of New York City Landmarks” at the Museum of the City of New York
Through 01.03.16

“Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie” at the “National Academy Museum & School”
Through 01.10.16

“David Adjaye Selects” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Through 01.03.16

“Sea Level: Five Boroughs at Water’s Edge” Opens at the South Street Seaport

What does the city look like from sea level?

The Center for Architecture’s Seaport Culture District exhibition, “Sea Level: Five Boroughs at Water’s Edge,” answers this question by presenting a waterfront panorama of New York City documented by photographer Elizabeth Felicella. It spans 25 miles from Fort Wadsworth, which guards the city and the Upper Bay of New York from the easternmost tip of Staten Island, to Fort Totten, another ancient strategic post that stands at the place where the East River ends and Long Island Harbor begins. Viewers will have the opportunity to see the shores of all five boroughs, along with the raw geography and built development that mark and characterize them. Sites along the panorama are annotated with essays by celebrated author Robert Sullivan that explore the deep history of NYC’s waterfront.

Join us for the opening of “Sea Level” on 09.10.15 at the Center for Architecture’s temporary space at 181 Front Street, part of the Seaport Culture District. A reception at 5:00 pm will be followed by a “Conversation at Sea Level” between Felicella and Sullivan. A free, limited edition book of Sullivan’s delightful texts on New York City’s waterfront will be available for signing.

Architects, Pick Your Leaders!

We invite all AIA New York Chapter architect, international associate, emeritus, and associate members to the Center for Architecture on 09.15.15 at 6:00 PM to have a say in who picks the next members of the AIANY Board and select Committees. This is a chance to take part in AIANY’s democratic process and future leadership and to network with fellow architects.

At the meeting, AIANY members will have a chance to submit who they’d like to see in the 2016 Nominating Committee. The four candidates with the most votes will be on the 2016 Committee, chaired by Tomas Rossant, AIA, 2015 AIANY President.

The AIANY Nominating Committee selects candidates for the AIA New York Chapter Board and the Fellows, Finance, Honors, Oculus, and Design Awards Committees. Committee members serve from January 2016 until September 2016, when AIANY and Center for Architecture nominations are complete.

Names in the News

Pratt Institute’s Legends 2015 scholarship benefit honoring icons of art and design will celebrate Tod Williams, FAIA, and Billie Tsien, AIA, founders of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and Nina Campbell, founder of Nina Campbell Interiors.

NYC-based Hilary Sample, AIA, and Michael Meredith, AIA, of MOS Architects, and Stan Allen, FAIA, of Stan Allen Architect (SAA) are among the 12 teams participating in the US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Continue reading “Names in the News”