Author: Jacqueline Pezzillo Assoc. AIA LEED AP

Event: Unfinished Spaces: Cuba’s Architecture of Revolution, trailer screening and panel discussion
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.08.09
Speakers: Alysa Nahmias, Assoc. AIA — Co-Director/Producer, “Unfinished Spaces”; Ben Murray — Co-Director, “Unfinished Spaces”; John Stubbs — Vice President for Field Projects, World Monuments Fund; Luly Duke — President, Fundacion Amistad; Belmont Freeman, FAIA — Former President, Storefront for Art & Architecture & Principal, Belmont Freeman Architects
Moderator: Noushin Ehsan, AIA — Chair, AIANY Global Dialogues Committee
Organizers: AIANY Global Dialogues Committee
Sponsors: Brooklyn Brewery; Zafra Cuban Kitchens

“Unfinished Spaces: Cuba’s Architecture of Revolution” (Anja Film. 2010), a film directed by Arnold W. Brunner Grant recipient Alysa Nahmias, Assoc. AIA, and Ben Murray, documents the story of Cuba’s National Art Schools, commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in 1961. The design of the five-discipline institute was deemed counter-revolutionary and halted in mid-construction. However, the schools’ program progressed as planned and classes have been held for the last 40 years amidst the rapidly decaying structures. Looted for material in the 1990s, the schools embody Cuba’s cultural heritage, radical architecture, regional building technologies, and restored hope for Cuba’s future. In 1999, they were placed on the World Monuments Fund Watch List, which calls attention to endangered cultural heritage sites.

In 1999, Castro invited the schools’ three original architects to complete construction on the complex and restore the Modern campus for its original use. In 2008, Cuban funding totaling USD$20 million accomplished restoration on two of the five schools that comprise the institute, and the project continues to progress. “Unfinished Spaces” explores the history of the project through interviews with the aging architects — Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, and Roberto Gottardi — who must now acknowledge the change within the architectural world in which their cultural experiment was begun. Those who have played integral roles in what can be termed the “soft” revolution of the National Art Schools narrate the historical legacy of this project, its controversy during Castro’s regime, and its potential impact for the future of Cuba.

The film, intended to be a catalyst for public awareness, is currently in post-production and scheduled for release in 2010. Tax-deductible contributions to the production can be made through the Women Make Movies Fiscal Sponsorship website or by contacting info@ajnafilm.com.

Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.

Event: Change Is Not Optional: Sustainability, BIM and Integrated Project Delivery
Location: Center for Architecture, 04.14.09
Speakers: Markku Allison, AIA — Resource Architect, American Institute of Architects
Organizers: AIANY Technology Committee
Sponsors: ABC Imaging

“We’ve never seen anything like this in the history of the profession,” said Markku Allison, AIA, resource architect at the American Institute of Architects, referring to the growing popularity of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) among architects, owners, and most notably, contractors. According to a McGraw Hill Construction Smart Market Report survey, 35% of firms using BIM described themselves as very heavy users in 2008; that percentile is projected to rise to 45% in 2009. The benefit of the new technology is clear. Allison cited case studies in which a two-week-long BIM constructability analysis saved $800,000 in change-order costs and resolved a $250,000 miscellaneous metals discrepancy.

A force driving change, BIM introduces an integrated world to the A/E/C profession in which all players are involved from the beginning of the design process. BIM facilitates synergy among a project team as well as the ability to drastically reduce change orders, budget creep, and construction waste. E202-2008, a BIM Protocol Exhibit, is a roadmap from the AIA detailing responsibilities and transitions of BIM projects to avoid gaps and oversights throughout the design process, and to clarify authorship and ownership of the model during each project phase.

IPD allows owners, designers, and builders to leverage knowledge and identify opportunities early on through unified models, enhancing certainty and the potential of the project from design through operation. Progressively, the AIA released two new agreements for IPD in May 2008 to respond to the emerging procurement process — one providing transitional owner/contractor and owner/architect contracts, while the other offers a single purpose entity agreement among all parties with mutual goals and target costs.

An effective response to evidence of increasing sustainability standards within the AIA and among the profession, BIM offers the capacity to analyze building performance and expedite key design decisions about the life cycle of a building. Tools for strategy, BIM, and IPD yield an eight-in-ten chance of completing a project on schedule and within budget, a notable improvement from design-bid-build project statistics.

Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.

Event: Public Architects Series
Location: Center for Architecture, 02.24.09
Speakers: Terri Matthews — on behalf of the Construction Law Committee of the NYC Bar Association
Organizers: AIANY Public Architecture Committee

Currently, owners of public projects in New York are mandated to use the design-bid-build service delivery methodology for projects, with awards for the construction work going to the lowest competitive bidder(s), based primarily on price. However, this is not necessarily appropriate for every project type. Modernization of the State’s public procurement law would improve the tools available to public owners, resulting in successful collaborations and commissions, and, in turn, better public projects. At the Center for Architecture, Terri Matthews, a lawyer speaking on behalf of the Construction Law Committee of the NYC Bar Association, addressed an audience of architects, owners, and builders to discuss the Construction Law Committee’s efforts to recommend public procurement law reform for all public owners across New York State. Matthews also works as Senior Policy Advisor for the NYC Department of Design and Construction.

The Construction Law Committee of the NYC Bar Association serves to address legal and policy issues affecting the construction industry. The committee’s response to the recent State Asset Maximization commission argues that the present financial crisis warrants immediate action to provide public owners more flexibility in selecting the appropriate service delivery method for their capital construction projects — a coveted luxury enjoyed by private owners. In addition to design-bid-build and public-private partnerships (which the Commission is currently considering), design-build, and construction-manager-at-risk processes are alternate service delivery methodology options that have been implemented in the private sector as well as the public sector in other states.

Matthews discussed the number of reasons that design-bid-build is not appropriate for every project. In particular, the mandatory separation of the designer from the contractor during the design phase can lead to misalignment between the design and the reality on the ground, embedding delays and generating costs that could have been avoided by early communication among the parties. Having the lowest initial construction price does not always provide for long-term operation and maintenance costs. The lowest initial cost may, in fact, entail higher operation and maintenance costs, which are at odds with the current focus on sustainability — both environmental and financial. In addition, designers have noted that this misalignment can result in complex designs being executed inadequately. The lowest competitive bid requirement in the current process can make make public work even less attractive to contractors whose success in the private sector comes, in part, from the ability to rely on prior professional relationships and experiences with construction managers and sub-contractors.

Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.

Event: “Belonging Together”
Location: Center for Architecture, 01.07.09
Speakers: Juha Leiviskä, Hon. FAIA — architect (Finland)
Organizers: AIANY; Consulate General of Finland

Best known for his church designs, the work of Finnish architect Juha Leiviskä, Hon. FAIA, creates a sense of experience throughout his work, featuring progression and deliberateness in the design of entry, circulation, and visual corridors. Recipient of the Carlsberg Prize, awarded to an architect “contributing to the creation of works of lasting architectural and social value,” Leiviskä’s prime concern in his work, ultimately, are the users of his buildings.

Leiviskä has a high regard for precedent, stating it is “important to be connected to history and tradition if our work is to be important in the future.” He attributes his esteem for nature and the environment to Alvar Aalto, who believed that nature is mutually supportive of architecture. The influence of Aalto can be seen throughout Leiviskä’s oeuvre. The transitions from outside to indoors via terraces and gardens are what he calls, “musical experiences.”

Leiviskä’s career is indelibly marked by his design of places of worship throughout Finland, such as Myyrmäki Church, St. Thomas’ Church and Parish Center, Kirkkonummi Parish Center, and Männistö Church. Each embodies his design language integrating both natural and artificial light, with his signature lamps suspended within each space of worship. The buildings are functional, the white interiors free of any ornament and “unnecessary detail.” Ultimately, he strives to achieve a harmony through Finnish Modernism by incorporating nature and the environment.

Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.