Author: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP

Five years after Hurricane Katrina I spent much of my weekend watching and listening to news reports and documentaries about the storm’s aftermath. One of the most interesting, from an architecture and urban planning perspective, is Studio360’s Podcast, “Five Years After Katrina.” After interviewing Robert Olshanksy and Laurie Johnson, urban planners and co-authors of Clear as Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans, host Kurt Anderson exclaimed that he was feeling more optimistic than he expected after hearing of all the positive developments happening citywide.

One of the stories that news outlets tended to feature throughout the weekend, perhaps because of its positive message, is the Make It Right foundation. On Studio360, Melba Legget talked about living in a new KieranTimeberlake-designed house — the “#4 Brad Pitt house” as she calls it. She spoke about her pleasure with the house’s design because the architects met with her and asked her what she wanted out of every space. On “Meet the Press,” Brad Pitt expressed pride in the fact that “all but one house” is giving energy back to the grid, rather than taking away from it. He also discussed how, with all houses being built to LEED Platinum standards, the Lower Ninth Ward is becoming “the greenest neighborhood in the country.”

What impresses me the most about the Make It Right houses is that they challenge convention yet they are being embraced by the local community, something I was skeptical about when the designs were first released. Aesthetically, they may reference more traditional homes, but most of them do not look like anything that previously existed in the neighborhood. Whether their success is due to the fact that designers are reaching out to future homeowners for their input, or because homeowners are choosing to live in homes that stand out (on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” it was discussed that residents are choosing the brightest houses so they can direct emergency workers to their homes easier when the next disaster strikes), it is exciting to see communities embrace contemporary architecture.

If ever there was a moment when architecture could have a major impact on public perception, it is at the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero. While very little has been revealed about the building, which is currently being called Park51, there is no question that its modesty, or bravado, will significantly impact people’s acceptance, or rejection, of the Islamic community’s presence in the neighborhood.

In the beginning of August the Landmarks Preservation Commission cleared the way for the demolition of the existing structure (with a unanimous vote of 9 to 0), leaving carte blanche to develop the small infill site. Last week, AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition to discuss the proposal. “It’s not a building, as I understand it, that will look like a preconception of a mosque,” he stated.

All that has been released to the public is a small rendering of a multi-screened yellow-and-silver façade. It is an intriguing representation of contemporary architecture, reminding me of both the New Museum by SANAA and the Arab World Institute by Atelier Jean Nouvel. It seems to make a bold statement next to its adjacent historic structures, but has the illusion of a veil — something protecting the space within but translucent enough to reveal some of the activities within.

While I’m sure that the design will change numerous times before ground is broken, I look forward to seeing how the project develops. Hopefully, the design will continue to be delicately welcoming, and offer a safe place for contemplation.

Seventy volunteers (some in the photo on the left) came out to help build the Living Pavilion (right) on Governors Island.

Jessica Sheridan

About a year ago, the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) started planning a pavilion competition for Governors Island with participatory arts organization FIGMENT and the Structural Engineering Association of New York (SEAoNY). As the committee co-chair, I saw the project start and stall a couple of times before it gained momentum and ultimately grew into the Living Pavilion. Now that the “Building the Living Pavilion” exhibition is on view at the Center for Architecture, and I have had the chance to look back, I realize how valuable the project is, not only for ENYA, but also for the designers, the volunteers who helped build the project, and the emerging architecture community as a whole.

Ann Ha, Assoc. AIA, and Behrang Behin, Assoc. AIA, conceived of the Living Pavilion as a vaulted structure with an inverted green wall made from milk crates and liriope plants. Two years out of graduate school, this is their first built collaboration. The project took approximately two months to construct. That says nothing of the endless hours of designing and redesigning to fit within a tight budget, an unplanned relocation due to the lack of water at the original site, and heroic coordination with the island and ferry schedules by Pavilion Foreperson Daniela Morell (among her many other responsibilities). Then there were the 70 volunteers who helped build the pavilion. Often we talked about how this pavilion probably “employed” more emerging designers than any other architecture firm this summer!

When selecting a winning entry, the jury discussed the project as something that could rival the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program. Similar to the YAP, the success of the competition goes beyond the winning entry. Finalist EASTON+COMBS won the highest honor in this year’s AIANY New Practices New York competition. NAMELESS ARCHITECTURE, another finalist, received a BSA/AIA Unbuilt Architecture Award for its entry into this competition.

Please stop by the Center for Architecture to see the exhibition that celebrates the design process and all who contributed to the many phases of the competition. Then, if you haven’t already, take the free five-minute ferry ride one weekend to Governors Island before October to experience it in person and congratulate the designers (who will probably be out there watering their plants!).

At the New Practices New York 2010: Jury’s Symposium, juror Joe MacDonald, Assoc. AIA, commented that he was surprised to see so much built work among entries (see “New Practices New York Gauges Seven Emerging Firms,” by Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, e-Oculus, 05.18.10). After viewing the exhibition, now on view at the Center for Architecture until 10.23.10, it is reassuring to me that new practices are not turning their back to architecture. Rather, they are finding ways to practice — and actually build things — albeit at a smaller scale.

Perhaps the reason firms are able to complete projects is because they are becoming collectives rather than hierarchical entities. Gone are the days of the individual mastermind heading a firm when it comes to new practices. With names like Tacklebox, Manifold, SOFTlab, and Archipelagos, one does not associate the firm’s work with one principal. Even EASTON + COMBS and Leong Leong, firms synonymous with the owners, imply an equal collaboration between two individuals.

At a time when firms are struggling to find work, the New Practices New York exhibition seems to prove that collaborations will bring about built work. When a group of professionals come together to work on a project, they bring their range of experiences, strengths, abilities… and contacts. The power of the collective is surpassing that of the individual, which speaks volumes about how practice is changing, I think, for the better. I am looking forward to hearing from the winning firms themselves on 07.29.10 at the Winners’ Panel Discussion.

“Pole Dance” at P.S. 1 by SO-IL.

Jessica Sheridan

There’s nothing like a heat wave to make me want to take a stroll in the sand, kick around beach balls, and relax in a hammock. Luckily, the P.S. 1 courtyard has it all. This year’s “Pole Dance,” SO-IL’s winning entry to the annual MoMA/MoMA P.S.1 Young Architects Program, is an interactive installation that is sure to tap into your nostalgia and make you feel like a kid again.

There is a 16-foot-by-16-foot grid of 30-foot-high PVC poles. Suspended among the poles are bungee cords and a netting canopy. Beach balls float on top of the canopy and, when one shakes the poles, they sometimes drop through openings. At three locations, the openings are lined with tubing that creates a cool mist of water. Hammocks are suspended in the corners. Foam extrusions act as benches dispersed through the space, and there is a pool of water to wade in at the center. In one of the smaller courtyards to the side, designated poles create sounds as visitors interact with them (either in person or via iPhone app). The netting creates intricate shadows against the sparse concrete walls. And water-stained gravel circles break up the otherwise monotonous ground.

The renderings did not do this project justice. I was suspicious about whether people would actually want to engage with this “participatory environment,” but once I got there it was irresistible not to shake the poles or toss around a beach ball. Everyone else in the courtyard felt the same way.

The one drawback to “Pole Dance” is the lack of sustainable materials used in its construction. Perhaps my mind is too focused on the catastrophe in the Gulf Coast these days, but with PVC piping and plastic beach balls, as much as I tried to escape the reality beyond the walls, I found myself thinking of the amount of oil it took to produce the playful installation. My mind hearkened back to a time when I didn’t worry about the environment, but I’m not convinced that is a good thing. And, if that is the point of the project, it did not fully succeed. The website claims that the components will be re=purposed after the installation closes, so perhaps sustainability was taken into account, even if it is not elaborated upon.

Overall, the project does meet its objective. States the website: “We bounce about, footloose, on a network of intersections and knots.”