Author: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP

AIANY, Center for Architecture Foundation Address Economic Woes

Event: Not Business As Usual
Location: Center for Architecture, 01.07.09
Organizers: AIANY; Center for Architecture Foundation

Not Business As Usual forum at the Center for Architecture.

Kristen Richards

As the economy takes a turn for the worse, AIANY and the Center for Architecture Foundation are taking the lead in bringing the architecture and design community together. “Not Business As Usual” initiative aims to create professional and community-based opportunities.

Regular lunchtime forums will cull ideas and progress reports will provide updates on developments in five themes: resume development and presentation skills; training programs; volunteer opportunities; advocacy; and employment listings. Now that two general meetings have taken place, attended by both employed and unemployed designers and professionals in related fields, each session will be devoted more specifically to efforts in each of the categories. A website co-developed by AIANY and The Architect’s Newspaper called “Exchange Place” will go live in the next couple of weeks that will post updates from the meetings and offer comprehensive free classified listings for people seeking jobs, space to rent, and collaborative opportunities

To participate in the forums check the AIANY calendar for upcoming meetings, or e-mail Suzanne Mecs, the AIANY Director of Membership, to get involved. To read about the first Not Business As Usual session, see “AIANY Reaches Out to Troubled Firms, Designers,” the Editor’s Soapbox in the 12.23.08 issue of e-Oculus.

What About PlaNYC?

After seeing PlaNYC take off in 2008, I have been wondering if many of the initiatives will carry through in 2009. How will the changing economy affect the greening of the city? If one million people do not move to the city, will plans change? These questions are not new; they have been asked since PlaNYC’s launch (See Sustaining NYC with 20/30 Vision?, by Carolyn Sponza, e-Oculus, 12.04.07; NYNV Extols PlaNYC, by Kate Soto, e-Oculus, 05.15.07; and Mayor-Proposed PlaNYC is Short-Sighted, my Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 05.01.07).

PlaNYC was a tall order. Over the course of last year, two major aspects of the plan did not garner the support that was needed. Congestion pricing failed to pass government approval, and NYC lost the potential for Federal funding that could have helped the MTA’s budget problems. We may all pay significantly in increased fares this year if solutions such as those outlined in the Ravitch Commission Report do not pass (nota bene: in a public hearing on December 16, the New York Building Congress endorsed the report. Click here to read the testimony. Also, see Commission Delivers Ravitching Report, my Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 12.09.08, to read more about the report in general).

In addition, recently it was announced that Bloomberg’s plan to create or preserve 165,000 units of low- and moderate-income family housing by 2013 has been pushed back a year. 82,500 units of the 500,000 have been financed, and funding is badly needed. This is just one of the reasons that some major construction projects are stalling in the city.

One of the problems with PlaNYC is that it depends on both funding for initiatives that have not been attempted before in the city (if not elsewhere) and government buy-in. Asking people to open their pockets to green the city may be asking too much this year, and we will see who the most forward-thinking officials are. Education and community outreach is not a priority of PlaNYC, so part of its potential failure could be because of a lack in maintenance required by the general public.

But there is a chance yet for PlaNYC and the greening of the city. The new building code, going into effect in July, is much more conducive to sustainable design as it incorporates ideas from the International Building Code. AIA members are now required to fulfill sustainability continuing education hours. And this year, the Green Building Certification Institute, taking over the administration of LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, may require all LEED APs to fulfill continuing education hours, as well. Finally, there is a new administration in the White House, and President-elect Obama has been promising energy reform, updated urban policy, and improved transportation and community development. There is still hope…

Record Reports on Recession

Architectural Record launched the “Recession Reports,” a section of its website devoted to the economic downturn and how it’s affecting the design industry. The section reports on layoffs, architectural billings, and related initiatives; updates on stalled projects; and includes an open forum on its blog for architects to comment on how the recession has impacted them.

Center for Architecture Gallery Hours
Monday-Friday: 9:00am-8:00pm, Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm, Sunday: CLOSED

Join an Architalker for a Hosted Tour of Center for Architecture
Exhibitions
Join us for free Architalker-hosted tours of the Center for Architecture exhibitions Fridays at 4:00pm. To join one of these tours, meet in the Public Resource Area on the ground floor of the Center for Architecture.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

October 1 — January 19, 2009

+Housing
2008 AIA New York Designs for Living Exhibition

In the coming decades, New York will confront the challenge of housing another million people in a built-up city with limited area for new construction. Aging infrastructure and environmental concerns pose additional impediments to growth. Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC addresses the need for housing, and targets eight other quality-of-life issues including open space, air and water quality, and contaminated sites. Public and private developers have also begun responding to, and even anticipating, these concerns with mixed-use, hybrid designs. +Housing focuses on eight current examples which illustrate this phenomenon: public uses combined with, and often financed by housing. The essential urban institutions – parks, schools, places of worship, museums, and hospitals – are being combined with residential developments, fusing diverse typologies and increasing density. This observation creates the rubric, [fill in the blank] + Housing. The phenomenon is observable at multiple scales, from infill Hybrid Buildings with condos sitting on top of a public space, to Transformed Blocks rebuilt and rearranged into places for living, performing and gathering, to New Neighborhoods that attempt to remediate and improve old sites, shaping parks, creating spaces for culture and childcare, adding new density.

+Housing helps keep the city affordable, accessible, sustainable, and architecturally ambitious. Projects that include cultural institutions, new schools, improved infrastructure, and green roofs are often built faster and more efficiently. That said, all pluses have their minuses, and this exhibition looks beyond the benefits of the +Housing formula, examining its potential impact on the look, economy and public life of New York City.

Exhibition Curator: Alexandra Lange

Exhibition Designer:Pro-Am Inc.

Champion: Studio Daniel Libeskind

Supporters: HumanScale Corporation; James McCullar & Associates; Gensler

Friend:
Benjamin Moore & Company
Costas Kondylis & Partners
Forest City Ratner Companies
Frank Williams & Associates
Hugo S. Subotovsky Architects
Ingram, Yuzek, Gainen, Carroll & Bertolotti
Magnusson Architecture & Planning
Mancini Duffy
Rawlings Architects
Ricci Greene Associates
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Syska & Hennessy
Trespa North America
Universal Contracting

Contributor:
Anchin, Block & Anchin
Calvin Tsao
Consolidated Brick & Building Supplies
Cosentini Associates
Cross Construction Company
DeLaCour & Ferrara Architects
Domenech Hicks Krockmalnic Architects
FXFOWLE Architects
Helpern Architects
IBEC BUILDING CORPORATION
Levien & Company
Michael Zenreich, AIA Architect
Monadnock/Capsys
Myron Henry Goldfinger, FAIA
New York Building Congress
Perkins Eastman
Plaza Construction
Porter & Yee Associates
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Roberta Washington, Architect
Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee
Shen Milsom & Wilke
Skanska USA Building
Strategic Development & Construction
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects
Theo. David, Architects
Thornton Tomasetti
Weidlinger Associates

12.23.08

12.23.08

This is the last issue of 2008. Thank you to everyone who answered the survey on how to improve e-Oculus. Stay tuned in the new year as we will be incorporating many of the great suggestions offered. For those of you who have yet to take the seven-question survey, click here.

Happy Holidays and wishing you well for the New Year!

– Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

CLICK ON BLOG CENTRAL: AIANY BLOG: The AIANY Chapter’s Blog Central features opinion pieces on architectural issues relevant to NY-based designers, firms, and projects, along with spotlights on debates and discussions at the Center for Architecture and AIANY. It is an informal discussion board. Be sure to check it out regularly and contribute to the dialogue.

To become a regular contributor to Blog Central, please e-mail e-Oculus. Pen names are welcome.

AIANY Reaches Out to Troubled Firms, Designers

As 2008 comes to a close, there’s no question that the economy is the top concern for architects. With countless layoffs at firms, few new projects being announced, and Federal funding for current projects waning, the full impact of the economic downturn and how the profession will be affected has yet to be seen. The only ways to sustain until better times, in my opinion, is for design professionals to band together and provide as much support for each other as possible. After attending the “Not Business as Usual” discussion at the Center for Architecture, I know I am not alone.

Spearheaded by AIANY Secretary Abby Suckle, FAIA, LEED AP, the premise of the session was to brainstorm ideas about how individuals and firms can stay afloat. Some in attendance represented media outlets that are willing to offer free classifieds to those looking for part-time employees, to rent out empty desks, or to post resumes. Others offered their time for portfolio and resume reviews, or to meet with firms and help coach on maintaining clients. Participants encouraged unemployed designers with more free time to get involved with politics or volunteer for organizations like Architecture for Humanity.

One thing is clear: the AIANY Chapter and Center for Architecture Foundation are committed in the coming months to transform the Center for Architecture into a nucleus for information, accommodating the changing needs of design professionals. The Center itself may become a resource for job listings and space-sharing postings (designers looking for work can already upload their resumes online). It may host training sessions, from test preparation, to software training, to how-to discussions on topics such as working with public agencies and putting together successful presentations. Starting in February, the Chapter is launching an ARE Boot Camp for those studying for ARE exams, with significant discounts for AIA members (for more information, e-mail Suzanne Mecs). The discussion focused on how the Center can grow by offering more day-time events and, in essence, becoming a “Starbucks for architects,” a place for people looking for work to connect with people looking for employees.

While more brainstorming discussions are planned, follow-through is essential. Anyone with ideas or suggestions can contact Suzanne Mecs. It was encouraging that many great ideas were brought to the table, and it seemed as if many were willing to donate their time to the effort. Hopefully, the Center for Architecture will become a hotbed for the profession in new ways to carry us all through these tough times.

GSD Polls State of Sustainability in U.S.

In an effort to understand the state of sustainability in the U.S. design and construction industries today, students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design have posted an online survey, “Sustainability in Design Practice.” Survey respondents will have access to the results after January 12, 2009. The students hosting the survey are Elizabeth Christoforetti, Justin Lavallee, Katie Powell, Christopher Sherwin, Holly Wasilowski, and Megan Wright.

12.11.08: AIANY held its 2009 Board Inaugural followed by the IBEX Holiday Party at the Center for Architecture.

(L-R): At the inaugural (l-r): AIA New York State Executive Director Edward C. Farrell; 2008 AIANY President Jim McCullar, FAIA; 2009 AIANY President Sherida Paulsen, FAIA; scholarship award-winner Erin Barling, student at Pratt Institute; AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA.

Sam Lahoz

Andy Frankl, president of Ibex Construction (left) with AIANY Vice President of Design Excellence Illya Azaroff, AIA (right).

Kristen Richards

FXFOWLE Architects Principals Mark Strauss, FAIA, AICP, LEED AP, (left) and Guy Geier, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP (right).

Kristen Richards

Kristi Spessard Dance Projects choreographed and directed performances at the Ibex party.

Sam Lahoz

12.10.08: The NYC Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society held its holiday party at Philips Color Kinetics. In attendance (l-r): Peter Jacobson, lighting specialist for Consolidated Edison; Patricia DiMaggio, specifications engineer at Osram Sylvania; and Randy Sebedra, RS Lighting Design.

Linda G. Miller

Center for Architecture Gallery Hours
Monday-Friday: 9:00am-8:00pm, Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm, Sunday: CLOSED

Join an Architalker for a Hosted Tour of Center for Architecture
Exhibitions
Join us for free Architalker-hosted tours of the Center for Architecture exhibitions Fridays at 4:00pm. To join one of these tours, meet in the Public Resource Area on the ground floor of the Center for Architecture.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

October 18 — December 19, 2008

ARCH SCHOOLS 2008

ARCH SCHOOLS 2008 is the AIA New York Chapter’s fourth annual architecture schools exhibition, and will feature exemplary student work, including drawings and models, from 14 Tri-State area schools.

Participating Schools:

The City College of New York

Columbia University

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Cornell University

New Jersey Institute of Technology

New York Institute of Technology

Parsons The New School for Design

Pratt Institute

Princeton University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Syracuse University

University at Buffalo (SUNY)

University of Pennsylvania

Yale University

Exhibition Designer: Martina Sencakova

Lead Sponsor: Bentley Systems

Sponsors:

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Kohn Pedersen Fox

RMJM Hillier

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Supporters:
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners

Friends
ABC Imaging
Butler Rogers Baskett
Davis Brody Bond Aedas

Tsao & McKown Architects

October 1 — January 19, 2009

+Housing
2008 AIA New York Designs for Living Exhibition

In the coming decades, New York will confront the challenge of housing another million people in a built-up city with limited area for new construction. Aging infrastructure and environmental concerns pose additional impediments to growth. Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC addresses the need for housing, and targets eight other quality-of-life issues including open space, air and water quality, and contaminated sites. Public and private developers have also begun responding to, and even anticipating, these concerns with mixed-use, hybrid designs. +Housing focuses on eight current examples which illustrate this phenomenon: public uses combined with, and often financed by housing. The essential urban institutions – parks, schools, places of worship, museums, and hospitals – are being combined with residential developments, fusing diverse typologies and increasing density. This observation creates the rubric, [fill in the blank] + Housing. The phenomenon is observable at multiple scales, from infill Hybrid Buildings with condos sitting on top of a public space, to Transformed Blocks rebuilt and rearranged into places for living, performing and gathering, to New Neighborhoods that attempt to remediate and improve old sites, shaping parks, creating spaces for culture and childcare, adding new density.

+Housing helps keep the city affordable, accessible, sustainable, and architecturally ambitious. Projects that include cultural institutions, new schools, improved infrastructure, and green roofs are often built faster and more efficiently. That said, all pluses have their minuses, and this exhibition looks beyond the benefits of the +Housing formula, examining its potential impact on the look, economy and public life of New York City.

Exhibition Curator: Alexandra Lange

Exhibition Designer:Pro-Am Inc.

Champion: Studio Daniel Libeskind

Supporters: HumanScale Corporation; James McCullar & Associates; Gensler

Friend:
Benjamin Moore & Company
Costas Kondylis & Partners
Forest City Ratner Companies
Frank Williams & Associates
Hugo S. Subotovsky Architects
Ingram, Yuzek, Gainen, Carroll & Bertolotti
Magnusson Architecture & Planning
Mancini Duffy
Rawlings Architects
Ricci Greene Associates
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Syska & Hennessy
Trespa North America
Universal Contracting

Contributor:
Anchin, Block & Anchin
Calvin Tsao
Consolidated Brick & Building Supplies
Cosentini Associates
Cross Construction Company
DeLaCour & Ferrara Architects
Domenech Hicks Krockmalnic Architects
FXFOWLE Architects
Helpern Architects
IBEC BUILDING CORPORATION
Levien & Company
Michael Zenreich, AIA Architect
Monadnock/Capsys
Myron Henry Goldfinger, FAIA
New York Building Congress
Perkins Eastman
Plaza Construction
Porter & Yee Associates
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Roberta Washington, Architect
Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson & Bee
Shen Milsom & Wilke
Skanska USA Building
Strategic Development & Construction
Swanke Hayden Connell Architects
Theo. David, Architects
Thornton Tomasetti
Weidlinger Associates

September 5 — January 3, 2009

New Practices New York 2008

New Practices New York 2008 is the second juried portfolio competition and exhibition in a new biennial tradition sponsored by the New Practices Committee of the AIA New York Chapter. It serves as a platform for recognizing and promoting new, innovative and emerging architecture firms within New York City that have undertaken unique and commendable strategies – both in projects and practice.

From the 52 portfolios submitted, the New Practices Committee – consisting of Amale Andraos (Work AC), Jennifer Carpenter (TRUCK), Peter Eisenman (Eisenman Architects), William Menking (Architect’s Newspaper) and Charles Renfro (Diller Scofidio + Renfro) – was expected to choose the six most promising firms. The competition winners, all of whom will be participating in our exhibition are:

Baumann Architecture

Common Room

David Wallance Architect

Matter Practice

Openshop | Studio

Urban A&O

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of programs organized by the AIA New York Chapter in collaboration with New Practices Committee

Exhibition organized by the AIA New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture Foundation

Exhibition Design: We Should Do It All

Media Partner: The Architects Newspaper

Underwriter: Häfele

Patron: ABC Imaging

Lead Sponsors: Ibex, MG & Company, Poliform, Thornton Tomasetti

Supporters: Fountainhead Construction, FXFOWLE Architects

Beverage Sponsor: SAAGA Vodka

Related Events

Each firm will have a six-week exhibition and will be delivering a Hafele NY Showroom at 25 East 26th Street. For more information, visit Hafele’s New York showroom listing at www.hafele.com/us