Author: Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP - Contributing Editor

Event: New Practices Winner Lecture: Matter Practice, “Reading Matter”
Location: Hafele New York Showroom, 04.23.09
Speakers: Alfred Zollinger, AIA, & Sandra Wheeler — Partners, Matter Practice
Organizer: AIA New Practices Committee
Sponsors: Hafele; The Architect’s Newspaper

Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video by Matter Practice.

Matter Practice

Walking through a workshop everyday to get to an architecture office is a continual reminder of the interconnected processes of design and fabrication. Alfred Zollinger, AIA, and Sandra Wheeler, husband and wife as well as partners, have committed to working on at least one design/build project per year in their DUMBO studio. During these periods, Wheeler explained, the office and workshop merge into one chaotic, creative space.

Zollinger and Wheeler have developed their own approach to creating space, having completed designs for institutions including the Cooper-Hewitt and the National Building Museum. Exhibition design, Zollinger believes, “is halfway between architecture and theater.”

Matter Practice designed, fabricated, and installed an exhibition for the Anchorage Museum of History and Art titled, “Quonset: Metal Living for a Modern Age.” For this traveling show, Zollinger and Wheeler fabricated the display in Brooklyn and shipped it to Alaska. The exhibition was comprised of thin, floppy steel components that could easily be packed flat, becoming rigid when assembled.

While “green” is a serious buzzword in the design industry, Zollinger and Wheeler made light of it in their design for “Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video” at the International Center of Photography. They designed pods to house the A/V and theater components for the exhibition. In the process of exploring materials with which to fabricate the pods, they discovered that petroleum tubing — the black foam insulation that replaced asbestos — worked exceptionally well since it sticks together and they could cut it into sections to create screens for the windows — a “toxic topiary,” Sandra joked.

Delightoscope, Matter Practice’s entry for the 2008 MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Competition, employs agricultural shade cloth that also serve as visual screens. In an unorthodox design approach, Zollinger and Wheeler first selected the material and then determined the form through experimenting with its properties.

While most of their projects fall in the category of exhibition design, Matter Practice has also recently completed the renovation and addition of a townhouse in Brooklyn. Operating on a small budget, Zollinger and Wheeler had to be creative. They designed inexpensive, custom, plywood millwork, and they dyed the existing wood floor to delineate a seating area in the living room rather than purchasing a rug — demonstrating that material can definitely define space.

Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is a freelance writer in NYC and has written for Architectural Record, Architecture Boston, and Architectural Lighting.

In this issue:
· National Officers Elected at AIA Convention
· AIA Supports Green Energy Education Act
· Green Firms: AIA’s 2030 Commitment Program
· New and Upgraded Software from the AIA
· AIA New York State Legislative Update
· NCARB Updates IDP Requirements

National Officers Elected at AIA Convention
AIA national officers were elected at the 2009 AIA Convention in San Francisco. Clark D. Manus, FAIA, AIA San Francisco, was elected AIA First Vice President and 2011 President-elect. Manus has served as AIA national vice president from 2007-2009. Mickey Jacob, FAIA, managing principal at Urban Studio Architects in Tampa, FL, was elected 2010-2011 AIA Vice President. Peter G. Kuttner, FAIA, was elected 2010-2011 AIA Vice President. Kuttner is president of Cambridge Seven Associates, represents AIA New England on the AIA Board, and is a past president of the Boston Society of Architects. And John W. Rogers, AIA, ACHA, AIA Cincinnati, was elected AIA 2010-2011 Treasurer. Rogers has served on the AIA Board of Directors from 2007-2009.

AIA Supports Green Energy Education Act
The AIA announced its support for the House’s 411-6 vote to approve the Green Energy Education Act of 2009 (HR 957) that authorizes the Energy Department to distribute funds otherwise allotted to the department for energy research and development to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program. The NSF programs are aimed at both undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary engineering and architecture education programs related to the design and construction of high performance buildings. The AIA now strongly calls on the Senate to vote this bill into law.

Green Firms: AIA’s 2030 Commitment Program
The AIA’s 2030 Commitment is a voluntary program for AIA member firms and other entities in the built environment that asks these organizations to make a pledge, develop multi-year action plans, and implement steps that can advance AIA’s goal of carbon neutral buildings by the year 2030. Architects are confronting the fact the buildings are the largest single contributor to the production of greenhouse gases and almost half of the total annual production. Participating firms must commit to following four steps. Click here to learn more.

New and Upgraded Software from the AIA
The AIA announced the release of an updated version of AIA Contract Documents software as well as new Construction Manager documents. The updated software features easier project and document management, flexible dialogs allowing for easier document completion, Microsoft Excel capabilities in several G-Series forms, and one-click custom template creation. The new Construction Manager documents include new documents in the Construction Manager as Advisor (CMa) and Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc) families. Collectively called the “4.0 Release,” this new software and documents release builds on AIA Contract Documents’ 120 years of experience in defining the contractual relationships in the design and construction industry and deliver additional value, ease of use, and new features that address users’ needs. For more information or to purchase AIA Contract Documents, click the link.

AIA New York State Legislative Update
The top legislative priorities for AIANY include the following bills, most of which are currently in committee:

· Design Build — Provides that a contract made by a person unlicensed to practice certain professions shall be against public policy.
· Non-Design Professional Ownership — Relates to design professional corporations.
· Green Schools — Establishes the state Green School Construction Act.

Other bills that AIANYS supports:

· Historic Preservation Tax Credit — Provides a tax credit for rehabilitation of historic properties.
· QBS — Requires public authorities to negotiate with most qualified architectural and engineering professional firms before negotiating with other firms.
· Smart Growth/Livable Communities — Directs state agencies and public authorities to adopt and utilize smart growth principles.
· Good Samaritan Act — Enacts the engineers’, architects’, landscape architects’ and land surveyors’ Good Samaritan act.
· Design Liability Reform — Repeals and reenacts provisions on time limitations on certain actions against professional engineers, architects, other designers and construction contractors.
· Funding for Prosecution of Illegal Practice — Provides for an additional $10 dollar licensing fee to be charged for the registration of any application for a professional license.

The following bills are opposed by AIANYS:

· Prohibiting Professional Certification — Grants cities authority to review and approve plans for the construction of structures proposed to be made within its boundaries.
· Damages for Delay — Requires public contracts to include a clause authorizing contractors to recover damages for delay for itself as well as on behalf of subcontractors or material men.
· Criminal Prosecution for Certain Violations of the State Fire and Building Code — An act to amend the executive law, in relation to criminal prosecution for certain violations of the state fire and building code where such violation leads to serious injury or death of a person.
· Construction Threshold
· Design Delegation

NCARB Updates IDP Requirements
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) is updating the Intern Development Program (IDP) requirements to more closely align with the current practice of architecture. The new program requirements, which will be rolled out as “IDP 2.0,” will help ensure that interns acquire the comprehensive training that is essential for competent practice and will make reporting experience fundamentally easier.

The changes to the IDP have been developed in response to the 2007 Practice Analysis of Architecture. The proposed changes to the IDP offer many benefits to interns by allowing them to complete some of the training requirements during periods of unemployment, expanding the definition of “direct supervision,” and simplifying the reporting process. These changes will be rolled out in three phases over the next two years. For more information, visit the NCARB website.