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

Event: New Practices | New Landscapes: A Call to Action
Location: Center for Architecture, 02.25.09
Speakers: Farnaz Mansuri, Assoc. AIA — Lead Designer, De-Spec; Ruperto Arvelo, AIA — Principal, Arvelo Architecture + Interiors; Matthew Bremer, AIA — Principal, Architecture in Formation; Roberta Kravette — Director, Nieuw Amsterdam Kitchens
Moderator: Marc Clemenceau Bailly, AIA — Principal, Gage/Clemenceau Architects
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee

If large, established firms are laying off qualified workers at alarming rates, how can new or small practices stay afloat? In the first of a five-part series, the AIANY New Practices Committee attempted to answer that question.

Roberta Kravette, director of Nieuw Amsterdam Kitchens, encouraged emerging practitioners to “hang tight and be resilient.” This downtime provides an opportunity to reflect on their strengths and missions, she said. New firm practitioners could trade time with friends in other fields for business coaching and accounting advice — skills that architects often lack.

New practitioners should engage with colleagues in allied fields through community organizations, including community boards and neighborhood coalitions, according to Ruperto Arvelo, AIA, principal of Arvelo Architecture + Interiors. Volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Architecture for Humanity and professional referral organizations such as Business Network International (BNI) are networking opportunities that allow architects to educate others about their work and can occasionally lead to paid projects.

Matthew Bremer, AIA, principal of Architecture in Formation, discussed the importance of collaboration for emerging practices. Smaller firms can merge and pool resources, ideas, and capital to form a team that can compete with “the big guys,” he said. Bremer speaks from experience: his firm is currently collaborating with several firms as part of the Navy Green Master Plan and Affordable Housing Development. The overall design team is FXFOWLE Architects (lead) with Curtis+Ginsberg Architects, Architecture in Formation, and Rader+Crews (landscape). The Supportive Housing building is also being done by Architecture in Formation (design architect) with Curtis+Ginsberg Architects (executive architect).

Farnaz Mansuri, Assoc. AIA, principal of De-Spec, noted that doctors and lawyers get their work primarily through referrals and are typically more diligent about billing than architects. She suggested that architects establish a forum where city agencies, developers, private clients, and larger architecture firms seeking collaboration could post projects, similar to classified ads. “This would encourage both entrepreneurship, camaraderie, and ultimately lead to better work.” [Note: the AIANY launched Exchange Point, for this reason. Click the link for more information.]

Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is a designer with TEK Architects, and has written for Architectural Record, Architecture Boston, and Architectural Lighting.

In this issue:
· AIA, I2SL Sign MOU

AIA, I2SL Sign MOU
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing both organizations to leverage their resources and expertise toward the creation of a comprehensive laboratory facilities guideline for planning and design. These new guidelines will build on the 1999 AIA Guidelines for Planning and Design of Biomedical Research Laboratories.

This initiative is consistent with the mission and strategic goals of each organization. The AIA has a history of providing guidelines for designers, some utilized by owners and government officials as a center for facility knowledge. I2SL is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable design and engineering practices for laboratories and other high-technology facilities.

The guidelines will define integrated building strategies that will offer a sustainable approach to global building challenges. As the AIA and I2SL begin to develop the guidelines, they will seek subject experts and leaders having the passion and willingness to substantially contribute to the scope and content of the guide. The organizations will begin soliciting financial support to assure the development of the guide and will seek organizations that can endorse its mission.

Event: New Practices New York 2008, David Wallance Architect: ‘Thingness’
Location: Hafele New York Showroom, 02.12.09
Speakers: David Wallance, AIA — Principal, David Wallance | Architect
Organizer: AIANY New Practices Committee

Elements of architecture are not typically referred to as “things,” but David Wallance, AIA, one of the 2008 New Practices New York winners, titled his recent presentation “Thingness.” A phrase coined by philosopher Martin Heidegger in his essay, “The Question Concerning Technology,” “thingness” refers to the essence or fundamental nature of a thing, rather than the perception of it as simply an object. Similarly, Wallance considers buildings not as physical objects, but things that occupy their own rightful place. “Ideas are inseparable from things,” he said.

After attending Cooper Union, Wallance spent a number of years as a “journeyman,” learning how to design and develop drawings. He worked for a series of large firms; however, he was uncomfortable with thinking “outside of time” and decided to learn how to build. Wallance spent his free time designing and building a spec house in Upstate New York. The simple box features a unifying central fireplace and bookcase that spans two vertical floors. He and his family lived there for several years before selling the home. Wallance then designed and built a home specifically for his family — a one-story structure integrated with the landscape at grade. Organized by a series of modules, the house provides privacy for his teenage daughter who has her space at one end, while the master bedroom is situated at the opposite end. Glass walls maintain a connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, and the landscape becomes “living wallpaper.”

After growing increasingly frustrated with large drawing sets and the disconnect between designer and those actually building the projects (“craft is a mentality, not a tradition,” he stated), Wallance left his day job to pursue his private practice. Two entrepreneurs had approached him to design residences in downtown Manhattan using the dimensions of shipping containers as a module. The project, which is currently on hold due to the current real estate market, features an exposed structural frame enclosing the ground floor that supports the containers above. The containers themselves can be quickly installed by crane. Wallance designed four prototypical apartments with limitless combinations for the building.

Shipping containers — useless things that have seemingly served their purpose — find a new life through Wallance’s practical adaptation. He likes to quote Frank Sinatra when talking of his work: “being modern’s not about the future; it’s about the present.”

Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is a designer with TEK Architects and has written for Architectural Record, Architecture Boston, and Architectural Lighting.

In this issue:
· A Community of Hands to Help: Max is Gone
· AIANY Chapter Launches A.R.E. Boot Camp
· AIA Responds to Cutting of School Construction Funding
· AIA Publishes Pro Bono Guide
· Box-a-Thon Returns to NYC

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A Community of Hands to Help: Max is Gone
By Rick Bell, FAIA, AIANY Executive Director

I was going to write, about the death of J. Max Bond, Jr., FAIA; that Max was my mentor, as he was for so many others — that he was an inspiration and a role model for thousands of architects and architecture students. Roberta Washington, FAIA, said it better and first in one of many, many e-mails that brought people together in their shock and their grief. She sent the following short message: “Max was my mentor (he was for many) and an inspiration in so many respects. He was a role model extraordinaire. He was supportive when he needed to be and blunt and truthful when he had to be. There will be a big hole in the architecture fabric of New York with his passing.”

The extraordinary facts of his life have been related in the obituaries linked to this space-limited tribute. Academic achievements, breakthrough patterns of work from the Architects Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) to Davis Brody Bond Aedas, not to forget Bond Ryder James Architects. The projects we all know, large and small, near and far. And those of us who loved his forceful persistence for an engaged, politically-aware design excellence find no one else to fill his shoes. Whether over an architectural school drawing board (second year housing studio in my case), a tricky land use issue at the City Planning Commission, or over the design and symbolism of major public project (one of my favorites is the Langston Hughes Library & Community Center that Max did under the auspices of DDC on Northern Boulevard in Queens). Over the front door of that project, a bronze-colored façade frames some of the famous words of Freedom’s Plow. The poem begins: “When a man starts to build the world / He starts first with himself / And the faith that is in his heart / The strength there / The will to build.” Max had the will to build, and he built well.

Other memorials in the news:
“J. Max Bond Jr., Architect, Dies at 73,” by David W. Dunlop, The New York Times, 02.19.09.

“Max Bond, 1935-2009: Revered Davis Brody Bond Aedas partner was pathbreaking African-American architect,” by Julie Iovine, The Architect’s Newspaper, 02.18.09. The Architect’s Newspaper is also soliciting tributes: Remembering Max Bond.

“J. Max Bond, 1935-2009,” by Clay Risen, The New Republic, 02.19.09.

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AIANY Chapter Launches A.R.E. Boot Camp
By Carolyn Sponza, AIA, LEED AP

The AIANY Chapter and the Emerging NY Architects Committee (ENYA) has launched an Architects Registration Examination (A.R.E.) Boot Camp program for intern architects. The first three sessions, which covered the Structural Systems, Site Planning, and Building Systems divisions of the examination, were filled to capacity. The remaining four Saturday sessions will focus on Construction Documents and Services, Building Design and Construction Systems, Programming Planning and Practice, and Schematic Design. Format of the program is structured on ARE 4.0.

95% of respondents polled at the first session said that this was the first review class they had taken. Led by a combination of recently licensed architects and seasoned professionals, each class begins with an overview of study and test-taking strategies and techniques critical to exam success. This program is offered at $10 for Associate AIA members ($75 for non-members), and is part of AIANY Chapter’s efforts to support intern architects on the road to licensure.

More information about the remaining sessions in this series is available on the program website at: www.aiany.org/are. The series is also planned to run again in the fall.

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AIA Responds to Cutting of School Construction Funding
In response to the Senate’s elimination of stimulus funding for the modernization of schools, the AIA is sending a letter to Congressional leaders to argue against this, citing 67 organizations (including Sierra Club, U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Education Association) who support the AIA’s concerns.

AIA Vice President, Government & Community Relations, Paul Mendelsohn said, “Not only are America’s schools in desperate need of repairs, but the money allocated in the House version of the bill would result in the creation of 400,000 jobs nationwide. Schools are the only building type where, through green design, you can reduce energy consumption, improve the environment, and create a learning environment where students will be better prepared to compete in a global workplace.”

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AIA Publishes Pro Bono Guide
Through pro bono efforts, architects and allied design professionals bring a unique combination of knowledge and design skills to bear on a wide range of issues facing our communities.

To translate good intentions into effective action, the AIA has released the Institute Guidelines to Assist AIA Members, Firms and Components in Undertaking Pro Bono Service Activities. The Guidelines include how to select pro bono clients, define the scope of services, avoid legal liabilities and other pitfalls, and develop contracts or agreements for pro bono services.

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Box-a-Thon Returns to NYC
SpecSimple.com’s Save A Sample! invites design firms to donate boxes of materials including fabrics, brochures, and finish cards, which will be given to local design schools. In addition, Save A Sample! raises money from manufacturer sponsors for resource library scholarships for each of the participating schools. Supported by AIA, ASID, IIDA, SMPS, and USGBC, last year’s Save A Sample! raised over $14,000 in scholarships, which were distributed to the Art Institute, FIT, Kean University, NYIT, NYSID, Parsons The New School, and Pratt Institute. This year’s event runs 04.07-09.09. For additional information about Save A Sample!, please visit http://www.specsimple.com.