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

The Rockefeller Foundation announced the 2008 recipients of the Foundation’s $2.7 million NYC Cultural Innovation Fund awards, including Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator of the Museum of Arts & Design; David Thorpe, Senior Partner and Global Director of Innovation, Ogilvy Worldwide; and Andrew Zolli, Founder, Z + Partners… The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum has appointed David van der Leer as the new Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design; previously he was publications and exhibition manager for Steven Holl Architects…

The first place winners of the CityRacks Design Competition are Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve (Bettlelab), based in Copenhagen, Denmark; third-place winner is Ignacio Ciocchini of New York…

Architectural Record‘s Design Vangaurd 2008 winners include NYC-based Urban A&O, on of AIANY’s 2008 New Practices New York winning firms…

McGraw-Hill Construction’s Architectural Record, in collaboration with BusinessWeek, has launched the first issue of HQ, a new publication and website for corporate executives, architects, owners, and developers…

Al D’Elia, AIA, has joined Butler Rogers Baskett as a Partner… Andrea O’Neill has been appointed Vice President for Institutional Advancement, a new position for NY School of Interior Design… Ted Moudis Associates announced the promotion of Monica Larsen Wetherell to Design Management Director…

01.05.09 Call for Entries: AIA/ALA Library Building Awards
This biennial program is intended to encourage excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries. All entries must be libraries designed by architects licensed in the U.S and may be built anywhere but must have been completed since 12.01.02. Projects should demonstrates exemplary skill and creativity in the resolution and integration of formal, functional, and technical requirements, including ecological stewardship.

01.15.09 Call for Entries: IDP Outstanding Firm Award
Since 1991, the IDPAC has recognized firms that actively embrace the Intern Development Program and demonstrate their commitment by making the path to licensure an integral part of the firm’s culture. In 2008, the program is expanded to recognize IDP Firms that meet 12 criteria in the categories of Mentoring, Supervising, Training Opportunities, Commitment to IDP, and ARE Support. The award is reserved for firms that demonstrate excellence in at least three of these categories.

02.06.09 Call for Entries: 2009 AIANY Design Awards
AIANY’s annual Design Awards Program recognizes excellence in architectural design by NYC-based architects and for work in NYC. The purpose of the awards program is to increase awareness of outstanding design and to honor the architects, clients, and consultants who work together to improve the built environment. Winning entries will be featured in an Awards Exhibition at the Center for Architecture next year and published in a special issue of OCULUS.

02.06.09 Call for Entries: 2009 AIANY Building Type Awards
The AIANY’s Building Type Awards is a collaborative program with the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) that honors excellence in architectural design for specific typologies. This year, achievement in Health Facilities and Housing will be recognized. Winning entries will be featured in an Awards Exhibition at the Center for Architecture next year and published in a special issue of OCULUS.

02.11.09 Call for Entries: 2009 Young Architects Forum: Foresight
Young architects and designers are invited to submit work to the annual competition that reflects intelligent decisions and imagines an effective role for architecture in the future. Projects of all types, theoretical or real, and executed in any medium are welcome. The jury will select work for presentation in public forums, an online installation, and an exhibition at the Architectural League of New York in May 2009. Winners will receive a cash prize of $1,000.

Through 12.31.08
The Ambient Texture of Urbana

The Ambient Texture of Urbana.

Lisa-Thi Beskar

NYC plays the role of muse, landscape, backdrop, and physical material for artworks in this exhibition, sited in a Lower Eastside hair salon. It features work from local artists Simon Scott, Ryan Spoto, and Christi Shingara. Simon Scott presents limited edition prints from his “Hip Shots Series,” which explores the grittiness of NY. Spoto presents collage paintings, incorporating newsprint clippings, sentimental imagery, and mixed media. Shingara displays photographs exemplifying her passion for music and the iconography of the urban cityscape.

Enve Beauty Lounge
121 Ludlow Street

12.11.09 through 1.31.09
Josef Schulz: Form

“Form 9” by Josef Schulz.

Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery

Josef Schulz’s first U.S. solo exhibition is of large-scale color photographs. The works show traditional analogue photographs of halls, factories, and storage facilities taken with a large-format camera. Images of common, mass-produced, industrial structures are then stripped of any individualizing elements through digital manipulation. Void of logos, signs of aging or wear, and practical architectural elements such as doors and windows, the utilitarian buildings become idealized versions of their original design concepts, without context or scale.

Yossi Milo Gallery
525 West 25th Street

12.11.09 through 4.12.09
Growing and Greening New York: PlaNYC and the Future of the City

Growing and Greening New York.

Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Organized in terms of a typical day in the life of a New Yorker, the exhibition will explore the six areas addressed by PlaNYC: water; transportation; energy; open space; land; and climate change. The exhibition will feature architectural models, interactive displays, diagrams, renderings, photographs, hands-on examples of new materials, videos, and more including projects such as Via Verde by Phipps Rose Dattner Grimshaw.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue

In this issue:
· Robin Hood Foundation Reaches Thousands
· AIA-NJ 2008 Design Conference Highlights Emerging Trends
· Green Index Reports Increase in Green Building
· AIANY Launches e-Oculus Survey

Robin Hood Foundation Reaches Thousands
By Alex Lamis, AIA, President, Center for Architecture Foundation; Partner, Robert A.M. Stern Architects

On October 24, architects Henry Myerberg, AIA, and Richard Lewis, AIA, gave an update of the Library Initiative in NYC public schools supported by The Robin Hood Foundation, this year’s recipient of the Center for Architecture Foundation Award. To date, 61 school libraries have been completely renovated or are currently in design phases. Under the theory that libraries take up, on average, 5% of the area of a school, but are used by 100% of the students, the new libraries have reached tens of thousands of NYC students, showcasing the potentially transformative power of high quality design. Both individual testimonials and more quantitative survey information support the educational benefits of the program. As important, it has given designers an opportunity to harness creative solutions for a positive social end. Scott Lauer, project director for The Robin Hood Foundation, introduced the program.

AIA-NJ 2008 Design Conference Highlights Emerging Trends
Attendees of the NJ Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA-NJ) annual 2008 Design Conference concluded that the last 10 years was a great period for architecture due to innovations in building components and systems and the digital revolution.

More than 400 architects attended, featuring Enrique Norten, Hon FAIA, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, FAIA, Rafael Pelli, AIA, and Robert Ivy, FAIA. The daylong event led off with an address by Ivy, whose topic, “Where in the World is Architecture: Observation of Design Trends,” dealt with global trends in architecture. He called upon architects to adapt regional and vernacular forms to contemporary needs; to rethink the functions of traditional structures, such as department stores and libraries; and to adapt traditional typologies to other uses. Such new approaches have the potential to reinvigorate our urban areas, and change the way people live, he said.

Green Index Reports Increase in Green Building
Autodesk, Inc. and the AIA have announced the results of the 2008 Autodesk/AIA Green Index, an annual survey that measures how AIA members are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement. This year’s index shows an increase in the implementation of sustainable design practices from architects and building owners. In addition, it shows that architects’ clients have experienced a doubling in the market-demand for green buildings over the past year and positive shifts in architects’ attitudes toward their ability to impact climate change.

A major finding of the 2008 Green Index was that 42% of architects report clients asking for green building services, and 47% of clients are implementing green building elements in their projects — a 15% increase from 2007. Client demand remains the leading driver for green building, with 66% of surveyed architects citing such demand as the primary influence on their green practice. Architects believe that the primary reasons their clients are asking for green buildings are reduced operating costs (60%), marketing (52%), and market demand (21%). The full report is available online.

AIANY Launches e-Oculus Survey
Please take the AIANY seven-question online survey to share your opinions about e-Oculus. As readers of this publication, your input is highly appreciated and will be greatly considered.

AIA-NJ announced its 2008 Design Award Winners including the following NY-based firms: in the Built Category, ARO (Honor Award, The School of Architecture addition at Princeton University), and Ricci Greene Associates (Merit Award, Union County Juvenile Detention Center); in the Un-Built Category, David Yum Architects (Merit Award, Evening Land Winery)…

Crain’s New York Business‘ 2008 list of “Best Places to Work in New York City” includes architecture firms RAND Engineering & Architecture (#26), Ted Moudis Associates (#30), Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (#40), HOK (#44), and Studio Daniel Libeskind (#45)… Special Olympics New York honored Ted Moudis, AIA, at its Ninth Annual Real Estate & Construction Gala…

Parsons The New School for Design and director of interior design, Lois Weinthal, announced a new Master of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design…

WSP Flack + Kurtz announces the addition of David Choy, PE, senior vice president, and the return of Daniel Nall, FAIA, PE, LEED AP, senior vice president as the firm-wide director of sustainability… Callison announces the promotion of Susan Soehnlen to the role of director…

12.15.08 Call for Entries: ICFF Studio Bernhardt Design
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) will be held 05.16-19.09 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. ICFF Studio invites submissions of product prototypes from designers working on any and all the product categories: furniture, seating, carpet and flooring, lighting, outdoor furniture, materials, wall coverings, accessories, textiles, and kitchen and bath. Selected designers win a spot to display their prototypes on the exhibition floor.

12.15.08 Call for Entries: ICFF Design Schools
GLM, producer and manager of the ICFF, announces a call for entries from design schools for consideration for spots at the ICFF. Entries must describe a topic, a singular concept with original products and prototypes, and be designed by students. Submissions will be reviewed and judged by editors from design publications and sponsors of the ICFF: Abitare, Domus, Frame, Interni, Intramuros, Metropolis, and Wallpaper. Each school will have a 200-square-foot booth space.

01.23.09 Call for Ideas: Woburn Public Library Expansion “Ideas” Competition
This ideas competition, sponsored by the New England Society of Architectural Historians, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, AIANY, and Boston Society of Architects, seeks ideas for a 25,000-square-foot expansion of the H. H. Richardson-designed Woburn Library. The first-place award is $2,500, second place is $1,500, and third place is $500. The winner will not get the commission for the actual project, but will be free to submit a proposal for the forthcoming formal RFQ/P process.

12.23.08 through 01.15.09
Rambusch: 110 Years of Designing and Making Objects

Condé Nast Cafeteria, designed by Gehry Partners with custom lighting.

Courtesy National Arts Club

The exhibition features never-before exhibited images selected from the Rambusch Archives at Columbia University’s Avery Art and Architecture Library. Architectural crafts and lighting will be shown with drawings from the present Rambusch design rooms, where the tradition of custom solutions and individually made objects prevails.

National Arts Club, Marquis Gallery
15 Gramercy Park South

Through 03.08.09
Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx by Ray Mortenson

© Ray Mortenson, courtesy Janet Borden, Inc.

Untitled (1-3–9-19), 1983, by Ray Mortenson. Gelatin silver print.

Made between 1982 and 1984, this collection of photographs focuses on the burned out, abandoned, and razed structures of entire city blocks in the South Bronx in the 1970s. Putting the political, economic, and social causes aside, Mortenson considers the land and loss in human terms.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue

In this issue:
· How the Elections Will Impact Architects

How the Elections Will Impact Architects
With this year’s elections ushering in Democratic majorities and President-Elect Barack Obama, many have vowed to address key issues that affect architects and their clients. Next year, the AIA will be advancing several of its key advocacy priorities:

Economic Recovery
“The AIA has developed a package of economic stimulus proposals to help get the design profession back to work, which we hope Congress will address this year,” says Andrew Goldberg, Assoc. AIA, senior director of federal relations.

Obama has promised to eliminate capital gains taxes on small businesses and reduce payroll taxes for self-employed small business owners. In addition, he has proposed a comprehensive health-care reform plan that would create a new small business health-care tax credit and cover a portion of businesses’ health costs.

Sustainability and the Environment
Obama has promised to pass a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050, and has said he will make improving the energy efficiency of buildings a top priority. The AIA worked to include language in the Democratic Party platform last summer that supported making buildings more energy efficient.

Both Obama and Sen. John McCain supported climate change legislation. In June, the AIA worked with a bipartisan group of senators on a proposal to provide incentives for green building.

Transportation and Community Development
Obama promised to reform the nation’s transportation system by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank and by linking transportation to community planning. He has also vowed to create a White House Office of Urban Policy. Obama’s views on transportation and planning align directly with the AIA’s policies; the AIA’s 2008 study Moving Communities Forward highlighted the need to design transportation systems in ways that strengthen communities.

For a complete list of results for all other measures that may affect architects and the profession, as well as the election results of the AIA members who ran for state offices, please read the current issues of The Angle.

A preliminary short-list of prospective designers for the National Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, DC, includes NYC-based Robert Rogers, FAIA, & Jonathan Marvel, AIA, of Rogers Marvel Architects…The six finalists in The Red Hook Bicycle Master Plan Design Competition are Heather Aman Design, Jonathan Rule, HOK Sport, Route Peddlers, H3 + EWT, and Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture…

Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri announced an executive staff reorganization to further standardize the Buildings Department’s operations. Appointments include: Fatma Amer as First Deputy Commissioner; Thomas Fariello, RA, as Acting Bronx Borough Commissioner; Ira Gluckman, AIA, as Queens Borough Commissioner; Marshall Kaminer, PE, as Staten Island Borough Commissioner; Derek Lee, RA, as Brooklyn Borough Commissioner; Magdi Mossad, PE, as Manhattan Borough Commissioner; and Christopher Santulli, PE, as Acting Assistant Commissioner for Engineering and Safety Operations…

12.12.08 Call for Entries: YOU, ME & THE BUS II
This national design competition seeks concepts for bus shelters in Athens, GA. The project aims to enhance the public transportation system and improve quality of life in Athens by integrating utilitarian public services with artistic ingenuity and inspiration. It will fund a total of eight bus shelters, to be installed along local transportation arteries. Designs should convey the theme of Art Rocks! A Public Art Tribute to the Music of Athens. Shelters should hold a minimum of three people with a wheelchair space, and respond to the relationships between pedestrians, sidewalk, curb, and street.

01.12.09 Call for Entries: 09 Skyscraper Competition
The annual Skyscraper Competition organized by eVolo invites students, architects, engineers, and designers to explore ideas and concepts for vertical density. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged. The competition calls for innovative designs for the 21st century that takes into consideration the historical and social context, existing urban fabric, human scale, and the environment.

02.06.09 Call for Entries: 2009 ASLA Professional Awards
Each year the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) awards program honors the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the student awards program provides a glimpse into the future of the profession. Six categories include: general design; residential design; analysis and planning; research (co-sponsored by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture and Landscape Journal); communications; and landmarks (co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation). The student awards program features the student community service and student collaboration categories. Award recipients receive featured coverage in Landscape Architecture.