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

Exhibition Announcements

“The Adventures of La Coronita,” 2008, video still, Mike Estabrook (left); “Pimp My Piragua,” 2008, pushcart prototype (Puerto Rico Schwinn Club at left), installation with color video with sound (right).

Queens Museum of Art

Through 10.16.08
Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2
The Queens Museum of Art has commissioned four temporary, site-specific artworks in Corona Plaza (103rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue). These artworks are part of a larger Heart of Corona initiative in which the museum and community partners work together to improve the health of residents, beautify the neighborhood, and activate public spaces. The artists — Mike Estabrook, Lin + Lam, Miguel Luciano, and vydavy sindikat — developed projects specific to the plaza’s conditions and engage the public to highlight urban mythologies, visual perception, and everyday artistry.

Queens Museum of Art
New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens

Practice of Encroachment.

Courtesy parkfoundation.org

Through 10.25.08
Practice of Encroachment: From the Global Border to the Border Neighborhood
The PARC Foundation presents an exhibition of projects by Estudio Teddy Cruz. His research-based architectural studio, located at the San Diego-Tijuana border, uses neighborhoods as sites of experimentation to research new forms of affordable housing and social density. The projects on view include conceptual works presented through videos, photographs, drawings, models, and cartographies.

The PARC Foundation
29 Bleecker Street, NYC

“Palmtree Island” (Oasis), project, NY, NY 1971, by Haus-Rucker-Co (Laurids Ortner, Manfred Ortner, Günther Zamp Kelp, and Klaus Pinter). Cut-and-pasted printed paper with gouache and graphite and cut-and-pasted painted paper on silver gelatin photograph on board.

Wendy Evans Joseph Purchase Fund, courtesy MoMA

Through 10.27.08
Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s
Works drawn from MoMA’s architecture and design collection explore ways that NY’s landscape has inspired architects with visions of utopia since the 1970s. Rem Koolhaas’s book Delirious New York (1978) and several drawings made for the book, including the recently acquired watercolor “Plan of Dreamland” (1977), are the exhibition’s departure point. Other recent acquisitions include works by Diller + Scofidio and Simon Ungers. The centerpiece of the gallery is a display of architectural models organized as a kind of fantasy city juxtaposing unbuilt visionary projects and realized buildings; architectural drawings complement and supplement the dreamscape of models.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, NYC

In this issue:
· AIA Walks With Greensteps
· Shape of America Project Extends Architecture Dialogue

AIA Walks With Greensteps
The AIA recently launched 12 short video episodes for architects to share with clients who want to plan a new building or renovate an existing one using green building principles. Clients can “get in step with AIA Greenstep,” and explore how to conserve water, use renewable energy, optimize eco-friendly daylighting, and holistically plan a building. Greenstep is the new aspect of the AIA’s “Walk the Walk” marketing campaign to help clients and the public learn more about sustainable design, and demonstrate how architects are providing energy-efficient solutions to help lower carbon footprints. New videos will appear bi-weekly on the Walk the Walk website.

Shape of America Project Extends Architecture Dialogue
The AIA launched its Shape of America project– a series of web-based short films showcasing a selection of the 150 structures chosen by the public as America’s Favorite Architecture. In each short film, AIA architects share insights and anecdotes about the architectural masterworks, in turn encouraging public discussion about the buildings. The website is designed to expand the public dialogue about architecture using interactive features. The site also offers a link to architectural blogs, a film-rating system, and an RSS feed alerting viewers when the site is updated with new material.

The National Building Museum has named Robert A. M. Stern, FAIA, the 10th Laureate of the Vincent Scully Prize to be presented at a gala celebration on 11.12.08…

Iowa-based Gordon E. Mills, FAIA, was recently elected 2008-2009 president of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) at its 89th Annual Meeting and Conference in Pittsburgh, PA…Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, will take the reins from David Harris, FAIA, as the next president and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)…

NYC-based David Cooper, P.E., LEED AP, was promoted to president and chief executive officer of Flack + Kurtz, replacing Randy Meyers, P.E., LEED AP, who returns to his previous role as senior vice president in the San Francisco office…Nicholas Watkins and Henry Chao, AIA, have joined HOK’s health care practice in the New York office…Christopher Mount, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs at Parsons The New School for Design, is the new Executive Director of the Pasadena Museum of California Art…

Grand Central Terminal is a finalist in America’s Best Restroom Contest; the public is invited to vote online through 07.31.08…

Oculus 2008 Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors are looking for writers for the Winter issue. The theme:

Competing for Space. Explore the growing competition between expansionist institutions on limited sites and the interests of adjacent communities, many in residential areas with moderate-income families.

If you’re interested, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards. with a brief outline and full contact information.

08.01.08 Winter 2008-09: Competing for Space

07.25.08 Request for Proposals: Planning and Facilitation Services – Broadway Triangle
The Broadway Triangle is located in Brooklyn at the nexus of Williamsburg, Bedford Stuyvesant, and Bushwick. A group of faith-based, community development, civic, and community-based organizations joined together as the Broadway Triangle Steering Committee and are proposing a one-day community planning charrette to take place 09.03.08. The Steering Committee has issued an RFP seeking a professional/firm to facilitate the charrette and summarize recommendations that can be used to guide elected officials and government agencies on policies and actions to guide development.

08.11.08 Call for Entries: Design Vanguard 2008
Every December, Architectural Record publishes its Design Vanguard issue featuring the work of 10 emerging architects/firms from around the world. Although there is no age limit for candidates, selected architects tend to have been out of architectural school for 10 years or less.

08.28.08 Request for Proposals: Governors Island
Governors Island will expand its uses to include more arts and entertainment. The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) issued two separate RFPs for a temporary entertainment and dining venue, and for artists’ studio and exhibition programs.

09.15.08 Call for Entries: Diversity in Architecture
The AIA Diversity Recognition Program seeks to recognize architects for exemplary commitment and contributions to diversifying the profession of architecture. Up to 12 submissions will be recognized as Diversity Best Practices. A commemorative graphic work to celebrate these efforts will be presented to each selected architect, whose efforts will also be featured in AIA publications, and on AIA websites. This call for best practice submissions is open to all members of the AIA.

09.19.08 Call for Entries: National Museum of African American History and Culture Competition
The Smithsonian Institution issued a call for ideas to build the newest museum on the National Mall. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is scheduled to open in 2015, and officials hope to name an architectural team by spring 2009. This is to be the Smithsonian’s first museum to be certified as environmentally friendly. The Smithsonian is encouraging minority architects to participate, but teams submitting proposals are not required to include minorities.

09.19.08 Call for Entries: AIA New Jersey 2008 Design Awards
The AIANJ Annual Design Awards Program brings public and professional recognition to architectural projects that exhibit design excellence. Winners will be announced at the AIA/NJ Design Conference 2008 and awards will be presented at an awards ceremony, 01.10.09.

Exhibition Announcements

Enzo Mari.

Courtesy Italian Cultural Institute

Through 09.05.08
Enzo Mari
This exhibition showcases over 60 objects created by Italian designer Enzo Mari and produced by Alessi, Artemide, Danese, Driade, Hida Sangyo, Kartell, Magis, Muji, Poltrona Frau, Robots, Zani & Zani, and Zanotta. As a writer, artist, educator, and architect within the field of environmental, furniture, and product design, Mari is preoccupied with the role of object design in everyday living.

Italian Cultural Institute
686 Park Avenue

Like We Never Met. 2003. Found mahogany glazed doorz. Two parts, each: 91.14×26.97 inches.

Anya Gallaccio, courtesy Lehmann Maupin NY

Through 09.06.08
Nature Interrupted
Eleven artists show diverse sorts of concern for the environment. Anya Gallaccio’s installation Like We Never Met (2003) includes a series of doors with flowers pressed behind glass. Over the course of the exhibition, the flowers blacken and decay, highlighting the instability of the natural materials and the permanence of the cast objects. The drawings in Helen Brough’s series Cataclysmic Hypotheses generate imaginary visions of iconic contemporary architecture that will eventually become ruins. In her photographs and videos, Chus Garcia-Fraile inserts escalators and other examples of modern technology into pristine jungles and landscapes. The mind boggles!

The Chelsea Art Museum
556 West 22nd Street

Parsons The New School for Design

Through 09.28.08
2008 Annual Design Review
Parsons The New School for Design and I.D. magazine presents the most innovative design work from the past year in an exhibition organized in conjunction with the magazine’s 2008 Annual Design Review, which publishes selected work in eight design categories including: consumer products, graphics, packaging, environments, furniture, equipment, concepts, and interactive media. This exhibition offers a look at the state of contemporary design and its professions.

Parsons The New School for Design
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 66 Fifth Avenue

BURST*008 designed for MoMA’s “Home Delivery” exhibition by Jeremy Edmiston and Douglas Gauthier: installation view of construction in the lot to the west of MoMA.

Photograph by Richard Barnes

Through 10.20.08 (Part 1), 10.26.08 (Part 2, outdoor component)
Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling
This exhibition offers an examination of significance of factory-produced architecture from 1833 to today. The history of prefabricated housing includes some 60 projects represented by drawings, ephemera, models, photographs, patent applications, films, computer animations, and partially assembled full-scale houses, as well as four new commissions of wall fragments that could be used in designing prefabricated buildings. In the outdoor space to the west of the museum, five contemporary architectural firms, KieranTimberlake Architects, Oskar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Rüf, Lawrence Sass, Jeremy Edmiston and Douglas Gauthier, and Richard Horden, Lydia Haack and John Höpfner, display full-scale, prefabricated houses.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street

LA to NY: Neil Denari Meets the High Line

Event: New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line
Location: Museum of the City of New York, thru 09.21.08

A view of the seventh floor of the future HL23, designed by Neil Denari, AIA.

Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

High Line 23 (HL23) is the first foray of Neil Denari, AIA, into the NYC architecture scene, and it is his first freestanding building. The 14-story condominium project at 23rd Street and 10th Avenue folds, expands, and cantilevers above the High Line in response to strict zoning guidelines while providing views of the Hudson River. Los Angeles-based Denari is known for his use of computer technology and production to produce new forms suitable for contemporary life at many scales, from urban planning to furniture design. The New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York documents the building’s design, featuring models, full-scale building sections, and computer renderings. Also on view are historic and current photographs of the High Line.

The museum’s double-height circular stair in the lobby displays “Eco-Vert,” a steel sculpture designed by Denari and fabricated by TISI that seemingly defies gravity by folding and bending in a similar manner to HL23. A full-scale metal panel mock-up of the façade and base detail of the steel structure allows an up-close examination of the details. Construction documents and a slideshow of three-dimensional renderings and images provide a window into the design process. The walls of adjoining galleries are covered with HL23 graphics. One can get a sense of what it’s like to stand in an apartment through a large-scale, cut-away model. The view, unfortunately, is left to the viewer’s imagination.

The exhibition is informative, but it is a surprising venue to display a private development that has yet to be built given that the museum programs events geared towards community activism itself. While the exhibition is successful at showcasing the design, it carefully sidesteps any controversial issues surrounding it. Instead, it displays iconic photographs of the High Line, documenting its intentioned use, subsequent grassy decay, and current efforts to turn it into an urban park. The photographs explain the context for which HL23 was created, yet they do not provide a complete picture. Literally and figuratively, HL23 acknowledges this context while gracefully pulling away.

Murrye Bernard, Assoc. AIA, is a designer with TEK Architects, freelance writer, and member of the National Associates Committee.

In this issue:
· NCARB Passes “6 Month Rule”
· A+DEN Conference: Foundation Wins Grant, NEA Turns New Page
· News Update: AIA New York State
· Syracuse University Offers Scholarships to African Americans

NCARB Passes “6 Month Rule”
NCARB’s Annual Meeting and Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, 06.26-28.08, voted on several resolutions. The most debated was Resolution 2008-07 (also known as the “Six-Month Rule”), passed with a vote of 49-1. The resolution will require interns establishing a new NCARB Record on or after 07.01.09 to submit training reports of no more than six-month duration within two months of the end of each reporting period. On 07.01.10, the Six-Month Rule will go into effect for all interns. The resolution is dependent on a “fully tested and operational” online reporting system. Should the online reporting system not be fully tested and operational by the end of 2008, each implementation date will be pushed back and will go into effect six months after the system has been deemed fully operational by an independent tester.

The resolution was amended by Member Boards to allow parents of newborn infants or newly adopted children to receive a six-month extension of the reporting deadline upon proper application. The same extension was also applied to the Five-Year Rolling Clock for the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) through Resolution 2008-04. Other resolutions related to IDP included changes to employment duration in full- and part-time work, and an increase in the number of training units interns may earn from the Emerging Professional’s Companion. A summary of all the resolutions including the votes can be found on the NCARB home page.

A+DEN Conference: Foundation Wins Grant, NEA Turns New Page
By Erin McCluskey, Executive Director, Center for Architecture Foundation

On June 19, the Center for Architecture Foundation staff traveled to Chicago to attend the 2008 A+DEN, Architecture + Design Education Network conference to receive a grant for the Foundation’s Learning By Design:NY program in the schools. Highlights from this year’s conference included author, curator, and graphic designer Ellen Lupton who delivered the opening keynote on a range of topics from designing business cards to how to choose the best luggage. Sharon E. Sutton, FAIA, Ph.D., architectural educator and author of Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power, and Poetry of a Sustainable Society, spoke about her participation in various design/build projects. Chicago-based architect and co-author of Design for Kids, Peter Exley, FAIA, hosted a design educator’s version of Pecha Kucha. The Center for Architecture Foundation received a grant this year for its Learning By Design:NY program in the schools, as well.

Other sessions at the conference looked at technology and digital curriculum in the classroom, creating professional development workshops for teachers interested in incorporating design, implementing design curriculum in the schools, training volunteer architects for collaborative classroom visits, and the state of school design and its relevance to design education.

The newly appointed director of design for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Maurice Cox, introduced a new direction for the NEA, which, in the past, has not supported design education at the K-12 level.

A+DEN was founded by the American Architectural Foundation and the Chicago Architecture Foundation to create as association of like-minded organizations committed to promoting innovative architecture and design education for teachers and students in grades K-12. A+DEN has a growing national and international membership of architecture foundations, historic homes, museums, and architecture and design teachers. For more information and to join the A+DEN network, go to the website.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation board and staff hosted the event providing three rooftop venues for lunch and cocktails, proving that Chicago is a wonderful city for architecture.

News Update: AIA New York State

AIANYS 2008 Convention in White Plains
The AIANYS 2008 Convention will be in White Plains Thursday, 09.25-27.08. Over 40 continuing education courses divided into three tracks that reflect the theme “Future, Integrated and Small Practice” will be presented. Online registration for the convention will open in mid-July. Check for updates on the AIANYS Convention website.

Upcoming Chapter Golf Outing
AIA Brooklyn is hosting its 15th Annual Golf Outing Thursday, 08.14.08 at Dyker Beach Golf Club in Brooklyn. For more information and to register, click here for form. Deadline to register is 07.24.08. (Contact: Nick Raschella at 718-837-6800, ext. 201.)

AIA Peconic Granted Full Component Status from AIA
AIA Peconic leadership received the permanent charter during their member meeting on 06.12.08 at Pierre’s Restaurant in Bridgehampton.

Barbara Nadel, FAIA, Named to Homeland Security Television Editorial Advisory Board
Homeland Security Television, the world’s first online, on-demand network for broadcast quality videos on homeland and cyber security, recently announced the completion of the first round of appointments to its editorial advisory board. A total of eight national security experts with a wide range of backgrounds have agreed to join HSTV’s board, including NYC-based Barbara Nadel, FAIA, Principal, Barbara Nadel Architect and Senior Consultant to Good Harbor Consulting.

New Grant and Technical Assistance to Encourage Community Center Schools
The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NHTP) is offering the opportunity for organizations to analyze their state’s current policies and develop an educational outreach program with policy recommendations to help citizens and officials make informed choices when spending their limited dollars on school facilities. Selected organizations will receive a year of technical assistance and $6,000 to research state policies and practices; convene a policy summit to develop recommendations; develop educational materials; and hold a press event to announce policy findings.

By participating in this program, organizations will secure community-centered schools for their state through the implementation of state-level policies. The proposal deadline is 07.14.08 at 5:00 PM. For more information, go to the NHTP website.

Syracuse University Offers Scholarships to African Americans
Syracuse University School of Architecture Dean Mark Robbins hopes to attract African American students interested in a five-year professional degree in architecture by offering 10 full scholarships to the program. Though Hispanic enrollment in the school has risen sharply, there are still few African American students, Robbins stresses. For more information, contact Mark Robbins: 315 443- 2255, robbinsm@syr.edu.

Rafael Viñoly Architects’ expansion of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is the recipient of the 2008 Project of the Year Award from the Society of American Registered Architects/New York Council… Laura Heim, AIA, received a 2008 Partnership in Education Award from The International High School (IHS) at La Guardia Community College…

Parsons The New School for Design is launching a new undergraduate degree program in Environmental Studies that focuses on both urban ecosystems and sustainable design…

BBG-BBGM has promoted Marcelle Irving and David Weinberg to Senior Associates in its NY office…

Oculus 2008 Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors are looking for writers for the Winter issue. The theme:

Competing for Space. Explore the growing competition between expansionist institutions on limited sites and the interests of adjacent communities, many in residential areas with moderate-income families.

If you’re interested, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards. with a brief outline and full contact information.

08.01.08 Winter 2008-09: Competing for Space

07.18.08 Call for Entries: Designing the 21st Century Street
Transportation Alternatives invites entries for Designing the 21st Century Street. Contestants are asked to redesign the intersection of 9th Street and 4th Avenue in Brooklyn with new conceptual and physical approaches to planning healthy, safe, and sustainable streets. The competition is open to the public. Three finalists will split a $12,000 prize. Top entries will be featured in an exhibition and book publication. Registration ends 07.18.08 and submissions are due by 08.18.08.

08.29.08 Call for Entries: AIA Honor Awards
The Institute Honor Awards recognize excellence that elevates the quality of architecture practice, sets performance standards, and informs the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice. The 2009 awards program is accepting online entries of projects in the following categories: Institute Honor Awards for Regional & Urban Design; Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture; 25 Year Award; and Institute Honor Award for Architecture.

09.26.08 Call for Entries: Nordhaven, The Sustainable City of the Future
This open international ideas competition seeks to create a sustainable city district in Nordhavnen, Denmark — a new urban development with 40,000 residents and 40,000 staff in buildings with a total floor area of 3-4 million square meters. Waterfronts are on three sides of the site. The competition is open to everyone, but is aimed at urban planners, architects, landscape architects, and traffic planners, who are welcome to collaborate with experts in other fields. Total prize money amounts to DKK 3 million (approximately $630,000).

11.03.08 Call for Entries: 2008 Library for the 21st Century Design Competition
Administered by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), this program challenges students to learn about architectural aluminum building products and their assembly in the design of a library. The designer (or team) can choose any site and must use LEED building standards. While open to any student, the competition is designed for advanced students. Total prize money is $7,225, including $2,500 for the winning design.

Exhibition Announcements

Cortica Cork Chaise by Daniel Michalik, Brooklyn, NY (72 x 26 x 20″).

Mark Johnston

Through 07.17.08
Seats of New York: Benches, Stools and Chairs from Across the State
Presented by the Purchase College School of Art+Design and the Furniture Society, the exhibition showcases imaginative and unique benches, stools, and chairs that reflect the wide array of approaches to furniture making throughout New York State. They are as diverse in style and historical precedent, as they are in production methods, materials and places of origin.

Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery at Purchase College
Art+Design Building, 735 Anderson Hill Rd, Purchase, NY

MITSUKO ASAKURA, Escalation (1973), cotton. 89 3/4 x 57 7/8 in. Suntory Headquarters, Tokyo.

Courtesy of the artist

07.10.08 through 08.14.08
Tapestry in Architecture: Creating Human Spaces
The first U.S. show of textile artist Mitsuko Asakura highlights intricately woven, delicately patterned works specifically designed to compliment architectural interiors. The exhibition showcases 11 hanging pieces replete with photos and a video essay depicting the creation process, and features works specifically commissioned by clients including Hie Shrine for its new building in downtown Tokyo, Pfizer Global Research and Development for its laboratories in Nagoya, Resona Bank in Osaka, and more.

Japan Society Gallery
333 E. 47th St.

Formula for House in Chiang Mai, 2008, Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Courtesy Van Alen Institute

Through 08.15.08
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Formulas for Now
As Van Alen Institute’s inaugural New York Prize Senior Fellow, Obrist has revisited interviews conducted over the last 15 years with quintessential NY figures who have played critical roles in shaping the cityscape. Two new interviews with Rem Koolhaas and Yoko Ono, asking “What is your formula for the 21st century?” debut alongside a selection of unedited interviews with famed NY artists, architects, and cultural leaders including Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, AIA, and Philip Johnson with Rem Koolhaas.

Van Alen Institute
30 West 22nd Street 6th Floor

HL23.

Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Through 09.14.08
New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line
The exhibition documents the design and construction plans for the first freestanding building by LA-based architect Neil Denari, AIA. The exhibition features historic images of the High Line and its surrounding neighborhood alongside models, computer renderings, and drawings of HL23. A highlight of the exhibition is a model offering visitors cutaway views of the HL23’s structure and its façade of patterned stainless steel. Read LA to NY: Neil Denari Meets the High Line in this issue to read more about the exhibition.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue

Buckminster Fuller, Model of Dymaxion Dwelling Machines community, ca. 1946, refabricated 2008.

Photograph by Patrick Hobgood, Iannis Kandyliaris, and Ilias Papageorgiou, courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art

Through 09.21.08
Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of the great American visionaries of the 20th century. Best-known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller devoted much of his life to resolving the gap between the sciences and the humanities, which he believed was preventing society from taking a comprehensive view of the world. His theories and innovations traversed the worlds of architecture, visual art, literature, mathematics, molecular biology, and environmental science and have had a deep impact on all of those fields. This exhibition includes original examples of Fuller’s important works from both private and public collections, among them the sole extant Dymaxion car; models of the Wichita House; the Tetrascroll portfolio; several geodesic study models; as well as numerous sketches, notebooks, and other artifacts.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue