Category: In The News

Editor’s Note

As Archtober comes to an end, I would like to thank all of you who participated in this year’s festivities. Archtober 2014 brought together 50 partnering organizations who celebrated architecture and design in NYC in more than 200 different ways. The hard work of organizers and the enthusiasm of tour-goers, lecture attendees, and architecture lovers are the reasons why our month-long festival has been a success year after year.

And don’t forget! There are still two days left until the end of the month. Check out the Archtober calendar and squeeze in some final Archtivities! You can also follow our partner organizations all year long to hear about other exciting events. To see photos of Building of the Day tours this year, add us on Instagram at @Archtober and @CenterforArch.

NOMA: For the LOVE of it

Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed architects from around the nation to Philadelphia for the 42nd Annual National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) International Conference and Exhibition held 10.02-04.14. William Stanley, FAIA, chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows, and 2016 AIA President-elect Russell A. Davidson, FAIA, participanted in the conference at the historic 1932 PSFS Building, designed by William Lescaze and George Howe, now restored and known as Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The conference theme was “For the LOVE of it,” appropriate for the City of Brotherly Love.

Pre-conference activities on Wednesday included a full-day Community Legacy Project at the Lighthouse on Lehigh Avenue and the presentation of entries in the NOMA Student Design Competition. Friday’s General Session featured keynote speaker Paola Moya, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, co-principal and partner of the Washington, DC-based architectural firm Marshall Moya Design. She inspired the audience of professionals and students with an account of her professional journey in which she made a career shift from law to architecture. “A Tale of Two Cities” seminar was led by AIANY Chapter members Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, and Venesa Alicea, AIA, NOMA, and featured Via Verde in the Bronx and Paseo Verde in Philadelphia, two community-based projects developed by Jonathan Rose Companies. The most talked-about tour on Saturday was “Illustrious Shadows,” highlighting the life and works of Julian Francis Abele, Philadelphia’s first African-American architect. He was chief designer of more than 200 buildings, including The Free Library of Philadelphia, The Weidner Building, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Continue reading “NOMA: For the LOVE of it”

Sustainable Innovation in Urban Planning: Jaime Lerner’s Visionary Success

Kicking off a North American book tour for his new publication, Urban Acupuncture: Celebrating Pinpricks of Change That Enrich City Life, Jaime Lerner recently spoke at the Museum of the City of New York, joined by former NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Hon. AIANY and journalist and urban critic Roberta Brandes Gratz. Released by Island Press, a nonprofit organization with a focus on issues in the environmental field, Urban Acupuncture is a smart, quick read that urges urban residents to take a closer look at their everyday surroundings and find small but significant ways to improve the urban landscape, “a pinprick that provides a new energy in the process of planning, said Lerner.”

Referencing a subject discussed earlier that morning on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, Lerner began his monologue by highlighting bits of recent urban acupuncture he thought made an impact in New York City: the High Line, which has influenced his ideas for plans in São Paulo, and the new bike lanes complemented by the arrival of Citi Bikes, which have transformed both the individual and public realms of transportation. He believes another pinprick lies in the revamping of the city’s ferries and urges us not to be afraid of using water as a means of everyday transport, citing the vaporetto used in Venice as an example of a popular waterbus. One could imagine how much less congested the L train would be if only there was a ferry running from Williamsburg to the East Village, not to mention how much better it would be to start a workday with a view down the river! Continue reading “Sustainable Innovation in Urban Planning: Jaime Lerner’s Visionary Success”

Assessing MTA’s East Side Access

Beneath our feet, water is flowing, electricity is circulating, freight is being hauled, subways are barreling by, and one mile of rock, thousands of feet deep, is being excavated out of Manhattan, carted through Queens to Pennsylvania, to make way for MTA’s East Side Access. The $10.2 billion infrastructure project, slated to open between 2019 and 2022, will connect the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to a concourse underneath Grand Central Terminal. When the LIRR connected to Manhattan for the first time in 1910, development on Long Island was flourishing. The engineers, planners, and architects behind the East Side Access are braced for a second transformation. “This changes everything,” said LIRR Chief Planning Officer Elissa Picca. It’s a “time machine,” said MTA Associate Director of Planning Jack Dean, anticipating “unbridled bliss” as hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders commute to work in less time, in smaller crowds, and with fewer operational hiccups.

On 10.06.2014, the minds behind MTA’s East Side Access gathered at the Museum of the City of New York for the sold-out presentation, “A New Terminal Under Grand Central: The East Side Access Project,” co-sponsored by AIANY. With 11 branches and 124 stations, the LIRR currently serves 3.2 million riders annually; every day, 287,000 people ride on 741 different trains. For decades now, the second largest commuter train in the country has been overtaxed, outgrowing Penn Station. East Side Access, originally planned in the 1960s, is the first expansion of the LIRR in more than 100 years. It will alleviate congestion on the train, in Penn Station, and on the 2/3, 7, and E subway lines, and will shorten the commute to the East Side. Continue reading “Assessing MTA’s East Side Access”

Names in the News

The AIANY 2014 Heritage Ball honored Robert De Niro, Actor and Co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival; Mary Ann Tighe, Chief Executive Officer, CBRE, Inc., New York Tri-State Region; Marilyn Jordan Taylor, FAIA, Dean of the School of Design and Paley Professor, University of Pennsylvania; and Adam Weinstein, President and CEO, Phipps Houses.

The National Academy Museum & School will induct Peter Bohlin, FAIA, Principal, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Michael Manfredi, FAIA, and Marion Weiss, FAIA, Founding Partners, Weiss/Manfredi, and Charles Renfro, AIA, Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as National Academicians on 10.28.14…Alexander Gorlin, FAIA, Principal, Alexander Gorlin Architects, will be honored at Common Ground’s 2014 Annual Gala celebrating home & community…Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, was awarded the 2014 ULI JC Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development at the Urban Land Institute’s 2014 Fall Meeting…The Supportive Housing Network of New York honored NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development Commissioner Vicki Been (Government Partner of the Year), and The Anderson, designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (Residence of the Year for Innovation in the Field) at their 2014 Network Gala… Continue reading “Names in the News”

New Deadlines

2015 Oculus Editorial Calendar
The Oculus 2015 Editorial Calendar has been set. If you are an architect in practice or by training, or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, Oculus wants to hear from you! You may submit projects/topics from anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. Please submit story ideas/projects by the deadlines indicated below to Kristen Richards, Hon. AIA, Hon. ASLA: kristen@ArchNewsNow.com.

Spring 2015: President’s Theme: “Dialogues from the Edge of Practice” A look at how innovative practices are boldly enlarging the purview of the architect, expanding beyond the traditional scope of practice with new services and revenue models, new modes of collaboration with other disciplines, designing new computational tools to better create design, etc.
Deadline for story ideas, projects: 11.07.14

Summer 2015: AIANY 2015 Design Awards
Submission deadline: 02.06.15

Fall 2015: “Home” (In conjunction with the Housing Exhibition + Archtober)
Housing progress report/report card: whether market rate or affordable, is it living up to our expectations for design, community integration, environmental responsiveness? For affordable and low-income housing, is innovation helping us hit the number of units New York City needs? Continuing controversy about “inclusionary” housing (80/20 and such). Off-site/modular construction. BSA Housing Awards. (To include input from social scientists, urban anthropologists, psychologists, etc.)
Deadline for story ideas, projects: 05.22.15

Winter 2015: “Makers in a Digital World” or “Architecture & the Digital World”
How we present and build what we do: 21st-century visual representation, mapping, big data. Life-cycle of a building: an idea, draw it, digitize for CNC milling machines, construct, share via Instagram, etc. Cooper-Hewitt tech “pencils”; etc.
Deadline for story ideas, projects: 08.14.15 Continue reading “New Deadlines”

Calling all Architects: The NYC Department of Design + Construction Searches for a Chief Architect

On 10.01.14, Archtober kicked off with a forum featuring NYC Department of Design + Construction (DDC) Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora, who discussed the search process for the newly-created position of Chief Architect. Members of the search committee, including AIANY Executive Director Rick Bell, FAIA, will select a candidate, who will be empowered to take DDC’s design, sustainability, and resilience efforts to a new level.

DDC is one of the largest civic construction management agencies in the United States with a current portfolio approaching $10 billion across all five boroughs. Since 1996, DDC has completed almost 4,000 projects ranging from new and/or renovated facilities to street, plaza, and coastal resiliency projects to improve the quality of life of New York City residents, businesses, and visitors. Projects have included the new Police Academy Campus, Queens Museum, Bronx Zoo Lion House, Weeksville Heritage Center, Stapleton Branch Library, Columbus Circle, Times Square, and myriad others.

Reporting directly to the DDC Commissioner, the Chief Architect will be responsible for reimagining and leading design excellence and realizing DDC’s mission to bring beautiful, efficient, innovative, resilient, and environmentally-conscious design to all New Yorkers. In this newly created position, the Chief Architect will have the authority to review and approve all design,  and promote and implement new initiatives focused on design excellence, resiliency, sustainability, and innovation. The Chief Architect will collaborate with city agencies, the design community, and DDC professionals to use architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in implementing city policies and goals. This will include responsibility for bringing visibility to DDC’s innovative design programs through local, national, and international outreach and public events.

For additional information, please see the DDC’s posting.