Oculus - Spring 2015 - (Page 9)
first words
Letter from tHe President
©Andy Ryan
Repositioning All Around
A
IA National is now well underway "repositioning" the organization, streamlining its leadership structure, revising its institutional framework,
and sharpening its operational focus. The goal is to
make a better, stronger, more responsive AIA, and
to develop a communication strategy that helps the
public appreciate our role in delivering true value
to society. At AIANY, we are also working on our
own parallel, bottom-up strategy.
Subtly, but in meaningful ways, AIANY and the
Center for Architecture have initiated a joint and
mutually beneficial repositioning strategy to be
implemented in 2015. You may walk into the Center and not notice anything different, but organizational changes are already underway to increase
the impact and effectiveness of our collective
research, outreach, advocacy, and programming.
At the beginning of year, the Center for Architecture Foundation (the institution) and the
Center for Architecture (the place) merged into a
single 501c3 not-for-profit entity, with aspirations
to become the preeminent institution for architectural education and discourse geared to improving
the social, cultural, and environmental aspects of
the public realm - locally and globally. While it
remains a sister institution to AIANY, the Center
for Architecture now has its own autonomous
Board of Directors and a unique mission rightly
distinguished from a membership-driven organization like AIANY. As its formal mission statement
is being crafted, we should think of the Center for
Architecture as a bona fide cultural institution with
the purpose of sharing critical architectural ideas
and content with a broad public audience.
Our committees are the lifeblood of our programming and shall remain central in the development of content at the Center. But the relationship
between AIANY and the Center needs a new
vocabulary. I would like us to see AIANY as the
"think tank" for advanced architectural research,
and the Center for Architecture as the "public portal" for the broad dissemination of our innovative
Dialogues from the Edge of Practice
ideas. Utilizing the Center to communicate with
the lay public can further elevate the role of design
in public life and ensure that our ideas benefit from
interdisciplinary interaction with non-architects.
Communicating our value increases the stature of
the architect in the public's eye.
As my presidential theme, "Dialogues from
the Edge of Practice," unfolds, I intend to sponsor
a monthly forum on a topical issue related to the
discipline, and on the architect's expanding role
into new modes of practice. We will use the Center
to broadcast these ideas to a larger audience. Please
join me in "repositioning" the architect, reclaiming
lost disciplinary territory, and entering new frontiers of providing value in the built environment.
We have always pursued a robust political
advocacy agenda, most often by lobbying. This
year we've tried something new: we let the mayoral
administration know that if its goals resonate with
our institutional mission and advocacy priorities,
we can help forward its agenda. I hope that elected
and appointed officials will be encouraged to approach us freely to help deliver a more ideal urban
environment for the citizens of NYC.
The fantastic, crazy idea that NYC would
benefit from a Center for Architecture has proven
true. Now, almost 12 years since opening, it is time
to reevaluate whether we need a larger center, polycentric centers in other boroughs, or a totally new
concept of what a center should be. A task force
has been organized to address this, and my hope is
that we will be able to announce a bold plan at the
National Convention in NYC in 2018.
For AIANY, 2015 is a year of transition, experimentation, and joining together to make the
Chapter an even greater force in the advancement
of architectural research and culture. And through
collaboration with a reconceived Center for Architecture, we can make sure that our city and the
general public understand how design can improve
lives and create a better society.
See you at the Center!
Tomas Rossant, AIA
2015 President
AIA New York Chapter
Spring 2015 Oculus
9
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Spring 2015
First Words Letter from the President Repositioning All Around By Tomas Rossant, AIA
Letter from the Editor The Edge of New By Kristen Richards, Hon. AIA, Hon. ASLA
Center for Architecture Center Highlights
One Block Over Rough Waters: Squalls continue over the redevelopment of South Street Seaport By Claire Wilson
Opener: Thinking Into Other Boxes By David Zach
Mars in the Bronx CASE gets new environmental technologies out of labs and into buildings at (relative) warp speed By Jonathan Lerner
Spinning Research Into Practice Intense experimentation with digital technologies is yielding remarkable designs and products by ARO By Lisa Delgado
A Results-Oriented Think Tank Defining architectural practice broadly enough to include research, theory, and public discourse, Grimshaw’s Urban Research Unit is a full-circle activity leading to a richer built environment By Bill Millard
The Resilience Factor Perkins+Will is making resilience design and planning a growing area of practice and income By Richard Staub
Socrates at the Drafting Table REX champions a slow thinktank architecture of methodical problem-solving By Janet Adams Strong
Architecture in the Social Data Era Transforming our practice to engage new data sources and design intents By Melissa Marsh
Museum as Incubator The New Museum hatches a multidisciplinary workspace to nurture creative entrepreneurs By Julia van den Hout
When Bottom-up Meets Top-down The benefits of community engagement in post-disaster rebuilding plans By Deborah Gans, FAIA
In Print Bricks & Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made By Tom Wilkinson Tales of Two Cities: Paris, London and the Birth of the Modern City By Jonathan Conlin Visionaries in Urban Development: 15 Years of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize Winners By Trisha Riggs, et al. American Urban Form: A Representative History By Sam Bass Warner and Andrew H. Whittemore Preservation is Overtaking Us By Rem Koolhaas, with a supplement by Jorge Otero-Pailos Reviews by Stanley Stark, FAIA
31-Year Watch Architectural practice once embraced dinner plates and candlesticks produced by Swid Powell By John Morris Dixon, FAIA
Last Words Eve of Construction By Rick Bell, FAIA
Index to Advertisers Alphabetical & Categorical Index
Oculus - Spring 2015
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