Oculus - Fall 2016 - 13

first words LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ©Albert Vecerka/Esto Timeless Questions of Coexistence J ane Jacobs or Robert Moses? Preservation or development? Glass or terra cotta? Authenticity or innovation? These either/or questions are not new. And today, new questions in the same vein are emerging: Can a contemporary building use age-old materials? Will digital do away with print? Should new development only look to the future? I purposely linked the words "authenticity" and "innovation" with "and" instead of "or" as my presidential theme at the beginning of the year. Can two apparently opposing ideas coexist? And embedded in that question is the value component: Should they coexist? I look to Philadelphia, where my formative years were spent, to tell a story of unrelenting urban renewal and its consequences. In the eastern part of Center City, the National Park Service tore down all buildings built after the colonial era to create an authentic historic Philadelphia. Hardline preservationists cheered. On the other side of town, much of Market Street was torn down, including a Frank Furness-designed train station, to create a modern office corridor. Some thought this would make Philadelphia competitive in a post-textile-driven city. Both initiatives left the city in a lesser state for the purity of their efforts. In the early 1970s, Romaldo Giurgola, FAIA, emerged in Philadelphia as a master of accommodating - and even celebrating - the coexistence of these two seemingly opposed approaches. In my mind, he took architecture and urbanism in a new direction with the Penn Mutual building, where he married a 19th-century, four-story Egyptian Revival building to a new, strikingly innovative, and sustainable 22-story building. Romaldo (known as Aldo to friends and colleagues) later took this sensitive and extraordinarily creative approach on the road, most notably at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, where he synthesized site, program, and identity in a wholly new and instantly iconic vision for the country and its seat of government. Sadly, Aldo passed away this year, but his legacy lives on. We have much to learn from this kind, sensitive, and poetic architect. And now, as we face ever more critical issues of resilience, energy use, housing shortages, inadequate schools and hospitals, and poor infrastructure, a nuanced and thoughtful approach to architecture is more important than ever. Achieving this goal will require imaginative and out-ofthe-box thinking. As architects, we are trained to be problem solvers, and we should join the effort to take the best of the past forward into the future. This issue of Oculus is dedicated to the challenges of reusing older buildings and integrating them into the contemporary urban landscape. In addition, the Center for Architecture is hosting the exhibit "Authenticity and Innovation," curated by Donald Albrecht, opening on September 30. An October 1 symposium associated with the exhibition will explore the architectural, cultural, social, and environmental issues associated with these initiatives. Please come join the conversation. Carol Loewenson, FAIA, LEED AP 2016 President, AIA New York Chapter Authenticity + Innovation: Architecture Repurposed Fall 2016 Oculus 13

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Fall 2016