Contract - November 2012 - (Page 10)

A Wake-Up Call to Design With Resilience This issue is focused on retail, but I had to take a detour with this us to sit here today and say this is once-in-a-generation, and it’s not editorial in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. I wrote this a few days going to happen again, I think would be short-sighted.” after Sandy hit the East Coast and right before Election Day. So, by the Given that reality, it is a matter of how we plan for future disaster time you read this, much may have changed. Or perhaps not much at all. with the everyday built environment in which we live and work. Rachel Sandy had an impact on Contract, but we’re all fine. I live in Minnery, an architect based in Seattle, who is the chair of the AIA downtown Manhattan and lost power and cell service at my home for National Disaster Assistance Committee and cofounder of Architects days, and Contract’s office—also within the blackout area—and Without Borders Seattle, reminds us of this. The winner of the 2012 AIA adjacent downtown subway lines were inaccessible for days as well. Seattle Young Architect Award, Minnery told Contract, “There’s no This issue is reaching you days later than planned due to Sandy. But harm done when we can anticipate future negative consequences. We New Yorkers are a hearty bunch and we’ll persevere. have to take a good, hard look at where our priorities are.” In the big picture, at this writing, we do not fully know the Architects and designers do have a role in both the near-term complete extent of the storm damage along the East Coast, but we and long-term related to disaster mitigation. In a statement, AIA know that it was absolutely devastating for a wide swath of National President Jeff Potter, FAIA, said, “To the many communities in infrastructure and our built environment. To be sure, Contract’s Hurricane Sandy’s path, members of the AIA and the AIA National readership focus is on commercial interiors, but Hurricane Sandy has a Disaster Assistance Committee will work closely with our colleagues, as far-reaching impact and it offers us all a moment to pause, think about we have following other severe weather events, to assist local the larger world around us, and possibly reconsider how we design communities in their recovery efforts. Through our network of chapters, and build. we are beginning to assess the damage to communities in the Perhaps this is a time for us to consider sustainability and Northeast region. We will formulate plans to assist architects there in resilience in new and different ways. That is, sustainability that goes evaluating the building damage caused by the storm and map a path to beyond LEED® or other green building checklists. Designing for real recovery. Experienced disaster responders with the AIA have resources resilience for years and decades to come takes assimilating the vast to help prepare architects for this important role.” To get an overview of knowledge we have of our land and climate, and being smart about how the AIA Disaster Response Program, visit aia.org/disasterresponse. we rebuild. Time to work with nature and not against it. What we can control, and what architects and designers can do, is In the days after Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to seize the responsibility to design spaces and places that are resilient suggested that the city and the state, among other infrastructure and lasting, to partner with engineers, developers, and governments considerations, might have to consider building a levee to protect lower and to share expertise on everything from building codes to how to Manhattan. “We have a new reality, and old infrastructures and old rebuild smarter. This is a moment to design, expertly, for the realities of systems,” Cuomo said. “We’re going to rebuild better and stronger.” the locations in which a building is built. The governor noted, pointedly as a statement of fact rather than Much can change. Or perhaps not much at all. The world is as a political commentary, that there have been more severe weatherwaiting for you to share your knowledge and skills. What will you do? related catastrophes in New York in his two years as governor compared to his father’s 12 years in the same office. “Climate change is Sincerely, a reality,” Cuomo said. “Given the frequency of these extreme weather situations we have had—and I believe it is an increased frequency—for John Czarnecki, editor in Chief 10 contractdesign.com november 2012 PHOTO: MEG WALTON editorial http://www.aia.org/disasterresponse http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - November 2012

Contract - November 2012
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Product Focus: Getting Crafty
Product Briefs: Seating and Carpet
HyundaiCard Air Lounge
Orla Kiely
Vintry Fine Wines
Louis Vuitton Selfridges
Diptych Leadenhall Market and Bleecker Street
Camper Granada
Practice: The Future in Technology and Experiential Interiors
Designers Select: Tables and Casegoods
Sources
Ad Index
Small Project: A Lighting Installation Emphasizes Decadence in a Brussels

Contract - November 2012