NYC Guide RFB (Request for Buildings)

As indicated in my announcement about A Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture, a book I'm writing, to be published by W. W. Norton, I'd like to solicit opinions as to what projects should be included in the book. If you'd like to help, read on for some selection criteria before sending me your suggestions.



Projects in the book will fall into two broad categories:

1. Those completed between 2000-2010
2. Those planned for completion after 2010

I'm interested in both, but primarily the first, as they will make up the bulk of the book. Those in the second category, which I will include in an "On the Horizon" appendix, should be actual projects that have a good chance of realization, not hypothetical or speculative ones never to go beyond renderings. Given that my research to date has yielded a lot more buildings than can fit in the book, it is not necessary to send me obvious choices, like 40 Bond by Herzog & de Meuron, IAC HQ by Frank Gehry, the Cooper Union Academic Building by Morphosis, or any other NYC building on the Archi-Tourist, for that matter. I'm looking for "under the radar" buildings, quality architecture that has not clogged the airways of the architectural media. That said, below are my criteria for what is included in the book.

Projects for consideration:

:: Buildings (all types highly visible in the public realm)
:: Accessible interiors (museums, community centers, libraries, etc.)
:: Landscapes (parks, plazas, recreation, etc.)
:: Monuments (memorials, etc. with architect involved)

Projects NOT for consideration:

:: Storefronts (restaurants, shops, galleries, etc.)
:: Inaccessible interiors (offices, residences, schools, etc.)
:: Rooftops (residential penthouses, etc. without visibility or access)
:: Temporary structures (installations, showrooms, etc.)

If you'd like to send me a project you think should be in the book, please copy and paste the information below into an e-mail to me, filling in as many blanks as possible:

Project: ______
Architect: ______
Location: ______
Year of completion: 20__

Thank you!

Architize Me

Monday was the official beta launch* of Architizer, "a new way for architects to interact, show their work, and find clients...an open community created by architects for architects." Developed by Marc Kushner, Matthias Hollwich (both of HWKN), Ben Prosky (Columbia University) and Alex Diehl (KREATIVEKONZEPTION*), the site is being referred to as "Facebook for architects" by many, what with its social networking framework, but it's actually closer to LinkedIn's focus on professional relationships. Comparisons aside, at first glance Architizer is a sharp-looking page that is almost guaranteed to be popular with its intended audience.



The three main categories on the page are Projects, People and Firms. Just about every architectural publication, blog, etc. is focused on projects, and architecture offices are listed on sites like world-architects.com, where I work, and others. But the inclusion of "people" between these two is where the novelty and potential of the site exists. Returning to LinkedIn, one could say that people already have a networking tool describing their positions in firms, but Architizer does this and combines pretty pictures with it, linking individuals to the projects they worked on.



But will Architizer be the exclusive domain of OMA, other well-known architects and their former employees? Or will it embrace the diversity of architecture all over the world, even projects produced by more lackluster firms? Too much of the latter runs counter to the high-quality projects and name-brand architects that stocked the site before its launch (guidelines for the direction of the site?), but the opposite condition would turn the site into just another page where architects can look at cool projects.

Most likely the site will evolve into something between these two extremes, full of all shades between the good and the bad, though the former will rise to the fore in the mix. This will happen via the filters for each of the three main categories, mainly "featured" and "most viewed." The first is the default, which I'm guessing is controlled by the administrators, and it's pretty much a sure bet that the most viewed projects, people and firms will be the best of the bunch; no painted concrete condos or suburban strip malls at the top of these lists.

Architizer also features Schools, Jobs, Competitions and a Blog. These are certainly secondary to the main bread and butter of the site, though the school feature has great potential, visually exhibiting the strengths of alumni, and therefore the school, more directly than anywhere else. It also looks like the $$ will come from "the window manufacturer [that] sponsors a page for their product used in [a] project" and advertising, though I think the latter will run the risk of cluttering the site, which has a nice legibility to it, rounded corners and all.

*Check out Guest of a Guest for photos from the beta launch party at Storefront for Art and Architecture on Monday.

NOV Events

Some ongoing and upcoming events of note in NYC worth highlighting. And don't forget tomorrow is the Design Trust for Public Space's annual benefit and Saturday is the Institute for Urban Design's Arrested Development symposium at Cooper Union. 'Tis a busy month.

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PERFORMA 09

The third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance, will be held in New York City from November 1–22, 2009, showcasing new work by more than 150 of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists.

Here are some architecture-related programs with snippets; click the links for more information.

Performa Hub
Biennial Headquarters
41 Cooper Square
Sunday, November 1 - Sunday, November 22, Open 10am-8pm
Located in the latest architectural gem on the Bowery, the brand new Cooper Union building, the Performa Hub will function as our headquarters during the biennial.

The Public School (for Architecture)
Van Alen Institute & nyc.thepublicschool.org
30 W. 22nd Street, #6
Sunday, November 1 - Sunday, November 22, times vary
Performa is pleased to collaborate this November with The Public School (for Architecture) New York, a project by Van Alen Institute New York Prize fellows common room and Telic Arts Exchange.

Pre-enacting the Now and Future City
City of Tomorrows
Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street
Saturday, November 7 3:00pm
A playful tour of the New York City of the future that merges urban geography, science fiction and guerilla street theater. Four short sci-fi scenes about New York City's political, spatial, and social futures...

Actions Propaganda
Performa Hub
41 Cooper Square
Saturday, November 7 11:00am
Performa teams up with Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, on a workshop laboratory inspired by Actions: What You Can Do With the City, a CCA exhibition with 99 actions that instigate positive change...

Ten Days for Oppositional Architecture: Towards Post-Capitalist Spaces
An Architektur
Gair Building No 6
81 Front Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Thursday, November 12 - Saturday, November 21, times vary
The transformation of the urban landscape within the last decades has increasingly been dominated by the demands of capitalist utilization. Due to the current crisis, however...

Sirens Taken for Wonders
Paul Elliman
Performa Hub / Van Alen Institute
41 Cooper Square / 30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor
Friday, November 20 - Saturday, November 21, times vary
“Sirens Taken for Wonders” takes the double form of a workshop (Nov. 20, 10 pm) and a panel session with Arline Bronzaft (Chair of Noise Committee, Mayor’s Committee on the Environment of New York City), Laura Kurgan (an architect and artist), and Raviv Ganchrow (architect and sonologist) (Nov 21. 4 pm) to explore the coded languages of sirens and the different connotations we attach to them...

P.A.
Marina Rosenfeld
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
Sunday, November 22 7:00pm
A sound art performance by Park Avenue Armory artist-in-residence Marina Rosenfeld, "P.A." uses the massive airspace and complex social function of the Armory drill hall as both a reflecting and distorting structure...

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UIWe: Culture Designers

Thursday, 11/5, 6:30pm
Self-described "cultural designers" JACOB BLAK and CHRISTIAN PAGH discuss their Copenhagen-based practice, UIWe, with DOMINIC LEONG, Partner, LEONG LEONG ARCHITECTURE.

Free and open to the public
RSVP: gdb2106[@]columbia[dot]edu

Studio-X
180 Varick Street, STE 1610
Between King and Charleton Streets
212 989 2398

[Studio-X is a downtown studio for experimental design and research run by the Graduate Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University.]

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RIGHTS OF WAY
A New Politics of Movement in New York City?
A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH DAVID SMILEY, CIVIC LEADERS, ACTIVISTS, AND CITY PLANNERS

Thursday, 11/12 6:30 PM

The James Room
4th Floor Barnard Hall

With the recent turn to pedestrian zones, bike lanes and greenways in New York and in many cities around the world, there is a growing sense that a new kind of urbanism is possible, one no longer dominated by the culture and politics of the automobile. “Rights of Way” will examine the issues surrounding bikes and pedestrianization, and will explore sustainability, finance, public health, and the ways in which the street can serve as a fulcrum in debates about public space and urban life.

MODERATOR
David Smiley, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at Barnard College

PANELISTS
Noah Budnick, Transportation Alternatives
Richard R. Gonzalez, Urban Design Lab at The Earth Institute
Margaret Newman, NYC Department of Transportation
Linda Pollak, Marpillero Pollak Architects
Sheila Somashekhar, Sustainable South Bronx

Sponsored by the Department of Architecture and the Urban Studies Program

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Paris/New York: 2 Metropoles—Policy for Urban and Social Space

Monday, November 16, 2009 6:30-8:30pm Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, New Academic Building, The Cooper Union For The Advancement of Science and Art, 41 Cooper Square

Discussion with Mireille Ferri (Conseil Régional d’Ile de France, Vice President), Pierre Mansat (Deputy Mayor in charge of the Paris Metropole project, Mairie de Paris), Christian de Portzamparc (Architect, participant to the Grand Paris competition, President of the Association des Architectes pour le Grand Paris), and Amanda Burden (NYC Planning Commission, Chairman). Moderated by Jean-Louis Cohen (New York University Institute of Fine Arts, Professor), with introductions by Anthony Vidler, Assoc. AIA (Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, Cooper Union, Dean & Professor) and Kareen Rispal (French Embassy, Cultural Counselor).

Paris/New York: 2 Metropoles—Planning for Sustainability, Density, and Inclusion

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 9:00am-6:00pm Center For Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets

A day of lectures and panel discussions will present strategies of French and American urbanists in addressing challenges in transportation, densification, social housing and open space. The morning session will be dedicated to issues in Paris arising from the Grand Paris challenge. After a welcome by Sherida Paulsen, FAIA (AIANY, President), urban designer and architect Alexandre Chemetoff will give the opening keynote, introducing a discussion between Emeline Bailly (Chef de projets, Délégation à la Politique de la Ville, Mairie de Paris), Catherine Barbe (Institute for the Sustainable Metropolis, Mairie de Paris) and architects/professors Djamel Klouche (School of Architecture, Versailles) and David Mangin (School of Architecture, Marne-la-Ballee). The afternoon will focus on New York with a panel including Rohit Aggarwala (NYC Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability), Rick Bell, FAIA (AIANY, Executive Director), Adrian Benepe (NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, Commissioner), Alexandros Washburn, AIA (NYC Department of City Planning, Chief Urban Designer), and Thomas K. Wright (Regional Plan Association, Executive Director). Alexander Garvin (Yale University, Professor) will give the closing keynote. A reception to follow.