Architecture Lab

Via Bustler - Archinect

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Lively architectural exchanges occur every day in schools, coffee shops, and on online blogs. Archinect Sessions looks to formalize these discussions through a series of debates that will take place in front of live and online audiences. Why debates? Because we believe that a level of criticality needs to return to architecture. This format strips away the visual crutches of the traditional “show and tell” lecture circuit, and instead requires participants to advocate for a particular point of view rooted in genuine political conviction.

For some years now architectural discourse has tended towards the abstruse and self-involved. We are looking here to broaden the conversation. The Archinect Sessions will bring to the surface new developments, strategies, and positions affecting a broad range of issues including urban form, architectural education, practice, and modes of production.

Format & Location
The Archinect Sessions will occur once per month and will focus on a different theme or problematic. A moderator will lead the discussion directing questions at two or more guests. The format will consist of three rounds of discussions (lasting 15 minutes each.) At the end of the three rounds, the audience (both physical and virtual) will get their turn to ask questions of the guests. Online audience members can post their questions online on Archinect (a selection of these will be read by the moderator.)

The Archinect Sessions will be physically located at Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake (2300 Silver Lake Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039) and will be streamed live on Archinect.

Because of limited seating at the VDL House, attendance to the live event will be limited to the first 50 people that reserve a space. To reserve a space, email sarah@neutra-vdl.org.

Come join the melee. No hitting below the belt, holding, tripping, pushing, biting, spitting or wrestling.

Topics/Guests
Our first debate, The Future of Urbanism, is scheduled for 4pm on September 11th 2010, will feature moderator Orhan Ayyuce, and guests Bryan Finoki (Subtopia) and Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG.)
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Discussion will center on the future of urbanism in series of visual, psychological, political, and fictional snapshots.

Orhan Ayyuce is an architect, educator and writer. He will scribble on any subject: architecture, urbanism, politics, art, culture. Sometimes his low-end, hi-style, avant-garde stuff causes security guards chase him.

Geoff Manaugh is the author of BLDGBLOG where he categorizes his writings as “

architectural conjecture, urban speculation, and landscapes futures.” He has lectured on a broad range of architectural topics at design schools and museums around the world, and he has taught at Columbia University, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Technology, Sydney.

Bryan Finoki is a writer, artist, photographer, and worldwide wanderer. He has a background in literature, creative writing, art, psychology, and activism. He maps and writes about the strange urban underworlds and global borders he visits on his website Subtopia.
Series are co-directed by Orhan Ayyuce and Sarah Lorenzen.

Sponsors:
Archinect
Neutra VDL House
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Project Details:
Pavilion Commissioner Agnieszka Morawińska
Curator Elias Redstone
Assistant Commissioner Joanna Waśko
http://www.labiennale.art.pl/
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press preview 26 – 28.08.2010
opening reception: 27.08.2010, 4 p.m.
exhibition open to the public: 29.08.10 – 21.11.10
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‘A neon Emergency Exit sign hangs on the facade of the Polish Pavilion. Inside, a surreal structure made of hundreds of reclaimed bird cages hides a path to its summit. It is lit from within, suggesting a night landscape, a fantastical de-materialized world containing an object and an action. You climb the seemingly precarious structure. At the height of the summit you look down into a churning sea of clouds. Your breath catches, your pulse quickens; you look down, then out, and then leap blindly into the void. . .’

The installation Emergency Exit by artist Agnieszka Kurant and architect Aleksandra Wasilkowska seeks to go beyond the logic of urban reality through the creation of ‘urban portable holes’: in-between spaces, places of uncertainty and doubt, of time-space discontinuity, such as abandoned or unfinished buildings, sites of catastrophe or accidents, illegal markets, rooftops and tunnels. The title refers ironically to the health and safety regulations in buildings and urban space that seek to plan, control risk and eliminate the accidental and unexpected.

The installation is constructed from an aggregate of metal cages, more commonly used to contain birds and prevent flight, to create a new fictional sport within the urban context. The design makes reference to the forms of decaying sports monuments, such as the ski jump in Mokotów, Warsaw—a surrealistic icon of socialist era architecture that is now in ruins. During a test phase, visitors will be able to climb to the top of the structure and jump out into artificially generated clouds, representing ultimate freedom and urban escapism. The Polish Pavilion acts as a laboratory within which Emergency Exit engages with the public directly to provoke, inspire and excite the collective body. These actions will be documented and then presented within the Pavilion.

Kurant and Wasilkowska interpret the city as an unpredictable, complex system whose collective understanding is composed of intersecting real and imaginary spaces changed through extremely rare events. Nine out of ten things that influence our behaviour and thinking are invisible or intangible. Factors such as myths, rumours and legends overlay themselves onto the physical environment to create an urban morphology of augmented landscapes. At the same time, spontaneity and risk exist as human characteristics that can work against a rational layer of control within the urban fabric. Both invisible phenomena and social actions can change the dynamic of a street, borough, or even the entire city. Architects and planners are therefore unable to precisely anticipate all the needs and transformations of the city. If a rigid and deterministic master plan is unable to integrate emergent needs and changes then the whole city looses its equilibrium.

Emergency Exit is conceived as a hybrid machine for the transfer to other realities, perforating the system of the city. It is a portable hole to the unknown; a catalyst for different, contradictory emotions and needs. Through the transfer, people fill in the gaps with their own emotions, ideas and desires. Kurant and Wasilkowska see the moment of jumping as an exit from the modernist paradigm in architecture where emotional, affective space was ignored and considered an obsolete ornament. The activity materialises the need and desire to lose control, to free oneself both physically and metaphorically from the current system; from a dominant paradigm, logic or state. To get out of here.

The project promotes an approach to architecture and urbanism that reverses the logic of a unilaterally defined urban reality and deterministic master plan; it embraces the unknown phenomena of the city; introduces a higher flexibility of the urban tissue through integrating interstices, gaps and pores, and leaving people space to plug-in or plug-out of dominant urban structures through developing individual, self-organising activities and actions.

Organization of the Exhibition: Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Pavilion Commissioner: Agnieszka Morawińska
Curator: Elias Redstone
Assistant Commissioner: Joanna Waśko

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Special effects: Artur Etiop Bartos ETIOP FX productions
Audio-Video: Eidotech
Video documentation: Mirek Szewczyk with special thanks to EBH Polska
Installation engineer: Monika Bodurkiewicz
Construction: Befstal
Cages: Net–Kar
Neons: Neoneon
Lighting: Lumiere essence Małgorzata Baj
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Via AIA San Fransisco

The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIA San Francisco) and Center for Architecture + Design announce the seventh annual Architecture and the City festival, which takes place September 1-30, 2010.
As the nation’s largest architectural festival showcasing tours, films, exhibitions, lectures, family programs and more, Architecture and the City reaches more than 20,000 people and provides an opportunity for individuals, design practices, companies, cultural institutions and the general public to celebrate San Francisco’s unique built environment and their contribution towards it.

The 2010 festival theme Investigating Urban Metabolisms takes an in-depth look at hidden and emergent systems that generate form, movement, growth and entropy in the city. According to festival curator, Erin Cullerton, programs will explore how the city is organized via information systems, ecological systems, building systems, transportation systems, surveillance systems, life cycle systems, natural systems, and beyond. Additionally, programming will explore the way architects or projects thoughtfully impact our communities and reflect issues of sustainability.

Once again, the festival will showcase everything from exhibitions and lectures to behind-the-scenes walking tours, hands-on workshops, dynamic new architecture and much, much more. Confirmed popular programs include the San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend, which returns September 11-12, 2010, giving participants the unique opportunity to see some of the city’s latest residential projects from the inside out, meet design teams, explore housing trends, and discover design solutions that inspire unique San Francisco living. The central exhibition of the festival, Water for a Sustainable City, will explore the story of San Francisco’s water system through the lens of architecture and design. Additionally, architectural programming for the whole family, tours of evolving San Francisco neighborhoods, and community workshops on everything from landscape design to home remodeling will be available.

The Architecture and the City festival has been engaging members of the public and design enthusiasts, as well as architects and designers, with a deeper appreciation for San Francisco’s rich architectural and design community since 2003. In honor of the festival, Mayor Gavin Newsom has officially proclaimed September “Architecture and the City” month.

Complete programming details, including pricing and program locations, will be available mid-July 2010. Tickets for all programs go on sale August 1, 2010.

Information on the festival can be found at: www.aiasf.org/archandcity.
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Via Lebbeus Woods

AS401: VERTICAL MANHATTAN 1

The following is part of the continuing series of posts ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL. It is the first of a three-part post about the experimental studio conducted this summer as part of the Cornell University MArch II program.
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CORNELL MArch II, June 7-25, 2010, “Scales of the City.” Professor Dagmar Richter, Chair of Architecture; Professor Mark Morris, Director of the MArch 2 Program; Professor Lebbeus Woods and Professor Christoph a. Kumpusch, Studio Critics. MArch II STUDENTS: Moritz Schoendorf, Leanna Brugh, Cem Kayatekin, Alkisti Douka, Zachary Emmingham, Ryan Drummond, Irina Igolnikov, Sarah Haubner, Anahita Rouzbeh, Jose Revah, Pingchuan Fu, Matthew Luck, Roger Mainor, Konrad Scheffer, Siddharth Soni, Gillard Rex Yau, Xiaoben Dai.

STUDIO PROGRAM:
VERTICAL MANHATTAN: between the earth and the stars

It is convenient to think of Manhattan as a city spread out across an island, made up of streets lined with buildings, some extending upward hundreds of feet and more, with subway tunnels and other subterranean spaces coursing below. While this is not an inaccurate way of thinking about the place, it is certainly incomplete. Manhattan is a city related to the earth deep below and the sky high above, and in ways that impact those domains just as the city is impacted by them. In the present age of enlightened ecological consciousness, architects are struggling to make new connections between the design of living space and a much wider world than they have ever dealt with before. In our studio, we will work to investigate what these connections might be in relation to the urban construction called Manhattan.

Our approach will be through a focus on the vertical plane—the vertical section—simply because this connects the vastly differing scales of nature that impact or are impacted by the city.

For example, Manhattan is in a seismically active region of the earth’s surface and earthquakes—which are caused by forces active deep in the earth—have the potential to damage not only buildings, but also infrastructure, such as water and power supply networks. On the other hand, decisions made in corporate boardrooms high above the city can result in deep-water drilling for oil that, when it goes wrong, can result in massive oil spills that foul oceans and their teeming life. Every day the city emits pollution that contributes to fouling even the upper levels of the planet’s atmosphere. And we shouldn’t forget that the project for the first atomic bomb was called the Manhattan Project, because it began in the city’s advanced universities and research labs. Then there are the thousands of earth satellites that, while they have not originated in Manhattan, exist to service it and other cities like it.

On the positive side is Manhattan’s potential, as a center of learning and innovation—of which our studio is one example—to participate in solving problems, and of fostering concepts and ideas that might improve the human condition in ways small and large, and thereby contribute to the well-being of nature as a whole. In short, Manhattan will continue to be a source of good and ill: it should be our task to invent ideas that contribute as much as possible to the good.

In our brief time together, we should not be intimidated by the grand scale of the context of which Manhattan is a part—between the earth and the stars—but remember that creativity itself has no scale, but radiates from the smallest source throughout the universe. That is what modern science teaches us, and what each of us instinctively knows when we are in the presence of the most original poetry and art.
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Check the rest of this entry here
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As this year’s award committee deliberated about whom to give the second annual Spotlight: The Rice Design Alliance Prize, the up and coming architect Sou Fujimoto rose to the top as a unanimous choice. The award, which recognizes an exceptionally gifted architect in the early phase of their professional career, carries a cash prize of $1,500.

Graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Architecture in 1994, Fujimoto established his eponymous practice, Sou Fujimoto Architects, in 2000. Fujimoto’s work, which he defines as “formless form” where the architecture exists between nature and artifact, has garnered multiple awards and much praise. Many of his projects employ material layering to heighten sensory experience, perhaps most evident in the log-stacking of his award-winning and highly-lauded Wooden House.

Spotlight committee member and professor at the Rice School of Architecture Carlos Jimenez says,“Fujimoto has managed in a short time to build his own unmistakable position through works that surprise with their multifaceted simplicity. These works might be initially read as minimal yet on closer inspection they reveal a more complex reading where program, culture, and nature produce an abundance of architecture.”

Eligible honorees for the Spotlight Prize must be within their first 15 years of professional practice. An RDA committee of architects and academics convenes annually to consider local, national, and international architects who demonstrate design excellence and promise a great design future. Fujimoto will be in Houston this fall to formally accept the RDA prize. He will present his firm’s work at the annual Spotlight lecture.
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DATE: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
TIME: 7 p.m. (pre-lecture wine reception begins at 6 p.m.)
PLACE: Brown Auditorium, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
1001 Bissonnet. Additional parking is available until 7 p.m. for $6 in the museum garage located at the corner of Binz and Fannin Streets.
TICKETS: This event is free for RDA Members and students presenting identification. Tickets for nonmembers are $25, but those who join RDA that evening will receive a free ticket. Tickets are required for entry and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6 p.m. the evening of the lecture. Seating is limited; attendees are encouraged to arrive early.
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The Architectural League of New York

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“The Architectural League Prize is an annual competition, series of lectures, and exhibition organized by the Architectural League and its Young Architects + Designers committee. The Prize (formerly known as the Young Architects Forum) was established to recognize specific works of high quality and to encourage the exchange of ideas among young people who might otherwise not have a forum.

The Architectural League’s call for entries this year was titled “ReSource”, asking, “In what ways is our discipline proving itself resourceful in the face of these challenges? How have young practices redefined themselves, from new models of professional practice, to emergent theoretical approaches or techniques of construction? Are architects and designers by necessity becoming better at sourcing materials and techniques to meet both a heightened environmental consciousness –looking ‘beyond the green’– and the current economic sobriety? Or are they turning to models outside of the discipline for sources of inspiration, novelty, and change?”
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The winners, as selected by a jury consisting of Matilda McQuaid, Calvin Tsao, Billie Tsien, Dan Wood, and Alejandro Zaera-Polo, is as follows:

“Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak founded ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS, a Brooklyn-based architectural office, in 2009. Responding to the theme, the firm writes: “It is here…the unconsidered – that many time-tested vernacular typologies, materials, methods and forms reside largely forgotten. It is possible, however, that a reconsideration of these issues – indeed, these resources – through the lenses of contemporary design techniques…might reveal new uses, methodologies, forms, and effects.” Recent projects include The 4D Lightful Gardens; a proposal for the Somerville, Massachusetts Arts Union Beacon; 100 Straight Skeletons, an investigation into the reuse of common suburban roof construction techniques and a collaboration with Gehry Technologies through their “What’s Your Problem” competition; and the Charlottesville Green housing proposal. The firm’s work has been widely published and exhibited at numerous institutions including Columbia University, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and The Boston Society of Architects.

Emily Abruzzo received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College and her Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She has been a lecturer and guest critic at numerous institutions, including Parsons The New School for Design, where she is currently an instructor in the Interior Design Program. Abruzzo is a founding editor and publisher of 306090. Gerald Bodziak received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The University of Michigan and his Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He has been a guest critic at numerous institutions and is a co-editor of 306090 14, “Making a Case.”
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Austin+Mergold is an architecture and landscape practice based in Philadelphia and Ithaca. Founded in 2007 by Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold, the firm “operate[s] on the cusp of architecture, landscape, design, and installation art…Believing that it is preferable to rethink and repurpose existing resources than to tap new ones, we infiltrate existing systems that are responsible for constructed environments, rather than reinvent the wheel each time. …For us, this is sustainable design—both vis-à-vis the environment and our own practice—and it is particularly well-suited to the twinned economic and ecological crises that we face today.” Projects include: House-in-a-Can/Park-in-a-Can, Mechanicsburg, PA; SURAL wall; RVG club house, Mechanicsburg, PA; The Grand Resource, Hong Kong; and ParkView, Carlisle, PA. Their work has been widely published including in Inhabitat, The New York Times, The Architect’s Newspaper, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jason Austin received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania where he received a Master of Landscape Architecture. He currently serves on the adjunct faculty in the Department of Architecture at Temple University and Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania. Aleksandr Mergold received his Master of Architecture at Princeton and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Currently he is a Visiting Critic in Cornell’s Department of Architecture.
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FAR frohn&rojas is a networked architectural design and research practice led by Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo, located in Berlin, Santiago de Chile, and Los Angeles. Through its name the office acknowledges “both its geographically distributed anatomy as well as the increasingly widened professional scope that is literally shaping its work…establishing a more diversified type of architectural production in which both the inherent contradictions between geographies, as well as the stretching of disciplinary boundaries will let formerly undeterminable links thrive.” The firm also investigates “’deep structures’ at play in each new project: the legal and financial constraints, desires, power structures and technological, ecological, material, and institutional frameworks that shape the built environment.” Projects include the Wall House in Santiago; the House in Heat, Rancagua, Chile; 2 in 1 in Cologne; and the Zero Emission Campus in Düsseldorf. The firm has won the DETAIL Prize and the AR award for emerging architecture. Widely exhibited, the firm’s work has been published in Architectural Record, Icon, Architectural Review, Azure, Domus, and other journals.

Marc Frohn received Master of Architecture degrees from Rice University and the University of Houston. He recently taught at SCI-arc. Mario Rojas Toledo received his diploma from the School of Architecture, RWTH Aachen and a degree in architecture from the Secretaría de Educación Superior. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello in Santiago.
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Bittertang strives “to bring humor and pleasure to the built environment by digging deep into the sensual world that surrounds us; extracting rich and hilarious fodder from overlooked eras that have contributed integral matter to the production of architectural atmospheres. One of our goals is to resurrect the Rococo continuing where its practitioners left off, privileging interactive pleasure, frothiness, plant, and animal sourcing as well as immersive design…Our explorations are based in digital and visceral matter with output transitioning between scales and localities leaving traces of our frothy matter in various disciplines.” Currently, Bittertang operates out of Guadalajara and New York City and has had work published in the U.S. and South Africa. The partnership of Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres began in 2005. Recent projects include Microcosmic Aquaculture, “gelatinous orbs” of living and man-made matter to produce recreational and farmed spaces; Plush Toy Collection, explorations of tectonics, sensation, atmosphere, and narrative in soft body miniatures; and the Gondwana Circle garden design.

Antonio Torres and Michael Loverich both hold Master of Architecture degrees from UCLA. Michael Loverich received his Bachelor of Art in Architecture from the University of Washington. Antonino Torres received his Bachelor of Art in Architectural Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelors Degree from the E’cole de Architecture de Versailles.
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Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu founded ESKYIU in 2005 as a design collaborative integrating culture, art, community, technology, and architecture. Based in New York and Hong Kong, the firm’s interests are in “examining the ways in which built environments shape social relationships by forming connections between civic engagement and sustainable design.” Selected projects include Chinatown WORK 2006, an interactive public arts installation sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Department of Cultural Affairs, and 3form material solutions; SINO, a video installation shown at the Brooklyn Museum; Nutritious: an Aeroponic Façade exhibited at the Architectural Association in London; Human Motor: Narratives from the Assembly Line exhibited at the International Architectural Biennale Ljubljana; and Linear Landscapes: Fabricating a Rural/Urban Interface, an award winning project created for a noise barrier competition. Current research projects include “Urban Pastoral”, “Heirloom,” and “Farming Factory”. Recently they served as curators for the 2009 HK SZ Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. Their work, research, and writings have also been published in Thresholds MIT, Domus China, LOG Journal, Architectural Record, and A/D.

Marisa Yiu received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She currently teaches at the University of Hong Kong. Eric Schuldenfrei received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, where he is completing his PhD. He has held numerous teaching positions.
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Keith VanDerSys is a partner of Philadelphia-based PEG office of landscape + architecture, which he co-founded with Karen M’Closkey in 2004. The office “explores the expressive potential of surface techniques that open up more integrative thinking about natural systems in urban environments. We utilize pattern as a discernible, repetitive system that enables the display of new combinations of organic and inorganic material in the formation of public space.” Projects include Hustle & Flow, Chicago; Double Jeopardy, west lounge, Ann Arbor; Mies van der Rohe Plaza, Detroit with PLY Architecture; Not Garden, Philadelphia; and Ripple Effect, New York. PEG has been published internationally and has won numerous design awards, including the Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Prize, three American Institute of Architects Awards, and an I.D. Magazine award.

Keith VanDerSys received his Bachelor of Architeture from the University of Detroit and a Master of Art in Critical Studies in Architectural Culture from the University of California Los Angeles. He currently teaches studios and technology courses in the departments of architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
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LECTURE SCHEDULE

Tuesday, June 22
Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold, Austin+Mergold, Philadelphia and Ithaca
Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo, FAR frohn&rojas, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Santiago
Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres, Bittertang, Brooklyn and Guadalajara

Tuesday, June 29
Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak, ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS, Brooklyn
Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu, ESKYIU, New York and Hong Kong
Keith VanDerSys, PEG office of landscape + architecture, Philadelphia

Both evenings of lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Receptions will follow the lectures. Admission is free for League members and $10 for non-members. League members may make reservations by emailing rsvp@archleague.org. For further information, please call 212-753-1722 x13. AIA and New York State CEUs are available.

EXHIBITION
The Architectural League Prize exhibition will be open to the public beginning on the first evening of the lectures on June 22 and will be on view through August 6 at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue. The gallery is open daily from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibition will also be open on the evenings of the lectures.

PODCASTS
The Architectural League will produce podcast excerpts from each of the participant’s lectures, as well as a roundtable discussion between winners of the Prize and this year’s committee. Podcast interviews from previous year’s League Prize winners, along with podcasts of many other League programs, are available on the League’s website, www.archleague.org, or on the League’s page on iTunes. All podcasts are free.

Architectural League programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
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Via OMA

Strelka, a new postgraduate school for media, architecture and design, launches its ambitious educational program for 2010-11, developed in collaboration with AMO, in a special event at the Red October Chocolate Factory in Moscow on 25 May.
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“The Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, a non-profit, independent school, intends to raise the ambition of the creative industries in Moscow. A select group of students will work intensely and innovatively on a series of themes currently shaping Russia and its role in the world. Their work – culminating in a variety of projects to be presented at the end of the first academic year – will be guided and interrogated by instructors who are leaders in their cultural fields both within Russia and internationally.

Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper, President of Strelka, said: “The scale of challenges facing Russia requires a new generation of architects and designers to deal with them. We are delighted to collaborate with AMO and Rem Koolhaas, who have talent, will and experience on a level required by the task.”

AMO, the think tank within OMA (the Office for Metropolitan Architecture), will provide the framework for these investigations, drawing on its global network of collaborators and its serious interest in Russia – evidenced in nearly a decade of collaboration with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Partners in charge at AMO are Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf.

Rem Koolhaas commented: “I’m fascinated that my longstanding interest in Russia can now take the form of an involvement in the education of a new generation of Russian architects.”

Strelka Institute
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AIA  New York

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Center for Architecture to host
Fit-City 5: Promoting Physical Activity through Design
Tuesday, May 18, 8:30am-1:00pm

Collaboration between American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and the New York City Health Department brings fifth annual conference on the importance of “healthy” design

“On May 18, 2010, the Center for Architecture will host its fifth annual Fit City conference. A partnership between the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY) and NYC’s Health Department, Fit City 5 brings together public officials, health professionals, architects, designers, planners and developers to explore how buildings and urban design can increase physical activity and improve public health. This year’s conference focuses on the implementation of the Active Design Guidelines, launched in January 2010. The event will take place at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY from 8:30am-1:30pm and is free and open to the public. Public RSVP at www.aiany.org/calendar; media RSVP to enemens@aiany.org.

In January 2010, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Design and Construction Commissioner David J. Burney, FAIA, Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, MD, MPH, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and the City Planning Commissioner Amanda M. Burden, FAICP, Hon. AIA, announced the release of New York City’s Active Design Guidelines, a first-of-its-kind blueprint to help architects, planners and urban designers combat the fastest rising epidemics and most important health issues of our time – obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases – through urban and building designs that promote physical activity (available at www.nyc.gov/adg). At Fit City 5, Commissioners Farley, Burney, Sadik-Khan, and Burden will reconvene at the Center for Architecture to discuss implementation strategies in their respective agencies. Fatma Amer, PE, First Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Buildings, and Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of Parks, will join the roundtable discussion, contributing how their departments plan to integrate the Guidelines into operations. George Miller, FAIA, the president of the American Institute of Architects – a national organization that represents 85,000 architects around the country and close to 3,300 here in New York – will introduce this important panel of city officials.

“The Center for Architecture, AIANY’s home in Greenwich Village, has proven to be fertile ground for creative collaboration between city agencies, architects, planners, designers, developers and public health professionals” explains Rick Bell, FAIA, Executive Director of AIANY. “The Fit City conferences held at the Center since 2006 led to the creation of the newly-published Active Design Guidelines. With an inspiring new document – and a renewed agreement with the Health Department to continue Fit City outreach – I see architects and civic leaders moving closer to implementing our shared goal of creating a replicable model of healthy urban living through design.”

“The January release of the Active Design Guidelines was an important milestone,” says NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, MD, MPH. “The next challenge is to implement them. We need public- and private-sector design professionals to help us create the healthiest buildings, streets and neighborhoods. The Health Department is working with AIANY and other agencies to develop continuing education sessions on active design, explore feasible incentives to encourage active design in building plans, and educate the next generation of builders.”

“The Active Design Guidelines support City Planning’s initiatives to foster more walkable, bikeable and inviting neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs,” says NYC City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, FAICP, Hon. AIA. “The Guidelines promote new and exciting ways for New Yorkers to be more active and engage in healthier lifestyles. I am thrilled to be a part of this year’s Fit City conference and look forward to seeing these Guidelines become a part of our everyday lives.”

“The initial response to our Active Design Guidelines was broad and very encouraging,” says Department of Design and Construction Commissioner David J. Burney FAIA. “The design community, builders, policy makers and general public increasingly see the benefits – on so many levels – of incorporating design components that encourage activity in our streets, buildings and parks. We look forward to supporting use of the Guidelines and furthering active design ‘best practices’ at Fit City 5.”

“We’re working hard to build smart, safe and attractive streets in New York City that get people walking,” says Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “Streets that are safe and inviting encourage New Yorkers to share our public spaces and get healthy along the way.”

“Across the city, we are designing and building sustainable parks that respond to the city’s diverse recreational needs and address emerging public health issues such as obesity and chronic related diseases,” says Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “AIANY’s Fit City conference and New York City’s Active Design Guidelines inspire important dialogue among city leaders and practitioners about how we can implement creative design in our urban physical environment to promote health and fitness in New York City and other urban areas.”

“We can shape our buildings to improve the quality of life for millions of New Yorkers, and these innovative Guidelines offer a road map on how to do it,” says Fatma Amer, PE, First Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Buildings. “From installing more solar panels to more parking for bicycles, our Buildings Sustainability Board is working closely with property owners to make their buildings more energy efficient and help New Yorkers achieve a healthier lifestyle.”

After unveiling NYC’s implementation strategies in this important roundtable discussion, the conference will continue to explore how Active Design can become a part of New York’s design vernacular by exploring lessons from abroad. William Bird, MBE, the strategic health advisor to Natural England, will discuss how his organization has convinced millions of Britons to begin walking in the day’s first keynote. Other lessons from abroad are illustrated through a presentation by New York-based Robyne Kassen, Assoc. AIA, of Urban Movement Design, who will discuss her work at this year’s Winter Olympic Games in Whistler Village.

Next up in the half-day conference, Karen Lee, MD, MHSc, director of the Health Department’s Built Environment Program, will introduce a panel of practitioners and developers to discuss New York City’s Active Design work in different building types. How do you make healthy, affordable housing? What does an “actively designed” school look like? From high-rise office towers to hospitals and elementary schools, the panel will discuss the challenges and successes of different building typologies.

Before the last panel of the day, “Active Design: Making it Real,” the group will recess for a fitness break. The day will close with a panel discussion between leading architects Thom Mayne, FAIA, principal, Morphosis, and Vincent Chang, AIA, RIBA, Principal, Grimshaw Architects, and affordable housing developer Jonathan Rose, of Rose Companies, moderated by Metropolis Magazine editor-in-chief Susan Szenasy.

“A healthy city requires more than just designers and doctors swapping ideas; it requires the commitment of clients, regulatory agencies, and the public to be active participants in our community’s physical and mental well-being,” says AIANY President Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, IIDA. “This conference is a great opportunity to bring many voices together. In January we celebrated a fit future for New York with the release of the Guidelines; in May we’ll take action to make it happen.”

The Center for Architecture is located at 536 LaGuardia Place, just below Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Since opening in October of 2003, the Center has hosted over 100 exhibitions and thousands of public events that have brought policy issues and projects to greater public attention. Fit City 5, funded by a grant from the NYC Health Department, is the fifth in a series of highly successful Fit City conferences, which have raised public awareness about health and the built environment. ”
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OMA

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AMO, the think tank within the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has extended its expertise in planning into the design of the future energy infrastructure of the EU as part of Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe. The project, proposing an EU-wide decarbonized power grid by 2050, launches in Brussels today to an audience of European leaders.
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Full Article here
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STOPPED!! INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO SAVE HEJDUK TOWER FROM DEFACEMENT GETS RESULTS

The campaign to save John Hejduk’s Kreuzberg Tower and Wings in Berlin from defacement has galvanised the international architectural community in the last ten days, and appears to be working and effecting change.

The campaign to save the buildings was set in motion a few weeks ago by Dr. Renata Hejduk, daughter of the architect and professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University. It was taken up by a group of concerned Berlin architecture activists, who have worked flat out in support of Dr. Hejduk’s efforts to convince the owners to adopt a refurbishment strategy that his faithful to Hejduk’s original intentions.

An online petition was set up to try and save the buildings from the planned alterations after unsuccessful attempts by Dr. Hejduk to have a meaningful discussion with the building’s owners. Two Berlin architecture blogs, “SLAB-mag” and “Architecture in Berlin” have provided a running commentary of ongoing developments. Now the public pressure generated by the campaign and its supporters appears to be paying off.

The building’s managers, BerlinHaus GmbH have replaced images of the purple and white proposals with a written statement to the overwhelming reaction. In it they indicate a willingness to engage in discussions to arrive at broader consent. Their statement is quoted in full below.

In addition, as a result of the campaign, Matthias Peckskamp, Head of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg urban planning department has approached the owners via their architect, in the hope of seeking a more sympathetic approach. BerlinHaus informed him that the site work has been halted until agreement can be reached. In addition, the Berlin Senate has become involved, with Senate Building Director Regula Lüscher set to act as a mediating party between the owners, the city and representatives of the Hejduk estate in a meeting set for 19th April. Mr. Peckskamp hopes a resolution here could set a positive precedent for other threatened IBA schemes in the future.

In just two weeks, the online petition garnered almost 3,000 signatories from all over the world. The impressive list of supporters includes prominent architects such as:

* Peter Eisenman
* Steven Holl
* Bernard Tschumi
* Daniel and Nina Libeskind
* Shigeru Ban
* Henning Larsen
* Michael Rotondi
* Thom Mayne of Morphosis
* Sir Peter Cook
* Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, and Charles Renfro of D S+R in New York
* Jean Philippe Vassal of Lacaton & Vassal in Paris
* Raoul Bunschoten of Chora in London
* Donald Bates of LAB in Melbourne
* Gunter Zamp Kelp, Berlin
* Jan Kleihues of Kleihues+Kleihues in Berlin
* Michael Sorkin, New York
* Lebbeus Woods
* Matthias Sauerbruch and Louise Hutton of sauerbruch + hutton
* Julia Bolles and Peter Wilson

as well as a host academics and historians including:

* Joseph Rykwert of the University of Pennsylvania
* Anthony Vidler, Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Cooper Union in New York
* K. Michael Hays of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
* Stan Allen, Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University
* Prof. Alberto Perez-Gomez ,Professor at McGill University in Montreal
* Prof. Wim van den Bergh, Professor at RWTH, Maastricht and Aachen University
* Christine Hawley of UCL, London
* Peter Carl of LMU, London
* Ben Nicholson, Associate Professor at the Institute of Chicago

As well as signing the petition many supporters have also voiced support for the effort as well as the importance of John Hejduk’s work and legacy.

Steven Holl said:

“Considering the last half of the 20th century, only three architects lifted the culture of architecture into the realm of poetry: Louis Kahn, Louis Barragan and certainly John Hejduk.”
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Shigeru Ban said:

“John Hejduk was one of the most influential educators and architects of our time. John’s IBA tower in Berlin embodies a message of selflessness in a world so often dominated by greed.”
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Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of Harvard University Graduate School of Design, said:

“John Hejduk’s Berlin Tower is a rare example of architecture from one of the 20th century’s most poetic architects. We should do all we can to preserve and celebrate it.”
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Michel Sorkin said:

“The good news of the renovation of John Hejduk’s wonderful Berlin Tower is betrayed by the whimsical vandalism of its “restorers.” What next? Perhaps the Blue Mosque would be more satisfying in pink.”
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John Hejduk is best known as one of the ‘New York Five’, as Dean of the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York, and for his many published projects and writings which influenced a generation of architects. The Kreuzberg Tower is one of only a handful of built works by this influential architect. Berlin has three examples, all social housing schemes built as part of the IBA 1987 international building exhibition.

Useful Links:
- Professor Renata Hejduk, PhD – Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Contact Renata.Hejduk@asu.edu

- Robert Slinger
tel: +49 30 695 33 860
robert@kapokberlin.com

- Jim Hudson : jim_hudson33@yahoo.co.uk

Link to the online petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/hejduk/petition.html
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fargfabriken

Building Blocks

Färgfabriken, April 24 – September 12, 2010 Opening Hours: Wed – Sun, 11am-4pm.

Pre-opening on April 23, 5 p.m. – 3 a.m.
Day time vernissage on April 24, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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“Building Blocks is an exhibition that places children and their ideas at the centre of a new architecture – an exhibition that challenges common assumptions and inspires new ways of thinking.

Building Blocks invites children between the ages of 6 and 16 to take on the role of a client and commission a building, to be designed by an international group of architects. The results will be presented in the exhibition as full scale, useable buildings. Building Blocks explores the relationship between architect and client as well as the design process required to translate the child’s wishes and ideas to built form.

Right now there is a flurry of activity at Färgfabriken with nine new building being constructed in the large exhibition hall.

Building Blocks was initiated by Färgfabriken and developed in collaboration with the creative studio Medium. The starting point was a series of questions about how normative standards and expectations influence contemporary architectural practice.

Building Blocks explores questions about the level of creative space in the contemporary architectural climate. The project also exposes the differences that exist between the way children perceive their living environment, and the adult normative structures that construct that environment.

Why do we build the way we do? What perspectives do we omit?

The exhibition is an attempt at opening up a discussion around the accepted norms that surround the act of building. Sketches, drawings and other documentation as well as the buildings themselves provide the base for a fun, informative and inspiring exhibition. Adults and children will be able to interact with and explore the building first hand. In addition to being a playful exhibition, Building Blocks will also function as a platform for discussions between both children and adults, and design practitioners and the general public.

The program will include seminars, workshops and discussions. More information on the specific programming points will be presented at a later date.”
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The participating architectural offices:

Helen & Hard – Stavanger, www.hha.no
Hollmen Reuter Sandman – Helsinki, www.hollmenreutersandman.com
J&T architects – Dakar Kjellander + Sjöberg – Stockholm, www.ksark.se
Kod arkitekter – Stockholm, www.kodarkitekter.se
TERROIR – Sydney, www.terroir.com.au
The AOC – London, www.theaoc.co.uk
Zizi&Yoyo – Tallin, www.ziziyoyo.com
Wilhelmson arkitekter – Stockholm, www.wilhelmson.se

For more information please visit Färgfabriken website: http://www.fargfabriken.se
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Netherlands Architecture Institute
Exhibition at NAI Rotterdam: 19 february 2010 – 16 may 2010
24 architecture designers take the lead. Assessing what society needs now. Pursuing strategies the market is hesitant to explore. The designs that are presented are the fruits of an ambition to find sustainable designs for the future.
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“The international travelling exhibition ‘Architecture of Consequence’ highlights a changing selection of the same urban designers included in the accompanying book. After Sao Paulo and Moscow, the exhibition will travel to the NAi in Rotterdam in February. The designs that are presented are the fruits of an ambition to find sustainable designs for the future. The theme is expanded by exhibiting the selected designs in different scales.

With contributions by: 2by4-architects, De Zwarte Hond, Doepel Strijkers Architecten, MVRDV, Studio Marco Vermeulen, West 8, CONCEPT0031, Anne Holtrop, Next Architects, seARCH, 2012 Architecten, Atelier Kempe Thill, biq stadsontwerp, MUST Urbanism, OMA / AMO, ONIX, Powerhouse Company, Rietveld Landscape, Stealth.ultd, Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten, Venhoeven CS, ZUS

For more information about ‘Architecture of Consequence’ visit www.architectureofconsequence.nl.
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ECOWEEK

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REGISTRATION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & WORKSHOPS IS NOW OPΕΝ
www.ecoweek.gr
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Registration is now open for the for the international conference and design workshops ECOWEEK 2010: ECOLOGY + COMMUNITY + ARCHITECTURE on passive solar and ecological building and a look at sustainability in local communities and societies, for architects and young architects, to be held in Athens on March 13-20, 2010.
The UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen may not have yielded the expected results and commitments, but ‘green’ buildings are already in global spotlight and will remain – in Greece too: towards a 20% energy reduction by 2020, the implementation of EU Directive 2002/91 (Greek law N3661/2008 FEK89A) for energy conservation in buildings, for the implementation of the Law for the waste management in construction and very soon the new EU target for energy autonomous buildings by 2016.
The conference takes place under the auspices of the European Institute of Law, Science and Technology and the City of Athens.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & WORKSHOPS:
The international conference and workshops design ECOWEEK 2010: ECOLOGY + COMMUNITY + ARCHITECTURE, is taking place in Athens again this year catering to architects, young architects and architecture students, engineers and environmental engineers.
WORKSHOPS & Thematic lectures: ‘Design a passive solar house of zero emissions’ The thematic lectures will be addressed by specialists from international consulting firms such as ARUP, Buro Happold, and Sustainable Cities / CABE; including architect Ana Serra, environmental engineer Byron Stigge, the engineer Vasilis Maroulas and architect Brian Mark.
The design workshops of ECOWEEK 2010 will be hosted this year, for the first time in Greece, in 20 architectural offices in Athens. The workshop participants will learn and apply the principles of ‘green’ buildings in small groups in architectural firms, under the guidance of established, new and emerging architects from Greece and abroad, for three days. The subject of the ECOWEEK 2010 studios: the design of a passive solar house of zero emissions.
The architects who will host the design workshops ECOWEEK 2010 are (alphabetically):
Angelidakis (www.angelidakis.com), Daskalakis Architects (www.rkitekts.eu), deltArCHI – Dragonas + Christopoulou Architects (www.deltarchi.com), Doxiadis + (www.doxiadisplus.com), Drifting City (www.driftingcity.com), KLAB Architecture (www.klab.gr), Kotionis Architects, Agni Kouvelas Architect (www.couvelas.net ), John Kounelis and Associates
(www.artektondesign.com), Meletitiki – Alexandros Tombazis
(www.meletitiki.gr), PLEIAS – Dimitris Diamantopoulos and Associates (www.pleias.com.gr), Nikos Rousseas Architect, Architects Smyrlis (www.smyrlis.gr), TEAM4 (www.team4.com.gr), K. and T. Tsipiras (www.tsipiras.gr), Michael Photiadis Architect (www.photiadis.gr) and Zerefos Tessa Architects (www.zerefos – tessas.gr).

Participation to the international conference and workshops requires registration. For more information, registration and the program, visit EcoWeek website www.ecoweek.gr.
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SITE VISIT TO ECOLOGICAL BUILDINGS AND BUILDING USING COB:
For 2010 ECOWEEK is planning an interactive workshop, building with mud and a visit to ecological buildings in Larisa on March 13-14; registration is required. Places are limited. For more information and registration visit
www.ecoweek.gr.

LECTURES OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC:
In 2010 ECOWEEK will host for the first time in Greece a keynote lecture by the environmental entrepreneur, activist for ‘green’ jobs and McArthur “Genius” Majora Carter from the Bronx, New York, who will talk about
creating urban ‘green’ communities. Majora Carter’s TED talk was attended by Al Gore (www.majoracartergroup.com).

ECOWEEK will also host for the first time in Greece, a keynote lecture by Berlin architect Diebedo Francis Kere (www.kere-architecture.com) winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009 for projects in the communities of Burkina Faso in Africa.

Following the keynote lectures, a buffet and a temporary installation will take place in cooperation of CARTECO with ECOWEEK. Majora Carter and Diebedo Francis Kere keynote lectures will be held on Thursday, March 18, 2010. The lecture program and opening of ECOWEEK 2010 start at 17:30. Parnassos Foundation Hall, St. George’s Square, Karytsi 8, Athens 105 61 (metro: University).

For information Tel: +30.694.7405280 and
Email: faidra@ecoweek.org). Admission is free.

In 2010 ECOWEEK will also host lectures by architect Sarah Grahn of the internationally renowned firm WHITE Arkitekter (Sweden) and architect Menno Koostra of the internationally architectural firm Paul de Ruiter Architects (Netherlands). Additional lectures by architects from Denmark and France will be announced shortly. The full program is posted on www.ecoweek.gr The lectures will take place on Friday, March 19, 2010. The program starts at 17:30. Parnassos Foundation Hall (St. George’s Square, Karytsi 8, Athens, metro: University). Admission is free.

On Monday, March 15, at 19:00 at the Papasotiriou bookstore (Panepistimiou 37, metro: University) ECOWEEK 2010 will screen and present the documentary “A thousand lost golf balls” on the planned development of a golf course in Cavo Sidero, Crete; raising questions of environmental management,
integrated development and the importance of local society and the environment. Director: Kalaitzis E. Script: Cliff Cook. Admission is free.
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DOCUMENTARIES
ECOWEEK 2010 includes the screening of the following documentaries. Admission free.

* “Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Mathai” (Tuesday 16 / 3, 19:00, Metropolis, 54, Panepistimiou Ave., Metro: Omonia). Admission free.
* “The Garden” (Wednesday 17 / 3, 19:00, Metropolis, 54, Panepisimiou Ave., Metro: Omonia). Admission free.
For information: +30.694.7405280 and E: faidra@ecoweek.org

* “The 11th hour” with Leonardo DiCaprio on Climate Change (exclusive promotion for High School students – free admission upon subscription and a composting bin as a gift for the school, courtesy of VELTIOTIKI-G. PAPPAS – places are limited. For contact information and participation refer to ecoweek@ecoweek.org)
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Bustler

Donald Wexler, who helped define Palm Springs architecture in the 1960s, will be honored for his contributions to the profession at the three-day Wexler Weekend, Jan. 22-24 in the city where he built his reputation.
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“Wexler, whose archives are housed at Cal Poly Pomona, designed the iconic Palm Springs Airport and counted Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore among his celebrity clients, but he is best known for his steel houses. The virtually all-steel structures were fabricated at a factory and assembled on site – a revolutionary technique for residential construction at the time. Wexler and his partner Ric Harrison master-planned a neighborhood of 38 such homes, but changes in the steel company’s management structure in the early 1960s limited the project to seven sites. Most have been restored and are a must-see for devotees of Palm Springs modernist architecture.

“We feel privileged that Don Wexler chose to give Cal Poly Pomona his collection,” says Lauren Bricker, an associate professor in the Department of Architecture. “His work is of considerable interest to the architecture community and the general public. Design professionals are attracted to his prefabrication systems and his minimal-design aesthetics. Sustainable design is certainly one of the major directions in architecture today, and Wexler’s architecture continues to offer valuable lessons for current practitioners.”

Although Wexler is best known for his residential and business projects, his work on more than 30 public schools throughout the Coachella Valley is an important part of his legacy, Bricker says.

“These projects catapulted him into the public sector, and he found deep satisfaction in contributing to the civic life of the desert.”

The Wexler Weekend kicks off Friday, Jan. 22 with the screening of “Journeyman Architect: The Life and Work of Donald Wexler” at the Camelot Theatres. On, Jan. 23, which is Wexler’s 84th birthday, guests will enjoy a champagne brunch, followed by a five-hour house tour and an evening fund-raiser.
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A clip from the documentary “Journeyman Architect: The Life and Work of Donald Wexler” released by Design OnScreen.

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The weekend will conclude on Jan. 24 with an event at the Wexler Steel Houses and a book signing of a Wexler tribute journal written by architect-author Patrick McGrew. The 56-page monograph is based on extensive research and interviews with Wexler.

“While the Wexler Weekend is full of great activities, what will remain long after the three-day event is our 56-page Don Wexler tribute journal,” says Ron Marshall, chair of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, which is sponsoring the event. “The foundation is very proud of its long history of publishing similar journals that celebrate the architecture of Palm Springs. The addition of a Wexler tribute journal to that small library will help educate a broad audience about the importance of historic preservation in our desert oasis.

“Don Wexler’s incredible body of work is one of the big reasons Palm Springs is recognized throughout the world for its outstanding modernist architecture. But aside from being a great architect, Don is one of the most modest and self-effacing gentlemen you could ever meet.”
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