2013

Taking place at NewSchool of Architecture and Design this Wednesday, May 1st, at 6:00pm, architect Peter Bohlin, FAIA, will be speaking on the topic of 'Soft Modernism – The Nature of Circumstance'. Using examples of the firm’s work from early to current projects, Peter will discuss the rich and powerful buildings of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson that resulted from The Nature of Circumstance. These range from the nature of places, both man-made and natural, to the varied nature of humans and their particular activities and to the nature of the means with which we build. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit here.

The extensive damage to low-lying waterfront zones caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 reinforced the need for resilient infrastructure and redevelopment strategies for existing coastal communities throughout the greater New York area. Costly damage to buildings, roads, and utility systems by the storm raises the controversial question of whether areas of particular geographic vulnerability should be rebuilt, maintained and defended, or simply abandoned. In an effort to solicit creative ideas, the FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway] competition seeks innovative proposals for the design and development of a comprehensive new master plan for Arverne East, a vacant 80+ acre Urban Renewal site on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City. Submissions are due no later than June 14. For more information, please visit here.

Above all, another pamphlet is a conversation, a loose exchange of forms and ideas, an excuse to play, a frame through which to look, a shared excitement. It is an open dialogue with our friends, our histories, and our surroundings. Meaning both “more of the same” and “something different”, “another” contains the seeds of both continuity and change. Another pamphlet mines this contradiction - this tension between past and future - opportunistically interrogating, critiquing, and celebrating the discipline of architecture. Their latest issue, Symmetry no.05, was just released and they are having a launch event this Thursday, May 2, from 6:00pm-8:00pm at Printed Matter, Inc. in New York City. For more information, and to order a pamphlet, please visit here.

MONU, a unique bi-annual international forum for artists, writers and designers that are working on topics of urban culture, development and politics, just released their newest issue #18 on the topic of 'Communal Urbanism'. How should we live together? is the central question focusing on contemporary communal living in cities. According to Martin Abbott's contribution "Learning to Live Together", this is a question often discussed among the housemates of Berlin's 40 year old communal "Hausprojekt Walde". Rainer Langhans, one of the early members of the legendary "Kommune 1", founded in Berlin in 1967, is convinced that in the future we will live increasingly communally. For more information on MONU's latest issue, please visit here.

Taking place at Trespa Design Centre in New York, the 'Visionaries: The New York Wheel' event welcomes Richard Marin, President +CEO, New York Wheel LLC; Navid Maqami, Perkins Eastman; Rick Parisi, M. Paul Friedberg + Partners; Penny Knops, Design + Sustainability Management, for one of the first-ever presentations on the proposed New York Wheel project. Located on the north shore of Staten Island (St. George), the 630-foot, or roughly 60-story attraction, promises to become one of the City’s great landmark attractions. The event takes place 6:30-8:00pm EST. For more information, please visit here.

With the intention of restructuring the school complex in the city of Sion, the starting point for OVERCODE was to conceive a compact building deploying a strategy of economy of means and space. Consisting of a school extension, new nursery and new gymnasium, their urban strategy spins around the idea of closing and opening the site at the same time. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Future of Places Forum, the inspiration for our Ten Ways to Transform Cities through Placemaking & Public Spaces article published earlier this week, will open this June in Stockholm, Sweden. The forum will be hosted by UN-HABITAT, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and the Ax:son Johnson Foundation and will be the first of three conferences leading up to Habitat III in 2016. Its overall aim is to "contribute to a New Urban Agenda around people and places" and to "highlight how and why cities need to embrace a people centered approach in order to achieve positive urbanization." The conference series will define examples of excellent urban practices from around the world as well as future projects that reflect sustainable and equitable processes which build community, enhance quality of life, and creates safe and prosperous neighborhoods.

Opening today at the Center for Architecture in New York, the 'Low Rise High Density' exhibition examines a housing type celebrated in the 1960s and ‘70s, and what it means in the United States today. Co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Architecture with AIA New York, architectural drawings, photographs, and oral histories will be presented with project architects, tracing the typology over the last 50 years. The exhibition will be on view until June 29. More information after the break.