VAI APPOINTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAVID VAN DER LEER

On March 5, Van Alen announced the appointment of David van der Leer as the Institute’s executive director, effective May 6. The result of a comprehensive international search, van der Leer’s appointment marks a new chapter in the Institute’s nearly 120-year history of innovative thinking about the design of the public realm.

“David van der Leer represents a new type of commitment to the public realm that makes urban issues accessible to architecture and design professionals and everyday urban citizens alike,” Stephen Cassell, Chairman of Van Alen’s Board of Trustees, said of the announcement. “Van Alen Institute welcomes his initiative to develop more national and international competitions, studies, and programs relevant to the understanding of contemporary urban life.”

Van der Leer has been at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum since 2008, most recently as Curator, BMW Guggenheim Lab and Associate Curator, Architecture and Urban Studies. He specializes in the contemporary urban condition and over the past years has developed programs and projects that address city life through dialogue, academic research, laboratories, and experiential installations.

We’re thrilled to welcome David on board! Read the full announcement here.

BE A PART OF AN AMBITIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN COMPETITION

The Lower Mississippi River Delta Design Initiative, a project of Environmental Defense Fund and Van Alen Institute, seeks to hire a senior staff member or consultant to leverage the Initiative’s corporate support opportunities and coordinate all sponsorship-related functions. Click here to download a PDF with a full description of the position.

SAVE THE DATE: CHEONGGYECHEON RIVER EXHIBITION OPENS APRIL 9

We are pleased to present the second exhibition in Van Alen’s series River City: Waterfront Design for Civic Life. Exploring the reinvention of a once-buried urban waterway, Deconstruction/Construction: The Cheonggyecheon River Project in Seoul examines this complex work of Korean infrastructure as a case study in how rivers can be reclaimed as thriving civic resources.

All but forgotten under the shadow of an elevated highway in the heart of Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon was transformed as a metropolitan-scale public space through an unprecedented effort of urban planning and design. Completed in 2005, the project re-made the river as the centerpiece of a 3.5-mile-long public park and the core of a multifaceted ecological, cultural, and economic redevelopment.

This exhibition, first presented at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, considers how the Cheonggyecheon’s renewal not only created a new ecological network in the center of the city, but also knit once-severed neighborhoods back together and catalyzed civic life through integrated architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, planning, and economic development.

Mark your calendar for our opening celebration on Tuesday, April 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. in Van Alen’s temporary ground-floor exhibition space. We’ll have more to share in the coming weeks, including a series of public programs that will consider contemporary Korean urbanism, the Cheonggyecheon’s history and future as a bold urban intervention, and the project’s significance alongside other recent efforts to daylight urban rivers.

LAUNCHES AND EVENTS AT VAN ALEN BOOKS

Next month, we’re kicking off a new season of programs at Van Alen Books, and we hope you’ll join us to celebrate spring—and our bookstore’s second birthday!—with a fresh series of launches and discussions. All programs take place at 7 p.m. at Van Alen Books.

We get started on Thursday, April 4, when Caroline O’Donnell—principal of CODA, founding editor of Pidgin, assistant professor at Cornell’s Department of Architecture, and winner of the 2013 MoMA/PS1 Young Architects Program—joins the editors of Project for a public conversation on her development and practice in the expanded field of contemporary architecture. Their discussion will be featured in the upcoming issue of Project, a recently launched journal investigating critical agendas in architecture and ambitions for the discipline today.

On Thursday, April 11, we host a special evening celebrating the launch of Allied Works Architecture: Clyfford Still Museum. Allied Works founder Brad Cloepfil will join us for a conversation on this critically acclaimed project, which opened in Denver in 2011 as one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The building draws inspiration from the work of Still, a leading Abstract Expressionist, and its monumental surroundings—a meeting of prairie and mountains within an evolving urban district. Come toast the launch of this rich collection of stories, artifacts, and documents tracing the evolution of the building and Allied Works’ unique creative process.

And on Wednesday, April 24, Georges Teyssot, professor in the School of Architecture at Laval University in Quebec, joins Writing Architecture Series and Log editor Cynthia Davidson for a discussion of A Topology of Everyday Constellations. In this consideration of the public sphere’s intrusion into private space, Teyssot explores the blurring of notions of interior, privacy, and intimacy in our societies. In response, Teyssot proposes that we rethink design in terms of a new definition of the practices of everyday life—starting with the door, the window, the mirror, and the screen as thresholds that offer new possibilities for exchange between our interior and exterior worlds.

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARCHITECTS AND WRITERS

CLOG journal seeks submissions for its forthcoming issue, UNPUBLISHED, which will examine completed buildings that have thus far flown under the radar and/or have been forgotten. Stage 1 submissions are due by April 1.

The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition has extended the registration deadline for its international design competition to honor the victims of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and its legacy. A jury of architects, designers, and labor activists will choose the winning design in a two-stage process, with a grand prize of $5,000. Register by April 5. 

Seoul Urban Design 2013 is an international ideas competition for students with the theme "Toward Urban Integration”—focusing on the eco-friendly regeneration of an urban expressway and adjacent blocks in the western region of Seoul. The competition seeks inspiring proposals that can re-define and revitalize the urban fabric. Register by April 25.

Vanguard, an annual conference hosted by Next City and held this year in Cleveland, brings together high-level, creative, and ambitious urban advocates from across the country who seek to improve their cities through work with non-profit organizations, city government, the arts, and other related fields. Apply by April 26.

FIGMENT is now accepting entries for the fourth City of Dreams Pavilion Design Competition, hosted in partnership with the Emerging New York Architects Committee of AIA NY Chapter and the Structural Engineers Association of New York. Winners will design and construct a gathering place on Governors Island. Register by May 1.

CELEBRATE SPRING WITH VAN ALEN MEMBERSHIP

Now is a great time to show your support for Van Alen Institute, as we embark on a new season of public programs, design competitions, and exhibitions investigating the role of architecture and design in civic life. As you join us for our bookstore events this season, don’t forget that members receive a 10% discount at Van Alen Books, as well as invitations to special events and other benefits. Our ongoing work is possible in large part due to the active participation of Van Alen members in all our programs and events, and we thank you for your generous contributions. Find out more about our membership opportunities and how you can join us here.