• "Match-Maker" Wins Hearts in the 2014 Times Square Valentine Heart Competition
• Van Alen Welcomes Bergmann, Healy, and Tura to Board of Trustees
• Trustee Spotlight: Kai-Uwe Bergmann
• Bookstore Benefits for Students and Members
• Exploring Resilience with Rebuild by Design
• An Urban Hub Transformed: The Renovation of Queens Plaza
• Call for Applications: Internships at Van Alen
• Voting Extended: Support Us on Design With Benefits
• Member Tour: Rising Waters at MCNY
• Thank You for Supporting Us in 2013
• Awards and Opportunities for Architects and Designers

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While the holiday season has come to a close, we’re happy to begin 2014 with a festive announcement from the Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition, co-hosted by Van Alen Institute! Young Projects, a multidisciplinary design firm based in Brooklyn, has been selected as this year’s winner for their project “Match-Maker.”

“Match-Maker” will cosmically connect people this Valentine's Day. Guided by their zodiac signs, visitors arrange themselves at twelve points around the heart-shaped sculpture. Peering through colorful, interwoven periscopes provides glimpses of each viewer's four most ideal astrological mates, offering potentially novel connections between lonely souls or settled lovers.

This year’s collaboration brings us back to the site of our 1999 project TKTS2K: A Competition to Design a New York Icon, marking five years since the opening of the revitalized Father Duffy Square and the bold red steps of the TKTS booth. The 2014 Valentine Heart will be located at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets.

Visit our website to check out designs from other invited finalists: Haiko Cornelissen Architecten; Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio; Schaum/Shieh Architects; SOFTlab; and The Living.  And follow the conversation on Twitter with #LoveTimesSquare. We hope you come celebrate Valentine’s Day with us!

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In other exciting news for the new year, we are pleased to announce that Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Jessica Healy, and Hunter Tura have joined the Van Alen Institute Board of Trustees. With the addition of three new members, the Institute expands its leadership with diverse expertise in the built environment, including practicing architects, artists, academics, developers, and representatives of the business community.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann is a Partner at international architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), where he heads up business development, engaging current projects in over 15 countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. Jessica Healy is a real-estate developer with more than 25 years of experience, having worked with major financial institutions, governmental agencies, cultural institutions, and nonprofits. She has managed the design, engineering, and construction of a wide range of building types, from corporate headquarters and federal courthouses to traveling museum structures and single-family affordable housing. Hunter Tura is president and CEO of Bruce Mau Design, Inc. (BMD), where he is responsible for driving the firm’s global growth across all business sectors and expanding the BMD brand. Under Tura’s leadership, BMD has clarified its service offerings, pursued new markets, and expanded its network of collaborative partners.

Read the press release for more information →

This month, we hear from new Trustee Kai-Uwe Bergmann on what's taking shape at Van Alen:

How does the work of Van Alen Institute resonate with your own background that brings together architecture, business development, and communications?

I would broaden my interests to also include the urban realm, culture, history, economy, art, anthropology and archaeology. Van Alen to me represents all of these as an institution whose mission has become to steward an urban agenda. I am excited to be a participant and shaper of that agenda.

What issue or trend shaping cities has your attention right now?

I see cities and their citizens becoming more informed on how they use and develop their cities . . . these additional layers of experience data will allow us to make more informed decisions on policy and reinforce the value of a great public realm.

What do you most look forward to in the coming year at Van Alen?

As Chair of VAI's forthcoming International Committee I am excited by the prospect of increasing Van Alen's presence and participation in global discussions of urbanity, and how VAI can be seen as a crossroads and think tank resource to those discussions. A substantial percentage of VAI's competition entries in recent years have come from outside the U.S., so VAI is already a known entity globally and I would like to build upon that with my fellow International Committee members.

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At Van Alen Books, we’re kicking off the New Year with a great reason to catch up on the latest architecture and design publications. Stop by our storefront bookstore this month, where students and VAI members will receive a 20% discount on all books. For reading list resolutions and back-to-school book ideas, check out December’s top titles and browse for more on our online store.

To the many people throughout the region who lived through Hurricane Sandy, and who are now working with the Rebuild by Design teams to shape their proposals, resilience goes beyond design and planning strategies for rebuilding.

As a partner in Rebuild by Design, Van Alen is working in Asbury Park, Far Rockaway, and other communities throughout the region to produce a series of public programs that will highlight both the best ideas coming out of the competition, while also supporting and amplifying ongoing efforts by local stakeholders to strengthen their communities. In the coming months, we'll invite you to join us—please stay tuned for details.

In 2001, Van Alen launched Queens Plaza: An Open Ideas Competition, which challenged designers to reimagine the dense infrastructural hub as a gathering place and destination. The nearly 200 entries sparked interest in the cultural, social, and economic potential of the Plaza among design professionals, government, and the public, and a year later the NYC Department of Planning embarked on a comprehensive redesign as part of the Queens Plaza Bike and Pedestrian Improvement Project.

This week, The New York Times explores the story behind the revitalization of Queens Plaza. Read The New York Times | A Major Renovation on the Doorstep of Queens→

We’re seeking individuals interested in joining Van Alen this season to support our ongoing projects. The four internship positions provide a range of opportunities to get involved in the Institute’s events, competitions, operations, communications, and research. Apply today and spread the word! Find the position descriptions here.

Van Alen Institute is now featured through January on Design With Benefits, a site offering products made with social and environmental benefits in mind. Visitors to the site vote among three featured projects or organizations involved in design activism, and the recipient of the most votes receives their donation. Support our work by clicking for us before the 31st!

 

 

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MEMBER TOUR: RISING WATERS EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

On Wednesday, January 29, we invite our Van Alen members for a private tour of Rising Waters at the Museum of the City of New York led by exhibition curator Sean Corcoran. Rising Waters features photographs from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, and New Jersey collected in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Drawn from an open call for images, the juried exhibition presents work from both professional and amateur photographers who captured astonishing moments in the days and weeks surrounding the destructive storm. The tour begins at 12:30 p.m. and will run approximately 45 minutes, with complimentary admission to the rest of the museum for the afternoon. Members, please reserve your space at rsvp@vanalen.org.

Not yet a member? Join us today →

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US IN 2013

We want to thank everyone who contributed to a successful year of support and generosity. In 2013, Van Alen increased its membership community by 30%! Whether you became a member for the first time, renewed your annual membership, or are rejoining us after a long hiatus, you help make our meaningful work possible. Thank you!

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The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace is a nine-month studio residency program for emerging visual artists, performing artists, and writers that activates temporarily vacant office space downtown to offer 25–30 artists and arts groups studio space in some of the city’s most noted landmarks. Apply by January 30.

The Center for Architecture Foundation’s Arnold W. Brunner Grant supports advanced study in any area of architectural investigation which will effectively contribute to the knowledge, teaching or practice of the art and science of architecture. Apply by February 1.

The AIA New York Design Awards recognize outstanding architectural design by AIA New York Chapter members, New York City based architects in any location, and work in New York City by architects around the globe. Submit by February 3.

The Architectural League Prize Competition seeks submissions from young architects and designers on the theme of “Overlay,” welcoming both theoretical and real projects in any medium. Winners will receive a cash prize of $1,000, and a catalogue of winning work will be published by The Architectural League and Princeton Architectural Press. Submit by February 10.

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Since its founding in 1894, Van Alen Institute has promoted innovative thinking about the role of architecture and design in civic life. Today the Institute’s competitions, research, and public programs shape the public conversation and bring design excellence to the built environment of cities and sites around the world. Learn more at www.vanalen.org.

Our ongoing programs are made possible through the generous assistance of our individual contributors and partners, and are supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also acknowledge the generous support of Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and Seed Fund, as well as the following organizations:

Van Alen Institute | 30 W. 22nd St., 4th Floor | New York, NY 10010 | 212–924–7000 | www.vanalen.org