• Breaking Ground: Street-Level Construction Begins Next Month
• Build your Bookshelf with the Ground/Work Renovation Sale
• February Bookstore Events
• Changing Course: Team Selection Process Moves Ahead
• Q&A: Elihu Rubin on Escape and the City
• Community Workshops with Rebuild by Design
• Members Event: Close-Up with Valentine Heart "Match-Maker"
• Rising Waters at the Museum of the City of New York
• Board Spotlight: Jessica Healy
• In the Field: Opportunities for Architects and Designers

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Last year Van Alen Institute engaged three design teams to reimagine its ground floor space as a flexible work space and program venue. Now, with a winning design from Collective-LOK, we’ll soon start construction to transform the ground floor at 30 West 22nd Street into the Institute’s new home base: a platform for an expanded agenda of inquiry into the urban environment.

As we prepare to begin this exciting new chapter, we want to recognize the role that our storefront space designed by LOT-EK for Van Alen Books has served as part of our effort to increasingly engage the street. Since opening in April 2011, the Institute’s storefront has been home to nearly 100 book launches, discussions and other public programs while serving as New York City’s only dedicated venue for architecture and design publications. Van Alen Books and LOT-EK’s yellow steps will close after Saturday, March 1, to allow construction to proceed. We look forward to building on the energy and openness of Van Alen Books, and to exploring a variety of ways to integrate architectural and design books into our engagement of members and city residents in the Institute's new venue.

For a look back at the process behind designing Van Alen's spaces over the years, check out our Q&A with Ada Tolla of LOT-EK and Marc Tsurumaki of LTL Architects, designers of Van Alen Books and the Institute's former 6th floor gallery. And for more on the design of our future venue, read our Q&A with Collective–LOK on their winning design "Screen Play".

Keep up with the renovation process on the Ground/Work website→

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To help us get into hard-hat mode on the street level, we invite you to visit Van Alen Books this month for our Ground/Work Renovation Sale on all Van Alen Books titles. This month we’ll offer 30% off all purchases, with a 40% discount for our members. Head on over to grab some titles off your wish list!

Expand your bookshelf and join us for what’s next at Van Alen. Become a member today→

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On Thursday, February 6, Architect Sean Lally discusses his book The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come,  a speculation into an architecture produced by designing the energy within our environment (electromagnetic, thermodynamic, acoustic, and chemical). Lally will be joined in conversation by Michelle Addington, architect and Hines Professor of Sustainable Architectural Design at Yale.

Then on Thursday, February 20, we join Harvard Graduate School of Design Faculty and Alumni to celebrate the launch of Platform 6, the annual publication from the GSD featuring student and faculty work. We’ll be joined by student editors McKenna Cole and Lauren Elachi, editor Rosetta S. Elkin, and contributor Kiel Moe for a discussion followed by a reception. Please RSVP here.

And join us on Thursday, February 27 for Crossover with designer, writer, and engineer Cecil Balmond. In his latest volume, Balmond invites readers into his creative process as he documents his most innovative projects in art, architecture, and bridge design through the notion of crossover: the movement between idea and substance through pattern. The talk will be introduced by Winka Dubbeldam, founder and principal of Archi-Tectonics and Chair of the Graduate Department of Architecture at PennDesign. Please RSVP here.

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In early January, eight multidisciplinary teams from Louisiana and around the world gathered at the Port of New Orleans for two days of interviews and dialogue with a wide range of regional experts to reimagine a more sustainable Lower Mississippi River Delta. The Request for Proposal (RFP) Briefing and Interview event is part of the team selection process for Changing Course, a design competition that is bringing the world’s best and brightest engineers, coastal researchers, planners, and designers together to show the art of the possible for one of America’s greatest natural resources.

For more information on Changing Course please download the shortlist of eight competing teams, an infographic on RFQ submissions, the RFP Interviews Program, a report on the RFP Interviews, and visit our website changingcourse.us. Van Alen is working with Environmental Defense Fund to support this competition, along with technical advisors from Happold Consulting.

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Q&A: ELIHU RUBIN ON ESCAPE AND THE CITY

At Van Alen's Fall 2013 Events, we launched into our multi-year inquiry Elsewhere: Escape and the Urban Landscape with a program series exploring escape in relation to the city.

As part of the event The Footprint of Escape, Elihu Rubin, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Yale University, presented a historical view of the idea of escape and the urban environment. Watch the video on YouTube, and read below for more thoughts from Elihu on escape and well-being in the city:

In your presentation, you discussed escape in the context of changes in the built environment intended to relieve urban congestion and bring light, air, and green space into the city. Where would you say these initiatives succeeded, and how might they have also worked against contemporary visions of well-being?

Efforts to relieve urban congestion in the built environment have had a mixed legacy. With respect to housing, concerns with congestion led first to incremental tenement reforms and, eventually, to widespread “slum” clearance. Were some of these places physically decrepit, mismanaged by absentee landlords, unhealthful and unpleasant—worthy of escape? Yes, that's probably right. At the same time, many of these places were also socially rich and architecturally redeemable neighborhoods that were misapprehended by urban planners who couldn't see past their own biases. The superblock, “towers in a park” housing estates that replaced the “slum” were designed as escapes from congestion. Some of these were well-designed and well-managed places that continue to serve as a vital portion of the city’s housing stock. On the whole, however, modernist housing principles no longer fall in line with contemporary visions of well-being, which tend to favor the gracious and urbane rhythms of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century streetscapes.

Historically, how would you say discussions of well-being, health, and productivity in the city have drawn on the idea of escape?

From an early stage, advocates for urban parks drew on a discourse of public and individual health benefits to substantiate their proposals...

Read more→

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Rebuild by Design Teams have spent the last several weeks developing rigorous community engagement strategies that are now well underway. Last week, WXY / West8 held a science colloquium in Manhattan, OMA, MIT + ZUS + URBANISTEN, and Sasakki / Rutgers / Arup teams held community workshops in Sandy affected areas across New Jersey, while PennDesign / Olin presented their proposal to residents and stakeholders in the South Bronx. This week, Interboro Team held an all day workshop in Long Island, SCAPE / Landscape Architecture shared their proposal in Staten Island, and unabridged Coastal Collective met with stakeholders in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Please visit rebuildbydesign.org to learn more information about the next round of community meetings and join the conversation.

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MEMBERS EVENT: CLOSE-UP WITH YOUNG PROJECTS’ VALENTINE “MATCH-MAKER”

On Wednesday, February 19th, we invite Van Alen members to join us for a close-up with "Match-Maker", Young Projects winning design in this year's Times Square Valentine Heart competition, a collaboration between Van Alen Institute and Times Square Arts. The event will begin with a tour of the "Match-Maker" installation, led by the Young Projects design team. Afterwards, we'll head inside for refreshments and a Q&A with the architects.

Using astrological principals of love and energy mapped through the zodiac calendar, the winning design offers possible connections between lonely souls. A glimpse into the tubes reveals the reflected faces of others who are also searching for love—fate, perhaps?

The event begins at 5:30pm at the Valentine Heart at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets. Space is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible at rsvp@vanalen.org.

Join Van Alen to participate in our Member Events→

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On Wednesday, January 29, Van Alen members went uptown for a private tour of Rising Waters: Photographs of Sandy at the Museum of the City of New York. Exhibition curator Sean Corcoran led us through the process of selecting from the roughly 10,000 photos submitted to the exhibition’s open call by nearly 1,000 professional and amateur photographers, and the task of balancing the individual, personal stories of the storm with the broader facts of its regional impact.

We were joined by Van Alen's Rebuild by Design staff to discuss the exhibition in the context of our involvement in Sandy recovery and resilient design efforts. Learn more about Rebuild by Design.

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This month we speak with new member of the Institute's Board of Trustees Jessica Healy, a real estate developer with more than twenty-five years of experience working with major financial institutions, governmental agencies, cultural institutions and nonprofits:

How does your background in real estate inform your involvement and interest in Van Alen Institute?

I spend a lot of time thinking about how buildings and the public spaces within and nearby can and should be good citizens. This is especially true, of course, in urban settings where open space is limited due to the density of the built world. And so, Van Alen's mission and my professional "obsession" are quite aligned.

What trends in real estate development do you see having the biggest impact on cities right now?

In urban settings, I'd say that current developer-friendly zoning is now having the most dramatic impact on cities.

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

I am very excited about the design of and eventual opening of the new Van Alen space on the ground floor at 30 West 22nd Street. The innovative way that we will be able to greet and engage with the public is pretty inspiring.

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The Buckminster Fuller Institute’s 2014 Fuller Challenge awards $100,000 to support the development and implementation of an innovative design solution that holistically addresses some of humanity’s most pressing problems. Scientists, designers, architects, activists, planners, artists, entrepreneurs and ecologists are invited to propose strategies that address the biggest issues we face today. Apply by February 14. The Buckmister Fuller Institute also seeks a fellow to support the 2014 Fuller Challenge process.

Harvard GSD’s 2014 Wheelwright Prize is the second edition of the $100,000 traveling fellowship that supports exceptional itineraries for research and discovery. Open to architects worldwide, the Wheelwright Prize seeks early-career architects who have demonstrated exceptional design talent, produced work of scholarly and professional merit, and who show promise for continued creative work. Register by February 15.

The ASLA 2014 Professional & Student Awards recognize excellence in landscape architecture from around the world as well as emerging talent. Award winners are highlighted in ASLA’s Landscape Architecture Magazine and will be honored at the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in Denver, November 21–24, 2014. Apply by March 7 for Professional Awards and April 25 for Student Awards.

The Graham Foundation’s 2014 Carter Manny Award recognizes outstanding doctoral students whose work represents some of the most innovative scholarship on architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. Since 1996, over $600,000 has been awarded to support doctoral dissertation research and writing by promising scholars who focus on architecture, design, engineering, landscape architecture, urban planning, and related fields. The Graham Foundation offers two Carter Manny Awards: a $15,000 research award and a $20,000 writing award. Apply by March 15.

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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.

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