Annual Student Program Panel: Aybars Asci, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Lauren Crahan, Freecell; Anne Frederick, Hester Street Collaborative
Studio Visits: 2×4, Archi-Tectonics, Bernard Tschumi Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Ennead Architects, Grimshaw, HOK, James Carpenter Design Associates, Weiss/Manfredi, and West 8.
End of Day Reception: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Registration begins at:
Trespa Design Centre
62 Greene Street Ground Floor
New York, NY 10012
10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
The Student Program offers an inside look at the architectural profession. The program highlights the varied and creative career paths open to graduates of architecture school.
The day includes:
- A panel discussion featuring a diverse group of dynamic young architects.
- Afternoon studio tours at some of the city’s most interesting firms.
- An end of the day reception at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF).
Please note: Attendees will have the chance to visit two offices during the afternoon studio visits. Students will sign up for the tours following registration in the order of a random lottery. Note that as each office is limited in the number of students they can host, attendees are not guaranteed the chance to visit any specific office listed above.
Registration is $35 and includes a one-year student membership to the League. Membership benefits include: Free or reduced admission and advanced reservations to League programs; access to members-only programs, such as tours, First Friday office open houses, site visits, and roundtable discussions; invitations to exhibition previews; discounts on architecture and design publications, and more…
Registration is now closed for tomorrow’s event. If you were hoping to register and attend and have not already, email anderson@archleague.org, for further information.
To register, click here. The student program is open to any current student. Current League student members may attend (the registration fee is waived) and should email, rsvp@archleague.org. For more information, call 212.753.1722 ext. 13 or email anderson@archleague.org.
Panelists include:
Aybars Asci, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill www.som.com 
Aybars Asci leads a design group at SOM, combining “conceptual clarity with analytical processes such as the use of algorithmic tools and building performance modeling.” The projects he has led have been widely published in international architectural magazines, as well as publications like The Economist and Fast Company. During his tenure at SOM, Asci has worked on designing complex institutional and commercial projects around the world, including, the United States Census Bureau Headquarters, the New York Stock Exchange, 400 Fifth Avenue Residential Tower in New York, Al Rajhi Bank Headquarters in Riyadh, Al Hamra Firdous Tower in Kuwait, Al Sharq Tower in Dubai, Qatar Petroleum Headquarters in Doha, Wood Wharf Towers in London, and Anida Residential Tower in Mexico City. Asci was a design director of SOM’s London office during 2007-2008. He is currently located in the firm’s New York office. He holds a Master’s Degree from Columbia University.
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Lauren Crahan, Freecell www.frcll.com
Lauren Crahan is co-founder of Freecell, a Brooklyn based design and fabrication studio. She and her partner, John Hartmann, pursue an active professional practice and a course of experimental work. Their studio operates “as an open organism – one in which different influences, specialties, and disciplines inform the work – with the intention to balance the functional with the experimental.” Freecell is currently working on a site-specific installation commission from the Ohio Arts Council located within the University of Akron. Recently they completed a participatory art installation for the Times Square Valentine entitled “Lighthearted” and created custom D.I.Y. cardboard multiples to provide seating and spatial markers for the show “The Art of Participation” at SFMOMA. Early installation projects include “Moistscape” at Henry Urbach Gallery in New York and “Beneath” at the Artists Space in New York. Freecell’s awards include Emerging Voices, Architectural League of New York in 2005 and New York Foundation of the Arts Grant in 2002. Crahan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rhode Island School of Design. She is a registered architect and LeedAP certified. In addition to practice, Crahan has taught architecture studios at Rhode Island School of Design, Parsons The New School for Design, and the University of Pennsylvania.
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Anne Frederick, Hester Street Collaborative www.hesterstreet.org
As the founding director of Hester Street Collaborative (HSC), Anne Frederick has worked to develop a community design practice that responds to the needs of HSC’s local neighborhood of the Lower East Side/Chinatown as well as the needs of under-resourced New York City communities citywide. Her approach to community design integrates education and youth development programming with participatory art, architecture, and planning strategies. This approach is rooted in partnership and collaboration with various community based organizations, schools, and local residents. Prior to founding HSC, Frederick worked as an architect at Leroy Street Studio Architecture and as a design educator at Parsons School of Design and the New York Foundation for Architecture. Frederick graduated from Parsons School of Design and The New School for Social Research in 1998, and has represented the work of HSC at various conferences, lectures, and exhibitions. To date, she has coordinated design education programs in over a dozen schools citywide, has overseen community design initiatives in a variety of parks and open spaces on the Lower East Side, and has initiated partnerships with a range of local and city-level organizations to improve the built environment in underserved New York neighborhoods.
Studio visits include:
2×4 www.2×4.org
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2×4, Inc. is a multidisciplinary studio of writers, graphic designers, programmers, and architects in New York founded by Michael Rock, Susan Sellers, and Georgianna Stout. The studio produces brand strategy, identity, print, environment, and interactive design. At once think tank, innovation lab, and atelier, 2×4 works collaboratively with the most progressive organizations and individuals “to create ideas and environments that transform and inspire the everyday.” Recent 2×4 collaborators include Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gehry Partners, Chanel, New York University, and Sony. Current 2×4 projects include a wayfinding and information system master plan for the new Chinese Central Television Headquarters in Beijing; several projects on the Novartis campus in Basel; an environmental graphics plan for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; a reimagined education website for the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and new brand identities for the Harvard University Art Museum and New York City Opera.
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Archi-Tectonics www.archi-tectonics.com
Winka Dubbeldam is the principal of Archi-Tectonics NY, founded in 1994 and Archi-Tectonics NL, founded in 1997. Archi-Tectonics operates “like a laboratory: a philosophy based upon combining the theoretical with the pragmatic, research with construction. The team spirit expresses itself in an aim to re-think, re-investigate and re-interpret all project details. We analyze and research programmatic efficiencies, urban specificities, and material innovations, and are interested in the use of hybrid sustainable materials and smart building systems.” Projects include the 80,000 square foot mixed-use Greenwich Building, an eleven-story structure with as its main feature a custom-designed folded curtain wall. A first in parametric design, the office developed the geometry and engineering of the curtain wall through a 3-D computer model, distributing it globally to all parties involved, including consultants, fabricators, and installers. Other recent projects include the 14-story American Loft Tower, Philadelphia; the Prefab Dub Residence in Germany; and several loft renovations, including the Eisen Penthouse and the John Legend Loft. Under construction are the ground-up residential V33 Building and the gut renovation projects: Chelsea Residence, LRH Building in New York, and the MCF Academy in Monrovia, Liberia. Archi-Tectonics is a past recipient of the League’s Emerging Voices award.
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Bernard Tschumi Architects www.tschumi.com
Dedicated to the interface between 21st-century culture and architecture, Bernard Tschumi Architects is an international architectural and urban design services firm for institutional, private, and civic clients. With offices in New York and Paris, the firm has been the recipient of numerous national and international honors, and is known for innovative design solutions across different sizes and scales, from small facilities to large-scale master plans. Bernard Tschumi established the firm in Paris in 1983 with the commission for the Parc de la Villette and opened the head office, Bernard Tschumi Architects (BTA), in New York in 1988. Bernard Tschumi urbanistes Architectes (BTuA) was established in Paris in 2002 to act as executive architects for BTA’s French projects. First known as a theorist, he drew attention to his architectural practice in 1983 with the Parc de La Villette competition. Other major projects include the new Acropolis Museum; Le Fresnoy National Studio for the Contemporary Arts; the Vacheron-Constantin Headquarters; The Richard E. Lindner Athletics Center at the University of Cincinnati; and architecture schools in Marne-la-Vallée, France and Miami, Florida. The office’s versatility extends to infrastructure projects and master plans. Major urban design projects recently executed or in implementation under Tschumi’s leadership include master plans for Mediapolis in Singapore, a new Media Zone in Abu Dhabi, and the Independent Financial Centre of the Americas in the Dominican Republic.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro www.dsrny.com
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Diller Scofidio + Renfro is an interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. Based in New York City, Diller Scofidio + Renfro is led by three partners — Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, and Charles Renfro — who work collaboratively with a staff of 75 architects, artists, and administrators. Among the various projects of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s international body of work: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, including the redesign of Alice Tully Hall, the renovation and expansion of The Juilliard School, and the Hypar Pavilion Lawn and Restaurant; the High Line; and the expansion of the School of American Ballet; the Institute of Contemporary Art on Boston’s waterfront; the Creative Arts Center at Brown University; and Blur, built on Lake Neuchâtel for the 2002 Swiss Expo. Currently in design: the Broad Art Museum in downtown Los Angeles; the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley; the Museum of Image & Sound on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Dongguan Factory and Housing Complex in Shenzhen, China; and the Hirshhorn Museum ‘Bubble’ on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Installation and performance projects recently completed include: Open House in collaboration with Droog; How Wine Became Modern for SFMOMA; Chain City for the 2008 Venice Biennale 11th International Architecture Exhibition; and Arbores Laetae for the 2008 Liverpool Biennial. Awards and honors received by Diller Scofidio + Renfro include: a MacArthur Foundation Grant; the National Design Award from the Smithsonian; the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of the Arts and Letters; an Obie for an off-Broadway theater production; the AIA President’s Award; the AIA Medal of Honor; and AIA Honor Awards for numerous projects. In 2003, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of the studio’s work.
Ennead Architects www.ennead.com
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Known for building designs for cultural, educational, scientific, and governmental institutions, Ennead Architects is a 160-person New York City studio. Ennead engages in work across the spectrum of architectural endeavor, including new building design, planning, and adaptive re-use. Projects have been recognized for their significant contributions to both the cultural life of their communities and the enhancement of their physical contexts. Among the studio’s award-winning projects are: Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History, William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Carnegie Hall, Newseum, The Standard New York, Yale University Art Gallery Renovation and Expansion, Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and the Brooklyn Museum Renovation and Expansion.
Grimshaw www.grimshaw-architects.com
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Grimshaw has grown steadily over the last three decades, and now has permanent offices in Europe (London), Australia (Melbourne and Sydney), and the United States (New York). Each office is based on “the continuation of a common design language, a strong commitment to the exploration of new ideas, and a belief in the transformative nature of architecture.” In New York, Andrew Whalley, Vincent Chang, Mark Husser, and William Horgan lead a team of international designers. The firm describes its design approach as “a commitment to the deepest level of involvement in the design of…buildings. This commitment stems from a desire to gain familiarity with local manufacturing and building processes and to develop relationships with the best consultants to deliver buildings that meet the highest possible standard. It is also based on a desire to be truly engaged in the evolution of a place – to contribute to its development on a meaningful level. It is the firm’s aim to be wholeheartedly engaged in its environment, and from this awareness generate truly inspiring and transformative design.” Current and recent projects in the New York office include: Via Verde – The Green Way and the Croton Water Treatment Plant in The Bronx; the Queens Museum of Art Expansion; New York City Street Furniture; the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, NY; and the Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan.
HOK www.hok.com
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HOK was incorporated in 1955 by three principals with a staff of 26 employees. The firm’s current staff of 1,800 in 25 offices around the world includes architects, interior designers, programmers, facility/real estate strategists, and graphic specialists. HOK is organized around both geographic regions (offices located in North America, Europe, and Asia) as well as market sectors: Science + Technology, Interiors, Aviation, Sport, Justice, and Health Care. Strategic leadership of HOK is the responsibility of an Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Day-to-day operations of the firm are the responsibility of 25 Business Units, some with a regional focus and some with a market sector focus. Close collaboration among Business Units is continuously monitored and facilitated by the HOK Executive Committee. Ownership of HOK is primarily distributed among senior leadership throughout the firm. The New York office has a strong commercial architecture and interiors practice, and strategic facilities planning. The staff numbers over 170 and is divided by practice areas, with client-dedicated teams within each practice. Clients include BMW, Canon, Roche, LG, Time Inc., Ann Taylor, American Express, Yahoo!, WPP, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Columbia University.
James Carpenter Design Associates www.jcdainc.com
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James Carpenter studied architecture and sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1972. He actively exhibited light-based art works while working from 1972 through 1982 as a consultant at Corning Glass Works developing new glass materials. These research projects were aimed at potential architectural applications. Since establishing James Carpenter Design Associates (JCDA) in 1978, the studio has been integrating a synthesis of light into building structures. The studio is a collaborative environment encouraging an exchange of ideas between architects, materials and structural engineers, environmental engineers, and fabricators. Carpenter is the recipient of numerous awards including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, the American Institute of Architects Honor Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Following JCDA’s natural progression toward designing the built environment itself, recently JCDA completed the planning, design, renovation, and expansion of the Israel Museum Jerusalem’s renewed campus, and since then continues to both lead and collaborate on the design of museum, university, and infrastructure projects. Other projects include 7 World Trade Center, Gucci Ginza, the Time Warner Center, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates www.kpf.com
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Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) provides architecture, interior, programming, and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors across the globe. Operating as one firm with six global offices, KPF is led by 20 Principals and 14 Directors. The firm’s 550 staff members come from 43 different countries, speak more than 30 languages, and include over 70 LEED accredited professionals. KPF’s diverse portfolio, which features over 70 projects certified or pursuing green building certification, comprises corporate, hospitality, academic, medical, research, civic, transportation, residential, and mixed‐use projects located in more than 35 countries. The firm’s recent work includes the Abu Dhabi International Airport, the Shanghai World Financial Center, the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong, New Songdo City in Korea, the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, the RBC Centre and Ritz‐Carlton in Toronto, and The Pinnacle, Heron Tower, and Unilever House in London.
Weiss/Manfredi www.weissmanfredi.com
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Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism is a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York City known for the integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. Weiss/Manfredi received the Academy Award in Architecture, an award given annually by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, acknowledging the distinct vision of the firm. They were also named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York and the firm won the New York City AIA Gold Medal of Honor. The office’s Olympic Sculpture Park for the Seattle Art Museum and The Diana Center, a new multi-use arts building at Barnard College, were both winners of major competitions, have been widely published, and are the recipients of numerous prestigious awards. Additionally, Weiss/Manfredi recently won the international competition to design the Taekwondo Park in Muju, Korea, and is working on a new campus for Aga Khan University in East Africa. Other current projects include the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitors Center; and the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania.
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West 8 www.west8.nl
West 8 is an international office for urban design and landscape architecture founded in 1987. Over the last 20 years West 8 has established itself with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects, and industrial engineers. West 8’s main office is based at the port of Rotterdam, and has three branch offices in Belgium, New York, and Toronto. West 8’s New York office was established after winning an international design competition for the design of Governors Island Park – a 172-acre island in the New York Harbor. With a multi-disciplinary approach to complex design issues, West 8 has extensive experience in large-scale urban master planning and design, landscape interventions, waterfront projects, parks, squares, and gardens. The firm also develops concepts and visions for large-scale planning issues that address global warming, urbanization, and infrastructure. West 8 has developed projects all over the world, including Copenhagen, London, Moscow, New York, Madrid, Toronto, and Amsterdam. The office gained international recognition with projects such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam, Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam, Chiswick Park in London, and Expo ’02 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. Recently won competitions include Toronto Waterfront in Toronto, Governors Island in New York, and Playa de Palma in Mallorca. Among the numerous awards received by West 8 are the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), the Prix de Rome, the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Bijhouwer Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, the Green Pin, and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design.
Support
The League thanks the Trespa Design Centre for generously hosting the panel discussion and registration portions of the Student Program; and KPF for the end of day reception and office visit. The Architectural League thanks the following schools for their support of the Student Program and League programs: Architecture Department, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; Barnard + Columbia Department of Architecture; Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, The City College of New York; Cornell University College of Architecture, Art & Planning; Department of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania School of Design; Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University; The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union; New Jersey School of Architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Princeton University School of Architecture; School of Architecture, Pratt Institute; School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design; and Syracuse University School of Architecture.
