Click here to listen to the podcast of this event

More than any city administration since John Lindsay’s, the Bloomberg administration has made improving the physical city—and an emphasis on high quality in architecture and landscape design—an important focus of its agenda. The most visible impacts of this focus have come through the work of the city departments of Parks, Planning, Design and Construction, and Transportation. Paul Goldberger, architecture critic of The New Yorker, will engage the commissioners of these departments—Adrian Benepe (Parks), Amanda Burden (Planning), and David Burney (Design and Construction)–in a discussion about how they have made design integral to the work of their departments; what today’s stringent fiscal constraints portend for the continuation of their efforts and the preservation of what they have already created; and what their agendas promise for the mayor’s final term. This program is presented in conjunction with the Architectural League exhibition The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010.

Both Adrian Benepe at Parks and Recreation and Amanda Burden at City Planning have served as the commissioners of their departments since the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg’s first term in 2002. Benepe’s history with his department goes back to 1973, when as a teenager he was hired as a seasonal helper in parks on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He served in various other positions in the department after graduating from college, including as a member of the first corps of Urban Park Rangers in 1979, and subsequently as Director of Natural Resources & Hortibulture, Director of Art & Antiquities, and Manhattan Borough Commissioner. Amanda Burden served as a member of the Planning Commission, as the appointee of the Public Advocate, from 1990 to 2001. Prior to her appointment as Chair of the Commission, she was Director of Planning for the Center for Court Innovation, Vice President of Panning and Design at the Battery Park City Authority, and Vice President of Architecture and Design at the NYS Urban Development Corporation. David Burney was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction in 2004, after serving for a decade as director of design and capital improvement at the New York City Housing Authority. An architect, Burney worked for Davis, Brody & Associates after immigrating from England to the United States in 1982.

Paul Goldberger has been architecture critic at The New Yorker since 1997. His two most recent books are Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, and Why Architecture Matters. He holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at the New School in New York, where he was previously Dean of Parsons, the New School for Design.

(Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, previously announced as part of this program, is now unable to participate because of a schedule conflict.)

Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $15 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets here until 3:00 p.m. the day of the program.

AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Photo credits from left to right: Kyle R. Brooks, Steven Yavanian, Frank Guittard, Jason A. Tax.

Conversations on New York 2: Dan Doctoroff and Paul Goldberger
Thursday, July 8
7:00 p.m.
The Rose Auditorium
41 Cooper Square
1.5 CEUs
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Click here to listen to the podcast of this event

As New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development from 2002 to 2007, Daniel Doctoroff set in motion a number of sweeping initiatives, including the effort to bring the Olympics to New York (which he began as a private citizen in the late 1990s), the development of the far west side of Manhattan into a new office and residential center, congestion pricing, and PLANYC 2030, a long-term plan to accommodate the city’s growing population and address environmental challenges. In conversation with Paul Goldberger, architecture critic of The New Yorker, Doctoroff will discuss the accomplishments and disappointments of his tenure, and the challenges facing the city looking forward from 2010. This program is presented in conjunction with the Architectural League exhibition The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010.

Dan Doctoroff is currently President of Bloomberg LP, an international information and news company that he joined after leaving city government in late 2007. Doctoroff was the founder of NYC2012, the effort to win the 2012 OIympic Games for New York City. Prior to becoming deputy mayor, Doctoroff was managing partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners.

Paul Goldberger has been architecture critic at The New Yorker since 1997. His two most recent books are Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, and Why Architecture Matters. He holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at the New School in New York, where he was previously Dean of the Parsons School of Design.

Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $15 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets here until 3:00 p.m. the day of the program.

AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010 is supported by Sciame and by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

Photo credits from left to right: Kyle R. Brooks, Steven Yavanian, Frank Guittard, Jason A. Tax. On front page, details from photographs.

The Architectural League Prize:
ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS; ESKYIU; PEG office of landscape + architecture
Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak; Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu; Keith VanDerSys
Introduced by Ben Pell
Tuesday, June 29
7:00 p.m.
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design
66 Fifth Avenue
1.5 CEUs
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Tickets to the second night of the League Prize lectures are sold-out. The reception and exhibition following the lecture are free and open to all. You may attend the reception without holding a ticket to the lecture.

The second evening of lectures by winners of the 29th annual Architectural League Prize, featuring Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak of ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS; Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu of ESKYIU; and Keith VanDerSYS of PEG office of landsape + architecture.

Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak founded ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS, a Brooklyn-based architectural office, in 2009. Responding to the theme, the firm writes: “It is here…the unconsidered – that many time-tested vernacular typologies, materials, methods and forms reside largely forgotten. It is possible, however, that a reconsideration of these issues – indeed, these resources – through the lenses of contemporary design techniques…might reveal new uses, methodologies, forms, and effects.” Recent projects include The 4D Lightful Gardens; a proposal for the Somerville, Massachusetts Arts Union Beacon; 100 Straight Skeletons, an investigation into the reuse of common suburban roof construction techniques and a collaboration with Gehry Technologies through their “What’s Your Problem” competition; and the Charlottesville Green housing proposal. The firm’s work has been widely published and exhibited at numerous institutions including Columbia University, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and The Boston Society of Architects.

Emily Abruzzo received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College and her Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She has been a lecturer and guest critic at numerous institutions, including Parsons The New School for Design, where she is currently an instructor in the Interior Design Program. Emily is a founding editor and publisher of 306090. Gerald Bodziak received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The University of Michigan and his Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He has been a guest critic at numerous institutions and is a co-editor of 306090 14, “Making a Case.”

Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu founded ESKYIU in 2005 as a design collaborative integrating culture, art, community, technology, and architecture. Based in New York and Hong Kong, the firm’s interests are in “examining the ways in which built environments shape social relationships by forming connections between civic engagement and sustainable design.” Selected projects include Chinatown WORK 2006, an interactive public arts installation sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Department of Cultural Affairs, and 3form material solutions; SINO, a video installation shown at the Brooklyn Museum; Nutritious: an Aeroponic Façade exhibited at the Architectural Association in London; Human Motor: Narratives from the Assembly Line exhibited at the International Architectural Biennale Ljubljana; and Linear Landscapes: Fabricating a Rural/Urban Interface, an award winning project created for a noise barrier competition. Current research projects include “Urban Pastoral”, “Heirloom,” and “Farming Factory”. Recently they served as curators for the 2009 HK SZ Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. Their work, research, and writings have also been published in Thresholds MIT, Domus China, LOG Journal, Architectural Record, and A/D.

Marisa Yiu received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She currently teaches at the University of Hong Kong. Eric Schuldenfrei received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, where he is completing his PhD. He has held numerous teaching positions.

Keith VanDerSys is a partner of Philadelphia-based PEG office of landscape + architecture, which he co-founded with Karen M’Closkey in 2004. The office “explores the expressive potential of surface techniques that open up more integrative thinking about natural systems in urban environments. We utilize pattern as a discernible, repetitive system that enables the display of new combinations of organic and inorganic material in the formation of public space.” Projects include Hustle & Flow, Chicago; Double Jeopardy, west lounge, Ann Arbor; Mies van der Rohe Plaza, Detroit with PLY Architecture; Not Garden, Philadelphia; and Ripple Effect, New York. PEG has been published internationally and has won numerous design awards, including the Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Prize, three American Institute of Architects Awards, and an I.D. Magazine award.

Keith VanDerSys received his Bachelor of Architeture from the University of Detroit and a Master of Art in Critical Studies in Architectural Culture from the University of California Los Angeles. He currently teaches studios and technology courses in the departments of architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tickets are free for League members; $10 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets here, beginning one week before each program until six hours before the program start. Purchased tickets are available for pick-up at the venue check-in desk and are non-refundable.

For more information, email info@archleague.org or call 212.753.1722 x13. AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

The Architectural League Prize is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The program is also supported by the LEF Foundation, and by Dornbracht, Ibex Construction, Susan Grant Lewin Associates, and Tischler und Sohn.

The League thanks the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design for co-sponsoring the exhibition and lecture series.

Architectural League programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Images from top left to bottom right:  Peaks & Valleys / © ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS llc;  URBAN PASTORAL: Fabricating a Vertical Landscape. Image courtesy of ESKYIU;  Not Garden /PEG; Irish Hills House / © ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS llc; LINEAR LANDSCAPES: Fabricating a Rural/Urban Interface. Image courtesy of ESKYIU; Double Jeopardy, west lounge, PEG. Photo: Beth Singer

129th Annual Meeting
Monday, June 28
6:30 p.m.
New Academic Building of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
41 Cooper Square
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6:30 p.m.
Reception and open house in the Academic Building

7:00 p.m.
Remarks by Calvin Tsao, President, Architectural League of New York
Election of officers and directors
Remarks by Thom Mayne, architect of the Academic Building

7:30 p.m.
Open house continues until 8:00 p.m.

The Architectural League would like to thank the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art for hosting this event.

Light refreshments will be served.

Reservations are requested. This is a members-only event. Members may make reservations for themselves and one guest. Please RSVP by Thursday, June 24 to rsvp@archleague.org.

Photo by Iwan Baan.

Featuring work by Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold; Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo; Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres; Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak; Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu; and Keith VanDerSys.

June 23-August 6, 2010
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue
New York City

The gallery is open daily from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibition will also be open on the evenings of the lectures. For more information on the lectures, click here. For more information on this year’s competition and winners, click here.

The League thanks the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design for co-sponsoring the exhibition and lecture series.

The Architectural League Prize is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.  The program is also supported by the LEF Foundation, and by Dornbracht, Ibex Construction, Susan Grant Lewin Associates, and Tischler und Sohn.

Architectural League programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

The Architectural League Prize: Austin+Mergold; Bittertang; FAR frohn&rojas
Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold; Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres; Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo
Introduced by Cristina Goberna and Jinhee Park
Tuesday, June 22
7:00 p.m.
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design,
66 Fifth Avenue
1.5 CEUs
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Tickets to the first night of the League Prize lectures are sold-out. The reception and exhibition following the lecture is free and open to all. You may attend the reception without holding a ticket to the lecture.

The League Prize exhibition opening and first evening of lectures by winners of the 29th annual Architectural League Prize, featuring Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold of Austin+Mergold; Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo of FAR frohn&rojas; and Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres of Bittertang.

Austin+Mergold is an architecture and landscape practice based in Philadelphia and Ithaca. Founded in 2007 by Jason Austin and Aleksandr Mergold, the firm “operate[s] on the cusp of architecture, landscape, design, and installation art…Believing that it is preferable to rethink and repurpose existing resources than to tap new ones, we infiltrate existing systems that are responsible for constructed environments, rather than reinvent the wheel each time. …For us, this is sustainable design—both vis-à-vis the environment and our own practice—and it is particularly well-suited to the twinned economic and ecological crises that we face today.” Projects include: House-in-a-Can/Park-in-a-Can, Mechanicsburg, PA; SURAL wall; RVG club house, Mechanicsburg, PA; The Grand Resource, Hong Kong; and ParkView, Carlisle, PA. Their work has been widely published including in Inhabitat, The New York Times, The Architect’s Newspaper, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jason Austin received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania where he received a Master of Landscape Architecture. He currently serves on the adjunct faculty in the Department of Architecture at Temple University and Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania. Aleksandr Mergold received his Master of Architecture at Princeton and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Currently he is a Visiting Critic in Cornell’s Department of Architecture.

Bittertang strives “to bring humor and pleasure to the built environment by digging deep into the sensual world that surrounds us; extracting rich and hilarious fodder from overlooked eras that have contributed integral matter to the production of architectural atmospheres. One of our goals is to resurrect the Rococo continuing where its practitioners left off, privileging interactive pleasure, frothiness, plant, and animal sourcing as well as immersive design…Our explorations are based in digital and visceral matter with output transitioning between scales and localities leaving traces of our frothy matter in various disciplines.” Currently, Bittertang operates out of Guadalajara and New York City and has had work published in the U.S. and South Africa. The partnership of Michael Loverich and Antonio Torres began in 2005. Recent projects include Microcosmic Aquaculture, “gelatinous orbs” of living and man-made matter to produce recreational and farmed spaces; Plush Toy Collection, explorations of tectonics, sensation, atmosphere, and narrative in soft body miniatures; and the Gondwana Circle garden design.

Antonio Torres and Michael Loverich both hold Master of Architecture degrees from UCLA. Michael Loverich received his Bachelor of Art in Architecture from the University of Washington. Antonino Torres received his Bachelor of Art in Architectural Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelors Degree from the E’cole de Architecture de Versailles.

FAR frohn&rojas is a networked architectural design and research practice led by Marc Frohn and Mario Rojas Toledo, located in Berlin, Santiago de Chile, and Los Angeles. Through its name the office acknowledges “both its geographically distributed anatomy as well as the increasingly widened pro¬fessional scope that is literally shaping its work…establishing a more diversified type of architectural production in which both the inherent contradictions between geographies, as well as the stretching of disciplinary boundaries will let formerly undeterminable links thrive.” The firm also investigates “’deep structures’ at play in each new project: the legal and financial constraints, desires, power structures and technological, eco¬logical, material, and institutional frameworks that shape the built environment.” Projects include the Wall House in Santiago; the House in Heat, Rancagua, Chile; 2 in 1 in Cologne; and the Zero Emission Campus in Düsseldorf. The firm has won the DETAIL Prize and the AR award for emerging architecture. Widely exhibited, the firm’s work has been published in Architectural Record, Icon, Architectural Review, Azure, Domus, and other journals.

Marc Frohn received Master of Architecture degrees from Rice University and the University of Houston. He recently taught at SCI-arc. Mario Rojas Toledo received his diploma from the School of Architecture, RWTH Aachen and a degree in architecture from the Secretaría de Educación Superior. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello in Santiago.

For more information, email info@archleague.org or call 212.753.1722 x13. AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

The Architectural League Prize is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The program is also supported by the LEF Foundation, and by Dornbracht, Ibex Construction, Susan Grant Lewin Associates, and Tischler und Sohn.

The League thanks the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design for co-sponsoring the exhibition and lecture series.

Architectural League programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Images from top left to bottom right: SURAL wall, © Austin+Mergold; Gondwana Circle: Interior View and Section, Bittertang; WALL HOUSE , Santiago de Chile (2004-2007), FAR frohn&rojas; RVG club house, © Austin+Mergold; Plush Toy Collection: Mother and Child, Bittertang; 2 in 1 , Cologne, Germany (2007-2009). FAR frohn&rojas + Sebastian Potz.

Conversations on New York 1: Alex Garvin
With moderators Rosalie Genevro and Michael Sorkin
Thursday, June 17
7:00 p.m.
Rose Auditorium, The Cooper Union
41 Cooper Square
1.5 CEUs
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Click here to listen to the podcast of this event

“Conversations on New York” are presented in conjunction with the League exhibition The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010.

Conversations on New York 1 will feature urban designer Alexander Garvin.  Garvin played a major role in two of the most ambitious and discussed public planning initiatives of the decade, serving as managing director of the NYC 2012 effort and as director of planning, design, and development for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The program will look at both of these projects as well as the role of urban design in the transformation of New York over the past decade.

Garvin is currently President of Alex Garvin and Associates, a planning and design firm based in New York City. From 1996 to 2005, he was Managing Director of Planning for NYC2012. During 2002-2003, he was the Vice President for Planning, Design and Development at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. He served as a member of the New York City Planning Commission from 1995-2004.

The program will be moderated by Rosalie Genevro, executive director of the Architectural League, and Michael Sorkin, director of the graduate program in urban design at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at City College and vice-president for urban design of the Architectural League board of directors.

Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $10 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets here from June 10 until 3:00 p.m. the day of the program.

AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

Co-sponsored by The Cooper Union Department of Continuing Education and Public Programs.

This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010 is supported by Sciame and by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

NYC2012 Olympic Village, courtesy of Alex Garvin.

Eric Owen Moss
With respondents Jeff Kipnis, Wolf Prix, and Claudia Schmied
Thursday, May 27
6:00 p.m.
The Great Hall, The Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
1.5 CEUs
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Please note new location:  The lecture will take place in the Rose Auditorium at the Cooper Union, 41 Cooper Square (the new Morphosis building), not the Great Hall as originally advertised.

Austrian Culture Minister Claudia Schmied appointed SCI-Arc Director and architect Eric Owen Moss as Commissioner for the Austrian Pavilion at the Architecture Exhibition at the 2010 Venice Biennale—the first foreign architect to be asked to commission a national pavilion. Join Moss, Schmied, architect Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au, and critic, theorist, curator, and educator Jeffrey Kipnis for “Trajan over Nero—Vienna, Venice, Los Angeles,” a preview of the pavilion and a discussion of Austrian architecture around the world as well as international architecture in Austria. There will also be a moment of appreciation for our friend and colleague Raimund Abraham, who taught for many years at The Cooper Union and who most recently taught at SCI-Arc.

Free and open to all. RSVP to rsvp@archleague.org.

This program is organized by the Southern California Institute of Architecture and is co-sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture; the Austrian Cultural Forum; The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union; and the Architectural League of New York.

New York Designs
Group Tour
Karen Fairbanks, Michael Manfredi, and Marion Weiss
Wednesday, May 26
5:00 p.m.
The Diana Center
3009 Broadway
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Tickets for the tour to the Diana Center are sold out.  If you would like to be added to the wait list, email anderson@archleague.org.

Michael Manfredi and Marion Weiss, principals of Weiss/Manfredi, will lead a tour of their newly completed The Diana Center at Barnard College. Joining the tour will also be Karen Fairbanks, Chair of the Department of Architecture at Barnard College.

Winner of a national design competition and a Progressive Architecture Award, the project establishes “a new nexus for social, cultural and intellectual life at Barnard.”

Carving a diagonal void through the seven-story building on Broadway, a slipped series of atria create views through diverse program spaces and visually connect the adjacent Lehman Lawn to the upper floors of the building and the green roof. The facade – composed of 1,154 clear and color integral glass panels – translates the brick and terra cotta of the surrounding neighborhood into an energy-efficient exterior.

Envisioned as a center for campus life, the 98,000 square foot building includes architecture and painting studios, a 500-seat performance space, black box theatre, cafe, dining room, reading room, classrooms, and exhibition galleries.

Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism is a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York City. Founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, the firm is known for the integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. Weiss/Manfredi received the Academy Award in Architecture and were named by the Architectural League as an “Emerging Voice.” The firm has also won the New York City AIA Gold Medal of Honor. Other major projects include the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle; the Smith College Campus Center in Northampton, MA; and the Taekwondo Park in Muju, South Korea.

Reservations are required. Due to the limited number of tickets and to facilitate fair access across our membership, reservations are limited to members only. Upper level members, including League Circle firms, are limited to two reservations. Reservations open on May 11th at 10:00 a.m. Please email anderson@archleague.org. Further program information will be given upon confirmation.

This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The League also thanks the Architecture Department at Barnard College for partnership on this program.

Diana Center, Barnard College. West Stair. Photo by Albert Vecerka/Esto; Diana Center, Barnard College. View from Gallery. Photo by Paul Warchol.

Medellín: Design Transformation
Matilda McQuaid, Camilo Restrepo Ochoa, Federico Restrepo, and Mauricio Valencia
Moderated by Mark Robbins
Saturday, May 22
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Rose Auditorium, The Cooper Union
41 Cooper Square
2.0 CEUs
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Over the past ten years, Medellín, Colombia has been transformed from one of the most violent cities in the world to a vital community whose new architecture carries the powerful message of social and educational inclusion. Policymakers, planners, and architects from current and former administrations in Medellín will discuss the city’s design strategies in relation to its remarkable transformation.

“Our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas”: these are the words of former mayor of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo, who led the city’s efforts with a team of architects, urban planners, social workers, community members, and technical and social experts.

Speakers include:
Matilda McQuaid, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Deputy Curatorial Director

Camilo Restrepo Ochoa, is an architect who graduated from and is now teaching at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín. Camilo Restrepo Architects is an architecture practice concerned with the managing, production, and administration of public space

Federico Restrepo, a civil engineer and General Manager of the utility EPM, and former Planning Director during the Fajardo administration

Mauricio Valencia, an architect and current Planning Director of Medellín, and former Secretary of Public Works during the Fajardo administration

Moderator:
Mark Robbins, Dean of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University, former Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts, where he developed an aggressive program to strengthen design in the public realm

This program is free and open to all. Due to space limits, reservations are suggested. RSVP by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. For general information, email info@archleague.org or call 212.753.1722 x13. AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available.

This program is co-organized by Cooper-Hewitt The National Design Museum and The Architectural League of New York, and is co-sponsored by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

League programs are made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Images courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt