The Deborah J. Norden Fund 1998

In 1998, the Architectural League awarded two grants: one to Josef Asteinza for “The National Center for the Arts and the architecture of the Cuban revolution,” and another to Diana Nicklaus for “Learning in stages: The theaters of Berlin, Amsterdam, and London.”

“The National Center for the Arts and the architecture of the Cuban revolution”

Josef Asteinza travelled to Havana to study the architecture of the Cuban revolution. He focused on two projects of the early days of the revolution: the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte (ENA, 1960–1963), a complex of art schools in a confiscated private golf course, and the Ciudad Universitaria Jose Antonio Echeverria (CUJAE, 1961–1969) which houses the reorganized School of Engineers, Electricians and Architects of Havana University. Asteinza explores these examples to analyze the role of large-scale projects in the shaping of cities and the use of alternative building techniques in response to extraordinary conditions, all geared towards understanding how the radical shift in intentions and social thinking of this period was expressed through a new visual language.

Josef Asteinza has been involved in producing three-dimensional digital data models of American cities for Urban Data Solutions, set designs for Moving Theater, and architectural designs for Wank Adams Slavin Architects and Utopus, whose projects include urban design. His trip to Cuba has served as an indispensable point of reference in his architectural, planning, and design career, most directly in planning work for Columbia University and for NYU Medical Center.

“Learning in stages: The theaters of Berlin, Amsterdam, and London”

With the support of the Norden Fund, Diana Nicklaus travelled to Berlin, Amsterdam, and London to study theatre and performance hall design. She grappled with questions of how the buildings relate to their surroundings and the city; how the reputation of a theater (for example, that of radical interpretations) can be echoed in its architecture; and how form may achieve aesthetic and acoustic characteristics, all seen in the light of enhancing performance.

Diana Nicklaus has contributed to the design of performance spaces within two large museums, and a music hall in a conservatory. Now, she works at Collins Gordon Bostwick Architects in Cleveland, Ohio.