The Arthur M. Rosenblatt Memorial Lecture on Museum Design is a signature event organized each year by the AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee. This year, the committee is honored to host Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano of Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos on October 6, 2022, at 6pm at the Center for Architecture to present their work.

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos was founded in 1985 by Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano and has offices in Madrid and Berlin. The internationally recognized, award-winning firm was recently awarded first prize in the competition for the design of the Museum of Fine Arts in Vannes, France. Among their notable works are the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia, the Madinat al-Zahra Museum in Cordoba, the Moritzburg Museum in Halle, the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, the Zaragoza Congress Centre, the Martin Chirino Foundation in Las Palmas, the Joanneum Museum extension in Graz, and the Contemporary Art Centre in Cordoba. Current projects include the extension of the Archaeologische Staatssammlung in Munich, the extension of the Museo Sorolla in Madrid, the Montblanc Haus in Hamburg, the Archive of the Avant-Garde in Dresden, and the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Girona. Along with being widely published, including four monographs of their work, the work of Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos has been exhibited at the Biennale di Venezia, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Kunsthaus in Graz, and at the MAST Foundation in Bologna. They are the recipients of the 2007 National Prize for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and the 2010 Nike Prize issued by the Bund Deutscher Architekten, as well as the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the 2011 Piranesi Prix de Rome, the 2012 European Museum of the Year Award, the 2012 Hannes Meyer Prize, 2015 AIA Honorary Fellowship, the 2015 Alvar Aalto Medal, and the 2017 Spanish Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts.

Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano are graduates of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University in New York City. Enrique Sobejano is a design professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin and Fuensanta Nieto Fuensanta is an associate design professor in the School of Architecture at the Universidad Europea de Madrid. Both have taught and lectured internationally, and from 1986 to 1991 were Directors of Arquitectura, the magazine of the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid.

Read more about the speakers and register here.

As the world rapidly changes around us, old frameworks for the development of cultural centers look less and less relevant. Continuing the success of the 2020 “Future of Cultural Centers” dialogue series, this year AIA New York will look at cultural institutions that take a mixed-use approach to programming and space and a more holistic view at the human experience. We will touch on opportunities and challenges around these hybrid organizations, questioning what would happen if we were to take this unprecedented time to explore new missions, visions, and models to help address existing institutional deficits. What will 21st-century arts and community spaces be like? Join us for this Spring line-up of conversations as cultural forecaster and museum expert David van der Leer, Principal of DVDL, speaks with professionals from around the US and beyond.

Organized by the AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee and DVDL, and sponsored by Microsol Resources. Intro video by DVDL.

Alex Sarian, Arts Commons

Tuesday, 4/6, 6-7pm

Arts Commons is a multi-venue arts center in downtown Calgary, Canada, located in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District.

See event details >

Melanie Keen, Wellcome Collection

Tuesday, 4/20, 12-1pm

The Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library based in London, UK, that aims to challenge how we all think and feel about health.

See event details >

Gabriel Kogan on SESC Pompéia

Tuesday, 4/27, 6-7pm

Architect, critic, and professor Gabriel Kogan will discuss São Paulo’s SESC Pompéia, a remarkable adaptive reuse project by one of Modernism’s best-known female architects, Lina Bo Bardi.

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Pieternel Thijssen, LocHal Library

Tuesday, 5/11, 12-1pm

LocHal is a world-class urban living room designed by Amsterdam-based studio Civic Architects.

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Kristina Newman-Scott, BRIC

Tuesday, 5/18, 12-1pm

BRIC is a leading arts and media institution based in Brooklyn, New York, whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action.

See event details >

Previous Series Videos

Watch, or re-watch, dialogues from previous installments of the series

Fall 2020

Courtney J. Martin, Yale Center for British Art

Miranda Massie, The Climate Museum

Uzodinma Iweala, The Africa Center

NextGen Reflections

Danny Vargas, Museum of the American Latino

Summer 2020

Nico Wheadon, NXTHVN

Alexandra Munroe, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Margriet Schavemaker, Amsterdam Museum

Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Cooper Hewitt

Scott Cooper, Academy of Natural Sciences

Damion L. Thomas, National Museum of African American History and Culture

On February 23 at 6:00 PM EST, Juan Herreros, founder of Madrid-based estudioHerreros, will present an in-depth look at the process behind the design and construction of the new Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. The commission for this ground breaking building was won through an international design competition in 2009 whose twenty invited participants represented a who’s who of world architects. Since being awarded the project, estudioHerreros has negotiated a complex environment of agendas from various political, social, media, and technological interests that ultimately informed the project’s progress and design. The design process also coincided with growing debates on the role of art institutions as urban infrastructures, the importance of the visitor experience beyond the prototypical model of building as archive, and emerging paradigms about sustainability and a building’s responsibility to minimize its carbon foot print. The Munch Museum is opening in 2021.

Speakers:

Juan Herreros, PhD, Founder, estudioHerreros; Chair Professor of Architectural Design, Madrid School of Architecture; Full Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Karla Rothstein, Founder and Director, Columbia University GSAPP DeathLAB; Design Director, LATENT Productions and Greylock WORKS; Associate Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Register here for the February 23 event

To date, the first round of post-Covid-19 Pandemic reopening guidelines for cultural and performing arts facilities have focused on process. Most of the attention has been directed to public safety and audience comfort levels. For many, these buildings are a place of employment as well as a place of enjoyment. What can we, as planners and designers, do to enhance safety beyond that of the attendees in response to the current pandemic—and can we better prepare these buildings for the future?

Moderator:
Alexa Antopol, Chief Intelligence Officer, Fisher Dachs Associates 

Speakers:
Steven A. Adelman, V.P., Event Safety Alliance; Founder, Adelman Law Group
Heather McAvoy, ASTC, Principal, Schuler Shook
Delia Nevola, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, Steinberg Hart
Steven A. Wolff, CMC, Founding Principal, AMS Planning & Research Corp

Register for the June 19 event here!

Join the AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee for a day trip to Art Omi, an arts center with a sculpture and architecture park and gallery in Ghent, NY. Within the 200-acre campus of Art Omi the unique Architecture Fields consist of 60 acres dedicated to curated installations and pavilions designed by contemporary architects. On the tour a total of 18 works, including 4 new ones to be previewed, will be visited. (Register here.)

In addition to the Architecture Fields, the Art Omi: Architecture program includes a new residency for architects, curated architecture exhibitions on the galleries on campus, and an annual specially-designed event in NYC.

Program
Lunch 12:30pm-1:30pm
Meet at Cafe, Benenson Center
Boxed lunch reserved in advance. Specify: regular or vegetarian.
Beverages/Coffee/Tea available separately from Cafe.

Tour 1:30-3:00pm
Starts at Newmark Gallery, Benenson Center
Tour of Katherine Bernhardt exhibition: GOLD, remarks by Nicole Hayes, art curator and architecture project manager, Art Omi.
Tour of the Architecture Fields with architect Warren James, Director of Architecture, Art Omi.

Getting There

Participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements.  Many will take the train and may wish to organize a hired car service together.

By Car: Approximately 2.25 hours North of Manhattan, via the scenic Taconic Parkway.
By Amtrak: Penn Station to Hudson approximately 2 hours. From Hudson train station to Art Omi campus by private taxi, add 15 mins. Calling local taxi companies ahead is recommended.

Footwear:
Suitable for walking in open fields and woods.

Organized by:
AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee
Art Omi: Architecture