by: James Way
Nine of this year’s AIANY Design Award winners lined up for an evening of presentations “pecha kucha” style – 20 slides at 20 seconds each. It’s the fast-paced format that Tokyo-based Klein Dytham Architecture concocted a decade ago as a monthly party delivering quick doses of design diversity. The Chapter’s 2014 winners presented projects ranging from theoretical and unbuilt work to renovations, high rises, and urban interventions.
Leading the way with 4 World Trade Center by Maki and Associates, Mary Dietz of Silverstein Properties gave the audience an overview of the LEED Gold building and its place on the redeveloped World Trade Center site. Jean-Gabriel Neukomm, a principal at SPAN Architecture, took us to the other end of the spectrum with an interior retail space in China for Calvin Klein that features blackened steel and white marble. While both are fine examples of minimalism, Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, a principal at Architecture Research Office (ARO), presented the renovation of the godfather of Minimalism’s New York abode, the Donald Judd Home and Studio. Judd’s place on Spring Street was essentially stripped and historically preserved in a move so fine one is hard-pressed to find the new.
Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, presented the Danish Maritime Museum. Admittedly, the museum plays on all conventions, and continually “balances legal concerns on one hand and architecture on the other.” Daniel Gallagher, AIA, principal at NADAAA, presented the New Hampshire Retreat, a scholars’ facility that sequesters inward while focusing views onto the landscape. Visitors to “The Edgeless School” exhibition at the Center for Architecture will remember Sage and Coombe Architects’ design that playfully used Scantrons and floating desks. Jennifer Sage, FAIA, walked us through the design’s fomentation and execution.
The remaining award winners presented urban projects. Handel Architects Principal Blake Middleton, FAIA, scrolled through 20 years of Transforming Boston’s Midtown Cultural District. The more theoretical (No) Stop Marconi in Rotterdam by Nahyun Hwang, partner in the eponymous NHDM / Nahyun Hwang + David Eugene Moon, outlined the investigation of empty office space in the Marconi towers with crisp black-and-white isometric drawings, a rarity among hyperrealist renderings. David Chacon, AIA, a senior designer at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, took us through the Zaryade Park project, a 34-acre mix of landscapes and pavilions in the heart of Moscow.
Some projects may be more familiar than others, but all are on display at the Center for Architecture through June 17.
James Way, Assoc. AIA, Marketing Manager at Dattner Architects, frequently contributes to eOculus
Event: 2014 Design Awards Panel – Honor Award
Location: Center for Architecture, 22.05.14
Speakers: Bjarke Ingels, Founder, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group; Mary Dietz, Design Manager, Silverstein Properties; Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, Architecture Research Office (ARO); Jean-Gabriel Neukomm, Principal, SPAN Architecture; Daniel Gallagher, AIA, Principal, NADAAA; Nahyun Hwang, Partner, N H D M / Nahyun Hwang + David Eugin Moon; Blake Middleton, FAIA, Founding Partner, Handel Architects; Jennifer Sage, FAIA, LEED AP, Founding Partner, Sage and Coombe Architects; and David Chacon, AIA, Senior Designer, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Organizers: Center for Architecture