Architecture Week 2009: Celebrating the city

Fall is a wonderful time in New York. The days are crisp, the city is energized after its restful summer... and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter puts on it annual Architecture Week. Of course, the keystone of Architecture Week is our annual Heritage Ball. For the past 20 years, New York's architecture, real estate, and construction communities have gathered to celebrate the exemplars of our design community. This year we'll be honoring Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the visionaries have animated Alice Tully Hall and the High Line; Robert Silman, PE, Hon. AIA, the talented structural engineer who has preserved some of Frank Lloyd Wright's most important buildings; NYC parks commissioner Adrian Benepe, who has spearheaded the Bloomberg administration's program to make a greener, healthier NYC through initiatives in its parks and green spaces, and the Make It Right Foundation, which is building green, affordable, storm-resistant houses for the families of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward. Each of the honorees will host free programs at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place) over the course of Architecture Week. Check out aiany.org/architectureweek for a full schedule. Tickets to the October 8 Heritage Ball can be reserved at aiany.org/heritageball. This year, Architecture Week (October 5-11) is reaching out beyond the Center for Architecture and spreading across the city. Its first stop is just around the corner from LaGuardia Place, a few blocks along West 3rd St. and down a well-traveled flight of stairs to the West 4th St. subways station. For the month of October the chapter has secured the advertising space along both ramps of the West 3rd St. entrance, and will use the high-traffic walkways to display New York Now, AIANY's semi-annual showcase of member work. From residential interiors to restoration projects, skyscrapers to street art installations, it will celebrate the diversity of new work being made in New York City, by AIANY's members. New York City is also at the heart of this fall's presidential theme exhibition, opening during Architecture Week: ContextContrast: New Architecture in Historic Districts, 1967-2009. As a former chair of NYC's Landmarks Preservation Commission, historic preservation is a topic close to my heart, especially in New York, my adopted home. As the president of the AIA's largest chapter, promoting new architecture is equally important: our members have the vision and the skills to build the New York of the 21st Century. Where, then, do these two interests meet? ContextContrast examines this intersection, considering the new architecture in five of New York City's designated historic districts - Brooklyn Heights, Soho, the South Street Seaport, the Upper East Side, and Douglaston, in Queens - and scrutinizing the effects of the design review process mandated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The exciting week closes with openhousenewyork. For anyone that's seen an iteration of the popular weekend, which opens doors to many of New York's most interesting architectural spaces, they know that this year promises to be a treat. The Center for Architecture is proud to be the official OHNY welcome center, and host to their family fest, with activities for kids, and their parents, on Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11. Architecture Week is an exciting time at the Center for Architecture, but it's just one week of a busy autumn. Two education exhibits opened last week at the Center for Architecture. Building Connections 2009 features K-12 student work produced in the Center for Architecture Foundation's educational programs, while Arch Schools: Visions of the Future displays student work from 14 area architecture programs. From kindergarten to collegiate, the work stretches the Center for Architecture even farther than the borders of New York City: it looks forward to the next generation. Sherida Paulsen, FAIA is the 2009 president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, New York, N.Y.