New, new and more new at the Center for Architecture

After hosting two acclaimed preservation exhibitions in the past year - Modernism at Risk and ContextContrast: New Architecture in Historic Districts, it's about time we look forward. After all, architects are responsible for designing for the future of our built environments. We started in June with the opening of "Our Cities Ourselves: The Future of Transport in Urban Life." With the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, we developed a travelling exhibition that looks at ten global cities, and proposes transportation solutions for 2030. One of the key points of ITDP's policy is Bus Rapid Transit, which builds above ground, pay-before-entering, even-level entry bus stations around the city. While the show's been in the works for a year, it's an appropriate time to talk about the future of transportation planning and design: this fall, N.Y.C. will be testing out a model related to the BRT, with on-street payment kiosks being built along First and Second Aves. Last week, we looked forward again with the opening of our New Practices New York 2010 exhibition. Over 450 people attended the opening - a sign that we're not the only ones interested in the future of architecture and design firms in the city. Two of the seven firms have been in the news this summer—SO-IL won the MOMA/ PS1 Young architects program, building the 2010 courtyard installation at PS1 in Queens, and EASTON+COMBS is designing a hexagonal "SOFTHOUSE" for transitional housing in Haiti. But the other firms, Archipelagos, LEONG LEONG, MANIFOLD, SOFTlab, and Tacklebox, are also offering exciting visions into the future of design. Many of these architecture and design firms are starting with residential and retail projects, temporary installations, and exhibition design, but I'm confident that as their reputations grow, their innovative ideas will carry farther and wider. I encourage you to visit the exhibition (on view through Oct. 23), to attend our New Practices New York Winners' Showcase, on Thurs. July 29, at 7 p.m. at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Pl., $10 admission), and to visit the winners' studios when they are open as part of the openhousenewyork weekend this fall, Oct. 9 and 10. And finally, we're looking forward to the fall and our exhibition Innovate : Integrate. This exhibition is the first Center for Architecture exhibition devoted to the field of construction. We held a design competition for innovative curtain wall design earlier this year. The winner, "Liquid Wall" by Peter Arbour, Assoc. AIA and RFR Consulting Engineers, will be constructed in the Center for Architecture's double-height storefront space. We're collaborating with Georgia Tech, Lafarge North America, and Coreslab Structures Inc, on the fabrication of the wall, which is so new it's still patent-pending. The prototype uses high-tech concrete, the first time it's been used in a façade, and it represents innovation in materials, fabrication, and construction technology. I'm thrilled that the Center for Architecture can be host to such an important debut, and must thank the many exhibition sponsors, especially FJ Sciame Construction, for supporting the installation. We are also showcasing a full-scale piece of the new Integrated Concentrating Solar Façade System, licensed by HeliOptix and developed by CASE/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As the title implies, the wall collects solar energy, giving buildings the chance to make their own energy. While there are plans to include the energy-harvesting windows in the new Fashion Institute of Technology C2 building, there are currently none of these exciting, energy-generating façades in N.Y., so you'll have to come to the Center for Architecture to see the future for yourself. The Innovate: Integrate exhibition opens Oct.5. Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, IIDA, is the 2010 president of the N.Y. chapter of the AIA, New York, N.Y.