LECTURES AND EVENTS

Tuesday, September 26 , 2017
Daniel Libeskind, AR '70: From Zero to Infinity
 

An international figure in architecture and urban design, the architect Daniel Libeskind is renowned for his ability to evoke cultural memory in buildings of equilibrium-defying contemporaneity. Informed by a deep commitment to music, philosophy, and literature, Mr. Libeskind aims to create architecture that is resonant, original, and sustainable. Born in Lód'z, Poland, in 1946, Mr. Libeskind immigrated to the United States as a teenager and, with his family, settled in the Bronx. After studying music in New York and Israel on an American-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship, he developed into a musical virtuoso, before eventually leaving music to study architecture. He received his professional degree in architecture from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1970 and a postgraduate degree in the history and theory of architecture from the School of Comparative Studies at Essex University in England in 1972. Learn More... 

This event is free and open to the public. Reserve a space  here.

Image:  Studio Libeskind, Military History Museum, Dresden, Germany, 2011. Image courtesy of Hufton+Crow. 

Master of Architecture II Advanced Design Studio 2016-17 Graduate Thesis Exhibition: A Leap Into the Void
 
Closing Soon: On Exhibit through September 29, 2017 in the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery 

Thesis positions the architectural studio as a space for the exploration, experimentation and production of new forms of knowledge and design innovation. In a semester-long endeavor of architectural research, students both negotiate and interrogate a vast range of issues with complex and often contradictory impulses, particular to the advancement of disciplinary knowledge.

Inevitably, it is a leap into the void, an exploration of the uncharted territories where architectural research dwells. A leap into the unknown entails an instance of suspension on the rational to embrace the irrational. This temporary suspension of reason is necessary to challenge the grounds of our architectural clichés.

This "leap" has yielded 13 projects across 5 continents, negotiating erotic desires, social struggles, environmental decadences, paranoid secrecies, material instabilities and political folly. The work is deeply personal and provocative, as many students take their theses "home," to research local conditions in familiar sites all over the world, perpetually confronting questions of tradition, difference and architectural particularity with global concerns.

Closing Friday, September 29 - 6:00 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 12 - 7 PM 

This exhibition is free and open to the public.

Film Screening | Point 0: Architects in the Making
 

A film by Christina Condak

In collaboration with Toxic Dreams (Yosi Wanunu and Michael Stromann)

POINT 0 is an oral history film done with a twist: architects reflect on their initiations into the culture of architecture education in a kind of ritual performance. Asked to recall vivid memories and relevant experiences from their education, they perform a few physical actions and tell their stories. Although filmed in front of a neutral background, specificities quickly emerge: a wide range of responses are juxtaposed, revealing essential preoccupations within three generations of architects. This is not just text as information: you see the person and you hear their story.

This film is a special collaboration between an architect and a theater team, which led to its unique quality. It is accessible to anyone interested in making and thinking.

Christina Condak holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and a Bachelor of Architecture from The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of the Cooper Union, with an award from the New York Society of Architects upon graduation in 1994. Born in Manhattan, she lives and teaches architectural design at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 1997. She was a visiting design professor at Cornell University in 2002-03 and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Malaquais in 2016-17. Condak shares a small architecture practice,Nurarchitektur (i.e. simply architecture), with Peter Leeb in Vienna since 1997. For her, Nurarchitekturmeans that one can address any problem through the artistic discipline of architecture, which is an attitude of making and searching.

Toxic Dreams is a Vienna based experimental performance company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. Founded in 1997 by Kornelia Kilga (producer) and Yosi Wanunu (director) the group is an ensemble based company, with artists from various disciplines who make work for theatre, dance, performance, and video and digital media. Michael Strohmann, a musician and sound engineer, is also a member of the company.

To view the trailer for POINT 0 click here.

This event is free and open to the public.

Current Work: Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, Kieran Timberlake
Moderated by Marion Weiss
 

Founded in 1984 by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake designs educational, cultural, civic, governmental, and residential buildings. Seeing research as a fundamental part of architectural practice, the firm has a trans-disciplinary team "dedicated to interrogating and advancing building design practices through material, system, process, and environment driven questions."

Projects that embody the firm's commitment to sustainability and materials research include the Melvin J. and Claire Levine Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, which employs the first actively ventilated curtainwall of its type in North America; SmartWrap™, a mass-customizable building envelope exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and Cellophane House™, a fully recyclable, energy-gathering dwelling exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. KieranTimberlake's mixed-use building at 181 Mercer in New York City is currently under construction as part of New York University's campus expansion. The firm designed the Embassy of the United States in London with the aim to significantly reduce energy consumption, set an agenda to achieve carbon neutrality, as well as contribute to the current revitalization of South Bank's industrial zone through the creation of a civic plaza and park.  

Marion Weiss is cofounder of WEISS/MANFRED Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, based in New York City and the Graham Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

1.5 AIA and New York State CEUs

This lecture is co-sponsored with The Architectural League of New York.

Free for all Cooper Union students, faculty and staff, and League members.

Image: Dilworth Plaza Renovation, Center City District, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2014 © James Ewing Photography

WAYS TO GIVE BACK
The Diane Lewis Memorial Architecture Travel Fellowship: In Search of Civic Space

Close friends and colleagues of Diane Lewis AR '76 have established an endowed travel fellowship in her memory. The Diane Lewis AR'76 Memorial Architecture Travel Fellowship: In Search of Civic Space will be awarded to Cooper Union architecture students for summer travel between their fourth and fifth years. Students will be expected to focus on a major reoccurring architectural theme of great importance to Professor Lewis - defining and designing 'Civic Space.' 

Prof. Lewis once said, "The most exciting work of the architect is to understand the city as a work of art. It's the idea of advocating great civic space as the work of artists, architects and engineers together, which I believe is the original motive of this school." We encourage you to support her vision and continue her legacy with a memorial gift. 

To donate by check, please:
   * Make it payable to The Cooper Union
   * Note on the memo line "Diane Lewis Memorial Fund" 
   * Mail it to the attention of Jennifer Durst, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development, 
      The Cooper Union, 30 Cooper Square 8th floor, New York, NY 10003

To donate securely online by credit card, please visit here and note in the box for "Other gifts" that you wish to direct your contribution to the "Diane Lewis Memorial Fund."

If you have any questions, please email development@cooper.edu or call (212) 353-4104.

To view Dean Nader Tehrani's letter to the community honoring Diane, visit here.

Image courtesy of Anita Seiff. 

OPEN CALLS & OPPORTUNITIES
NEW   

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | Omi International Arts Center Architecture Residency Program is conceived to facilitate projects exploring the intersection of architecture, art and landscape. Deadline: October 20, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR PAPERS | The S.ARCH 2018 Conference accepts papers for the following topics and tracks: State of affairs and Future Visions, Conceptual and Methodical Concepts, Holistic Environmental Perceptions, Interactive Structures, Built Environment, Urban Ecology and Climate, Bioclimatic and Cultural Sensitivity, Energy Saving, Materiality, Investments and Constructions. Deadline: November 24, 2017. Learn More...

APPLICATIONS OPEN | The Cornish Family Prize for Art & Design Publishing will award the winner with $15,000 AUD, with additional $1000 AUD prizes for up to five finalists. The NGV invites applications from publishers, artists, designers, writers, curators and organizations around the world. Titles must have a publish date of January 2017-December 2017. Deadline: December 12, 2017. Learn more...  

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | The Melbourne Art Book Fair will bring together international and local publishers and practitioners in a weekend of free talks, book launches, performances, and stalls featuring art, design, architecture and photography publications form around the world. The book fair will take place from March 16 through March 18, 2018. Learn More...
DEADLINE APPROACHING   

DESIGN COMPETITION | The 2018 Better Philadelphia Challenge In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway, we're seeking your creative concepts for what a new 'Parkway' could be in a dense and developed 21st century city, connecting neighborhoods with nearby natural and cultural resources. Deadline: September 28, 2017.  Learn More... 

CALL FOR PRESENTERS | OAA Annual Conference: Continuing Education The Ontario Association of Architects invites individuals or organizations to invite presenters to submit proposals for Continuing Education sessions to be considered for the 2018 OAA Conference: Bold by Design. Deadline: September 29, 2017.  Learn More...

CALL FOR PAPERS | European Architectural History Network Tallinn 2018 Each paper should take no more than 20 minutes to present. Abstracts for session presentations should define the subject and summarize the argument to be made in the presented paper. Deadline: September 30, 2017. Learn More...
ONGOING

OPEN CALL FOR CURATOR | The Oslo Architecture Triennale (OAT) seeks a Chief Curator, theme and concept for its seventh edition to be held in Oslo, Norway, during autumn 2019. Individuals or collectives of any nationality and country of residence are openly invited to send their proposal in English. Deadline: October 18, 2017.  Learn More...

DESIGN CONTEST | Waterproof: Palazzo Ca' Tron The aim of the contest is to create a link between the world of design and production, and stimulate innovative solutions that start from the knowledge and from the eventual customization of materials used for the project. This is a redevelopment project that must consider the multiple functions that are attributed to the Palazzo Ca' Tron. Deadline: October 20, 2017. Learn More... 

DESIGN COMPETITION | arch out loud: Nuclear Landmarker for a Waste Isolation Site asks competitors to design a marker or marker system to deter inadvertent human intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The purpose of the marker is to communicate with future generations that transuranic waste is buried within a repository at the facility. Deadline: October 21, 2017. Learn More...

IDEAS COMPETITION | UNFUSE: The Black Taj is prompted by the possibility that a second mausoleum across the Taj Mahal was supposed to exist, how would build it?  Deadline: October 29, 2017.  Learn More...

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Transient Spaces is a publication project originated at CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture by faculty members whose research and studio practices engage with the themes of transiency, activism and dwelling in contexts of impermanence and crisis, where the demand for belonging and community building challenges the agency of design and our roles as architects and educators. The publication will include work of artists, scholars, students, architects, engineers and actors from humanitarian support mechanisms. Abstracts deadline: September 15, 2017. Contribution deadline: October 30, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | 2018 Berkeley Prize: Applying the Social Art of Architecture The Berkeley Prize Competition was established in 1998, made possible by a generous gift of Judith Lee Stronach to the Department of Architecture in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. There are two ways of competing, an essay competition and a travel fellowship. Deadline: November 1, 2017. Learn More...

IDEAS COMPETITION | SHELTER 48: Emergency Life-Support Design For this challenge, Eleven Magazine focuses on natural disasters by looking at the concept and definition of shelter in their immediate aftermath and posing the question: how can architecture and design help protect, shelter and save lives when they strike? Deadline: November 11, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Art Intervention on the Perimeter of the new Eaux-Vives Station in Geneva The City of Geneva, through its Contemporary Art Fund, is organizing a two-round competition to create one (or several) art intervention(s) in connection with the construction of a new area within the Eaux-Vives district. Submit entries by email. Deadline: November 13, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS | Amps Critical Practice in an Age of Complexity aims to stimulate critical debate about the standard practices dominating the built environment seeking perspectives from architects, urban designers, planners, artists, human geographers, sociologists, media specialists and more. Deadline: December 5, 2017. Learn More...

DESIGN-BUILD CHALLENGE | Reinventing the African Mud House Nka Foundation is issuing a challenge to designers, architects, engineers and innovators to use their creativity to come up with modern mud types for rural Africa. The challenge is to design and build a sample component of a vocational school of arts and design that generates electricity by use of renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar photovoltaic, geothermal heat, water, biomass or another type. Email your portfolio and CV to info@nkafoundation.org. Deadline: December 12, 2017. Learn More... 

OPEN CALL | Arquine Competition No. 20: MEXTROPOLI PAVILLION 2018 The Arquine International Architecture Competition calls for design and build proposals for a public installation that generates civic architectural interactions. Deadline: January 12, 2018. Learn More...

CALL FOR ENTRIES | Ornamental Metal Institute of New York: Design the Next-Generation Facade challenges participants to submit their vision for a facade system that can play a major role in enhancing employee health and well-being at a tech incubator on the Williamsburg waterfront. Deadline: February 1, 2018. Learn More...

FACULTY NEWS  
Nader Tehrani, Arch dean/fac | Lecture | Baumer Lecture Series, Knowlton School of Architecture, Ohio State University, September 27, 2017, Columbus, OH | Lecture | University of Buffalo School of Architecture, October 4, 2017, Buffalo, NY

Aranda/Lasch (Benjamin Aranda, Arch fac) | Article | "Design Renaissance in Columbus, Indiana," ARCHITECTURAL RECORD, September 21, 2017

ALUMNI NEWS
Elizabeth Diller, AR '79 | Speaker | Frieze Art & Architecture Conference, The Royal Institution, October 6, 2017, London, England

Suzan Wines, AR '90 | Speaker | Sciame Lecture Series: Faculty Pecha Kucha, CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture, October 5, 2017, NYC

                                                                                         

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