Friday, May 16, 2014 . . NYC

Urban Nature: Between Human and Non-Human FRIDAY, MAY 16, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM — RSVP At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place [Directions]

Speakers: David Benjamin, Columbia University GSAPP Elisabeth Bronfen, University of Zurich D. Graham Burnett, Princeton University Christophe Girot, ETH Zürich Janette Kim, Columbia University GSAPP Laura Kurgan, Columbia University GSAPP Kate Orff, Columbia University GSAPP Emily Eliza Scott, ETH Zürich Philip Ursprung, ETH Zürich Günther Vogt, ETH Zürich Mark Wigley, Columbia University GSAPP Organized by: ETH Zurich, in partnership with the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), Columbia University, and AIA New York Chapter | Center for Architecture AIA CES: 5.5 LU Price: Free RSVP

Today, the built environment and the urban are often perceived to be synonymous. Societies the world over  are constantly attracted to the metropolis. In the near future, we hear, almost all humans on the planet will live in cities. The grand narrative of the urban has replaced the grand narrative of progress, which dominated the 20th century. At the same time, this new grand narrative becomes questionable as “nature” enters into the focus of our attention by way of global climate change, frequent natural disasters, and ever more popular destinations for domesticated natural beauty, retreat, and recreation. What is meant by the “urban” and “nature” however, remains largely up for debate. How can we resist this dualistic and teleological way of thinking? Can the concept of “urban nature” help us focus more clearly on the interrelation between the human and the non-human? Can it help explain pervasive fascinations with the zones of transition, the wastelands between the urban and the natural? Can it serve as a platform of exchange between different fields of knowledge such as architecture, urban planning, biology, history, and anthropology? For most inhabitants of Zurich, New York is the very emblem of the urban. New Yorkers, on the other hand, might identify Zurich with the pastoral and thus with “nature.” In reality, New York is at the forefront of an urban “green revolution,” and the emergence of public spaces like the High Line are emblematic of this transformation. Conversely, Zurich is witnessing the most rapid building boom in its history — and turning grey. New York is regularly hit by natural disasters, while nature in the environments of Zurich is completely domesticated. What can we learn from these dynamics? How do the urban and nature, or more generally, the human and the non-human, relate to each other? What are the implications of this interaction for design and for historical research? Explore some answers in this interdisciplinary discussion, challenging our notions of "urban" and "nature." Schedule 9:00 am Philip Ursprung and Mark Wigley: Opening remarks: The Concept of “Urban Nature” 9:30 am D. Graham Burnett: Leviathan and the Young Republic, and Laura Kurga, Respondent 10:00 am Emily E. Scott: Exploding the Garden-as-Usual: Manhattan, c. 1969, and Kate Orff, Respondent 10:30 am David Benjamin, and Christophe Girot, Respondent 11:00 am Günther Vogt: Nature of the City, and Jannette Kim, Respondent 11:30 am Response to the morning session by Elisabeth Bronfen and general discussion 12:00 pm Lunch break 1:00 pm Laura Kurgan: Urban Datafication: Data Naturalization, and D. Graham Burnett, Respondent 1:30 pm Christophe Girot: Next Natures and Other Topologies, and David Benjamin, Respondent 2:00 pm Janette Kim: What Happens When You Sit Still for Too Long, and Günther Vogt, Respondent 2:30 pm Kate Orff: Rebuilding Eco-Infrastructures, and Emily E. Scott, Respondent 3:00 pm Coffee break 3:15 pm Discussion moderated by Philip Ursprung and Mark Wigley 4:00 pm End of conference Zürich Meets New York: A Festival of Swiss Ingenuity, May 16-23, 2014, highlights the contemporary relevance of visionary movements and ideas born in Zurich and their impact on American culture. Building on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Dada movement and Zurich’s role as a 21st-century hub for artistic and scientific innovation, the festival features 25 events at venues across the city, and is presented by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, the City of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich (UZH). This symposium is a program related to The Swiss Touch in Landscape Architecture exhibition on view at the Center for Architecture in the spring of 2014. This program is related to the AIANY Chapter’s 2014 presidential theme "Civic Spirit: Civic Vision." This program is presented as a part of NYCxDESIGN 2014.

Urban Nature: Between Human and Non-Human FRIDAY, MAY 16, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM — RSVP At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place [Directions]

Landscape stands today at the center of the political, aesthetic and social discourse of our time. While nowadays everyone has a voice concerning landscape — journalists and politicians, architects and urban planners, sociologists etc. refer to it all the time — the most important figures working in the field of landscape, that is, the landscape architects and the garden designers, are still mostly unknown to the public. The Swiss Touch in Landscape Architecture intends to fill this gap and provide an insight into the extreme richness and variety of Swiss landscape architecture. In the context of The Swiss Touch in Landscape Architecture landscape architecture is not understood in a narrow and dogmatic way: besides landscape architects, the show also presents the relevant work of architects such as Bernard Tschumi or Herzog & de Meuron and that of engineers like Jürg Conzett. Cocktails & Conversations: Massimiliano Fuksas, Hon. FAIA, Gregg Pasquarelli, AIA, and Paul Goldberger, Hon. AIA FRIDAY, MAY 16, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM — Register At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place [Directions] The Pairing: Massimiliano Fuksas, Hon. FAIA, Co-founder, Studio Fuksas; Gregg Pasquarelli, AIA, Principal, SHoP; and Paul Goldberger, Hon. AIA Journalist and Author Cocktail Designed by: Toby Cecchini, Bartender and Author Organized by: cultureNOW and the AIANY Architecture Dialogue Committee Price: $15 for AIA members; $20 for non-members AIA CES: 1.0 LU Register Join us for a conversation with architect Massimiliano Fuksas, Hon. FAIA,  Studio Fuksas,Gregg Pasquarelli, AIA, Principal, SHoP, and Paul Goldberger, Hon. AIA. How do you spend Friday evening? Do you join those who jam NYC’s cultural institutions or overpopulate film theaters? When it hosts a pair of NYC's most interesting and provocatively creative thinkers, the Center for Architecture - one of NYC's premiere cultural institutions - can certainly lift your spirits. This series joins an architect with a critic, journalist, curator, or architectural historian to discuss current architecture design issues. Friday night is not “Friday Night” without the appropriate beverage. We’ll provide a custom-crafted cocktail inspired by the architect's work and created especially for this event.  Massimiliano Fuksas, Hon. FAIA, Co-Founder Studio Fuksas Of Lithuanian descent, Massimiliano Fuksas was born in Rome in 1944. He graduated in Architecture from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1969. Since the eighties he has been one of the main protagonists of the contemporary architectural scene. Fuksas has been a Visiting Professor at a number of universities, including Columbia University in New York, the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, and the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. From 1998 to 2000 he directed the “VII Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics”. Since 2000, he has been the author of the architecture column, founded by Bruno Zevi, in the Italian news magazine L'Espresso. He is the recipient of several prizes and awards, including the "Medaglia della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri" in 2012, the “Légion d’Honneur” given by the President of the French Republic in 2010, and the “Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française” in 2000. He won the “Grand Prix National d'Architecture Française“, in 1999 and the career prize "Vitruvio International a la Trayectoria", in 1998, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the American Institute of Architects, the Académie d'Architecture, and the Accademia di San Luca, Italy. Gregg Pasquarelli, AIA, Principal, SHoP Gregg Pasquarelli is a Founding Principal of SHoP. Pasquarelli received his architecture degree from Columbia University and a Bachelors of Science from Villanova’s School of Business. He has taught at Yale, The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Florida, and has lectured internationally. Paul Goldberger, Hon. AIA, Journalist and Author Paul Goldberger, who the Huffington Post has called “the leading figure in architecture criticism,” is now a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair. From 1997 through 2011 he served as the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker, where he wrote the magazine’s celebrated “Sky Line” column. He also holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City. He was formerly Dean of the Parsons school of design, a division of The New School. He began his career at The New York Times, where in 1984 his architecture criticism was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, the highest award in journalism. Goldberger is the author of several books, most recently Why Architecture Matters, published in 2009 by Yale University Press; Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, a collection of his architecture essays published in 2009 by Monacelli Press; and Christo and Jeanne-Claude, published in 2010 by Taschen. He is now at work on a full-length biography of the architect Frank Gehry, to be published by Alfred A. Knopf. In 2008 Monacelli published Beyond the Dunes: A Portrait of the Hamptons, which he produced in association with the photographer Jake Rajs. Goldberger’s chronicle of the process of rebuilding Ground Zero, entitled UP FROM ZERO: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York, which was published by Random House in the fall of 2004, and brought out in a new, updated paperback edition in 2005, was named one of The New York Times Notable Books for 2004. Goldberger has also written The City Observed: New York, The Skyscraper, On the Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post-Modern Age, Above New York, and The World Trade Center Remembered. Toby Cecchini, Bartender and Author Toby is a writer and bartender based in New York City. He has written on food, wine and spirits for GQ, Food and Wine, and The New York Times. His first book, Cosmopolitan: A Bartender's Life, was published in 2003. He is currently at work on his second book, a travelogue of spirits based on his travels for The New York Times' living and travel magazines. He began bartending at the Odeon in 1987, where he is credited with creating the internationally recognized version of the Cosmopolitan cocktail in New York. He followed that with stints in several bars including Passersby, which he owned until 2008. This program is presented as a part of NYCxDESIGN 2014. Register Friday, May 16, 2014 at 6:00 PM - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Bubbles at Bazzeo Friday, May 16,  2014  at 6:00 PM JOIN US TO EXPERIENCE A NEW CONCEPT OF BEAUTY AND HARMONY AT HOME