LECTURES AND EVENTS

Tuesday, October 31 , 2017
Student Lecture Series: An Evening with Robert Wilson
1 Have You Been Here Before / 2 No This is the First Time
 

In an exceptional performance of two hours, director and artist Robert Wilson invites us into his astonishing aesthetic universe. Combining hundreds of striking images from through his prolific career, Wilson provides an intimate self-portrait of his creative process. 

Mr. Wilson references his landmark original works for the stage such as Deafman Glance, A Letter for Queen Victoria, Einstein on the Beach (created with composer Philip Glass), The CIVIL warS, and The Black Rider, as well as his acclaimed work for the operatic and theatrical repertoire, including his luminous stagings of Madama Butterfly, Wagner's Ring Cycle, The Magic Flute, Ibsen's Peer Gynt  and Heiner Mueller's Quartett. At the conclusion of the Performance, the audience is invited to explore Mr. Wilson's ideas further during an informal question-and-answer period. 

The Student Lecture Series is made possible through a generous contribution to the School of Architecture Dean's Circle by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown. 

The event is free and open to the public.  General public should reserve a space  here. First come, first seated.

Image: Robert Wilson, courtesy of Lucie Jansch, 2011. 

Center for Architecture 2017 Dean's Roundtable
 

Please Join us for the Center for Architecture's thirteenth-annual Dean's Roundtable. Representatives from several local schools of architecture will discuss current directions in architectural education.

Speakers:
Amale Andraos Deborah Berke, David Burney, Robert Kirkbride Mohsen Mostafavi Maria Perbellini Rhett Russo Anthony Schuman Robert Shibley Andrea Simitch,  Michael Speaks Frederick Steiner Nader Tehrani.

Moderator:
Reed Kroloff , jones|kroloff, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum

This event is free and open to the public. Please register here

Current Work: Deborah Berke, Deborah Berke Partners
 

New York-based Deborah Berke Partners (DBP) is a 60-person architecture practice that "emphasizes the transformative character of architecture through the re-imagination of old buildings and the creation of inventive new ones." The firm's residential, commercial, educational, cultural, and civic projects reflect an approach that "is human centered in all scales, from the broad vision of masterplans to the focused details of interiors (and everything in between)."

Moderated by Nader Tehrani. 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.

Christian Kerez: Definitions of Space
 

Often, architectural space is defined by requirements which are totally arbitrary and alien to the discipline of architecture itself. This lecture will focus on architecture and its medium, the three-dimensional space, not in a closed, clearly defined way, but instead in an experimental way that opens up various approaches for defining and thinking about space. Working titles such as atomized space, incidental space, ornamental space, and fluid space, among others, are used to describe architecture in the most distant and abstract way: only with words, deliberately without any images or references, and purely by the effort of thinking to trigger projects - working on the essence of architectural space itself. 

This lecture is sponsored by The Ornamental Metal Institute of New York with support from The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union. 

The event is free and open to the public.  General public should reserve a space  here. First come, first seated.

The Making of an Avant-Garde
The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies 1967-1984
 

A film written, produced and directed by Diana Agrest.  

"The Making of an Avant-Garde: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies 1967-1984" documents the founding and influence of the Institute as told through interviews with some of the most renowned architects of today.  Contextualized by the director's own archival footage as well as a rich and abundant portrayal of the period, the Institute's leaders and most active participants (many of whom who were hardly known then) tell compelling stories about the creation and existence of The Institute as well as personal experiences that were never made public before. 

Featuring: Peter Eisenman, founder and director, Diana Agrest, Mario Gandelsonas, Kenneth Frampton, Anthony Vidler, Richard Meier, Charles Gwathmey, Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Emilio Ambasz, Deborah Berke, Suzanne Stephens, Robert Stern, Mark Wigley, Bernard Tschumi, Joan Ockman, Paul Lewis, Lucia Allais and others.

The film premiered at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in June 2013.

This event is free and open the public. Please RSVP here

Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment
 

Geostories  is a manifesto, developed by the design-research practice Design Earth, on the environmental imagination presented in architectural projects that engage the planetary scale with a commitment to the drawing as medium. This exhibition will present four subject-specific projects - After Oil Of Oil and Ice Pacific Aquarium  and Trash Peaks  - in the form of large scale drawings printed on canvas and mounted on wood. 

Exhibition Dates
Tuesday, October 17 - Saturday, December 2, 2017

Gallery Hours
Tuesday - Friday 2pm-7pm, Saturday and Sunday 12pm-7pm
Closed Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24

This event is free and open to the public.

Image: "At the Bottom of the World," Of Oil and Ice, 2017. 

Franco Purini: Selected Works
 

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture is pleased to present a selection of original drawings by renowned Italian architect, Franco Purini. The exhibition includes twenty-six works completed between 1984 and 2016, illustrating Purini's distinct and visionary approach to the representation of architecture through drawing, capturing his ongoing "research for the genetic principle of a building, of a city, of an intervention into the landscape." In his contemplations on the act of drawing, Purini states: "With drawing, you can depict architectures that can be constructed or which live only as visual utopias; buildings that are no longer in existence that rise again through their graphic reconstruction; architectures that never existed and architectures that could never exist. Drawing is also the only cognitive and creative space the architect has to effectively know the physical world in which his works will exist."

Presented in collaboration with the New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture & Design, in conjunction with   Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment.

This event is free and open to the public.

Image: For Purini: Teatrino N. 5 - Teatrini | Small Theater N. 5, From the series "Theaters", 1997. 

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 [email protected] or call (212) 353-4104.

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

Image courtesy of Anita Seiff. 

FACULTY NEWS  
Nader Tehrani, Arch dean/fac (NADAAA principal) | Article | "Turning Full Circle,", CANADIAN ARCHITECT, October 2017 | Juror and Panelist | Practice Session No. 5 Review + Panel Discussion, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture, October 23, 2017, Detroit, MI

Elizabeth O'Donnell, AR '83/Arch Assoc Dean & fac | Article | "The Right Match," KITCHEN & BATH BUSINESS, October 23, 2017

Diana Agrest, Arch fac | Article | "The End of Theory?" e-flux architecture, October 25, 2017

Joan Ockman, AR '80/Arch fac | Article | "Slashed," e-flux architecture, October 27, 2017 | Publication | "Architecture and Representation," e-flux architecture, October, 2017 | Lecture | "Spectacle," The Berlage, Delft, The Netherlands, January 12, 2018

Common Accounts (Igor Bragado, Arch fac, principal) | Group Exhibition | ARE WE HUMAN? : The Design of the Species : 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years, Princeton University School of Architecture, November 6, 2017-January 5, 2018

Eva Franch | Juror | Critical Halloween: Holes, hosted by the Storefront for Art & Architecture, taking place at the Museum of Sex, October 31, 2017, NYC

ALUMNI NEWS
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Elizabeth Diller, AR '79, Ricardo Scofidio, AR '55/Arch fac emeritus) | Group Exhibition | ARE WE HUMAN? : The Design of the Species : 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years, Princeton University School of Architecture, November 6, 2017-January 5, 2018

Peggy Deamer, AR '77 | Article | "How architects should reconsider the way they work," THE ARCHITECTS' NEWSPAPER, October 25, 2017 | Publication | "Architecture and Representation," e-flux architecture, October, 2017 | Lecture | "Contract," Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, November 16, 2017

Stan Allen, AR '81 | Lecture | Bodies of Work, University of Virginia School of Architecture Graduate Open House Keynote + Dean's Forum Lecture, November 6, 2017, Charlottesville, VA

Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, AR '94 | Participant | Urban Futures, The Center for Humanities, CUNY Graduate Center, November 3, 2017, NYC | Participant | Sandy, Five Years On: Has the Climate Changed?, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, City College, November 6, 2017, NYC

Jean Brownhill, AR '00 | Article | "The Right Match," KITCHEN & BATH BUSINESS, October 23, 2017

OPEN CALLS & OPPORTUNITIES
NEW   

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS | Design Communication Conference 2018: Virtual + Actual: Process and Product of Design reflects recent emergence and inclusion of various digital, virtual, and manual tangents in both educational environment and professional practice that influences the way we link between process and product of design. Deadline: December 1, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS | Tangible-Intangible Heritage(s), London 2018 In redefining heritage as a physical, social, political, economic, artistic, media and design issue, this conference attempts to open up the concept of heritage to a reading that is interdisciplinary and concerned with both the past and the future. Deadline: March 1, 2018. Learn More...  

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | 2017 New York Business Plan Competition is the only leading collegiate business plan competition that is a regionally coordinated, collaborative, statewide program. Open to current graduate and undergraduate students at any accredited NYC-based institution. Deadline: March 2018. Register here. Learn More... 
DEADLINE APPROACHING   

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Grant   promotes the advancement of personal and professional development of an architect in early or mid-career through travel. Travel plans should be focused on a selected topic of interest to the individual, rather than a part of a larger humanitarian or institutional endeavor. Deadline: November 1, 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...

OPEN CALL | Extended Program of the Dutch Pavilion 2018 Invites researchers and designers in the field of architecture to submit projects for the extended program of the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018, in response to the theme WORK, BODY, LEISURE, commissioned by Het Nieuwe Instituut. Deadline: November 8, 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 APPLICATIONS | Harvard GSD Richard Rogers Fellowship a residency program based at the Wimbledon House in London, is intended to encourage in-depth, original form of investigation as a way to expand both practice and scholarship. Open to accomplished professionals and scholars working in any field related to the built environment. Deadline: November 14, 2017. Learn More...

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS | CUAA Annual Awards 2018 asks alumni to nominate (i)living Art, Architecture, Engineering, Physics and Math alumni who are extraordinary in their fields for the appropriate professional award and (ii) alumni within any major who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to public service for the Peter Cooper Public Service Award. Please send completed forms to [email protected]. Deadline: November 15, 2017. Download Nomination Form.
ONGOING

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...

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Conservation as a Human Science Fellowship (CHS): New York/Amsterdam Bard Graduate Center, together with the Conservation & Sientific Research Department of the Rijksmuseum, announces a year-long (2018-19) fellowship focusing on developing the idea that conservation practice is a human science. Deadline: December 1, 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 [email protected]. Deadline: December 12, 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... 

FIGURE DRAWING | Cooper Figure Drawing Sessions take place every Wednesday night from October 4 through December 13. Any questions contact [email protected]. Come at or before 8:30PM to guarantee a seat. 

CALL FOR PROJECTS | S. ARCH AWARDS invites architects, academics, studios, developers, engineers, and students to submit their projects in two categories: The best completed project award and the best conceptual design award. Deadline: December 22, 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...

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | Bard Graduate Center Visiting Fellowships invites scholars from university, museum, and independent backgrounds with a PHD or equivalent professional experience to apply for non-stipendiary visiting fellowships, to be held during the 2018-19 academic year. The theme for this period is "When is After?" Deadline: February 1, 2018. 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...

                                                                                         

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