Friends of the Review,
Welcome to next week in New York Architecture. For new readers, welcome! Send it to a friend, they can sign up here.
Some background. Since the beginning of the New York Review of Architecture, we have sent out a ‘Pitch Sheet’ once a month with a list of upcoming topics and events for our writers.
From here on out we are going to make this e-mail weekly. How come? First, the conversation was moving faster than our pitch sheet. The stories that dominated our last two issues, Style Wars (No. 9) and the Pandemic (No. 10) both broke after we had sent out the pitch sheet. Being weekly should make us more nimble. Second, who plans out a month ahead anymore?
We are also going to start sending the pitch sheet to our entire community. Why? Because we think all of our readers want to know about upcoming events and interesting buildings and articles, and because - while we will always be in print - eventually we are going to put reviews online, too, and this newsletter will give us a way to deliver them to you, our readers.
We are changing the style of the pitch sheet so it will be enjoyable for readers as well as writers, but writers we still want pitches. If you see something here you want to write about, tell us. Read our writing guidelines, then send your pitch to: editor@nyra.nyc
I am an unabashed fan of weekly newsletters, including BIG, Oversharing, The Orbital Index, The Prepared, and even wrote my own for a while ‘pulp’ - so I know how much work it can be to do these well. Because the Review is run by a bunch of volunteers (though, thanks to our subscribers, we pay all the writers!), we are going to make this work more manageable by rotating who puts together the pitch sheet each week. This week is written by me, Nicolas Kemper, the publisher of the Review. I work for an architecture firm, write, and grow tomatoes. I have not left the island of Manhattan since March 5. When I visited Brooklyn.
Anyway. Onto the good stuff.
BROADCAST is the word of the week. As everyone knows, the Review is in a bit of a bind, as the scene we cover has evaporated - New York’s mass of institutions, talk shops and schools have all been shuttered. Well good news/bad news. Good news - everyone is back! Bad News. They are all on Zoom.
Columbia has ‘Broadcasts’. Pratt has gone onto Facebook Live. Spitzer has ‘Remote Zoom Lectures.’ Parsons wins the name game with the ‘Cloud Salon’.
We have gone through and put all of them, for the next week, onto our website. The old, canceled events are still on there too - so look for the word ‘Online’ or ‘Broadcast.’
Of particular interest will be a panel convened by SLAB next Tuesday on ‘Graduating During the Coronavirus Crisis.’ SLAB has been a longtime collaborator with the Review, they do an exceptional job of putting together thoughtful and inclusive discussions, and they have assembled a strong panel. Register here.
Also intriguing is Pratt’s ‘Expanded Practice,’ on Facebook Live - a whole two hours of 10 minute presentations, all by different people, about different architecture practices, all remote? Sounds messy.
But really everything, in the opening days of this remote world should be a little messy - everyone has been yanked out of their ruts, making it a fascinating time to take record. If you plan to go into this brave world of zoom and attend an event, tell us if want to write any of them up!
If you ever have an event you would like us to list, or come across something off the beaten track - tell us about it!
POSSIBLE ARTICLES. Where we list articles we wish someone would pitch to the Review. Pitch to editor@nyra.nyc.
ESSENTIAL WORK. In Issue No. 10 ZAZU SWISTEL interviewed nurse FARELL MASON-BROWN about the spatial implications of the pandemic, and she said: "Units have completely restructured. Floors are now designated COVID-ONLY. Visitors are not allowed. It’s really fascinating how we have had to return to the home in order to protect ourselves and our community." We would like to build on that conversation, and have a writer talk to essential workers and ask them about what the implications of the pandemic are for space and architecture - what is the essential work for architects?
EQUITABLE SPACE. In No. 10 JONAH COE-SCHARFF interviewed MIRIAM PETERSON and NATHAN RICH of Peterson Rich Office, and they reflected: “Corona has made us think a lot about equity. Obviously, some people in the city have better access to exterior space and open air than others.” In terms of their current work with NYCHA, they are “trying to think a lot about how to create individual opportunities for outdoor space—really, balconies.” Why don't more public housing projects have balconies? If every bedroom is to have a window, why not every apartment a balcony?
SPEAKING OF BALCONIES, here is our building of the week -
Paul Rudolph’s Graphic Arts Center (1967). Not built. This would have crossed the West Side Highway to span out onto the Hudson. Look at all of those balconies!
Happy writing,
Nicolas