First. We are endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President in the upcoming election. Politics is not our focus, but this election is simply too important stand on the sidelines.
The work will by no means be over on November 3, but there is a great deal of work to be done between now and then (for anyone who is reassured by Biden’s recent 14 point lead, remember on Oct. 10, 2016, polls showed Hillary Clinton with a 14 point lead), so we want to do our part. As John Lewis wrote, in the essay published on the day of his funeral,
“You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
So we intend to act. We are not going to re-hash the news in which you are already inundated or start sending correspondents to jostle with the White House press corps. Nor will we abandon our architecture coverage (for architecture, too, is political). But we have talented designers in our community and our friends at a83 have a printing press, so we are making some yard signs.
If you would like to design a yard sign, read our open call and please send it to editor@nyra.nyc. Chosen designers will receive a $200 honorarium. We are accepting designs and putting them into production on a rolling basis, but no later than October 10. 18x24 inches. One or two colors, any gradient possible.
If you would like to receive a sign, we will be giving them out to everyone who has volunteered for or donated to a campaign. Please sign up for your sign here.
If you would like to help cover the signs’ printing and design costs, please e-mail us at publisher@nyra.nyc. We will be making limited edition prints for donors. None of our subscription revenue, which is reserved for our operations and contributors, is going into this project. The more we raise and the faster, the more quickly we can go into production and the less each sign will cost.
Our first yard sign, above, designed by Erik Freer.
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Second, with Dark Matter University we are co-hosting a conversation at 6:30pm on Thursday October 15, ‘A CASE FOR PUBLIC DESIGN EDUCATION’ with Lesley Lokko, Shawn Rickenbacker, Lisa C. Henry, Claire Weisz, and Sanjive Vaidya. Each panelist will give a short presentation, followed by a conversation between each other and their audience, moderated by Dr. Sharon E. Sutton.
Some readers may remember that on July 30th the Review organized the discussion ‘NEW GROUNDS FOR DESIGN EDUCATION’, a discussion among organizers in the movement to combat racism and encourage inclusion in higher education. But what about institutions that are already inclusive? Why should architecture be so dominated by elite - and expensive - institutions in the first place? How is the profession supposed to serve the public, if the ranks of the profession are filled by the few?
And credit to Hanh Le, who designed the event poster. (See the DMU version, here).
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Third. Three articles:
From Avery Shorts, The Master’s Concerns / The Anti-Racism Design Resources, by Brenda Zhang, digs into Audre Lorde’s line, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” pointing out that “…perhaps, ‘the master’s tools’ never belonged to the ‘master’ in the first place.” Find the rather incredible tool that Brenda has helped assemble, anti-racism design resources, here.
Speaking of assembling, from Fast Company, Chris and Bill Sharples, two of the cofounders of SHoP, have announced a new company, Assembly, which they think has finally figured out how to move construction off site and into the factory - every part of a building except the foundation and podium, “So once you get above the ground floor, it’s modular all the way.” They already have four New York apartment projects underway.
‘Practice Architects & Power’:
It is still abundantly clear that this predominantly white male profession is quite ineffectual in the larger scheme of things, and that many minorities who are interested in environmental issues believe that law and business offer surer routes to positions of influence. I fundamentally disagree with this perspective and would like to propose to those of you interested in the inseparable tasks of diversifying and empowering the profession that the route to all power is through knowledge.
Written by Dr. Sutton, in 1992. Read the whole thing. Find the article’s pdf in the background reading folder for the Public Design discussion, link at the end of the rsvp form.
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Finally, events.
A few to look out for:
- A discussion at Cooper on 10/7 hosted by engineer Nat Oppenheimer on how we can root out modern slavery in building construction (depressingly difficult),
- The Reimagine town hall also on 10/7 by the Architectural League featuring 120 recent graduates on what the future may look like.
- A discussion of a documentary on 10/10, Social Housing / Social Cleansing, that will send you a link to view the documentary upon registration,
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Full list below. If you plan to attend an event and would like to cover it for the Review, please tell us: editor@nyra.nyc.
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Monday, 10/05
United Nations World Habitat Day Conference
10:00am | UN + AIANY
The Future of the NYC Waterfront: Harlem River
4:00pm | CFA
Sciame Series: Luis Callejas
5:30pm | Spitzer
Rick Cook: Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
6:00pm | CFA
BLACK RECONSTRUCTION COLLECTIVE by MARIO GOODEN resp. by Charlette Caldwell, Caitlyn Campbell, Brian Turner, and Ife Vanable
6:00pm | GSAPP
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Tuesday, 10/06
Visualize NYC 2021: Expanding Public Realm
8:30am | CFA
JUSTIN STEIL on FAIR HOUSING
1:00pm | GSAPP
VISITING LECTURE | ELLIE ABRONS AND MEREDITH MILLER, T+E+A+M
6:30pm | Cooper
CAMERON ROWLAND, "ENCUMBRANCE"
7:00pm | Cooper
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Wednesday, 10/07
Pratt Panel Mod. LISA ACKERMAN
10:00am | Pratt
Omit Needless Words by Alberto CAMPO BAEZA
12:00am | NYIT
Francine Houben: People Place Purpose Poetry
5:15pm | Cornell AAP
ACTIVISM: Climate, Labor, Memorial with Kadambari Baxi
6:00pm | Rice
LUIS C.DEBACA AND SHARON PRINCE, GRACE FARMS: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO COMBAT MODERN SLAVERY IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT?
6:00pm | Cooper
PRATT PROVOCATIONS: NEW MODES OF PRACTICE with Deborah M. Garcia, Jessica Myers, and Bryony Roberts, Mod. Cynthia Davidson
6:30pm | Pratt
Reimagine Town Hall
7:00pm | Arch. League
HYBRID MODELING OR HOW TO MAKE VIRTUAL MODELS VISCERAL BY BIKA REBEK
7:00pm | GSAPP
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Thursday, 10/08
NYCHA’s Blueprint for Change: Featuring Chair Greg Russ
11:00am | CFA
Black Women in Architecture Brunch
11:00am | BWA
Monument Lab Town Hall: Shaping the Past
12:00am | Goethe Institut
Design Showcase: Bryan C. Lee, Jr. ‘08
5:00pm | NJIT
ICONICA!: BLACK TRANS WOMEN REARRANGING SYMBOLS OF FREEDOM
5:30pm | Pratt
Lecture: Anda French and Jenny French
6:00pm | Princeton
Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers
6:30pm | YSoA
Memorial to Enslaved Laborers with J. Meejin Yoon, Eric Höweler, Gregg Bleam, E. Franklin Dukes, Eto Otitigbe, Diane Browne Townes, Mabel O. Wilson, mod. Farah Jasmine Griffin
6:30pm | Cornell AAP
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Friday, 10/09
Can Design Move Movements? With Caroline Tiger and Royce Epstein
1:00pm | Dissent By Design
AFFORDABLE HOUSING & (RACIAL) EQUITY IN DEVELOPMENT WITH GUEST CECILY KING
1:00pm | GSAPP
J. Max Bond Jr. Lecture | IMPATIENCE!
6:00pm | CFA
URBAN CHINA FORUM 2020: DAY 1 with Daizong Liu, Ying Long, Rui Qian, Lan Wang, Zhiquiang Wu, Yamin Xu, & Qingming Zhan
8:00pm | GSAPP
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Saturday, 10/10
PRATT INSTITUTE HOUSING SYMPOSIUM: Social Housing / Social Cleansing
10:00am | Pratt
URBAN CHINA FORUM 2020: DAY 2
8:00pm | GSAPP
+ MADE IT TO THE END BONUS: An exhibit! Dante Furioso and Luis Salas Porras have turned Citygroup at 104b Forsyth into a comfy catacomb. It is “available to reserve for small groups who wish to interact indoors, watch a film, have a video call, or simply hang out.” E-mail softcatacombnyc@gmail.com to reserve the space, see photos here.
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We call this newsletter is called the ‘pitch sheet.’ To submit an article, event, exhibit, building etc. for the pitch sheet, e-mail us at editor@nyra.nyc.
To see the complete list of events, go to nyra.nyc/events.
If you would plan to attend one and would like to write it up for us - do it! Sign up by e-mailing editor@nyra.nyc
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