AIA NY pres. “Architects: Assembly Required.” - by David Piscuskas

By David Piscuskas, FAIA, LEED AP

With the start of a new year comes new leadership for AIANY. Our 2016 president Carol Loewenson, FAIA, led with thoughtfulness, diligence, and dedication. Her tenure was marked by strong advocacy for the core values of the profession and practice of architecture. She consistently welcomed the opportunity to meet with industry professionals and government officials and steadfastly encouraged AIANY to serve as a platform for public discourse.

As the 2017 president of AIA New York, I will focus on the theme “Architects: Assembly Required.” Knowing well the diverse voices and views of our membership, we believe the theme is distinctly relevant to our time and place. This year’s upcoming programs and exhibitions aim to connect architects, the building community at large and the public towards making a tangible impact in the issues of diversity, community engagement, and civic participation. The theme will translate into more strategic outreach, research-driven advocacy, and in-person mentorship.

At the Center for Architecture, we will explore various constructs of the social contexts in the postwar modernist era, from the governmental architecture of post-colonial Africa, to the failed idealism of the Heliocoide in Venezuela, to the utopian-ization of suburban America in Wright’s Usonia, and the abstract architectural explorations of Donald Judd. The year will culminate in a major exhibition, “Scaffolding: A Flexible Social History,” which will examine the tapped and untapped possibilities of erecting temporary modular structures to induce new social forms and benefits, while exploring the complex intersections between buildings, capital, power, and artistic expression.

Now, more than ever, architects would do well to engage with their local communities to advance our service to the public. Accordingly, we will promote ways in which more young people can develop an understanding of the built environment, and hopefully, an interest in architecture, design, and construction. We are all enriched by distinctive and durable places that help shape our collective quality of life in New York. We will conduct more programs with open participation, with an expanded assembly of New Yorkers and world citizens, as well as architects and industry professionals.

The membership of AIANY has built a place for discourse and debate, vitality and reciprocal respect. Together, we have created a central forum for the principles and issues of architecture and urbanism, open to architects and to the public. But today is a threshold moment in our profession. We must do more to assist communities in need, connecting our words and ideas with the full and diverse breadth of society, uplifting lives, and advancing human welfare wherever and whenever possible.

David Piscuskas, FAIA, LEED AP is the 2017 president of AIA New York and the founding partner at 1100 Architect, New York, N.Y.