Institute for Public Architecture

Our second annual Summer Solstice Cruise fundraiser treated guests and IPA 2024 Summer Residency Fellows to a lively evening on the water, featuring an AIA expert-guided tour of the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts. Thank you to everyone who attended—your support is crucial to the IPA’s programs, including the Independent Project Residency on Governors Island and The Story of the BQE, A Film and Oral History project.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last Monday for the free public screening of The Story of the BQE documentary at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Williamsburg! It was an incredible evening, featuring inspiring speeches by Diana Reyna, Emily Gallagher, Daniela Castillo and others. Tiffany-Ann Taylor moderated an engaging discussion and audience Q&A with the filmmaker, architect Adam Paul Susaneck. If you missed this sold-out event, don't worry! Another documentary screening and oral history listening event for The Story of the BQE will be held in the Fall—details to come. Stay tuned for upcoming events by following the IPA on social media.

The IPA is pleased to welcome Tiffany-Ann Taylor, Vice President for Transportation at the Regional Plan Association (RPA), to moderate a discussion and audience Q&A with architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design, following the free public screening of his documentary The Story of the BQE on June 17th. This event will also feature audio excerpts from The Story of the BQE oral history project. Registration for the screening has reached full capacity. Due to overwhelming demand, the IPA has now opened standby registration. If you are not yet registered, please register for the standby line. Please note that admission for those on the standby line is not guaranteed. If you miss this event, another screening is planned for Fall. Register for the standby line: https://lnkd.in/eWxpFHMG

Visit us this Summer on June 15, July 13 and August 10, 12pm–4pm for Open [Block] House at 9 Nolan Park on Governors Island. See work in progress and engage in conversation with the 2024 Summer Residency Fellows at the IPA’s 185-year old Block House facility. Visitors will have a chance to meet the Fellows and view drawings, diagrams, artifacts, prototypes, images and text relating to their projects. Also stop by any weekend from June 15–August 25 for Open Library to browse the IPA’s art and design book collection. Learn more about the IPA’s programs and get visiting information: https://lnkd.in/eergVTn3 This Summer, the IPA's five Fellows from the disciplines of architecture, communications design, and sculpture will be working on projects related to public service announcements; memorialization of gun violence victims; ecological grief or “solastalgia”; architecture as catalyst for restorative ecology; and transient, need-based, low-cost architecture. Fellows will live and work together for eleven weeks at the Block House, engaging in public presentations, workshops, and internal cohort activities. The Fellows are: Sarah Dunham, Mitchell Gaudet, Harriet Harriss, Jessica Martin, and Alejandro Saldarriaga Rubio.

The IPA welcomes five new Fellows to the Block House this Summer. Selected by an Independent Committee, Fellows from disciplines of architecture, communications design, and sculpture will be working on projects related to public service announcements; memorialization of gun violence victims; ecological grief or “solastalgia”; architecture as catalyst for restorative ecology; and transient, need-based, low-cost architecture. Fellows will live and work together for eleven weeks at the Block House, engaging in public presentations, workshops, and internal cohort activities. Meet the Fellows and learn more about their work at a series of Open [Block] House events this Summer. From left to right, top to bottom: Sarah Dunham, Mitchell Gaudet, Harriet Harriss, Jessica Martin, and Alejandro Saldarriaga Rubio.

Join us on June 20th at 5:30pm for the IPA’s Summer Solstice Cruise, in support of the Story of the BQE project. Purchase tickets: https://lnkd.in/evxYBiYu An AIA expert guide and special guests will discuss how to balance the restoration of the Hudson & Raritan estuary with the infrastructure demands of the 2nd largest container port in the USA, highlighting interdisciplinary projects that address climate change adaptation and resilience along the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts. Passed hors d'oeuvres and drinks, featuring an IPA signature cocktail, will be served. AIA CES: 1.5 LU | HSW Continuing Education Credits offered.

Recording sessions have begun for The Story of the BQE! Oral history facilitators and StoryCorps veterans Mitra Bonshahi and Adriana Gallardo have begun recording inter-generational interviews for The Story of the BQE. Three generations of the Hernandez family interviewed each other about their experiences of arriving in New York in the early 1960’s, growing up near Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and seeing their neighborhood change over time. All interviews recorded with The Story of the BQE will be archived and available online and included in a community listening event to be held later this year. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eARZkHmk If you or someone you know has stories to tell about living near the highway, please reach out to info@the-ipa.org Image caption: The Hernandez family recording their inter-generational interview for the Story of the BQE with Adriana Gallardo.

A big thank you to the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) for inviting #BUGS to be one of the youth-based organizations to partner on The Story of the BQE (TSOTBQE) project to preserve memories of lives, community, and stories of those impacted by the Expressway. Our 8th graders are being trained by facilitators and StoryCorps veterans to become interviewers and gather the voices and memories of friends, families, and neighbors who live, work, and go to school near the highway and their ideas for reimagining the Expressway. More updates about the interviews to come. Use this link to learn more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eARZkHmk #GrowatBUGS #sustainability #sustainabilityeducation #community #awareness #reach #exploration #studentvoice #LeadChange #socialjustice #equity

Join us on Saturday, May 11 12pm–4pm for Open [Block] House and the opening of the 2024 Spring Exhibition. See final presentations and engage in conversation with the 2024 Spring Residency Fellows at our 185-year old Block House. Visitors will have a chance to meet the Fellows and view drawings, diagrams, artifacts, prototypes, images and text relating to their projects. Also stop by any weekend through May 26 for Open Library to browse our art and design book collection and meet the Fellows.⁠⁠ Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eyUkp8UX

It is with great pleasure that the Board of Directors announces the appointment of Janet Fink as Executive Director of the IPA. Ms. Fink, who served the organization as Interim Executive Director since 2022, was officially promoted in March. Her involvement with the IPA extends back to 2020 when she joined as residency director, leading the selected topic design fellowships – “To Be or Not to BQE” and “Reconnecting Communities Across the BQE” – that explored alternatives to the crumbling and divisive Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. More recently, as interim director, Ms. Fink orchestrated the May 2023 symposium “BQE 2053: Towards a Decarbonized Sustainable Multi-Modal Transportation Network,” which drew over 30 guest speakers and elected officials to the full-day event on Governors Island. Janet Fink is a practicing architect and experienced educator. Her firm, Fink & Platt Architects, restores and expands historic buildings and spaces in New York City and beyond. Additionally, she teaches architecture and urban design studios as an adjunct associate professor at New York Institute of Technology. Ms. Fink has a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and an MArch from Columbia University GSAPP. “IPA Fellows are addressing some of the most urgent issues facing our city, namely, lack of affordable housing and the environmental injustices created by urban highways,” says Ms. Fink. “With last year’s symposium and this year’s oral history project, the IPA is highlighting not only the serious challenges that face communities along the BQE but also the tremendous opportunity communities have to shape the future of their neighborhoods. I’m excited to help continue the work of this worthy organization.” -Janet Fink “I cannot think of a single individual over the past several years who has contributed as much to the growth of our small but plucky not-for-profit, and I, along with the Board, am thrilled to have her lead us into the future as Executive Director.” -Jonathan Kirschenfeld, Founder and President of the IPA Photo credit: Sharon Schuur @Janet Fink, AIA LEED AP