In 1996, Van Alen Institute launched an ideas competition called “Public Property,” to which
over 200 individuals submitted design proposals celebrating the significance of Governors Island
to public life in New York City.

Myriad civic and public organizations have since engaged in imagining Governors Island’s reuse,
culminating in the 2003 formation of Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC). 

As the future of Governors Island takes shape this spring and five internationally-renowned
design teams present schemes for the site’s redesign*, Van Alen Institute joins GIPEC and its
partner organizations in celebrating the recent history of Governors Island, its relationship
to the New York Harbor, and the role of design competitions in defining and developing public
sites in New York City. 

Van Alen Institute will host an Open House and Conversation on Wednesday, June 13
from 6:00pm – 8:00pm featuring a display of the original design brief, winning proposals,
and attendant materials from the 1996 competition.

Panelists will include Ray Gastil, Linda Pollak, Tracy Metz, Damon Rich and others TBD.    

***

“…The competition asked the right questions. How could one ensure the island’s stake in the public life of the city 
 and region?
 More difficult, perhaps, was the competition’s request for proposals that might also “expand ideas
 of site, the urban, and properties of the public by recognizing the endowments of city life: diversity of use,
 tolerance of difference, and change over time.”  
          
 
 -James Corner, Introduction

Landscape Documents: Governors Island
©Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, 1996 

Space for this event is limited; please RSVP to rsvp@vanalen.org by 5:00pm on Monday, June 11, 2007.   

Van Alen Institute is located at 30 W. 22nd Street, 6th Floor. Take the Q, N, R or F, V trains to 23rd Street.

*"The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island", an exhibition of the five current proposals
for Governors Island is on view at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY, until August 25, 2007.