• Gateway Moves Forward
• Call for Portfolios: Design Speed Dating
• VanAlentine's Discounts at Van Alen Books
• Upcoming Bookstore Talks and Events
• Call for Entries and Programs Around Town
• Come Kindle Your Urban Love Affair

GATEWAY MOVES FORWARD

What better way to mark the culmination of our project on Gateway National Recreation Area than to celebrate the news, announced late last year, that New York City and federal agencies are forging a new governing model for publicly-owned parkland around Jamaica Bay? On Thursday at Van Alen Books, we toasted this happy turn of events at the launch of Gateway: Visions for an Urban National Park. After all, it’s not every day that design thinking makes a major impact on policy for the public realm—in this case, 26,000 acres of breathtaking beauty and frayed urban fabric that’s ripe for reinvention.

At the book launch, Alexander Brash of the National Parks Conservation Association reported on the landmark agreement to coordinate park management and restart the visioning process for what Mayor Bloomberg called “the greatest natural treasure lying within the borders of any city in the nation—Jamaica Bay.” Panelists Kate Orff, Jamie Hand, and Sarah Williams discussed the origins of Van Alen’s Envisioning Gateway competition, and the incredible design visions that emerged from it. And photographer Laura McPhee, whose sublime photos brought Gateway’s undiscovered world into focus, described the power and promise of this remarkable landscape.

Thanks to everyone who came for the launch, especially the designers whose visions have inspired a new future for Gateway. We’ll share more as the story evolves. Meanwhile, check out photos from the event on our Facebook page, and enjoy a video clip from the talk.

CALL FOR PORTFOLIOS: DESIGN SPEED DATING

It’s that time of year again! Get set for our spring edition of Design Speed Dating on Saturday, March 3 at 12:00 p.m. If you’re an emerging designer, you won’t want to miss Van Alen’s fast-paced, round-robin reviews pairing young designers with leading practitioners, educators, and critics. Previous daters have put their work in front of jurors including Charles Renfro, Michael Sorkin, Suzanne Stephens, Frederieke Taylor, and Marc Tsurumaki, and we’ll be announcing this round’s illustrious panel shortly.

To be considered for a coveted spot, submit your portfolio as a PDF attachment, 5 MB maximum, to vai@vanalen.org. And to all our friends and supporters, please join us for brunch! Just RSVP here.

FALL IN LOVE WITH PUBLIC DESIGN AT VAN ALEN BOOKS

We’re celebrating VanAlentine’s all month long at Van Alen Books. Come take advantage of our special student and member discounts to launch your urban love affair: In February, we’re offering 10% off all purchases for students, and 20% off for members. It's a great time to join! Plus, we've discounted a special selection of volumes that will make you swoon. Come check us out during our new 2012 hours: we’re open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Thursdays until 9 p.m.

And now, on to our terrific February lineup. Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at 7:00 p.m. at Van Alen Books.

We kick off the month this Friday, February 3, when the Slought Foundation’s Aaron Levy joins William Menking of The Architect’s Newspaper and publisher Thomas Weaver to present the latest volume in their Architecture on Display series. Four Conversations on the Architecture of Discourse draws on interviews with fifty architects, designers, theorists, historians, editors, and others to chart a new model for curatorial endeavors that cultivate critical and creative publics.

Next up, we welcome new biannual journal CriticalProductive and their debut issue V1.1 Theoretic Action on Thursday, February 9. Come celebrate with editors Milton Curry and Peter Gilgen as they present a fascinating exploration of the 1968 student and worker revolts. The issue’s wide-ranging contributors include Naomi Beckwith, Richard M. Sommer, Glenn Forley, Lance Wyman, Raymond Depardon, and more.

On Friday, February 17, editors and contributors to CLOG’s latest issue on the architecture of Apple converge upon Van Alen Books. Kyle May, Julia van den Hout, Jacob Reidel, and The Office of PlayLab Inc discuss the company’s giant Cupertino campus and its expanding retail empire, all part of the iconic brand’s growing use of architecture in its bid for world domination.

SPOTLIGHT SERIES: SUPERFRONT AND STOREFRONT

Don’t miss two upcoming programs in our series presenting publishing work of New York design nonprofits. On February 16, SUPERFRONT founder and director Mitch McEwen leads a conversation with Chloë Bass, Francisca Benitez, Prerana Reddy, and David Turnbull about their work translating interdisciplinary programs into timely publications, including an upcoming volume on the Lab for Urban Futures: Detroit, a series at the Queens Museum of Art that considers Detroit as a provocation for new experiments in urbanism.

And come back on February 23, when Storefront for Art and Architecture's Eva Franch takes the stage to discuss the organization’s venerable publishing program, from its trademark newsprint circulars to critical readers and exhibition publications like White House Redux and 49 Cities.

SOCIO-POLITICAL MAPS: A PUBLIC DISCOURSE ON THE CITY

On February 27 at 6:30 p.m., Van Alen is proud to join the Austrian Cultural Forum at 11 E. 52nd Street for a discussion on urban mapping and participatory public discourse. The talk takes place on the occasion of Sophie Hochhäusl’s new book Otto Neurath–City Planning: Proposing a Socio-Political Map for Modern Urbanism, which explores Neurath’s quest to make maps that invite citizen participation. Hochhäusl will be joined by panelists Prem Krishnamurthy, Bart Lootsma, William Menking, Nader Vossoughian, and moderator Olympia Kazi to chart Neurath’s legacy and urban mapping today.

U.S. PAVILION AT THE VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE

The Institute for Urban Design is seeking submissions for the U.S. pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. With the theme “Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good,” projects must be initiated and realized by a designer or client such as a nonprofit or community group; must be publicly accessible and serve the common good; and must tackle urban issues in the United States. Applicants should send a short description of their projects along with images to venice@ifud.org by February 6 to be reviewed at the next curatorial meeting. Find full details at the U.S. pavilion website.

2012 NYASLA CHAPTER DESIGN AWARDS

Listen up, landscape architects: The NYASLA is now accepting submissions for their annual chapter design awards. New York State–registered practitioners may submit projects in landscape architectural design, small project landscape design, collaborative design, planning, analysis, research and communication, or unbuilt projects for awards that recognize excellence in landscape architecture. This year’s jury will be a multidisciplinary panel convened by the ASLA’s Illinois Chapter. Visit the NYASLA website to submit for the February 8 deadline.

ARCHITECTURAL LEAGUE PRIZE: NO PRECEDENT

This year, the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers seeks work from emerging design firms that plunges into uncharted waters. Under the theme “No Precedent,” the brief observes that young architects are more than ever a self-defining generation, unwilling to follow established codes. In that spirit, the League calls for “ideas, works, and methodologies that are unfounded, ungrounded, and suspect.” Projects of all types, either theoretical or real, and executed in any medium, are welcome. Submit by February 15.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: SUBURBIA TRANSFORMED 2.0

Suburbia Transformed 2.0 calls for residential landscape designs that go beyond “green” by using sustainable strategies, tactics, and technologies to create inspiring landscapes. Sponsored by the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design, with Rutgers and NJASLA, the competition showcases ways to transform the suburban fabric—one garden at a time. Visionary unbuilt work will be accepted along with built projects, opening the competition to students and professionals. Submissions must be for two-acre or less residentially zoned single-family properties. Register by February 17.

BEYOND GRANITE: COMMEMORATION IN THE CAPITAL

The National Capital Planning Commission, in cooperation with the General Services Administration, is launching Beyond Granite, a design competition for a temporary outdoor commemorative installation in Washington, D.C. Aiming to enhance public space while spurring dialogue about commemoration in the nation’s capital, the project calls on designers to mark the positive impact of Earth Day in an installation at the Ariel Rios Hemicycle in Washington’s Federal Triangle. Stage 1 submissions are due February 28.

COME KINDLE YOUR URBAN LOVE AFFAIR

We invite you to throw caution to the wind and kick off your urban love affair by becoming a Van Alen member. Join today, and you’ll be a part of our diverse community of designers, planners, policy-makers, and urban thinkers—anyone with a passion for the public realm. Join this month and you'll receive 20% off purchases at Van Alen Books in February, plus our 10% members’ discount year-round, along with complimentary VAI publications, special members-only events, and more. Join us today by signing up here.

And as always, it’s easy to keep in touch with Van Alen: Browse our home page at www.vanalen.org, find us in your in-box via our monthly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Van Alen Institute’s ongoing programs are made possible through the generous assistance of our individual contributors and partners, and are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and by Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and Seed Fund. We gratefully appreciate their assistance, and acknowledge the generous support of the following organizations: