March 3: Open House Brunch and Design Speed Dating

Thanks to everyone who came out for Van Alen Institute’s Spring 2012 round of Design Speed Dating on Saturday, March 3.

We greatly thank this round’s esteemed jurors Wendy Feuer (NYC Department of Transportation), Eva Franch (Storefront for Art and Architecture), Daniel Hernandez (Jonathan Rose Companies), and Stephan Jaklitsch (Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects). And congratulations to our four terrific designers: Adham Elghatit, Matthew Hoffman, Robert Shawn Hott, and Eva Poulopoulou.

Check out photos from the event on our Facebook page, and find video clips on our Vimeo page.

Our fast-paced, round-robin portfolio reviews and seasonal brunches have become sought-after events for young designers seeking smart feedback from prominent architects, educators, and critics. At a time of critical need for designers’ voices in shaping the future of the public realm, Van Alen invites a broad range of jurors—architects, design critics, scholars, graphic designers, publishers, gallerists, real estate professionals, policymakers, and nonprofit leaders—to critique not just portfolio presentations but how today’s young designers can best bring their visions to the broader civic conversation.

After an open and competitive application process, Van Alen plays matchmaker, partnering four emerging design professionals with four critics for ten minutes each of round-robin portfolio reviews, followed by a dialogue with the critics. Our past reviewers have included Vishaan Chakrabarti (Columbia GSAPP), William Menking (The Architect’s Newspaper), Lars Müller (Lars Müller Publishers), Signe Nielsen (Mathews Nielsen), Charles Renfro (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Michael Sorkin (Sorkin Studio and City College of New York), Suzanne Stephens (Architectural Record), Frederieke Taylor (Frederieke Taylor Gallery), Marc Tsurumaki (LTL Architects), and Anthony Vidler (The Cooper Union).