Archive

  1. COMMON GROUND

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    About COMMON GROUND

    March 1–May 1, 2023

    The Plaza at 300 Ashland, Brooklyn

    Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong’s COMMON GROUND is a site-specific, interactive public artwork comprised of a colorful seating landscape and floor motifs that dance across the plaza. Drawing inspiration from the geometry of shrines and sacred spaces and referencing the terraces of the site, this architectural intervention transforms the plaza into an oasis for sitting, socializing, and gathering by day and by night. COMMON GROUND creates a bold, joyous space, and offers a playable topography to embrace the here and now. As a community hub, COMMON GROUND aspires to cultivate togetherness and resilience, while encouraging moments of pause, reflection and play.

    During the evening, COMMON GROUND creates a shared synesthetic experience. The pavilion is illuminated with color-changing lighting and sensors that register environmental audio. Light animations shimmer across the sculpture in response to nearby sounds — the movements of passersby, footsteps climbing on the structure, voices, the hum of traffic. These dynamic colored lights blend with the vibrant hues of the topography, playing with our perception of color. Here, COMMON GROUND is a place of joy and light, celebrating inclusion, diversity and togetherness.

    Lighting design and programming by Xena Petkanas and Christoph Gisel of Arup. Lighting and controls provided by Nanometer and Electric Lighting Agencies.

    COMMON GROUND is part of Van Alen Institute’s Public Realm R+D program, intended to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space. The installation is co-produced by Van Alen Institute and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. Presented with support from Two Trees Management Co.

    Video edited by: Eloise Sherrid
    Footage by: Eloise Sherrid, with selected footage by Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong and drone footage by Selvon Ramsawak

    About Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong

    Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong is a New York-based artist and trained architect working at the intersection of art, architecture and the public realm. Wong’s work investigates the transformation of space over time and seeks to challenge social and political boundaries through sculpture, installation, performance and site-specific architectural interventions. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cheryl received her B.A. in Art and Italian at the University of California at Berkeley, studied sculpture at Brera Academy in Milan, Italy and earned her Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP. She has completed public art commissions with various institutions to activate underused public spaces, including: New York State Thruway Authority, New York City Parks, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, City of Calgary, City of Inglewood and Washington DC Public Schools.

    Visitor Info

    The Plaza at 300 Ashland is conveniently situated in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District, at the intersection of Lafayette Ave and Flatbush Ave. The plaza is easily accessible – located only a short walk from the B, Q, 2/3 and 4/5 subway lines at Atlantic Barclays, the G train at Fulton St, and the C train at Lafayette Ave, as well as a number of bus stops. There is also paid parking along the surrounding streets.

    Tag us online using the hashtag #CommonGroundDTBK:

    @cherylwzw | @van_alen | @downtownbrooklyn

    Performances

    NuTribe Dance Company + Mark Morris Dance Group

    Wednesday, March 1
    6–6:30 pm

    We celebrated the launch of COMMON GROUND with an improvisational performance in the art of Waacking and Krumping by NuTribe Dance Company and Mark Morris Dance Group teaching artists CocoMotion and Luffy.

    Peniel Guerrier and Kriye Bode

    Thursday, April 6
    7–8 pm

    Peniel Guerrier and Kriye Bode brought Haitian Rara to the plaza with an enchanting performance that called all to rejoice in the energy of life as a community.

    Kendra J. Ross

    Thursday, April 13
    7–8 pm

    Kendra J. Ross, dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist, gave us a glimpse of her latest work in progress.

    Soles of Duende

    Thursday, April 20
    7:30–8:15 pm

    Soles of Duende, the all-female multicultural trio, presented a spirited collaboration across disciplines in celebration of Tap, Flamenco, and Kathak dance.

    JUNIOR THESIS

    Saturday, April 22

    Pratt Institute’s fashion department closed out their academic year with JUNIOR THESIS, a fashion performance featuring selected works from year-end collections.

    Press

    Brooklyn Magazine

    Colorful new public art in downtown encourages ‘reflection and play’

    Time Out New York

    This new colorful installation in downtown Brooklyn is the perfect Instagram shot

    6sqft

    New public artwork turns a Downtown Brooklyn plaza into a playful, colorful oasis

    SecretNYC

    This New Installation Is Bringing Vibrant Colors To Brooklyn Just In Time For Spring
  2. Neighborhoods Now

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    About

    As the COVID-19 pandemic took root, its uneven impact on the lives of New Yorkers became painfully clear. While our city’s well-resourced communities quickly purchased expertise necessary to navigate a changed world, neighborhoods where many of our essential workers live did not have the same access and resources.

    In response, in Spring 2020 the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute tapped into our collective network of architects, designers and engineers. By building interdisciplinary partnerships, Neighborhoods Now has supported local organizations leading their communities’ recovery. Over three years, the initiative has evolved from rapid, tactical responses to long-term recovery strategies on a wider scale. Led by community organizations, seven interdisciplinary teams have enlivened and programmed public space, provided technical support to small businesses, and strengthened cultural activities.

    What began as a responsive six-week sprint developed into a platform for enduring partnerships and collective activism. Scroll down to learn more about each team and what they’re working on this year.

    Neighborhoods Now is made possible through a grant from Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund.

    Who We’re Working With


    Current Community Partners


    Past Community Partners


    Funding provided by

    Teams

    Additional Expertise

    Current


    Past

    Luisa Borrell

    Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, CUNY

    Dustin Duncan

    Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

    Gina Lovasi

    Drexel University

    Eve Klein

    CUNY Graduate Center

    Javier Otero Peña

    CUNY Graduate Center

    Alison Mears

    Healthy Materials Lab, Parsons School of Design


    2020–21 Report

    The results of our work in 2020-21 were a set of design recommendations and prototypes addressing immediate needs for COVID-19 awareness campaigns, open air dining, and outdoor education and cultural programming. Several prototypes have now been implemented, and Van Alen Institute and the Urban Design Forum are supporting additional implementation through 2022. Neighborhoods’ needs also went beyond design and physical interventions. Working groups organized financial workshops for small businesses, drafted legal templates, and collaborated with senior staff at City agencies to help neighborhoods navigate programs like Open Streets and Open Restaurants.

    Press

    Next City

    A Night Market Has Popped Up in NYC’s Chinatown

    Fast Company

    COVID-19 decimated NYC businesses. This free program is helping them recover

    Bedford + Bowery

    The Matchmaking Service That Pairs Visionary Designers With Covid Conundrums

    Curbed

    The Secret to Year-Round Streeteries? What Greenhouses Can Teach Us

    Architect’s Newspaper

    Van Alen Institute and Urban Design Forum launch online design toolkit for COVID-19 recovery efforts

    Public Programs

    Neighborhoods Now Summer Summit

    July 22, 2021

    In our 2021 update, presenters from the Chinatown, South Bronx, and Lower East Side working groups shared their achievements, reflections on interdisciplinary practice, and plans to carry their work forward.

    Sreoshy Banerjea (EDC NYC), Fauzia Khanani (Studio Fōr), Yin Kong (Think!Chinatown), Carlos Naudon (Ponce Bank), and Carol Rosenthal (Fried Frank) then joined to discuss how community organizations, city agencies, funders, and design professionals can best collaborate to help communities recover from the pandemic and thrive going forward.

    Presenting Working Groups:
    Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association; FABnyc; and Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) and Think!Chinatown

    Neighborhoods Now Summit: Strategies for Reopening and Recovery, Day 1

    October 6, 2020

    In this two-part public forum, our participating designers and our community partners reflected on how collaborative design can inform neighborhood recovery strategies.

    Presenting Working Groups:
    82nd Street Partnership, Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), and FABnyc

    Neighborhoods Now Summit: Strategies for Reopening and Recovery, Day 2

    October 7, 2020

    In this two-part public forum, our participating designers and our community partners reflected on how collaborative design can inform neighborhood recovery strategies.

    Presenting Working Groups:
    Bed-Stuy Restoration, Bed-Stuy Gateway BID, Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), University Neighborhood Housing Program, and Cooper Square Committee

    Neighborhoods Now Kickoff

    June 26, 2020

    This roundtable session brought together the Neighborhoods Now community partners with diverse panelists to build a foundational knowledge for the working groups’ process and to help inform the public about the issues at hand.

    Community Partners:
    Leslie Ramos, 82nd Street Partnership; Rachel Joseph, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation; Medina Sadiq, J.D., Bed-Stuy Gateway BID; Leah James, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition; Jackie Tesman, Community League of the Heights; Yvonne Stennett, Community League of the Heights

    Panelists:
    Luisa Borrell, CUNY; Melissa Fleischut, New York State Restaurant Association; Alison Mears, Parsons Healthy Materials Lab; Andrea Batista Schlesinger, HR&A Advisors; Barika Williams, Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development

    Contact

    Diana Araujo

    Associate Director of Programs

    Support

    Information about sponsorship opportunities can be found here.

    To learn more about how to support Neighborhoods Now, including helping our community partners realize their recovery strategies, please contact:

    Kate Overbeck

    Director of Strategic Partnerships

    Supporters

    This project is made possible with support from


    Lead


    Benefactor


    Advocate


    Patron


    Supporting


  3. Neighborhoods Now: Asian Americans for Equality and Think!Chinatown

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    Launched in Spring 2020, Neighborhoods Now is a collaboration between the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute to connect NYC neighborhoods hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with design firms in our collective network. Over three years, the initiative evolved from rapid, tactical responses to long-term recovery strategies on a wider scale. Led by community organizations, seven interdisciplinary teams have enlivened and programmed public space, provided technical support to small businesses, and strengthened cultural activities.

    Led by Think!Chinatown and Asian Americans for Equality, the team piloted and expanded the Chinatown Night Market, a summer event series showcasing Chinatown’s local vendors and artists. Over two years, they extended the footprint of the market and activated Forsyth Street; increased outreach to potential vendors, small businesses and artists, supporting them through all permitting; designed booth systems for vendors; and designed a multifunctional kitchen studio focused around culinary programming, art, and neighborhood engagement.

    Key Outcomes

    Pilot Event: The “Chinatown Nights” pilot event kicked off on June 18, 2021 with a Chinatown-focused film program alongside local street vendors. On the cusp of NYC’s reopening, Chinatown Nights became much more than an open-air festival — it held space for the community to reunite and celebrate. To create more opportunities for neighborhood-specific cultural programming and a food market model, the team worked on financial mechanisms, marketing, design and construction of vending carts, and administration of regulations.

    Expanding the Market: In 2022, the Chinatown Night Market nearly tripled in size with 8,500 attendees, many of whom visited neighboring small businesses while in Chinatown. Attendees also reported feeling safer at Forsyth Plaza during the Chinatown Night Market compared to days when there isn’t an event.

    New Headquarters: With design work by Leroy Street Studio, Think!Chinatown is building a kitchen and studio space at 1 Pike Street. These new headquarters are their base for future neighborhood engagement efforts, and will be completed with the support of new funding from New York State.

    Looking Forward… The Chinatown Night Market has brought renewed attention to Chinatown’s public spaces, and has helped secure state investment towards Forsyth Plaza through New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Think!Chinatown also attracted support from Citizens’ Bank, allowing them to further expand the Chinatown Night Market in 2023.

    Who We’re Working With


    Firms


    Year-End Reports

    2022 Report

    Press

    Next City

    A Night Market Has Popped Up in NYC’s Chinatown

    Creative Boom

    The Working Assembly celebrates New York’s Chinatown in this brilliant festival branding
  4. Drive-Thru

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    About Drive-Thru

    February 17–April 14, 2022

    The Plaza at 300 Ashland, Brooklyn

    Inspired by the classic drive-in movie experience, Soft-Firm’s installation Drive-Thru reimagines how shared public spaces can be activated during the winter months to connect communities. By incorporating light through rear projection, Drive-Thru serves as a cinema for pedestrians and is visible from the highly utilized intersection of Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues. The design, fabricated by Datum Zed, echoes surrounding urban infrastructure, such as the rotating Brooklyn Academy of Music sign, billboards, and construction scaffolding — incorporating landmarks signature to the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood.

    Drive-Thru will showcase film and video by eight Brooklyn-based artists and filmmakers that highlight Brooklyn communities, explore themes of urban life, and connect to Black History Month and Women’s History Month. Live performances will be held to complement a selection of the featured films, starting with a Black History Month celebration event on February 23.

    Drive-Thru is part of Van Alen Institute’s Public Realm R+D program, intended to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space. The installation is co-produced by Van Alen Institute and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. Presented with support from Two Trees Management Co.

    About Soft-Firm

    Soft-Firm is an interdisciplinary practice and flexible platform off which to expand design hunches into architectural ideas, spaces, and artifacts. Soft-Firm is speculative and concrete: taking a playful and lo-fi approach to visual perception, elemental forms, and material contrast. Using design as a tool of activism, Soft-Firm engages collaborative and progressive programs to promote equity in institutions and the architectural practice as a whole. The practice has designed interactive exhibitions and installations, residential and commercial projects, and published work in design magazines and academic journals. The Soft-Firm project team includes Lexi Tsien and Talitha Liu with fabrication by Jono Isbell from Datum Zed.

    Visitor Info

    Drive-Thru is best viewed starting at dusk.

    The Plaza at 300 Ashland is conveniently situated in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District, at the intersection of Lafayette Ave and Flatbush Ave. The plaza is easily accessible – located only a short walk from the B, Q, 2/3 and 4/5 subway lines at Atlantic Barclays, the G train at Fulton St, and the C train at Lafayette Ave, as well as a number of bus stops. There is also paid parking along the surrounding streets.

    Live Performances

    Wednesday, April 13
    7–8 pm
    Closing Event: Community Iftar (Break Fast) and Q&A

    Iftar: the meal traditionally taken by Muslims at sundown to break the daily fast during Ramadan.

    A Community Iftar: Breaking the fast and dining with neighbors.

    Drive-Thru has showcased film and video by eight Brooklyn-based artists and filmmakers that highlight Brooklyn communities and explore themes of urban life. The final film of the run is Aisha Amin’s Friday (2019), a portrait of a historically Black mosque as it fights gentrification in Bed-Stuy.

    In connection with the film, and as the closing of Drive-Thru coincides with Ramadan, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is partnering with the students of neighboring Khalil Gibran International Academy High School for a Community Iftar.

    Iftars are gatherings held in homes or mosques during the holy month of Ramadan as people sit down to break the daily fast after the evening prayer. We look forward to hosting this Community Iftar at which we can learn about the traditions of Ramadan, experience art together, and meet neighbors and new friends. Everyone is welcome to play jumbo games on the plaza, while enjoying Aisha Amin’s film, Friday.

    Schedule:

    • 7 pm: Traditional West African kora, played by Salieu Suso*
    • 7:25 pm: Remarks by Downtown Brooklyn, Van Alen Institute, and Khalil Gibran Academy
    • 7:31 pm: Sunset. After the Adhan (call to prayer), all are invited to break fast, beginning with water and dates. Followed by Maghrib Prayer, led by Luqman Abdul-Rahman, As-Suq/Masjid At-Taqwa
    • 7:35 pm: Dine al fresco with your neighbors on the steps of the plaza. Pre-packaged meals (chicken and vegetarian options) will be available, while supplies last. Please allow priority to go to those who are observing Ramadan.
    • 7:45 pm: Q&A with Friday filmmaker, Aisha Amin and Lexi Tsien of Soft-Firm, designers of Drive-Thru, moderated by producer Aidah Z. Muhammad

    *Salieu Suso was born into a family of traditional Mandinka musicians/historians from The Gambia, West Africa, that extends back nearly one thousand years. He was trained to play the 21-stringed kora (West African harp) at the age of eight, by his father, the renowned kora player of that region, Alhaji Musa Makang Suso. He is recognized to be a descendant of JaliMady Wulayn Suso, the originator of the kora, and performed extensively throughout Africa and Europe before settling in the U.S. in 1989, where he continues to be a leader in the rapidly growing African music scene.

    Tuesday, March 29
    6:30–7:30 pm
    Skeleton Architecture

    In honor of Women’s History Month, performing in tandem with Tanika I. Williams’ video, (construct)Cleaning and Sanctuary, is Bessie Award winning Skeleton Architecture, a vessel of Black womyn and gender nonconforming improvisational movement artists. Skeleton Architecture creates, organizes, advocates, gathers, curates, performs, plays, challenges and teaches through the depths of ancestral knowledge toward the liberated future of our worlds. Performers for this event are: Davalois Fearon, Jasmine Hearn, nia love, Charmaine Warren, and Marýa Wethers.

    Wednesday, February 23
    5:30–6:30 pm
    Launch of Drive-Thru honoring Black History Month
    Senegalese Taneber Sunu Birr (Drum and Dance Circle)

    Mirroring the electrifying Senegalese drum and dance in the opening film, artist Babacar Top led a Sabar dance instruction followed by a Taneber, an open drum and dance circle “sunu birr” (Wolof for “between us”) that celebrated the power and culture of Senegalese tradition and honored African descendants who fought for freedom and liberation, and community.

    Video Schedule

    February 17–23
    Ali Santana, Community: Rhythm / Movement / Joy (2022)
    Filmed on Lafayette Ave in 2012, this scene captures the rhythm, movement, joy and community tradition of BAM’s Dance Africa Street Bazaar.

    February 24–March 2
    Nicholas Fraser, Follow/Unfollow (2016)
    Nicholas Fraser’s Follow/Unfollow captures New Yorkers as they travel the city’s ever-changing streetscape. As their paths cross in frame, a single person grows to two, two form a trio, the trio morphs into a crowd, stopping, shifting, and changing direction to a hypnotic effect.

    March 2–8
    Simon Benjamin, Errantry (2021)
    Named after Édouard Glissant’s theory, Simon Benjamin’s Errantry is centered on the polyphonic rhythms of coastal space, the Caribbean sea, and the life sustained by it in a non-linear narrative that raises questions about time, labor, environmental degradation and the ongoingness of colonialism.

    March 9–15
    Luna X Moya, What the Pier Gave Us (2021)
    In Luna X Moya’s What the Pier Gave Us, a fisherman’s ordinary day at an undisclosed New York City pier becomes a visual metaphor for the immigrant experience in the United States. This short film is part of an upcoming feature-length documentary.

    March 16–23
    Olalekan Jeyifous, The Frozen Neighborhoods (Fly-through) (2021)
    Olalekan Jeyifous’s The Frozen Neighborhoods (Fly-through) depicts a speculative future where poor and marginalized communities are cut off from travel, forcing them to develop advanced ecological technologies This deceptively dystopian vision imagines the potential of community-focused innovation, creating a sustainable and self-contained world in Brooklyn.

    March 25–30
    Tanika I. Williams, (construct)Clearing (2021) and Sanctuary (2021)
    As a meditation on quiet care, intention, intergenerational movement, and labor, (construct)Clearing seeks to understand how we wear and repeat family patterns of silence and separation. Sanctuary illustrates the aftermath of African-Caribbean mothers leaving their daughters to immigrate to the United States, combining academic research, autobiographical expression, and archival interviews.

    March 31–April 5
    Series of shorts by Ezra Wube: Flatbushtopia (2017), Bridge Street (2015), At the Same Moment (2013), Words of Wisdom (2016)
    This series of shorts by Ezra Wube offer snapshots of life across New York. These stop-motion animations, often developed with community input and participation, depict scenes in Flatbush, DUMBO, Jamaica, and on the subway.

    April 6–13
    Aisha Amin, Choir (2020) and Friday (2019)
    Aisha Amin’s film Choir explores the world within one of New York’s most competitive youth choirs, while Friday is a portrait of the community within a historically black Brooklyn mosque as it fights gentrification.

    Press

    CBS New York

    Black History Month: ‘Drive-Thru’ art installation in Downtown Brooklyn celebrates Black history on big screens

    New York Post

    A ‘Drive-Thru’ theater is now open in the middle of a Brooklyn street

    TimeOut

    A super-cool and free “drive-in movie theater” is opening in downtown Brooklyn today

    Brooklyn Daily Eagle

    Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Van Alen Institute Unveil Soft-Firm’s Drive Thru at the Plaza at 300 Ashland
  5. Flatiron Public Plaza Design Competition 2021

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    Interwoven by Atelier Cho Thompson. Photo: Martin Seck, Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership

    About

    Van Alen Institute and the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership are thrilled to collaborate with Atelier Cho Thompson to create a highly visible temporary landmark at the heart of the Flatiron District. Atelier Cho Thompson’s installation Interwoven will be on view November 22, 2021–January 2, 2022 in the Flatiron North Public Plaza on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street. The installation is permitted through NYC DOT Art and will be open to the public daily, weather permitting.

    Atelier Cho Thompson was selected by the Partnership and Van Alen from a shortlist of three firms, each recommended by design experts in Van Alen’s network. The other shortlisted firms were AD-WO and Isometric Studio.

    Nominations for the shortlisted firms were provided by Nina Cooke John, Founder and Principal of Studio Cooke John; Justin Garrett Moore, Program Officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mark Gardner, Principal, Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects; and Ashley Mendelsohn, Architecture Curator and Educator.

    The Flatiron Public Plaza Design Competition is part of Van Alen Institute’s Public Realm R+D program, intended to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space.

    #InterwovenFlatiron

    Selected Design

    Interwoven by Atelier Cho Thompson

    Inspired by New York’s tapestry of cultures and people, Interwoven by Atelier Cho Thompson celebrates the joys of reconnecting in public space. Its interactive archways are activated by color-coded sensors; when two or more people pass through sensors of the same color, Interwoven responds with corresponding lights and musical compositions inspired by the installation’s themes from Dylan Schifrin, Nathan Chamberlain, Will Orzo, Marisa Gupta, Dan Weissman and Christina Cho Yoo.

    The installation’s interactive story wall, made of backlit papers hung on a grid, invites visitors to share responses to the prompt: “I dream of a world where together we can…” The resulting narratives will become a patchwork of voices documenting this challenging yet hopeful moment. The prompt was selected by Youth Fellows from the People’s Bus NYC, a community-led, intergenerational initiative focused on engaging people in NYC’s civic life through beauty and joy.

    Inspired by the dynamic geometry of intersections that form the Flatiron Building, Interwoven’s archways, hammock, and benches are constructed with a steel framing, netting, resin panels, and high-density cork. As a firm committed to sustainable design, Atelier Cho Thompson carefully selected Interwoven’s materials including its rapidly-renewable cork and steel, a material made of mostly recycled content.

    About the Team

    Atelier Cho Thompson is a bi-coastal design and concept firm, working between the disciplines of architecture, interiors, graphics and design strategy. Founded seven years ago by Ming Thompson and Christina Cho Yoo, the firm has embarked on a number of ambitious goals: to design beautiful and functional projects around the globe, to deeply engage their community around design, to promote equity in architecture and beyond.

    The project team includes in-kind sponsors MHA Engineering, Lam Partners, Indistinguishable from Magic, Hunter Douglas and 3form, LLI Architectural Lighting, EcoSupply, Fusion Optix, and Cadwell Signs. Grant funding was made possible by Stand with Asian Americans / Asian Pacific Fund and an anonymous donor. Fabrication and site installation will be completed by Smart Department Fabrication, Inc.

    After debuting Interwoven in on the Flatiron North Public Plaza, the firm will partner with community organizations in New Haven, CT to bring the installation to a local public park.

    Shortlisted Proposals

    Spectral Ground by AD—WO

    “Flatiron Plaza is Lenape land; a few blocks from where they traded enslaved Africans and adjacent to what was a vast potter’s field. Below the surface lies the strata of history imagined and erased. There is an intimacy embedded in the ground, in the stories it reveals and hides. Spectral Ground is composed of a large matte black cone that rests, elevated, upon granite boulders. When passersby duck under the lip of the cone, an illuminated gold undercroft opens up above them. The surrounding streets are still seen and heard from within the installation, however, focus is reoriented to what is immediately above and below: to the galaxies that envelop us, and the ground we stand upon.”

     

    About the Team

    AD—WO is an art and architecture practice based in New York City, and by extension, between Melbourne and Addis Ababa. The practice aims to establish an operational terrain between architecture’s content and container: equally committed to designing buildings and understanding their dynamic sociopolitical contexts. Founded in 2015, AD—WO has undertaken projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Korea, Germany, and the United States. Their work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Architekturmueum der TU Munchen, and Art Omi. They are currently developing an apartment building in Addis Ababa.

    Cloud Swing by Isometric

    “New York City is in great need of communal healing, wellness, and joy coming out of the pandemic. For the Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Installation, we propose Cloud Swing, an illuminated, accessible swing set that is a powerful statement of inclusion and child-like wonder.

    “Five swings would be suspended from a curvilinear cloud shape formed from a metal tube, supported by five sets of tripod legs. The set would be sited on an accessible SYNPlay playground surface rated for 9-foot falls. Three of the swings would be regular swings, accommodating two people each. The other two swings would be especially fabricated with foldable ramps for wheelchair users. These accessible swings would have mechanical limiters to ensure they do not swing too far. The swing set would be painted a luminous blue color in industrial enamel. There would be a solar powered LED lighting strip along the cloud shape that makes it glow at night. Cloud Swing would offer a sense of belonging and cheer, foregrounding the importance of shared community and mental health.”

    — Isometric

    About the Team

    Isometric unites graphic design and architecture to create empowering visual identities and spatial experiences. Based in New York City, they collaborate with leading cultural institutions, universities, tech companies, and nonprofits to reinvent the way they present themselves visually and strategically. They express the missions of these organizations through visual identities, exhibitions, websites, and signage programs that convey intellectual rigor, aesthetic sophistication, and memorable storytelling. They believe in design that transcends existing expectations by challenging cliches and stereotypes in visual culture.

    Press

    Architect’s Newspaper

    Atelier Cho Thompson’s Interwoven wins the 2021 Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition

    Archinect

    ‘Interwoven’ by Atelier Cho Thompson is this year’s winner of the Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition

    TimeOut

    This colorful piece of interactive public art is now on view in Flatiron

    Secret NYC

    Stroll Through A Kaleidoscope Of Neon Arches At Flatiron’s New Holiday Art Installation

    Collaborators


    Team nominations were provided by:

    Mark Gardner

    Principal, Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects

    Justin Garrett Moore

    Program Officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

    Ashley Mendelsohn

    Architecture Curator and Educator


  6. Neighborhood Design Fellowship: Gowanus

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    About

    Offered in partnership with Dark Matter University (DMU), our Neighborhood Design Fellowship: Gowanus is a paid, six-month program for up to 12 Gowanus residents — designers and non-designers alike — to work toward the future they imagine for their community. In 2021, our first cohort of Fellows considered ways design and art can make Gowanus a more equitable, inclusive place, and are sharing what they learn with local officials and the wider community.

    2021 Fellows

    Who We’re Working With


    Supporters


    Our Space Gowanus

    Together, the fellows are collaborating on an action campaign to bring attention to an underinvested, underutilized community center part of the Gowanus Houses NYCHA complex. With Dark Matter University, the fellows drafted and assembled this pamphlet outlining the history of disinvestment that has plagued the community center and their visions for the future of the space. In October 2021, the pamphlet was distributed at our inaugural Van Alen Block Party and displayed in large format on the street-facing windows of our office in Gowanus. The fellows are now currently planning the next phase of their action campaign.

    Hear from Dark Matter University

    Nothing so far!

    Project Timeline

    May – Jun 2021

    Learn

    • Learn about local inclusion and equity challenges by talking to neighbors, business owners, community groups, and public officials, among others
    • Learn from DMU faculty about ways to support social justice through design
    • Study design projects that advance equity and inclusion in NYC and the US

    Jul – Aug 2021

    Make a Plan

    • Using prototypes and community feedback sessions, create a list of design ideas and recommendations to support social justice in Gowanus

    Sep – Oct 2021

    Put Ideas into Practice

    • Collaboratively bring design ideas to life with Van Alen and DMU faculty
    • Working with Van Alen and DMU, apply design recommendations toward the redesign of Van Alen’s office into public space that serves the community

    Oct 2021

    Share Work

    • Share work with the wider neighborhood for more feedback, and engage community members in ways that can advance fellows’ efforts forward

    Resources

    Project Contact

    Andrew Brown

    Director of Programs

    Supporters


  7. Breathing Pavilion

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    About Breathing Pavilion

    March 16–May 11, 2021

    The Plaza at 300 Ashland, Brooklyn

    Breathing Pavilion comprised a 30-foot circle of 20 nine-foot two-tone illuminated inflatable columns. These columns slowly modulated in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. Visitors were invited to breathe in time with the changing light and attune themselves to a shared rhythm of respite.

    Created in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racial injustice in the United States, Breathing Pavilion offered sanctuary at a time of intense hardship and loss, suggested a paradigm shift towards communion and meditative stillness, and created an accessible space of reprieve when the act of breathing itself is under siege.

    Breathing Pavilion is part of Van Alen Institute’s Public Realm R+D program, intended to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space.

    The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership Design Installation is co-produced by Van Alen Institute and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

    Presented with support from Two Trees Management Co.

    About the Artist

    “Between the ongoing struggles in the racial and political movements in the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be difficult to find the time and space to breathe deeply and rest well. I held my breath for most of last year, waiting to exhale into a new administration and new vaccines. It will still take some time before we see large-scale change. Until then, in these next few weeks, this pavilion is here to invite the public to breathe into the change within each of us, in sync with one another.”

    —Ekene Ijeoma

    Ekene Ijeoma is an artist, professor of Media Arts and Science at MIT, and founder/director of the Poetic Justice group at MIT Media Lab. Through both his studio and lab at MIT, Ijeoma researches social inequality across multiple fields including social science to develop artworks in sound, video, multimedia, sculpture and installation.

    Ijeoma’s work has been commissioned and presented by art institutions including Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, The Kennedy Center, Museum of the City of New York, Neuberger Museum of Art, and Annenberg Space for Photography. Ijeoma’s practice has also been supported by grants, fellowships and residencies including Creative Capital, Map Fund, Wave Farm, The Kennedy Center, and New York Foundation for the Arts.

    Press

    dezeen

    Inflatable pillars pulse with light to encourage deep breathing in Brooklyn

    Secret NYC

    Meditate At This Calming New Art Installation In Downtown Brooklyn

    Brownstoner

    Take a Breath With New Art Installation at 300 Ashland in Fort Greene

    TimeOut

    This futuristic new Brooklyn art installation is meant to calm you down

    Archinect

    Ekene Ijeoma’s latest public installation reflects on social inequality to create a place of ‘sanctuary at a time of intense hardship and loss’

    Events

    Breathing Pavilion hosted a weekly music series of site-specific performances featuring solo wind and percussion jazz musicians in meditative sets. View archived live streams of the performances below.

    Kalia Vandever, Trombone
    Tuesday, 3/23

    Melanie Charles, Flute
    Tuesday, 3/30
    View archived live stream.

    Joel Ross, Vibraphones
    Tuesday, 4/6
    View archived live stream.

    Baba Don Babatunde, Percussion
    Tuesday, 4/13
    View archived live stream.

    Neil Clarke, Percussion
    Tuesday, 4/20
    View archived live stream.

    Lakecia Benjamin, Saxophone
    Tuesday, 4/27
    View archived live stream.

    Participatory Drum Circle led by Mr. Fitz of the Brooklyn Music School
    Tuesday, 5/4

    Keyon Harrold, Trumpet
    Saturday, 5/8
    View archived live stream.

  8. Van Alen Council Trips

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    Brooklyn, NY

    Private Means to Public Ends | Oct 29–Nov 2, 2019

    Over the past two decades, Brooklyn’s growth has generated immense economic investment and opportunity — contributing to the borough’s dynamism, while also raising the critical question of “who benefits?” that fuels a citywide public debate. The Council directed their attention to Downtown Brooklyn and Sunset Park, two neighborhoods that are hubs of the emerging innovation economy and reflect the complex conditions that underpin Brooklyn’s evolution.

    Van Alen also hosted a special capstone session, bringing the Council together with the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) to grapple with pervasive design challenges in cities across scales. As host of the 2019 MICD Regional Session, Van Alen convened mayors from small cities across the US to educate them about the strategies for fostering inclusive growth in their hometowns. At Brooklyn incubation space A/D/O, the Council helped this groups of civic leaders think creatively about design solutions, drawing on global precedents and best practices.

    Participating Mayors:

    • John D’Amico, Mayor of West Hollywood, California
    • Vince Williams, Mayor of Union City, Georgia
    • The Honorable Christian Price, Mayor of Maricopa
    • Arizona Shawn Maldon, Mayor of Capitol Heights, Maryland

    Itinerary

    Trip Recap

    Van Alen Council: Private Means to Public Ends (Part II)

    Downtown Brooklyn and Sunset Park reflect the complex conditions underpinning Brooklyn’s evolution.

    Attendees

    Daniel Elsea

    Director, Allies and Morrison


    London, UK

    Private Means to Public Ends | May 15–17, 2019

    How do we reconcile the trend towards privatization with the goal of fostering inclusive growth in cities? The Van Alen Council looked to London as a city in which private money has long had a significant role in shaping the city. The Council’s exploration of the private sector role’s in city-making focused on two modern developments: King’s Cross and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Both regeneration projects aimed to spur private investment in underutilized land to create new, economically viable pieces of city that would cater to a diverse urban populace.

    Itinerary


    Media

    Christine Murray, Editor-in-Chief at urban design media platform The Developer, was the resident journalist during the Council’s time in London. This collaboration resulted in an article, “Oxymorons and Idiosyncrasies: London’s Private Public Spaces,” and a short video piece that chronicle the trip’s takeaways.

    Van Alen also collaborated with The Urbanist, Monocle’s podcast that seeks to communicate strategies for city-building to an influential audience of city mayors and urban planners. Monocle followed the Council during their excursion through London and invited select participants to sit down in their studio with host Andrew Tuck, for a conversation about the role of private development in inclusive urban growth. Listen to Part 1 and Part 2.

    Attendees

    Daniel Elsea

    Director, Allies and Morrison


    Seattle, WA

    An Exploration of Climate Change and Fisheries | July 17–19, 2019

    With bustling waterfronts, famous seafood markets, a robust culinary scene, and an estuary rich with marine life, the Puget Sound region seems to be the picture of seafood security. But look closer at the web of people, the sea, and the climate, and the fragility and vulnerability of this system comes to light. In partnership with Professor Edward Allison of the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, Council members visited this region to explore the seafood supply chain from ocean to table and engage in a systems assessment of the seafood supply chain.

    Academic Partners

    • University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
    • Washington Sea Grant

    Itinerary

    Trip Recap

    Van Alen Council: Future of Food Systems

    Exploring Seattle’s seafood supply chain from ocean to table. By Brittany Hoedemaker

    Attendees


    Central Valley, CA (2019)

    Designing the Future of Food | Jan 9–11, 2019

    As climate change compromises food production and access the world over, “breadbaskets” like California are among the most vulnerable regions, primed as case studies to explore innovations and alternative strategies. The Van Alen Council returned to California’s Central Valley for the second installment of a two-part trip, investigating the potential of design to foster a food system capable of carrying us into the future.

    Itinerary


    Trip Recaps

    Van Alen Council: Designing the Future of Food, Part II

    The complex web of relationships that comprise the food system in California’s Central Valley. By Sahoko Yui

    Van Alen Council: Design Challenges of Climate Change

    How climate change is influencing food systems in California’s Central Valley.

    Central Valley, CA (2018)

    The Council gathered in California, the source of most of the nation’s produce production, to learn about the nation’s food system. Their three-day visit to various farms and food production facilities in California revealed the complex interplay of structural, social, and environmental issues in the food chain.

    Academic Partner

    • Innovation Institute for Food & Health (IIFH) at UC Davis

    Itinerary

    Van Alen Council: Designing for the Future of Food, Part I

    The complex interplay of structural, social, and environmental issues in California’s food chain. By Sahoko Yui

    Attendees


  9. Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation 2020

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    Point of Action by Studio Cooke John. Photo: Cameron Blaylock

    About

    Van Alen Institute and the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership are thrilled to collaborate with Studio Cooke John to create a highly visible temporary landmark at the heart of the Flatiron District. Studio Cooke John’s installation Point of Action is currently on view through January 1, 2021 in the Flatiron Public Plazas on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street in Manhattan. The installation is permitted through NYC DOT Art and will be open to the public daily, weather permitting.

    Studio Cooke John was selected by the Partnership and Van Alen from a shortlist of seven firms, each recommended by design experts in Van Alen’s network. The other shortlisted firms were Architensions, Austin + Mergold, Bryony Roberts Studio, Office Lou Arencibia, Studio Ijeoma, and Studio Zewde.

    The Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation is part of Van Alen Institute’s Public Realm R&D program, intended to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space.

    #PointOfAction

    Dates

    November 23, 2020–January 1, 2021

    Selected Team

    Studio Cooke John: Point of Action

    “We are at a threshold during this pandemic. Now that our eyes have been opened to realities that have been with us all along, how do we move forward? My hope is that Point of Action makes people think about how we connect to the people we see every day so that we can move forward together.”

    —Nina Cooke John, Principal and Founder, Studio Cooke John

    Studio Cooke John is a multidisciplinary design studio with a broad range of expertise that values placemaking as a way to transform relationships between people and the built environment. Led by founder Nina Cooke John, the Point of Action project team includes fabricator Charlie Spademan of Spademan Fabrication; Braulio Duran of NY Lighting Group, which is donating in-kind fabrication services; lighting consultant Jimmie Drummond of Drummond Projects; and installation contractor Kathy Lysikowska-Diaz of KLD NY Inc.

    Throughout the design process, Studio Cooke John’s collaborations with clients yield insights that inform how they, alongside a network of craftsmen, fabricators and consultants, transform spaces within the home and in the public sphere. What emerge are spaces tailored to each client’s needs, revealing elements of serendipity and surprise that last a lifetime.

    Point of Action invites New Yorkers and visitors to contemplate the experience of seeing one another—and being seen. Once the viewer steps out of their usual routine and into the installation’s threshold, there are multiple opportunities for connection with fellow viewers and with passersby. Six-foot circles affixed onto the Flatiron Public Plazas create nine “spotlights,” each with its own vertical metal frame. Ropes weave through each frame and part, like a curtain figuratively pulled aside, to make room for the viewer to take the spotlight, connect with other viewers across the Plazas, and take action as they move out and beyond. Lighting emitted from a halo above each circle strengthens the framing; lights embedded into the sides of each frame add another layer to the viewer.

    As the first Flatiron Public Design Installation to be spread throughout both the North and South Plazas, Point of Action’s larger footprint allows for more socially distanced engagement. However, the installation’s concentric circles ripple out from each spot, eventually connecting with other circles, and thus other viewers, across the Plazas.

    Press

    Architect’s Newspaper

    Point of Action brings people together at a distance for the 2020 Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation

    Time Out New York

    There’s a new interactive holiday light display in the Flatiron District

    Untapped New York

    Flatiron Plaza Art Installation Inspired by Social Distancing

    AM New York

    Flatiron/23rd Street BID unveils art installation and previews annual ’23 Days of Flatiron Cheer’ program

    NBC New York

    Point of Action: Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation, Inspired by Social Distancing

    Shortlisted Proposals

    Spectral Ground by AD—WO

    “Flatiron Plaza is Lenape land; a few blocks from where they traded enslaved Africans and adjacent to what was a vast potter’s field. Below the surface lies the strata of history imagined and erased. There is an intimacy embedded in the ground, in the stories it reveals and hides. Spectral Ground is composed of a large matte black cone that rests, elevated, upon granite boulders. When passersby duck under the lip of the cone, an illuminated gold undercroft opens up above them. The surrounding streets are still seen and heard from within the installation, however, focus is reoriented to what is immediately above and below: to the galaxies that envelop us, and the ground we stand upon.”

     

    About the Team

    AD—WO is an art and architecture practice based in New York City, and by extension, between Melbourne and Addis Ababa. The practice aims to establish an operational terrain between architecture’s content and container: equally committed to designing buildings and understanding their dynamic sociopolitical contexts. Founded in 2015, AD—WO has undertaken projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Korea, Germany, and the United States. Their work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Architekturmueum der TU Munchen, and Art Omi. They are currently developing an apartment building in Addis Ababa.

    Cloud Swing by Isometric

    “New York City is in great need of communal healing, wellness, and joy coming out of the pandemic. For the Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Installation, we propose Cloud Swing, an illuminated, accessible swing set that is a powerful statement of inclusion and child-like wonder.

    “Five swings would be suspended from a curvilinear cloud shape formed from a metal tube, supported by five sets of tripod legs. The set would be sited on an accessible SYNPlay playground surface rated for 9-foot falls. Three of the swings would be regular swings, accommodating two people each. The other two swings would be especially fabricated with foldable ramps for wheelchair users. These accessible swings would have mechanical limiters to ensure they do not swing too far. The swing set would be painted a luminous blue color in industrial enamel. There would be a solar powered LED lighting strip along the cloud shape that makes it glow at night. Cloud Swing would offer a sense of belonging and cheer, foregrounding the importance of shared community and mental health.”

    — Isometric

    About the Team

    Isometric unites graphic design and architecture to create empowering visual identities and spatial experiences. Based in New York City, they collaborate with leading cultural institutions, universities, tech companies, and nonprofits to reinvent the way they present themselves visually and strategically. They express the missions of these organizations through visual identities, exhibitions, websites, and signage programs that convey intellectual rigor, aesthetic sophistication, and memorable storytelling. They believe in design that transcends existing expectations by challenging cliches and stereotypes in visual culture.

    Collaborators


    Team nominations were provided by:

    Mark Gardner

    Principal, Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects

    Justin Garrett Moore

    Program Officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

    Ashley Mendelsohn

    Architecture Curator and Educator


  10. Neighborhoods Now: Cooper Square Committee

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    About Neighborhoods Now

    Launched in Spring 2020, Neighborhoods Now is a collaboration between the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute to connect NYC neighborhoods hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with design firms in our collective network.

    Cooper Square Committee worked with Curtis + Ginsberg Architects (C+GA) to carry out several retrofits to their office on East 4th Street in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 for their staff and clients, including improved ventilation and safer physical barriers between staff and the public.

    Outcomes

    Redesigned Reception Area
    C+GA designed a new reception area using simple materials including wood, sheetrock, plexiglass. A glass paned door also maintains maximum visibility between the lobby area and the office, adding to a bright open ambiance.

    Enhanced Safety Recommendations
    C+GA also recommended installing operable side storefront windows and purchasing air purifiers. They designed the new windows and assisted CSC with filing the permit to obtain approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which was successful.

    Signage and Protocols
    C+GA worked with CSC to develop staff safety protocols and signage to post in the office, encouraging the public to wear a mask, stand six feet apart, and use hand sanitizers when visiting the office.

    Who We’re Working With


    Coordinating Firm


    2020 Report