Exterior Interiors: Rethinking City Streets

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

What happens when exteriors become interiors?

Please join the AIANY Interiors Committee as we investigate how architectural solutions to outdoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the streetscape. These “exterior interiors” join a number of urban planning approaches that have altered our city streets…and created new opportunities and challenges. Learn how our profession is actively addressing the immediate need for businesses to offer outdoor dining options to remain in business and investigate how architecture can accommodate outdoor interactions and what urban design interventions the city can incorporate to facilitate this initiative permanently. This panel of practitioners will discuss what considerations, concepts, and policies the architecture and urban design community should be developing in conjunction with the city to reenvision our streets.

Moderator:
Michael Kimmelman, Architecture Critic, The New York Times; Faculty, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Panelists:
Skylar Bisom-Rapp, Senior Associate, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU)
Michael Chen, Principal, Michael K. Chen Architecture; Co-Founder, Design Advocates
Claire Weisz, FAIA, Founder and Principal-in-Charge, WXY

About the speakers:

Michael Kimmelman is an author, critic, columnist and pianist. He is the architecture critic for The New York Times and has written about public housing, public space, landscape architecture, community development and equity, infrastructure and urban design. He has reported from more than 40 countries and twice been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, most recently in 2018 for his series on climate change and global cities. In March, 2014, he was awarded the Brendan Gill Prize for his “insightful candor and continuous scrutiny of New York’s architectural environment” that is “journalism at its finest.”

Skylar Bisom-Rapp is a Senior Associate at Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) where he has worked on projects ranging from storefront cultural spaces to neighborhood-scale masterplans. He was the team lead for PAU’s work with The New York Times on Farhad Manjoo’s editorial, “I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing,” and was the project manager of the design and engineering teams for the 180 acre Sunnyside Yard Master Plan in Queens, NY. Now based in Washington State, Bisom-Rapp was formerly a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia University’s Graduate School for Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), where he taught courses with PAU founder Vishaan Chakrabarti, including a seminar on theories of city form and an interdisciplinary workshop on urban development. His personal research and writing is focused on the position of the design and planning professions within their larger political, economic and legal contexts.

Michael K. Chen is principal of Michael K. Chen Architecture, a New York City based architecture and design firm engaged in producing refined and conceptually rich buildings, interiors, and furniture with a commitment to craft, research, and experimentation in materials, technology, and manufacturing. MKCA’s work is frequently organized around broad multidisciplinary collaborations between architects, artists, designers, and scientists, and has been widely featured in the press and exhibitions and recognized with numerous awards for design and research. Chen studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. He has taught architecture at Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Parsons, and Pratt Institute. In March of 2020, Chen co-founded Design Advocates, a nonprofit network of independent architecture and design firms collaborating on pro-bono projects and advocacy for small businesses, institutions, and organizations that serve disadvantaged communities to help them adapt their spaces and operations to adapt to COVID-19 and beyond. Design Advocates has grown to encompass 120 firms and individuals at work on over 50 projects serving the public good.

Claire Weisz, FAIA, is a founder of WXY, whose work as an architect and urbanist focuses on innovative approaches to public space, structures, and cities. WXY is globally recognized for its place-based approach to architecture, urban design, and planning, and has played a vital role in design thinking around resiliency. Weisz was awarded the Medal of Honor from AIANY in 2018 and was honored with the Women in Architecture Award by Architectural Record in 2019. In 2019 Fast Company named WXY one of the World’s Most Innovative Architecture Firms.