Join us for the reopening of the Center for Architecture! We’re excited to invite you back after an 18-month hiatus for an evening celebrating the launch of two new exhibitions: Cairo Modern and Design Awards 2020-21. October 1 also marks the start of Archtober, New York City’s month-long festival of architecture and design, organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with 70+ partner institutions.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, AIANY and the Center for Architecture have organized a host of activities, most of which will take place in our pop-up block party on LaGuardia Place. Outdoor activations for all ages will begin at 4:00 pm:

Four Wise Cattle (4:00 – 8:00 pm): Center for Architecture LeBrun Grant recipient Mark Zlotsky, curator of the zany exhibition Topiary Tango, and Karyn Lao will usher their herd of monumental inflatable creatures to LaGuardia Place for the duration of the event.

Dancitecture (4:00 – 5:30 pm): Center for Architecture Design Education and Dancitecture Founder Kimberly Tate will lead a mindful movement workshop exploring how our bodies and our cities shape space. Participants will also be invited to draw their design ideas for how to further activate LaGuardia Place.

Architecture and Design Film Festival Outdoor Screening (6:00 – 8:00 pm): Although the popular film festival won’t be coming to New York City this year, ADFF will be hosting an outdoor screening of four joyous shorts that celebrate urban life, including Jevan Chowdhury’s Moving Barcelona (2021) and Josephin Boettger’s TOPIASKOP (2020).

Exhibitions on view:
Cairo Modern showcases works by Egyptian modernists from the 1920s to the 1970s, half a century of rich architectural production that complicate our present understanding of global modernism. The exhibition introduces audiences to key architects from the period such as Sayed Karim (pictured) as well as examples of their works commissioned by the state and the city’s burgeoning bourgeoisie. Modernism in Cairo reflected the aspirations of the new classes that formed after Egypt’s 1919 Revolution who embraced the Modernist house or apartment as the materialization of new notions of class, identity, and modernity.

Design Awards 2020-21 features the winning projects from two competition cycles, exhibited together for the first time. AIANY is excited to celebrate the twenty-four 2021 winning projects and the thirty-five 2020 winning projects. 

AIA New York’s annual Design Awards program recognizes outstanding architectural design by AIANY members and New York City-based architects and work in New York City by architects from around the world. The purpose of the awards program is to honor the architects, clients, and consultants who have achieved design excellence. Awards are given in five categories: Architecture, Interiors, Projects, Urban Design, and Sustainability. All categories were reviewed by the seven-person jury who establish criteria, evaluate excellence, and determine the awards given for Best in Competition, Honor, Merit, and Citation.

*This event is offered in person; proof of vaccination (for those over age 12) and masking are required in order to attend. Food and beverages will be served. Masks are recommended when not actively consuming food and drink. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.