Cocktails & Conversation: Moshe Safdie, FAIA, with Donald Albrecht

*Ticket price includes the evening’s custom-crafted cocktail.

Cocktails & Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that joins an architect with a critic, journalist, curator, or architectural historian to discuss current architecture design issues. AIA Gold Medalist Moshe Safdie, FAIA, will join with author and curator Donald Albrecht to discuss the state of American projects and public works, the potential for innovation with the recently signed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, and the impressive achievements of implementing large scale projects in other countries.

Speaker:
Moshe Safdie, FAIA, CC, FRAIC, OAA, SIA, Founder, Safdie Architects

Moderator:
Donald Albrecht, Curator

About the Speakers:

Moshe Safdie is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. Over a celebrated 50-year career, Safdie has explored the essential principles of socially responsible design through a comprehensive and humane design philosophy. His wide range of completed projects include cultural, educational, and civic institutions; neighborhoods and public parks; housing; mixed-use urban centers and airports; and master plans for existing communities and entirely new cities. Safdie’s projects can be found in North and South America, the Middle East, and throughout Asia.

Safdie has been the recipient of numerous awards, honorary degrees, and civil honors including the Companion of the Order of Canada, the Gold Medal from both the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the American Institute of Architects, the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian, and, most recently, the Wolf Prize in Architecture, awarded for a career motivated by the social concerns of architecture and formal experimentation.

Educated at McGill University, Safdie is a citizen of Israel, Canada, and the United States.

Donald Albrecht is a curator, author, lecturer, and contributor to numerous books about design and architecture. His many exhibitions have ranged from overviews of cultural trends to profiles of significant design firms and artists, working with leading institutions including the Museum of the City of New York, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the National Building Museum, the Library of Congress, the Getty Center, and the Vitra Design Museum. He recently curated Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie.

For most exhibitions, Albrecht also develops and edits the catalogs, contributing major essays and working with other writers to provide fresh critical perspectives. These catalogs have garnered numerous awards, including the Society of Architectural Historians’ Best Exhibition Catalogue for the Eero Saarinen and the Eames catalogs. Albrecht has also written extensively about the relationship between architecture and film, starting with his seminal book, Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies.

Educated at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Albrecht is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

This event is offered in person; proof of complete COVID-19 vaccination (for attendees ages 5 and up) with photo ID for adults is required to attend. Food and beverages will be served. Face masks are required for visitors ages 2-5, and optional for those vaccinated. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.