AIANY Design Awards: Interiors Showcase

Organized by the AIANY Interiors Committee, this program dives into the recipients of the 2023 AIANY Design Awards in the Interiors category. Project presentations will be led by the architectural design firms and will be followed by a Q&A.

Featured Projects

Brooklyn Public Library Adams Street Branch by WORKac
The new Adams Street Library is Brooklyn Public Library’s first new branch to open in more than 20 years. Extensive, architect-led community outreach in Dumbo, Vinegar Hill, and the Farragut Houses indicated that children’s spaces and programming were important to residents across the diverse neighborhoods. The design, therefore, puts children at its center, featuring spaces for learning, story time, books, and reading. The library also has new collections, technology, and extensive programming for teens and young adults in a dedicated teens area. Two large, flexible multipurpose spaces with stackable chairs and foldable tables, whiteboards, and a kitchenette provide much-needed space for community gathering. Technology is also readily accessible to patrons, with free Wi-Fi, hard-wired power built into reading tables, and projection capability in the community room.

Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
The architecture of the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations is designed to embrace the city—to harmonize with New York’s architectural past while also reflecting the identity of the UAE and the traditions of Middle Eastern hospitality. Hospitality and the convening of both friends and strangers are cornerstones of Middle Eastern culture, and the primary driving forces behind the design. The building, a dramatic yet dignified structure, is a Gesamtkunstwerk—a work of art inspired by an all-encompassing vision, comprehensively executed down to nearly every detail, from façade to furniture.

Bronx Children’s Museum by O’Neill McVoy Architects
The Bronx Children’s Museum engages children with the culture of the city and the natural world. The design catalyzes the site’s position between the grid and tidal river with an architecture of organic flow inside the rectangular frame of a 1925 historic powerhouse. The design is inspired by Jean Piaget’s The Child’s Conception of Space—before understanding Euclidean space, a child starts building relationships such as proximity and separation, order and enclosure, continuity and openness. The design’s spatial flow creates a new kind of space, unlike the city’s cellular rooms and street grid, that connects kids to the natural landscape and the waterfront. The museum features interactive exhibits where families can connect with the natural and cultural resources of the Bronx through art, dramatic role play, and scientific exploration. Entered via a ground-floor, double-height lobby facing the Harlem River, once on the second floor visitors are greeted with a tall, light-filled open space with views to the river and city. Walls, guardrails, doors, stairs, and floors are made of cross-laminated timber, fabricated with advanced digital technology to allow for varying radii arcs to form organic space—the first use of curved CLT in the US.

Speakers:
Charles Harris, Associate Principal, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Daniel Confroy, Director of Communications and Marketing, WORKac
Beth O’Neill, AIA Partner, O’Neill McVoy Architects
Chris McVoy, Partner, O’Neill McVoy Architects