Cocktails & Conversation: Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, with Fred Bernstein

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. For this program, Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, Founding Principal of MARVEL, will discuss materiality, sustainability, and performance spaces as cultural and social points of encounter with Fred A. Bernstein over a custom-crafted cocktail. MARVEL is the recipient of the 2024 AIA New York Medal of Honor.

Note: In recognition of MARVEL's Medal of Honor, this is a formal event. Dress requirement will not be enforced, but festive attire is recommended. 

Speaker:
Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, ASLA Affiliate, Founding Principal, MARVEL

Moderator:
Fred Bernstein, architectural author and journalist

About the Speakers: 

Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, operates at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, furniture, design, and landscape architecture, with the goal of community building with public spaces defined by their unique materiality. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the blending of indoors and outdoors is visible in the transparency and use of light in all his work. The MARVEL studio is a collective of voices using dynamic circulation to drive community engagement in their projects.

Jonathan brings a unique passion for the arts to the MARVEL team incorporating unexpected gestures that make each project stand out with a story linked to the community in the context from which the spaces emerge.

Community service and entrepreneurship is at the heart of the MARVEL practice. The firm was recently awarded AIA New York’s 2024 Medal of Honor. In addition to being the Founding Principal of MARVEL, Jonathan is the founder of Resilient Power Puerto Rico, PRo-Techos, Latinos in Design, and TRUCK Product Architecture.

Fred Bernstein studied architecture at Princeton University and law at NYU. He has worked in and writes about both subjects. Over the past two decades he has written over 400 articles for The New York Times, and hundreds more for nearly every architectural publication past and present. He was honored with AIA New York’s Oculus Award for excellence in architectural writing, and in 2023 was recognized by the American Academy of Arts & Letters with its annual Architecture Award.