(P)RE: Think | Competitive Ideas + NPNY 2014 Launch

Date: Thursday, November 7 Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm Location: Center for Architecture Historically, architectural competitions have been perceived as one of the primary platforms for emerging architects to test new typologies, broaden public discourse, and gain exposure through for their work. Projects such as Parc de La Villette, Yokahama Port Terminal, and the Tokyo International Forum, launched the careers of some of today's most prominent architectural practices and served as a testbed the most radical architectural thinkers at the time. However, the role of the open architectural competition is shifting within the discipline. Competitions that address larger scale urban or environmental issues often lack the participation of stake-holders and financing to implement the ideas proposed, while those competitions with initiative and support to be built often focus on the temporary, the ephemeral, and the small-scale. This dilemma of opportunity has lead many emerging practices away from a reliance on the competition system as forum for ideas and opportunity toward new strategies of engagement. This panel will explore what new models for the dissemination of architectural ideas can exist and how the changing nature of completion within our society might be reflected in the structures of architectural platforms. What should the role of architectural competitions be? To create opportunities to implement and build? To create a forum for public discourse and exchange? How can communities, cities, institutions take advantage of a competitive system to take on issues? Why is the system neglected ? Is there a new arena of competitive ideas that architecture can engage in? This event will also serve as the Launch of the AIANY NPNY 2014 Competition. RSVP here. Speakers Include: Lonn Combs, Founder Easton+Combs, Assistant Professor at RPI Abigail Coover, Editor, SuckerPunch, and Partner, Hume Coover Studio William Menking, Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Architect's Newspaper Jamie Torres Springer, Partner, HR&A and New York University Organized by the AIA New Practices Committee Click here for more info. - RELATED COMPETITION: New Practices New York 2014