Last week, the Van Alen institute announced the finalists for their Civic Exchange competition, which is developing a prototype for information distribution in lower Manhattan, that, in their words, will:
Underscor[e] the critical role of innovative design thinking in the regeneration of downtown, [calling] for designs that will 1) provide information and generate interaction; 2) stimulate place-based education; and 3) enhance the appearance, perception, and experience of public space.
It’s not clear if the winner will be constructed, or what steps would be required to make this possible, which is crucial to raising the bar for discussing publicly funded design. When Atlanta hosted the Olympics, there was a very high profile competition with no mandate for construction. Granted it was more critique than competition (the sites were four particularly difficult intersections that were emblematic of how freeways undermine urban areas and a parking lot), but when you draw the interest and effort (which, considering the size of the stipend for this program, still requires a good deal of unfunded labor) of the best designers working but don’t provide a path to realization, you train people to believe accomplishment is a series of powerful gallery shows and a monograph or two. That isn’t public work, that is the successful distraction of those who might make the most difference.
The people who made the short list are an impressive collection of thinkers, and actual doers. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of competitions these days, it’s a lot of names (see the PDF for the full list), including Antenna (designers of the new MetroCard terminals and the interiors of the new subway cars), Thomas Leeser (best known, for, well, the Gold Bar, though he was just awards an addition to the American Museum of the Moving Image), Mesh and David Reinfurt (who collaborated on the Story Corps kiosk in Grand Central Terminal) and a whole bunch of folks, led by an organization called Local Projects. Among them, there are more than a few good ideas and some acutal opportunities for execution. If this program gets off the boards, it might be the first time since something physical has risen from to the level (and perhaps beyond) the supposedly high-minded rhertoric that has erected itself downtown.
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A proper civics lesson.
Last week, the Van Alen institute announced the finalists for their Civic Exchange competition, which is developing a prototype for information distribution in lower Manhattan, that, in their words, will:
It’s not clear if the winner will be constructed, or what steps would be required to make this possible, which is crucial to raising the bar for discussing publicly funded design. When Atlanta hosted the Olympics, there was a very high profile competition with no mandate for construction. Granted it was more critique than competition (the sites were four particularly difficult intersections that were emblematic of how freeways undermine urban areas and a parking lot), but when you draw the interest and effort (which, considering the size of the stipend for this program, still requires a good deal of unfunded labor) of the best designers working but don’t provide a path to realization, you train people to believe accomplishment is a series of powerful gallery shows and a monograph or two. That isn’t public work, that is the successful distraction of those who might make the most difference.
The people who made the short list are an impressive collection of thinkers, and actual doers. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of competitions these days, it’s a lot of names (see the PDF for the full list), including Antenna (designers of the new MetroCard terminals and the interiors of the new subway cars), Thomas Leeser (best known, for, well, the Gold Bar, though he was just awards an addition to the American Museum of the Moving Image), Mesh and David Reinfurt (who collaborated on the Story Corps kiosk in Grand Central Terminal) and a whole bunch of folks, led by an organization called Local Projects. Among them, there are more than a few good ideas and some acutal opportunities for execution. If this program gets off the boards, it might be the first time since something physical has risen from to the level (and perhaps beyond) the supposedly high-minded rhertoric that has erected itself downtown.