American Institute of Architects

In the search for a new commissioner for the Department of Buildings, the Bloomberg administration wants to drop a requirement that the position go to a certified architect or engineer, a move that is being resisted by the city’s architectural advocacy organization.

“We feel very, very strongly that it should be withdrawn, that it’s ill considered—that I would even go so far to say hypocritical,” said Fredric Bell, director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “It has to be a licensed design professional—not someone who just has good management skills … they really have to know buildings as their business.”

The City Council will hold a hearing on Wednesday on the new legislation, which was brought forward by the mayor’s office.  read more »

• In celebration of its 150th birthday, the American Institute of Architects ranks the 150 most beloved American buildings. (The kingly Empire State Building [above] gets the top spot.) Suprisingly, other New York heartthrobs include both the Time Warner Center and the Royalton Hotel. [Architectural Record News]
• Brave Sam Chang will build six hotels on a stretch of West 39th Street--a block so gritty that even the developer admits it's "not the most upstanding street in New York City." The $275-a-night Homewood Suites will probably spruce things up a bit. [Real Deal]
• February is the bleakest month. Yet this "thirty buildings/thirty days" photo spread is a reminder that four weeks-worth of Manhattan real estate can be a very, very beautiful thing. [Daily Dose, via Curbed]
• What happens if the market (and, you know, environmental consciousness) isn't enough to spur the Green Building movement in Manhattan? The answer has to do with a scary word ("government"), and Tom Brokaw is involved, too. [City Limits]
- Max Abelson
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• The BBC has gone mad scientist. They're "hoping to harness the power of thousands of PCs around the world"--including yours--to predict the climate. (BBC)
• The best Jamaican goat roti in town. (The New York Times)
• Now that housing prices in Manhattan are unaffordable, let's build a hotel in Tribeca to bring in more rich people. (New York Post)
• Fed chairman Bernanke thinks that mortgage rates will stay low enough to keep the housing market stable, according to Jonathan Miller. (Matrix)
• Fed chairman Bernanke says that more rate increases are ahead, which will mean higher mortgage rates, according to Jonathan Miller. (Matrix)
• The Morgans Hotel Group, founded by Ian Schrager, had its IPO this week. Although he sold most of the company last decade, Schrager left the week $9 million richer and with a $46 million stake in Morgans. (Curbed)
• If graffiti artists use LED lights instead of spray paint, will their work still need to be "cleaned up" per the city's new law? (Gothamist)
• The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum announced the participating designers and firms in their "National Design Triennial: Design Life Now." (CHNDM)
• The director of the Design Museum, Alice Rawsthorn, "abruptly resigned" because of tensions over her taste for "decorative tendency" versus utility. The fight isn't over. (Telegraph)
• An interactive structure in the Netherlands changes color based on the feelings of people who vote online or through questionaire for "happy," "hate," or "love." What color would the tower be in New York? (arcspace)
• The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Center for Communities by Design has selected eight communities to receive technical assistance under the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program in 2006, including Syracuse, N.Y. (AIA)
• Royal Philips Electronics has built a full-scale city environment so that designers, architects and city officials can see how different light can improve the quality of urban life. (Gizmag)
• Courtney Love of Hole has finally found a buyer for her Crosby Street apartment. (Page Six)

- Riva Froymovich

Planning geeks have lamented the fact that Atlantic Yards won’t go through the city land use review process--which requires the City Council and City Planning Commission to approve zoning changes--but it seems like city Planning Director Amanda Burden is still getting to have her say. At a presentation before the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects tonight, both architect Frank Gehry and landscape architect Laurie Olin intimated that she had been needling them even if she has no power over their decisions--and in such a way that they did not seem rehearsed.

“City Planning is really on this one,” Gehry said. “Amanda Burden is really working us and we believe in what they want but the idea of creating storefronts on Atlantic Avenue--there’s not much depth to deal with.”  read more »

Burden, a committed urbanist and acolyte of Holly Whyte, is also apparently concerned about eliminating Pacific Street and forming one superblock out of two already long city blocks. “One of the concerns that City Planning had and we of course share was if you come off of the streets, say Pacific, and walk into a space, what can you see?” Olin said. He then turned to a slide that showed how much of the interior courtyard of that superblock could be seen from the street, which was pretty much, except for the areas hidden behind buildings. The problem, of course, is that those hidden spaces are potentially dangerous, and the idea of irregularly shaped, privately owned greenery open to the public makes urbanists squirm with the ambiguity of it all. Burden says she is happy with the project as a whole, but what she would do to it if she had veto power is another matter.

-Matthew Schuerman