News & Events

Tuesday 3 March 2015  

OPENING RECEPTION WEDNESDAY NIGHT | PANEL DISCUSSION THURSDAY NIGHT

THREE VIEWS OF OMAN
The Photography of Wilfred Thesiger, Charles Butt and Edward Grazda 
1945-2006
Opening Reception
Mar 11 at 6:30pm
Houghton Gallery
7 E 7th Street, 2nd fl

Panel Discussion
Mar 12 at 6:30pm
The Great Hall

Presented by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

"Three Views of Oman is a great example of the dialogue of cultures. Rather than repeating the Orientalist approach that has weakened so many Western studies of Arabic societies, this exhibition builds a new bridge between two civilizations with different histories but shared values."
- Radwan Ziadeh, George Washington University

Collected here for the first time is a history of Oman in images. One of the most developed and stable countries in the Arab world and among the earliest adherents to Ibadi Islam, the sultanate sits along the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. From early days of world trade through the port of Muscat to contemporary engagement with international diplomacy and the West, Oman has always evoked beauty and mystery in equal measure. The Three Views of Oman exhibition reveals the country as its contours emerged over the past seventy years in an intimate portrait through the eyes of the West, as captured in images by English explorer Wilfred Thesiger in the 1940s, British Army major Charles Butt in the 1970s, and award-winning American documentary photographer Edward Grazda in the first decade of this century. The exhibition chronicles the rapid social and physical changes in Oman, as well as the changing nature of photography itself over 60 years. These original photographs have traveled to Oxford and London, England; Grenada, Spain and other destinations; this will be the only presentation in New York City.

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Friday 2pm-7pm, Saturday and Sunday 12pm-7pm
Exhibition on view: March 11 - April 25, 2015
Public Reception: Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30pm
 



Panel Discussion: The Sultanate of Oman: Geography, Religion and Culture
Thursday, March 12 at 6:30pm

Please join our distinguished scholars in a lively conversation about the interrelationship of geography, religion and culture as Oman pursues an increasingly important role in the region.

Participants include:
Introductory remarks by Elizabeth O'Donnell, Acting Dean, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

Dr. Abdulrahman al-Salimi, Editor-in-Chief, Al-Tafahom, Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman

Mitra Abbaspour, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Cooper Union; Independent Scholar and Curator

Dr. Peter Kelemen, Chair, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Dr. Mandana Limbert, Chair, Department of Anthropology, Queens College, CUNY

Moderated by Raina Sacks Blankenhorn, Curator, Three Views of Oman

Presented by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union, The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman and IAV.


Image: Shopping mall, Ibri - Edward Grazda, 2005

isd

SUSTAINING ARCHITECTURE
Design Practice and the Matter of Care
Mar 24 at 12pm
RM 315
Foundation Bldg
Lunch Provided
Lecture by Nicholas D'Avella
Dr. D'Avella is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Cooper Union. 

This talk is based on fieldwork in the architecture school at the University of Buenos Aires in the years following Argentina's economic and political crisis in 2001. In the aftermath of the crisis, buildings had become an important form of economic investment for many middle class Argentines, resulting in a boom in investment-driven construction. The talk examines the politics of architectural education in this context, taking a longer historical view at the politics of architectural education in Buenos Aires from the dictatorship years of the 1970s through the neoliberal policies of the 1990s and into the present. I analyze drawings and models as political technologies through which students were invested with ways of caring for the built environment that extend beyond market value, offering the possibility to conserve particular human-building relations in the face of the economic priorities that threatened to overtake them.



Image: 'Entrega Final, Facultad de Arquitectura, Dise�o, y Urbanismo, Universidad de Buenos Aires,' Nicholas D'Avella

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE
Call for Proposals
Deadline:
Mar 31, 2015, 5pm
The Buckminster Fuller Institute formally announces the Call for Proposals to the 2015 Fuller Challenge. Recognized as "Socially-Responsible Design's Highest Award", the Fuller Challenge invites activists, architects, artists, designers, entrepreneurs, scientists, students and planners from all over the world to submit their innovative solutions to some of humanity's most pressing problems. A $100,000 prize is awarded to support the development and implementation of one outstanding strategy.   

learn more ... 

SOM
STUDENT OPPORTUNITITIES

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY | Deadline: March 16, 2015

Architecture students are sought for Summer Research Experiences (Internships) in Drought Resiliency and Natural Resources Issues in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin Region.

The research group has framed its overall research theme in the context of the "value of snow", in order to promote the integration of a wide range of socioeconomic and environmental research activities, ranging from shore zone studies of water quality and invasive species at Lake Tahoe, to the effects of habitat disturbance (e.g., mining, energy development, fire, vegetation change) on critical habitat for sensitive species in the Great Basin.

Primary Eligibility: Qualified undergraduates, who will have junior or senior status and will be a full-time student in the Fall 2015 term. We especially encourage applications from student attending primarily undergraduate and non-research institutions and from underrepresented groups. Participants must be citizens or permanent legal residents of the USA.

 For complete details and how to apply visit here.

You are encouraged to have your application materials reviewed by Robert Thill ([email protected])
For additional questions contact [email protected]

SOM INTERNSHIP  OPPORTUNITIES | Deadline: March 20, 2015

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is pleased to announce that the application process for our 2015 Summer Internship Program is now open.

SOM is seeking the best emerging talent to join them this summer in their Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC and London offices. Selected candidates will get hands-on project experience in architecture, interiors, structural engineering, sustainable engineering and urban design. In order to be considered, current students who are returning to study in the Fall of 2015 should apply by March 20, 2015. Details and requirements can be found here.

Decisions will be announced the week of March 30, 2015 and the internship program will run from June 8 - August 14, 2015.

For questions, please feel free to contact [email protected]

calls

OPEN CALLS & OPPORTUNITIES 
NEW!

GRANT OPPORTUNITY | The Van Alen Institute is sponsoring 20 applicants for the New York State Council on the Arts Independent Project grants. To apply, download the registration and application forms and return along with all support materials to [email protected] by midnight on March 23  learn more ...
DEADLINE APPROACHING 
  

DESIGN COMPETITION | The Dencity Competition is a call for ideas for improving slum conditions worldwide over the coming decades. Shelter is pleased to invite architects, planners, students, engineers, designers, thinkers, NGOs and organizations from all over the world to take part in the first annual Dencity Competition. The intent of this competition is twofold: to foster new ideas on how to better handle the growing density of unplanned cities and to spread awareness of this massive problem. Contestants should consider how design can empower communities and allow for a self sufficient future. Register by March 15, 2015  learn more ...
 

RSA-US STUDENT DESIGN AWARDS | RSA-US Student Design Awards (SDA-US) is an awards program to inspire collaborative, multidisciplinary design-led social change which connects design students and faculty with industry needs. This program is open only to undergraduate students currently enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. Deadline: March 18, 2015   learn more ... 

SOM is seeking the best emerging talent to join them this summer in their Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC and London offices. Selected candidates will get hands-on project experience in architecture, interiors, structural engineering, sustainable engineering and urban design. In order to be considered, current students who are returning to study in the Fall of 2015 should apply by March 20, 2015. Details and requirements can be found here.
ONGOING 
  

OPEN CALL: ARTIST IN RESIDENCE | Arts Letters and Numbers is welcoming creative thinkers to invest their time in individual, focused and exploratory work at our facilities Upstate, New York in Averill Park near Albany. Our wood and metal shop at the Mill and our Residence next door are now open and active year-round. There are a limited number of private bedrooms and studio spaces available so we encourage residency candidates to apply to the program at least two weeks prior to your intended arrival. Residency durations may be 1 week to 3 months. Deadline: Rolling Basis  learn more ...


DESIGN COMPETITION | The Chicago Architecture Biennial announces the Lakefront Kiosk Competition, organized in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago. In keeping with the mission of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Lakefront Kiosk Competition is an opportunity to support innovative architectural work and to use the city-more specifically, the iconic shoreline of Lake Michigan-as a laboratory for architectural experimentation. Deadline: March 23, 2015  learn more ... 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | The journal Nova Organa is accepting written and visual work that utilizes new and forgotten methods of fiction, critique, and philosophy in the creation of art/architecture theory and thinking. The next issue will use "The Scene" as an epigraph/theme. Deadline: April 15, 2015 learn more ...
 
DESIGN COMPETITION | ARCH+ Journal announces the international competition "PLANETARY URBANISM - CRITIQUE OF THE PRESENT in the Medium of Information Design" open to all architects, designers, artists and students in the fields of architecture and art. The competition is in the context of the UN-HABITAT III Conference awarded by the Journal ARCH+ with the support of the Federal Foreign Office, Germany consulted by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Register by April 30, 2015.  learn more ...
news

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

PRINCETON SYMPOSIUM | Diana Agrest will be the respondent for the session "Urban Imaginaries" on April 3, 2015 at Princeton University as part of the symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980, organized by The Museum of Modern Art. learn more ...

BARD SYMPOSIUM | Stephen Rustow will be a symposium participant on Extreme Conservation at the Bard Graduate Center in New York, NY to March 20, 2015. learn more ...

EXHIBITION REVIEW | Sue F. Gussow's drawings were reviews in "Art Review: "Line, Color, and Surface" at the Contemporary Art Center in Bedminster," in NJ.com on February 1, 2015. read more ...

 ACSA CONFERENCE | James Lowder will present the paper "Skin Problems" in The Environment Schism session as part of The Expanding Periphery and Migrating Center 103rd ACSA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada on March 20, 2015. learn more ...


ALUMNI NEWS* 

Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Elizabeth Diller AR '79; Ricardo Scofidio AR '55) | article | "In Detail> Cooper Hewitt Casework," The Architect's Newspaper, February 26, 2015 

Stanley Allen (AR '81) | welcome and introduction | Learning from/in Latin America, MoMA + Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, April 2-3, 2015 

Frank Gerard Godlewski (AR '82) | speaker | "Aldo Rossi in New York", Center for Architecture, New York, NY, March 5, 2015  

Bradley Samuels (AR '05) | panelist | City Regenerative: Building the City in Harmony with Nature, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, March 18, 2015 

Atelier Alter (Yingfan Zhang, AR'06) | news | "Xinglong Visitor Center/Atelier Alter," Domusweb.it, March 3, 2015

*Please submit your news to [email protected]

                                                                                         

Follow The Cooper Union on   Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our videos on YouTube