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Image courtesy Van Alen Institute A rendering for the redesign of the Van Alen Institute's storefront by Collective-LOK (Jon Lott, William O’Brien Jr., and Michael Kubo). In 2008, after holding several positions in design publishing and communications in both Rotterdam and New York, David van der Leer shifted gears, becoming the first member of the Guggenheim Museum’s architecture and urban studies–focused curatorial team. At the Guggenheim, van der Leer steered the museum on a course of public outreach on city-related issues, including the BMW Guggenheim Lab, the recently concluded project in which experts and residents in New York, Berlin, and

Photo courtesy Friends of the High Line © Liz Ligon Jenny Gersten, executive director of Friends of the High Line, on the elevated rail line. The term “Off Broadway” may assume a vertical dimension as Jenny Gersten’s vision for the High Line takes shape. In January, Gersten officially started as executive director of Friends of the High Line (FHL), the nonprofit responsible for the elevated park, which connects New York’s West Village neighborhood to the future Hudson Yards development. In addition to management and fundraising, the role will have her focusing on the High Line’s cultural programming, to which Gersten

Using a unique business model, a New York-based designer aims to provide design services for the formerly homeless. Sean Carlson Perry, founder of an eponymous Brooklyn, New York-based full-service design firm, has worked on high-end residential and commercial interiors, luxury retail projects, graphics, and furniture design. Perry, 31, is also the founder of Design Exchange, a new project to create comfortable living environments for those in need. Photo courtesy Sean Carlson Perry Sean Carlson Perry, founder of Design Exchange Working with two part-time interns and a handful of volunteers and subcontractors, Perry helps provide formerly homeless individuals and families, including

Tomas Koolhaas remembers when his father, architect Rem Koolhaas, was laying the groundwork for his firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in their London apartment. As a youngster, Tomas was allowed to doodle on the office drafting boards and shovel alongside construction workers. Both parties branched out: OMA became a ubiquitous international architecture firm, and Tomas pursued his interest in media and film. Now, after 10 years in cinema, Tomas, 33, is returning to his roots. For the past two years, the Santa Monica–based filmmaker has been piecing together REM, a feature-length documentary about his father, his father’s buildings, and—most

With her appointment as curator of the second Istanbul Design Biennial, set to take place from October 18 to December 14, 2014, British-born, U.S.-based Zoë Ryan is helping shape one of the most important new design events even as she approaches her third year as chair and curator of architecture and design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo © Kyle LaMere Zoë Ryan Launched in 2012 with curators Joseph Grima and Emre Arolat and director Özlem Yalım Özkaraoğlu, Istanbul’s first Design Biennial made a splash, yet left room to unite a broader segment of Turkey’s architecture community and further solidify

“By the time I was 12 or 13 years old, I knew that someday I would have something to do with influencing place,” says Carol Coletta of growing up in South Memphis. From co-developing the first condominium conversion in downtown Memphis to serving as executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, Coletta has proven her 12-year-old self right. As CEO of CEOs for Cities, she helped gather ideas for improving the urban realm via text messaging. While director of ArtPlace, a collaboration of 13 national and regional foundations and six banks, Coletta tapped Impresa Consulting to measure economic,

Construction is underway on a building to house “Hunk” and “Moo” Anderson’s significant collection of postwar American art. In the spring of 2011, Stanford University reached out to Richard Olcott, partner at Ennead Architects, asking him to design a new museum space for a major collection of artwork recently acquired by the school. A gift from Harry “Hunk” and Mary Margaret “Moo” Anderson—as well as their daughter Mary Patricia “Putter” Anderson Pence—the 121 masterworks by 86 artists represent a comprehensive catalog of postwar American movements: Abstract Expressionism, Post-Minimalism, Bay-Area Figurative Art, and Light and Space, among them. Highlights include Jackson

view past Newsmakers »  view current Newsmakers » 2013 Newsmakers Architectural Record presents brief interviews with the personalities making headlines in the architecture world. From noteworthy architects to clients to policy makers, we speak with the people shaping the profession. Zo' Ryan With her appointment as curator of the second Istanbul Design Biennial, set to take place from October 18 to December 14, 2014, British-born, U.S.-based Zo' Ryan is helping shape one of the most important new design events even as she approaches her third year as chair and curator of architecture and design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo

The outgoing dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) discusses the thinking behind his experimental legacy. In September, Mark Wigley, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), announced that he would step down from his position at the end of the academic year, in June 2014. Wigley, who has a B.Arch. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1987) from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, assumed the deanship in 2004. Since coming to the United States in the late 1980s, Wigley has produced a series of provocative books and exhibitions on

The dean of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture talks to RECORD on the occasion of his first midterm review. Photo © J. Seo Michael A. Speaks Earlier this year, Michael A. Speaks took over as dean of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. As dean of the College of Design at the University of Kentucky, Speaks focused his school's energy into a series of multi-stakeholder community revitalization projects, not unlike the legacy left by his Syracuse predecessor, Mark Robbins, whose tenure was defined by numerous efforts to revive the Rust Belt city. On the occasion of Speaks's first midterm review, he spoke