Prattfolio Fall 2015 by Pratt Institute

FALL/WINTER 2015

PRATTFOLIO THE MAGAZINE OF PRAT T INSTITUTE

LIVABLE CITIES Reimagining Place | Building the Livable City | Beauty in Public Space

In Focus Industrial Design sophomore Eun Me Kwon (B.I.D. Class of ’18) works on a threedimensional design project in the “Form and Space Methodology” course. The class helps students master the visual organization of design elements such as line, plane, and volume, and become comfortable with abstract relationships and principles of order. Such training prepares students to develop a sensitivity to form and space and translate these ideas into functional objects.

FALL / WINTER 2015

PRATTFOLIO THE MAGA ZINE OF PR AT T INSTITUTE

Features 8

REIMAGINING PLACE Pratt faculty brings fresh ideas and expertise to the new placemaking program.

BUILDING THE LIVABLE CIT Y Pratt community members help shape spaces that make New York City a great place to live.

BEAUT Y IN PUBLIC SPACE Pratt artists and architects bring city dwellers into dynamic contact with contemporary art.

34 NEW AND NOTEWORTHY Items in the Marketplace Created by Pratt Alumni, Faculty, and Students

ABOU T THE COVER

Departments 2 SOCIAL@PRAT T 3 FROM THE PRESIDENT 4 INSPIRED Tom Patti, B.I.D. ’67, M.I.D. ’69: Periodic Motion 6 INSIDE LOOK At Home with John Woodrow Kelley, B.F.A. Environmental Design ’76, B.Arch. ’78 32 TRUSTEE PROFILE Marc Rosen, M.I.D. ’70

38 RYERSON WALK Recent Campus News and Activities 46 BEYOND THE GATES Pratt's Presence in the Public Realm 54 FINAL THOUGHTS Placemaking and the Livable City

Located on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City, Four Freedoms Park is the first memorial dedicated to former president Franklin D. Roosevelt in his home state of New York. The park, which celebrates the Four Freedoms outlined in President Roosevelt’s January 6, 1941, State of the Union speech, was the last work designed by the late Louis I. Kahn, an iconic architect of the 20th century. Sciame Construction, headed by Joseph Mizzi (B.S. Construction Management ’91), the firm’s president, provided the technical and design expertise to realize the park’s final construction. Photo by Paul Warchol

SOCIAL @ PRATT: WORKS IN PROGRESS We’re bringing you a selection of works-in-progress by students from across the Institute who are documenting their creative process using Instagram. Be sure to join the conversation and stay up to date with all the latest from Pratt on social media by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at Pratt Institute. 1. C hing-Ann Wu (B.F.A. Communications Design ‘17, @bangbangbangann) brings a graphic sensibility to an intricate cuff design that references art and fashion history in a jewelry class in Pratt’s Fine Arts Department.

2. Uriah Choe (B.I.D. ‘16, @uriahchoe) is making patterns for a black, blue, and beige leather Oxford shoe design with a brown wood sole. 3. Allin Skiba (B.F.A. Photography ‘18, @allingator) offers a satirical and humorous commentary on the way people communicate using modern technology for a digital photography class project. 4. Eleni Hardman (M.S. Interior Design ‘16, @yayleni) and her fellow classmates use materials from the Interior Design materials library, like these marmoleum samples, to add depth to design projects and as inspiration for future work. 5. Miette Kringen (B.F.A. Communications Design ‘19, @miettek) works on a color studies assignment that is inspired by nature. The course, titled “Light, Color, Design 1,” is part of the Foundation firstyear course of study. 6. Stephanie Lau (B.F.A. Communications Design ’18, @96step) created this futuristic poster design as part of an illustration course assignment.

Join the conversation and stay up to date with all the latest from Pratt on social media. PrattInstitute

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FA L L / W I N T ER 2015

PRATTFOLIO T H E M AG A ZI N E O F PR AT T I N S T I T U T E

FROM THE PRESIDENT Thomas F. Schutte

Throughout Pratt’s history, the concept of place has played a central role in the Institute’s development and success. Founder Charles Pratt chose Clinton Hill as the location for his college in large part because of his close ties to the neighborhood where he had built many of the brownstones and mansions that give the area its distinctive character. That character is reflected in the Brooklyn campus’s earliest structures, including Main Building and the Pratt Library. Today, these historic buildings share the 25 acres of landscaped grounds with contemporary architectural designs and nearly 70 pieces of artwork on display in the Pratt Sculpture Park. Together, these elements create a uniquely inspiring environment that draws students, faculty, and staff from across the country and around the world. While many are drawn to the excitement of New York City, they also enjoy this peaceful atmosphere. Alumni who return after decades fondly recall the sense of place that existed during their years here while appreciating the transformation of the campus and the many improvements that have earned Pratt a reputation for having one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses. Given Pratt’s success in creating a place where, quite simply, people want to be, it is fitting that the Institute is home to the nation’s first graduate program in Urban Placemaking and Management. This issue of Prattfolio highlights that program, which opened this fall in the School of Architecture, and the many ways that Pratt community members continue to enhance the spaces in which we live, work, and play. Whether improving transportation systems, greening the urban landscape, or bringing great art and design to everyday life, they are actively contributing to the accessibility, comfort, and aesthetics of our environment. As the features in this issue illustrate, Pratt alumni and faculty are truly shaping our world and our experiences in it. I hope that you share my sense of excitement about the work they are doing and the prospects that the new placemaking program offers for making an even greater impact on society.

Thomas F. Schutte President

Pratt Institute 200 Willoughby Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205 Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Walker Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Mara McGinnis Managing Editor Charlotte Savidge Creative Director Mats Håkansson Associate Creative Director Kara Schlindwein Senior Editorial Manager Marion Hammon Graphic Designers Erin Cave Rory King Copy Editors Jean Gazis Brandhi Williamson Staff Contributors Amy Aronoff Jolene Travis Associate Director of Project Management Bryan Young Senior Production Manager David Dupont Photography Tom Hayes Peter Tannenbaum Daniel Terna

Please submit address changes to alumni@pratt.edu or call 718.399.4447. The editorial staff of Prattfolio would like to hear from you. Please send comments, ideas, questions, and thoughts to prattfolio@pratt.edu. Unfortunately, we cannot publish all submissions, but we consider all ideas and greatly appreciate your feedback.

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INSPIRED Tom Patti, B.I.D. ’67, M.I.D. ’69: Periodic Motion

Known for his pioneering use of architectural and industrial sheet glass in small-scale sculpture and large-scale public artworks, Tom Patti has received international acclaim as one of the world’s most highly regarded contemporary artists working with glass and is a leader in the field of high-performance glass technology. His explorations into the relationship of art to science and technology have yielded a body of work comprising visionary architectural systems, for which The Corning Museum of Glass and Corning Incorporated selected him as their 2015–16 Specialty Glass Artist-in-Residence to work with scientists at Corning’s research and design facility, Sullivan Park. Patti’s work is included in numerous prominent permanent collections, such as those of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre. His innovative architectural and industrial glass processes have also attracted the attention of major transportation agencies, including San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which commissioned the site-specific installation Periodic Motion for the Oakland International Airport station. Prattfolio spoke to Patti about the process of creating this work.

P: What inspired your design for Periodic Motion? I have always been interested in the concept of space and how technical and scientific discoveries influence our understanding of distance in the universe. As a passageway for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the BART train terminal at Oakland International Airport provided an ideal site to explore these ideas in a large-scale, three-dimensional art space that the viewer is passing both by and through.

P: What impact do you want the piece to have on travelers?

Travel is often a pathway to insight. With its location at a major international airport, I want the piece to extend the experience of flight by transforming the station from a transitional, structural, and functional space into an experience that surrounds viewers and alters their sense of reality.

P: What challenges did you face while working on the project?

Satisfying the California Building Code and Federal Aviation Authority requirements provided some of the most interesting challenges. I designed and had custom manufactured two new types of glass, on which we conducted full-scale impact and seismic studies. I also used a combination of diffused and scattered reflectance to avoid flash blindness and the danger of distracting pilots during final approach and landing. Right: The 8-foot by 250-foot Periodic Motion consists of 38 glass panels, each weighing more than 375 pounds.

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INSIDE LOOK At Home with John Woodrow Kelley, B.F.A. Environmental Design ’76, B.Arch. ’78

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Above: John Woodrow Kelley in his studio; Right: The arrangements in many of Kelley’s paintings are based on the gesture displayed in The Runner, a 19th-century copy of a Hellenistic statue. The artist acquired the statue to create a dialogue between his paintings, such as Echo in the background, and the ancient art that inspired them; Opposite: Kelley’s living room acts as an installation gallery for his paintings, such as Jupiter and Danaë and a series of ancient bust paintings, and examples of the Classical elements from which he draws inspiration. Among the notable pieces are two Klismos side chairs created by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings.

Many people would not immediately associate a lifelong fascination with Greek classicism with the same city that boasts the Grand Ole Opry. Yet, for Tennessee native John Woodrow Kelley, who first became interested in mythology when his parents took him to Nashville’s Parthenon Museum, a full-size replica of the Athenian structure, the juxtaposition between the ancient world and contemporary America is at the heart of his artistry. “The United States is about reinterpreting Europe,” says Kelley, who explores the tension in modern urban life through paintings of contemporary subjects depicted as characters in the great myths. In addition to the replica that first sparked his interest in Greek mythology, Kelley continues to be inspired by ancient Greek

and Roman sculpture and considers himself fortunate to have acquired a number of 19th-century bronze replicas of some of the works that have influenced him most, as well as furnishings reflecting the Classical period. These include a pair of Klismos side chairs created by the British designer T. H. RobsjohnGibbings, who drew inspiration from ancient Greek design while incorporating contemporary elements, which Kelley sees as analogous to his own work. Among the statues that resonate most with Kelley is a replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, which is believed to have been an offering from the people of Rhodes to commemorate a naval victory in the second century BCE. Kelley acquired the statue when he chose to pursue his long-held passion and become a full-time painter, despite his formal training in architecture. “It symbolizes having made a difficult decision,” he says. With a retrospective of his work at the Parthenon Museum and the accompanying book Greek Mythology Now, it seems Kelley has indeed been victorious in bringing the classics to life.

REIMAGINING PLACE by Harris Solomon

Pratt faculty brings fresh ideas and expertise to the new placemaking program.

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For many years, our understanding of public space has revolved around infrastructure—when to build new roads, where to promote residential development, and how to move people quickly and effectively from A to B. The human experience of space— from the surface of the plaza people walk across to the canyons created by the tall buildings around them—has always been considered secondary in planning cities, if taken into account at all. With the United Nations projecting a 72-percent increase in the world’s urban population by 2050, planners realize that the traditional model for understanding our cities doesn’t account for the many social and cultural demands that we place on our public spaces. Placemaking, a growing design model that focuses on community engagement and a holistic view of the spaces we frequent, offers a new framework to contemplate public space that aims to help planners understand its ideal components. To advance this model, Pratt Institute just launched a groundbreaking new graduate program in Urban Placemaking and Management, the first of its kind in the country. The 40-credit, four-semester program, which leads to a master of science degree, is part of the Institute’s Programs for Sustainable Planning and

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Development (PSPD) in the School of Architecture, and its first students started this past fall. The program was created by former New York City Department of Design and Construction Commissioner David Burney and Pratt Professor Stuart Pertz under the leadership of PSPD Chair John Shapiro and School of Architecture Dean Thomas Hanrahan. With the passing of Pertz in July 2015, Burney is now coordinating the program. PSPD Chair John Shapiro believes that Pratt is ideally suited to educate the leaders who will shape the way that people, place, and architecture come together in cities. “The disciplines of urban planning and architecture have historically approached cities by looking at their discrete parts. Placemaking is about understanding whole areas within a city and their connections to each other and to the people who use them,” explains Shapiro. “The Institute’s focus on community engagement and preparing professionals to benefit society, coupled with the School of Architecture’s expertise in planning, green infrastructure, and facilities management, make Pratt a natural for this program.”

Why Now?

In many ways, placemaking began with the ideas of 1960s urbanists like Jane Jacobs, who rose to fame after successfully defeating a Robert Moses-planned highway that would have run through the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village. Jacobs helped spread the idea that cities are about their populations, not their infrastructure, and that street life, social interactions, and scale were more important than new development. While her ideas live on today, until now there has been no single framework to teach the elements of placemaking to budding practitioners. That doesn’t mean that innovative placemaking hasn’t been happening; in fact, many Pratt alumni have been practicing placemaking for years, learning through experience and intuition in their jobs as planners, urban designers, and architects, and transforming public space in the process. But the accelerated pace of urbanization, coupled with the public’s broad support of new public spaces, has brought with it new opportunities for placemaking,

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underscoring the need for pedagogy and formal training in the discipline’s fundamentals. Pratt’s program, which is open to students from a variety of architecture, planning, and design backgrounds, will approach public space from a people perspective.

Placemaking is about understanding whole areas within a city and their connections to each other and to the people who use them. “Rather than allowing these spaces to be formed as an afterthought of building design, placemaking sees the creation of successful public spaces as the starting point,” says Burney. “It’s really all about livability.” By combining the strength and expertise of faculty from different areas, the program will explore how to help foster social activity and address the desire for human interaction that has come to define some of the most well-known places in the world. The experiential knowledge of new faculty in main street retail, space and the environment, historic preservation, and psychology will help bring the interdisciplinary nature of placemaking to life at Pratt.

Harnessing the Power of Placemakers Considering the relative newness of placemaking pedagogy, the primary resource for learning the discipline is from great placemakers themselves. With its strengths in the liberal arts and sciences as well as design, Pratt is able to draw on a wide range of faculty members who have become authorities in different areas of placemaking to teach in the program. One of those faculty members is Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies Caitlin Cahill, who has spent more than 15 years developing spaces for both creating dialogue and conducting critical research. Cahill has examined the struggles of young people negotiating

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gentrification in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and has helped the Brooklynbased community organization Make the Road New York develop videos examining the role that policing focused on small crimes such as vandalism and public disorder can play in preventing more serious crimes—all through engaging local communities and using their input to rethink reform. The collective experiences that Cahill seeks to give voice to are key elements of the comfort and safety of place. “Places don’t exist in a vacuum,” she explains. “We need to consider the collective experience of the surrounding community and reflect on who community members are, what their concerns are, and how the space is meaningful to them.” Cahill believes that understanding the social, cultural, political, economic, and historical contexts of an area as well as the contemporary issues a particular neighborhood is facing is vital to helping “make” place. By considering historical context and establishing partnerships with local communities, Cahill works to ensure that placemaking is both collaborative and productive.

Placemaking sees the creation of successful public spaces as the starting point. It’s really all about livability. These sorts of partnerships can help placemakers form deep and lasting bonds with communities, giving insight into how place shapes not just social and cultural spaces, but even the health of a community. That intersection is at the center of Visiting Assistant Professor Mindy Fullilove’s research, which examines how psychological health is undermined by disinvestment in and marginalization of public spaces in certain communities. “When you’re looking at overall health, you realize that place becomes very important for maintaining life and sanity,” says Fullilove, who is also a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She will

bring these ideas to her elective course, “Public Health in the Psychiatrist’s City.”

Places don’t exist in a vacuum. We need to consider the collective experience of the surrounding community and reflect on who community members are, what their concerns are, and how the space is meaningful to them. “In my research, I’ve always asked ‘what is it about places that support health or undermine it?’” says Fullilove. “Through placemaking, we can look at creating habitats that support human health. People need to be able to access the resources they need, but also the existential things— a sense of community and connection to others.”

Preparing for the Future

As a new focus on cities emerges, the act of making successful public spaces supported, and even designed, by the community will only grow more important in the coming years. By examining various aspects of our existence—health, the environment, movement, and happiness—through place, placemaking encourages new insights and innovation to emerge from diverse outlooks and experiences. The collective knowledge of Pratt faculty drawn from a wide range of disciplines, coupled with the curiosity and enthusiasm of incoming students, ensures that Pratt will play a large role in drawing those connections and advancing our understanding of place in the years to come. “There’s a shift happening in the world,” says Burney. “And this program is really drawing on our strengths and preparing people to be a part of it.”

BUILDING THE

Pratt community members help shape spaces that make New York City a great place to live. by Harris Solomon

High Line

Perhaps no park has changed the conversation about innovative public spaces more than the High Line did when the first section opened to the public in 2009. Since then, it has become a core part of New York’s identity, a prime tourist destination, and a driver of new development and construction on Manhattan’s Far West Side. Originally built as an elevated freight line to serve the neighborhood’s numerous meatpacking warehouses and shipping facilities, the line lay dormant for close to 30 years before being transformed into one of New York’s most unique parks. Pratt Professor Signe Nielsen, a landscape architect and president of the New York City Public Design Commission, played a vital role in designing the landscaped elements

of the park, which spans 22 New York City blocks and today hosts close to five million visitors each year. Emulated by cities across the country and around the globe, the High Line has revolutionized the way that people think about outdated infrastructure, revealing its potential through transformation.

Myrtle Avenue Pedestrian Plaza

The result of a multiyear communityplanning process led by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, which is chaired by Pratt President Thomas F. Schutte, the Myrtle Avenue Pedestrian Plaza will provide outdoor seating, planting areas, and other features on Myrtle Avenue between Hall Street and Emerson Place. The 25,000-square-foot space directly in front of Pratt’s new Film/Video Building will feature a flexible programming space, public art, game tables, a concession kiosk, and other amenities, as well as landscaped areas with dozens of new trees, including honey locusts and pagodas. Additional streetscape improvements, pedestrian safety measures, and utility upgrades will be implemented throughout the site, transforming this bustling traffic corridor into a peaceful gathering space for the local community and visitors alike. Opposite: High Line, photo by Iwan Baan; Below: Myrtle Avenue Plaza, photo courtesy of Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership

LIVABLE CITY

Time and time again, studies have found that the world’s most livable cities are defined by common elements such as ample public parks and open spaces, comprehensive public transport, and environmentally friendly infrastructure. Over the past century, Pratt Institute alumni, faculty, and trustees have contributed to the elements that make New York City an increasingly great place to live, building a livable city one project at a time.

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Prospect Park Woodlands

Spearheaded in the mid-1990s under the leadership of its former president and founder Tupper Thomas (M.S. Urban Design ’79), the Prospect Park Alliance has been engaged in a 25-year restoration of the park’s 250 acres of natural areas, including the 150-acre woodland ravine, Brooklyn’s last remaining forest. The restoration has entailed reversing severe erosion to the woodlands and planting 10,000 trees, as well as tens of thousands of shrubs and plants. The project also entailed the restoration of the park’s historic watercourse, a series of pools and waterfalls that leads to the 60-acre Prospect Park Lake. Together, these activities have resulted in the creation of a bucolic environment for hiking, walking, biking, and relaxation in the midst of one of the nation’s most populated urban centers.

of rainwater. Over the past few years, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection has worked closely with other city agencies to introduce green infrastructure projects that can reduce the amount of water runoff that ends up in the city’s sewer system, including rain gardens, green roofs, porous pavement, and bioswales. Graduates of the Pratt School of Architecture’s Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development have played a key part in the implementation of these projects, serving as project managers and planners at agencies such as the New York City Department of Transportation. Planners in city agencies have worked to integrate bioswales into street redesigns, allowing excess rainwater to flow into tree pits and seep into the ground instead of flowing into the sewer, carrying with it pollutants and runoff from vehicles.

Green Infrastructure

There is no disputing that the city is covered with asphalt, concrete, and other paved surfaces, which contribute to the city’s summer heat and prevent the absorption

Below: Bioswales, photo courtesy of NYC DEP; Opposite: Prospect Park Woodlands, photo by Elizabeth Keegin Colley

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New York Stock Exchange Security Barriers

Security infrastructure can often feel imposing and restrictive, particularly in high-traffic areas like New York’s Financial District. In partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Department of City Planning, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Rogers Marvel Architects (now Marvel Architects) re-envisioned key infrastructure that keeps New Yorkers safe with an eye toward reinvigorating public life and restoring sight lines. The firm installed sculptural bronze NoGo barriers that provide attractive seating for pedestrians (pictured below) and also put in a turntable to control vehicular movement and replace unsightly traffic barriers. The award-winning design was topped off with new, engraved granite curbs along sidewalks and original 1620 canal and wood block pavers, which pay homage to the Wall Street area’s cultural legacy. Marvel Architects’ principal, Jonathan Marvel, will bring his expertise on security and public space to Pratt’s new placemaking program this spring.

Culver Line

Since their creation, the formerly independent lines that make up today’s New York City subway system have been catalysts for development and vital links to once far-flung locales throughout the city. Brooklyn’s Culver Line, originally the Prospect Park and South Brooklyn Railroad and part of today’s F train, not only provided service to beachgoers seeking to reach Coney Island, but to the small villages dotted throughout South Brooklyn. Directed by Pratt Institute Trustee Charles Millard Pratt, the eldest son of the Institute’s founder, the railroad was a crucial part of the city’s transportation network in the late 19th century, and was part of the collection of railroads that allowed Coney Island to become New York’s iconic destination for thrill seekers of all ages. Today, the F train continues to carry an increasing share of the subway’s 1.75 billion annual riders and is a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Below: Stock Exchange security barriers, photo by Paul Warchol

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Bus Rapid Transit

As New York City’s population continues to increase and our neighborhoods change, our transit system has become strained and overburdened while many areas of the city continue to be ill-served by public transport. The Pratt Center for Community Development has been a leader in advocating for high-quality, low-cost alternative transportation in underserved areas, as well as improving the current network. In the course of their advocacy, the Pratt Center has emerged as an authority on Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, which typically features dedicated bus lanes, off-board fare collection, and transit priority at traffic signals.

Thanks to the Pratt Center’s research and advocacy, New York City introduced Select Bus Service in 2008, which has been implemented on eight routes across five boroughs with the help of Pratt alumni at the New York City Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Select Bus Service has resulted in service that’s over 18 percent faster on many lines and an easier, stress-free commute for thousands of New Yorkers. Below, top: Brooklyn’s Culver Line today, photo courtesy of MTA; Below, bottom: BRT, photo courtesy of MTA

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Four Freedoms Park

Functioning as equal parts monument and public space, the Four Freedoms Park celebrates former president and native New Yorker Franklin D. Roosevelt. First conceived of and designed by the late icon Louis I. Kahn, who gave a lecture on its design at Pratt in 1973, the park occupies the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, in the middle of New York’s East River. The final construction and completion of the park was achieved, in great part, thanks to Sciame Construction. Headed by the firm’s president, Joseph Mizzi (B.S. Construction Management ’91), Sciame provided the construction knowhow and design sensitivity to implement Kahn’s vision. Below: Four Freedoms Park, photo by Paul Warchol; Opposite: Terminal 5, photo courtesy of Gensler/ Prakash Patel

Terminal 5

For Gensler, marrying form and function was important for both New Yorkers and travelers from around the world. In designing JetBlue’s new Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), the architecture and design firm paid tribute to the nearby historic TWA Terminal designed by Eero Saarinen while making the airline’s customercentric service the focus of the airy space. Numerous Pratt alumni helped spearhead the project from design to implementation, working to create lightfilled spaces that promote circulation and movement while providing ample space for passengers to dine, shop, and wait for their flights. The new terminal, which is designed to handle up to 20 million passengers per year, helps ensure that traveling through JFK is more pleasant than it was before.

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BEAUTY PUBLIC Pratt artists and architects

bring city dwellers

SPACE

into dynamic contact with contemporary art.

by Alix Finkelstein

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Jean Shin, alumna and faculty member

Celadon Remnants Long Island Rail Road Broadway Station, Queens, NY

Korea-born, Brooklyn-based artist Jean Shin (B.F.A. Painting ’94, M.S. Art History ’96), an adjunct professor in Pratt Institute’s Department of Fine Arts, creates monumental installations that transform everyday objects into elegant expressions of identity and community. Commissioned by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Arts and Design, Celadon Remnants is permanently installed at a major transportation hub in the vibrant Korean-American neighborhood of Flushing, Queens. Fragments of traditional Korean ceramics donated by the South Korean city of Icheon are arranged into mosaic murals of vase silhouettes on the station façade. The abstract, greenblue silhouettes enhance the beauty of the celadon itself while the overall piece speaks to the rich yet fractured cultural history of the Korean diaspora.

I find inspiration in the everyday. Doing public art gives me the opportunity to create in dialogue with communities that will experience art in everyday places.

In addition to building large-scale, site-specific installations, Shin has had numerous solo exhibitions at major museums such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, and has exhibited in over 150 exhibitions internationally. Shin is currently completing a landmark commission for the MTA’s Second Avenue Subway at the 63rd Street Station, and she is the focus of a solo exhibition, Jean Shin: Inclusions, which is on view at the Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas, Texas, through January 3, 2016.

You’ve engaged in many public art projects throughout your career. What attracts you to this sphere of art making?

Material: Broken Korean ceramic Year: 2008

Your mural is made up of fragments of traditional Korean ceramics. Tell us about your choice of materials and how you used them in the installation.

The mosaic of broken shards is a metaphor for the Korean diaspora, transported to a new context. The celadon-glazed materials, like the Korean-American community, form a new identity and at the same time remain connected to a vibrant cultural history.

What has been the community’s response to your installation?

The vase silhouettes, its celadon color, and large scale make the work very visible to anyone driving down Northern Boulevard, the main artery in Flushing. Those walking nearby can see the intimate details of painted cranes, peony blossoms, and calligraphy on the ceramic surface. The public encounters bits of Korean cultural treasures on the street. Korean audiences have expressed great pride in living with this work in their neighborhood.

How has studying and teaching at Pratt influenced your interest in working with communities to create art?

While earning my degree, I worked as an activist, journalist, and editor of The Prattler, which allowed me to interact with the Pratt community in significant, critical ways. The dialogues we generated

on campus reflected larger concerns of the world. I still find this investigatory practice of engagement compelling and incorporate it into my work and my teaching.

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Haresh Lalvani, alumnus and faculty member

SEED54 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

A tenured professor of Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture and co-director of Pratt’s Center for Experimental Structures, Haresh Lalvani (M.S. Architecture ’72) investigates the potential of genomic architecture, design, and sculpture. SEED54 was Lalvani’s first public sculpture. The eight-foot-tall artwork is located on the southeast corner of 54th Street and Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan on the outside plaza of the building of RXR Realty, which commissioned the piece. Its curved surfaces are made up of irregular hexagons fitted harmoniously together to form a single sphere. The sculpture was fabricated at Milgo/Bufkin, a leading Brooklyn-based metal studio owned and overseen by Pratt Board of Trustees Chair Bruce Gitlin.

anonymous, and simply there, like the sidewalk, the buildings, and other fixtures that define the urban landscape. Art in public space is an offering to our city and transcends the artists.

Lalvani’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and he has had solo exhibitions at Design Miami and the de Castellane Gallery in New York City. Lalvani recently completed a permanent artwork installed at the 88th Street subway station in Queens, a large multiwall piece for Pratt’s new Film/Video Building, sculptures for a lobby in Manhattan and for a resort in China, as well as two outdoor works for Omi International Arts Center in Ghent, New York.

Describe some of the challenges and the advantages of creating art for a busy street corner in midtown Manhattan.

There is the excitement and on-the-edge feeling that comes with a public launch, not unlike what a dancer or an actor experiences before a performance. There is also the awareness that your work will become a part of the city—always present,

Morphology and change of form are present in your art making, but beauty is also important. How do you view the impact of SEED54 on the urban landscape?

Ah, beauty! There is visual beauty, of course, but there is experiential beauty as well as the more subtle intellectual beauty. The juxtaposition of an underlying order—and all its disruptions— is common to the city, and to SEED54. It is my hope that just as people are drawn to and enjoy a city like New York for these contrasting experiences, they will experience my work in a similar way.

What were some of the construction and design challenges of SEED54? I wanted the piece to be bigger, to go with the scale of urban space, but that wasn’t to be. Bystanders climbing the sculpture was a concern, as was the possibility that a small animal or a bird might find itself trapped inside. Also, a sphere sitting on a point is a perennial challenge, like defying gravity. The lightness and airiness is a means to push that idea to its limit.

I’d love to build out of that dream a material called “nothing,” but I don’t know how. The closest we have to that is to build with the smallest number of atoms. Buckyballs, nanotubes, and graphene are leading the way and interest me greatly for future works.

Material: ¼-inch stainless steel Year: 2012

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Peter Franck and Kathleen Triem, alumni

The Fields Sculpture Park, Omi International Arts Center, Ghent, NY

Founded: 1998

FT Architecture principals Peter Franck (B.Arch. ’85) and Kathleen Triem (B.Arch. ’92) are the founding directors and curators of The Fields Sculpture Park, which spans 60 acres of the Hudson Valley and features nearly 80 modern and contemporary outdoor works of art. Franck and Triem were also the architects of the Charles B. Benenson Visitor Center and Art Gallery at The Fields, which includes a 1,500-square-foot art gallery and art-education facilities, as well as space to present concerts, lectures, readings, and dance recitals developed during Omi’s residency programs. Since opening in 1998, The Fields has become a popular destination for New Yorkers and visitors from around the globe.

practicing architecture per se and curating a sculpture park. Both require an eye toward unleashing unexpected and creative modes of expression.

constructed the circulation and placement of objects in The Fields Sculpture Park creates an intangible, subconscious sense of order and of the interrelationship of objects and landscape.

Franck and Triem’s other projects include a gallery for the personal collection of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and numerous residential, commercial, and art design commissions. In addition to their architectural practice, the two work independently. Franck is the director of Architecture Omi, a program dedicated to the exhibition of architectonic installations exploring the relationships of art and architecture, and Triem is a visual artist.

A sculpture park is a pretty ambitious undertaking. What was your motivation?

Initially, we were hired by the Omi International Arts Center to do a master plan of the 200-acre campus, which was to include a sculpture park. At that time, we also were extremely involved with the art world; thus curating became an ideal vehicle for our interests in art and architecture. Ultimately, one cannot draw a substantial differentiation between

In the last two decades, the number of sculpture parks and gardens throughout the United States has more than doubled. What do you think accounts for this growing interest in these sites?

The increasing integration of art into the cultural dialogue of contemporary society has encouraged a wide dissemination of all art forms. There is also a concurrent interest in preserving and experiencing nature. Thus viewing art in the landscape presents an interesting nexus between nature and culture. To take a more cynical attitude, many people may not be compelled to hike in nature without an entertainment component. Viewing sculpture in the landscape provides a tangible destination that combines intellectual stimulation and the desire to be outdoors. No matter one’s motivations, viewing sculpture in nature is a provocative, meditative, and healthy experience.

Can you briefly describe your curatorial approach to the objects chosen for The Fields, and what you hope your visitors will take away from the experience of the park?

Placing art objects in the landscape is very similar to creating buildings. Both are actively engaged in issues of site specificity, scale, topography, visuality, circulation, and a complex variety of issues related to experiencing objects in the landscape. The way we have

As curators, we were committed to presenting different media within the context of outdoor art, including sound installations, photographs in the landscape, and largescale paintings on the grounds, all of which were meant to break down boundaries and expectations of what outdoor art can be.

You both obtained your architecture degrees from Pratt. What did your Pratt education contribute to your development as curators?

Pratt taught us to think about architecture as an expansive discipline, which could be applied to a host of endeavors. There were indeed no boundaries at Pratt. We wouldn’t have it any other way for our education or in our professional lives.

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Duke Riley, alumnus

Be Good or Be Gone Beach 98th Street station, Brooklyn, NY

Duke Riley (M.F.A. Sculpture ’06) connects obscure histories and populist myths with contemporary social dilemmas through drawing, printmaking, mosaic, sculpture, performative interventions, and video, structured as complex multimedia installations. Maritime narratives and New York City’s waterfront have long fascinated Riley, and Be Good or Be Gone continues the artist’s exploration of the peripheries of land and sea. A monumental faceted-glass installation of three groupings of five panels and two diptychs on the wall of a New York City subway platform, this work is Riley’s personal interpretation of the history of Rockaway Beach, just a few blocks south of the station.

for. I’m approached by large corporations all the time, like American Express and Starbucks, and I have turned a lot of people down if their business plan doesn’t ethically line up with my beliefs. I feel like anything you’re doing for the MTA, you’re really doing as a gift to everyone in the city. That’s how we all move around. It’s important to be able to know when to break rules, but is also important to know when to work within them.

In addition to his performative projects, which have taken place most recently in Brooklyn, China, and Key West, Riley has had solo exhibitions at Magnan Metz Gallery and White Box gallery in Manhattan, the Queens Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio. He has also taken part in several group exhibitions, both in the United States and abroad.

As an artist known for working outside the boundaries of rules and regulations, what was it like partnering with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a public transit corporation, to create and install a mural on a subway wall?

I’m used to owning a business that helps me to fund a lot of the things you wouldn’t be able to get funding for, so I’m pretty well-seasoned in working within a legitimate business platform. I’m pretty selective as to whom I’m willing to work

Material: Faceted glass panels Year: 2011

To create your mural, you immersed yourself in the natural and cultural history of the Rockaways. How did you decide on the title Be Good or Be Gone, and what does it mean to you? “Be Good or Be Gone” is a sign that appears in several of the Irish bars in the Rockaways. One is in the Palm Garden— or where the Palm Garden used to be. That building burnt down during Sandy. Roger’s Irish Ale House has the sign in it as well, up on 116th Street. I was using it as an environmental twist to basically imply that if people don’t start making changes, then a lot of these places will be gone due to rising sea levels. There are underlying messages about the environment in pretty much all of my recent projects.

Tell us about your choice of materials for the mural. I worked in mosaic for many years, so I was surprised, when the MTA finally did contact me, that they didn’t want me to work in mosaic. They wanted me to use faceted glass. It was a nice break for me and, I thought, a fitting match. My work interpreted well into it.

You came to Pratt to pursue a degree in sculpture, and clearly, the history of Brooklyn resonates strongly in your work. How did Pratt contribute to your interest in the “frontiers” of urban spaces? I would say that probably for a good solid decade before I went to Pratt, I was working on stuff on the outskirts and margins of the Brooklyn waterfront. However, I didn’t really start documenting a lot of those things on film before I went to Pratt.

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TRUSTEE PROFILE Marc Rosen, M.I.D. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70

Iconic designer creates full-tuition scholarship to promote excellence in design.

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Package design legend Marc Rosen still recalls the fragrance package design he presented to the creative director at Avon while a graduate student at Pratt Institute.

suggested the presentation, I wouldn’t have done it. He gave me the self-confidence.”

“I literally had it in a little paper bag and I went up into this big skyscraper into this very beautiful office overlooking Manhattan. It was very intimidating, but he liked it enough to buy it for $3,000, which was a small fortune to a student back then,” he says, adding, “you could buy a brandnew Volkswagen Beetle for that, which is exactly what I did.”

Beginning in 2016–17, the Marc Rosen Scholarship for Packaging by Design will further highlight and encourage excellence among aspiring package designers at Pratt. The scholarship, which builds on the partial merit awards that Rosen has presented to select packaging design graduates, will provide full tuition on the basis of merit to a first-year student in Pratt’s Graduate Communications Design program. The scholarship may be renewed for a second year, making it the Institute’s only scholarship with the potential to cover the entire cost of graduate tuition.

More than 40 years later, Rosen has his own office overlooking Manhattan, the expansive window ledges of which are lined with oversized, glass, factice models of the perfume bottles that have made him an icon in the cosmetics industry. He has created perfume bottles and cosmetics packaging for such legendary firms and clients as Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi, Perry Ellis, Ellen Tracy, Jill Stuart, Joan Rivers, and Christina Aguilera. Rosen’s perfume bottle designs have also earned him seven Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards—the industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award. When asked why Rosen’s work continues to deserve such acclaim, Fragrance Foundation President Elizabeth Musmano says, “Marc has transported the art of bottle design into creating architectural masterpieces for his clients. He is able to bring forth the most important aspects for each one, translating their essence through his talent.” For Musmano, these qualities of empathy, creativity, and passion are the marks of a true designer—and ones that immediately come to mind when she thinks of Rosen.

Gaining Confidence and Expertise at Pratt

Rosen attended Pratt because it was the only college in the United States to offer a graduate program in package design. “There was no profession called packaging design when I was an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon. Everything was called advertising. To stand out from all of the other graphic design students looking for jobs in advertising, I knew I needed to do two things: specialize, and get a graduate degree.” Having been drawn to three-dimensional design since childhood, Rosen chose packaging design, which led him directly to Pratt. While Rosen had never imagined becoming a cosmetics package designer, he credits the Institute, and his brief experience with Avon, for putting him on course to become a visionary in the field. “The presentation to Avon was the culmination of my Pratt graduate experience. When I realized I could get paid to do something I loved so much, I thought, this is for me.” He adds, “If my professor, Donald Doran, hadn’t

As the creator and professor of the world’s only course specifically for package designers interested in studying cosmetics packaging, Rosen has instilled the same kind of confidence in hundreds of aspiring package designers, who have gone on to successful careers across the country and around the world.

A Scholarship to Benefit Future Students

Santiago Piedrafita, chair of Pratt’s Graduate Communications Design program, is particularly excited that the scholarship has the potential to support both a first-year and a second-year student. “A full-tuition scholarship such as this is an invaluable gift,” he says. “Packaging design is a jewel of an industry that attracts extremely sophisticated, creative individuals with sensibilities to match. It is fitting that Marc, an exemplar among the very best in the discipline, has established this scholarship, which will go a long way in helping Pratt both attract and nurture the very best talent.”

Marc has transported the art of bottle design into creating architectural masterpieces for his clients. Funds for the scholarship are raised through the highly successful annual Art of Packaging Award Gala, now in its 27th year, which Rosen created to recognize package designers and pay tribute to companies that excel in the art of packaging design. The 2016 Art of Packaging Award dinner will take place at the University Club on May 17, 2016. In addition to providing funds for the scholarship, the Art of Packaging Award Gala also supports the Marc Rosen Education Fund for Packaging by Design, which will support an annual design symposium featuring a small group of industry leaders who, through their work, have demonstrated the growing role that design plays in strategy, leadership, product, message, and brand. The inaugural symposium will take place in fall 2016. Photo by Vincent Ricardel

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NEW AND NOTEWORTHY Items in the Marketplace Created by Pratt Alumni, Faculty, and Students

Botzen Robot Collection Eric Strebel (B.I.D. ’91) $34.95–$39.95

Industrial designer Eric Strebel has introduced three new dramatic science-fiction inspired robots to his PowerClix construction line. For ages seven and up, the magnetic play set en courages endless exploration with an easy clickand-connect system for fast and simple 3‑D modeling. Available as PolyMech, TerraMech, and ReptileMech at guidecraft.com and amazon.com.

Martini Side Table Brad Ascalon (M.I.D. ’05) $1,595 (table, walnut knife edge); $775 (table, tray top); $90 (glass table top) Brad Ascalon’s round Martini table has a beautiful solid cast resin base, and can be customized with a solid walnut knife edge, tray top, or glass insert. With a lacquer fin ish available in eight colors, the piece can be used as a side table or as a coffee table. Additionally, the table is manufactured using all regional materials within 500 miles of High Point, North Carolina. Available at hightoweraccess.com.

Fahmida Lounge Chair Fahmida Lam (M.I.D. ’13) $2,480 in cherry; $2,850 in walnut Designed for Thos. Moser, the Fahmida Chair incorporates contemporary design, the natural beauty of wood, and traditional joinery techniques. Fahmida Lam designed the chair while part of the first Emerging Designer Program by Thos. Moser, in collaboration with Dwell magazine and City Modern New York, and was recognized as a 2014 Best of Year Honoree by Interior Design magazine. Available in cherry and walnut at thosmoser.com.

Daily Poster Sale Adrian Volz (B.F.A. Communications Design ’11) $50 (12" x 18"); $100 (24" x 36") In 2013, graphic designer Adrian Volz launched “My Daily Poster Project,” a marathon poster project that captured his daily observations and the overarching influence of his urban sur roundings. The project showcases Volz’s deter mination to experiment with color, typography, and architectonic graphics. Five distinctive designs from the series are available for purchase through adrianvolzdesign.com/shop.

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Cruelty-Free Handbags by GUNAS Sugandh G. Agrawal (M.P.S. Design Management ’09) Various Prices

The Black Mzungu is the vivid, candid account of how Nur, an African American Muslim expat, and her Tanzanian husband breathe life into a beautiful 92-acre homestead in the coastal region of Lindi, Tanzania. In this compelling saga about self-discovery, love, identity, and triumph, Nur’s perceptions of how things “ought” to be are often challenged, and she and her husband must learn to navigate both natural and man-made obstacles as they forge a way to give back to the land they now call home.

GUNAS is an independent high-fashion label with a cause. One hundred percent vegan and ethically made, GUNAS bags show that sustainability and animal awareness don’t have to clash with high fashion. Available at gunasthebrand.com.

Visionary Creativity: How New Worlds Are Born John Lobell, Professor, School of Architecture $15 In Visionary Creativity, John Lobell examines a form of creativity that has inspired the world’s greatest artists, writers, designers, scientists, and leaders. Delving into the lives of influential thinkers and makers in worlds as diverse as music, business, and technology, Lobell embarks on a fascinating exploration of how this creative drive can pull us into the future. Available at www.barnesandnoble.com.

Submissions Alumni, Faculty, and Students We invite submissions to New and Noteworthy. Send information and images of your latest creation for sale in the marketplace to prattfolio@pratt.edu with the subject “New and Noteworthy.”

The Black Mzungu Alexandria K. Osbourne (B.S. Chemistry ’79) $15

Silk Bowl Haresh Lalvani (M.S. Architecture ’72), Professor, School of Architecture $200 Continuous “morphing” of form and material are combined into a single process to make a three-dimensional object in the Silk Bowl by Haresh Lalvani. The bowl is made of steel and painted black. Available at milgodesignstore.com.

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RYERSON WALK Recent Campus News and Activities

The Degrees of Bioethics by Amanda Favia and Chris Alen Sula

School of Information and Library Science Renamed Pratt Institute has changed the name of its School of Information and Library Science to the School of Information. For more than 125 years, the School of Information and Library Science has been a leader at the nexus of information studies and design thinking and has been internationally known among its academic peers for its scholarly work. The name change honors this legacy and recognizes the advancements in technology and globalization that have yielded unprecedented growth and opportunities in the study, application, and exchange of physical and digital information.

The School of Information enhances the masters in Library and Information Science graduate programs by featuring new offerings that support the existing curriculum. As the field continues to rapidly expand, new School of Information programs have been developed through the lens of professional practice and now include a new Master of Science program: Museums and Digital Culture. The School also will offer even more specialized skills with Advanced Certificates in User Experience and Digital Humanities, and additional new graduate programs will be announced in the near future.

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Student in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies’ Pre-College program works on an architectural model in class. Photo by Fiona Szende

Interior rendering of the Pratt Student Union. Courtesy of Matiz Architecture & Design

Pratt Announces School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Student Union Renovation to Bring Enhanced Space for Student Use

Pratt Institute transitioned its Center for Continuing and Professional Studies into the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) in July. The School, which builds on the Center’s more than 40-year history of exceptional course offerings, is growing to meet the demands of creative professionals by expanding its for-credit certificate programs, non-credit programs, and online courses.

The Student Union on the Brooklyn campus is being renovated to enhance the facility and improve the environment for student club meetings and community gatherings, as well as provide needed office space. Pratt alumnus Juan C. Matiz (B. Arch. ’94), founder of Matiz Architecture & Design, is serving as the principal architect on the project. Renovations began in August 2015 and the redesign is scheduled for completion in fall 2016.

SCPS, which operates from Pratt’s Manhattan and Brooklyn campuses, offers a wide range of original courses and programs, including individual non-credit and for-credit courses, such as Environmental Graphics, Online and Social Media Marketing, and Introduction to UX/UI Mobile Design, for working professionals in design, fine art, and architecture; non-credit certificate programs such as Fashion New Media and Design Entrepreneurship; American Institute of Architects (AIA) Professional Development courses; and an Autodesk Training Center for computeraided design (CAD) users.

To ensure the new Student Union adequately meets the diverse needs of the Pratt student body, the Student Government Association (SGA) held a design charrette in 2013, where 29 students from advertising, architecture, digital arts, graphic design, illustration, interior design, and urban environmental systems management developed ideas for the renovation. The architect reviewed the ideas generated by the charrette and various elements will be incorporated in the final design.

In addition, SCPS gives high school and college students the opportunity to experience Pratt through its forcredit Pre-College Program for high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors and for-credit Summer Credit Intensive courses for college students looking to satisfy art and/or elective requirements.

“The newly renovated Student Union will be a beautiful, welcoming environment where students can gather and share ideas, and where a sense of community can thrive,” said Helen Matusow-Ayres, Pratt’s vice president for student affairs. “Incorporating their ideas into the final design gave students the opportunity to help make a space that is their own at the center of the Brooklyn campus,” she added. The current Student Union is located in a one-and-a-half-story building designed by architect William Tubby. One of Pratt Institute’s three original structures, it was constructed to be a gymnasium, but began serving as a student union in 1982. The new facility will cater to current and future students, as well as provide an event space and gallery for their use.

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L: Susan Young has been named Associate Degree Programs chair within Pratt’s School of Art; R: Constantin Boym has been named Industrial Design chair.

Wayland Chew’s winning design for the Cannoneers mascot logo

Professor Susan Young Appointed Chair of Associate Degree Programs

Pratt Institute Unveils New Mascot Illustration for the Cannoneers

Susan Young, a graphic designer, illustrator, animator, and pro fessor, has been appointed chair of the School of Art’s Associate Degree Programs. Young, who had been serving as the acting chair of the Associate Degree Programs, has also been an adjunct associate professor (2012-14) and visiting instructor (2008-12) in the Associate Degree Programs. Young’s awards and academic research include a Pratt Institute 2014 Faculty Development Fund grant to study the use of graphic design in Cuba. Her il lustrations, animations, and graphic design work have appeared in books and publications including Molly Finn and the Pearls of Fillemberth. Her work has been shown at the Arts Equity Show and Black and White Art Show (New York City); and at galleries such as 120 Orchard Street (New York City); Savannah Gallery (Atlanta, Georgia); and La Gallerie Bleue (Savannah, Georgia).

Pratt Institute has unveiled a new mascot illustration for the Cannoneers. The design, which features a cat lighting the flame that sets off the Pratt cannon, was created by alumnus Wayland Chew (B.F.A. Graphic Design ’06), the winner of the Mascot Design Competition held last spring by the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs as part of an initiative to evolve the Pratt Athletics brand. A distinguished panel of graphic design professionals and members of the Pratt community assessed more than 100 entries and selected the winning illustration based on its overall effectiveness, concept and creativity, function and practicality, and aesthetics and form.

Award-Winning Designer Constantin Boym Named Chair of Industrial Design Department Designer Constantin Boym has been appointed Industrial Design chair within Pratt Institute’s School of Design. Boym is founder of Boym Partners Inc., an award-winning design studio that he runs with Laurene Leon Boym. Boym served as professor and director of Graduate Design Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar from 2010–12, and as faculty and program coordinator at Parsons School of Design from 1987 to 2000. Boym Partners has created work for an international roster of companies including Alessi, Swatch, Flos, and Vitra and was recognized with a prestigious National Design Award in 2009 for excellence and innovation in American design. Boym Partners’ work is included in the permanent collections of many museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art, and its Boym Editions are sought after by collectors from around the world.

“We are excited that the winning design successfully represents the Athletics program’s identity and the triumphant spirit of the Cannoneers,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Helen Matusow-Ayres.

Industrial Design Professor and Alumnus Bruce Hannah Retires after Four Decades at Pratt Industrial Design Professor Bruce Hannah (B.I.D. ’63), whose award-winning designs include the Hannah Desk System for Knoll, has retired from Pratt. Hannah joined the Institute’s Industrial Design Department as a professor in 1973 and, in 1988, was appointed chair, overseeing the reorganization of the undergraduate and graduate program into one department. In 1993, he returned to teaching and was awarded tenure in 1996. Hannah taught courses in hospitality and furniture design, including a studio that formed the basis of a series of furniture workshops that he led in collaboration with leading design schools all over the world. His record as an educator was recognized in 1998 with a National Design Education Award from the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) and in 2003 with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award.

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Work by Bryce Barsten (Digital Arts B.F.A. ’15)

L to R: Edmund S. Twining IV, Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship winner Keiron de Nobriga (B.F.A. Sculpture ’16), and Edmund S. “Ned” Twining III

Animation Career Review Ranks Pratt One of Country’s Top Animation Colleges

Fine Arts Student Keiron de Nobriga Wins 2015 Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship

Pratt was rated one of the nation’s top animation colleges in the 2015 Animation School Rankings published by Animation Career Review, a comprehensive source for information on animation, graphic design, and digital art schools. The Institute was ranked eighth nationally (up from 13th in the 2014 rankings); seventh among the country’s private schools and colleges; and second on the East Coast (up from sixth in the 2014 rankings).

Keiron de Nobriga (B.F.A. Sculpture ’16) has been named the recipient of the 2015 Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship, an annual $35,000 award conferred on a third-year undergraduate. Each year, a new department is chosen to present student projects. Sculpture, in the Department of Fine Arts, stepped into the spotlight in spring 2015.

Animation Career Review considered hundreds of schools across the United States with programs geared toward animation or game design. Schools were ranked on the basis of academic reputation, admissions selectivity, depth and breadth of the program and faculty, financial value, and geographic location.

Pratt Wins Major Industry Award for Website Redesign and Fashion Lookbook The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), one of the world’s largest nonprofit educational associations, named Pratt Institute both a Silver and Bronze award winner in its 2015 Circle of Excellence awards program. Pratt’s website redesign won a Bronze Award in the Institutional Websites category. There were 88 entries in this category from colleges and universities nationwide. Many people from across the Institute worked to implement the site redesign in spring 2014. The Institute also won a Silver Award in the Multi-Page Publications category for the 2014 Pratt Fashion Lookbook titled Under Construction, which was a collaborative effort between the Fashion Department and the Creative Services team in the Office of Communications and Marketing. There were 113 entries in this category.

The Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship was established by Edmund S. “Ned” Twining III, great-great-grandson of Charles Pratt, the founder of Pratt Institute, and grandson of Charles Pratt, president of Pratt Institute from 1937–1953, for whom the scholarship is named. On April 10, presentations by four finalists were made to members of the Pratt family, Pratt Institute President Thomas F. Schutte, Provost Peter Barna, School of Art Dean Gerry Snyder, and Department of Fine Arts Chair Deborah Bright in the Pratt Library. De Nobriga was recognized for best artistic achievement through work that captured a personal and artistic journey focused on labor and physical challenges. His Untitled 3, a project he presented for the scholarship, is a concrete slab weighing one ton. When electrified, the slab vibrates on a set of springs. Nefeli Asariotaki (B.F.A. Sculpture ’16), Wyatt Burns (B.F.A. Sculpture ’16), and Mitchell Charbonneau (B.F.A. Sculpture ’16) were named runners-up.

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The online PrattStore offers mugs, water bottles, and other Pratt-branded merchandise.

The redesigned Engineering Quadrangle on the Brooklyn campus

New Online Store Features Exciting Array of Pratt-Branded Merchandise

Campus Landscape Redesign Garners Awards and Media Coverage

In June, Pratt announced the launch of PrattStore.com, the first online retail site that exclusively offers Pratt-branded apparel, accessories, and gifts. The creation of Pratt Store enables the Institute to offer merchandise using the official Pratt logo and other graphics to students, parents, alumni, and friends of Pratt throughout the year and at any location.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce named Pratt’s redesigned Engineering Quadrangle the winner of the 2015 Building Brooklyn Award for the Landscape and Open Space category. The annual awards event recognizes recently completed con struction and renovation projects that improve the borough’s diverse neighborhoods and economy. Pratt Institute President Thomas F. Schutte; Executive Director of Planning, Design, Construction, and Facilities Management Glenn Gordon; and Director of Planning and Design Kimberly Saul accepted the award at this year’s ceremony.

“We are excited to have an online retail destination where the Pratt community and supporters of the arts can show their enthusiasm for the Institute,” said Pratt Institute President Thomas F. Schutte. The online Pratt Store is operated by Roy Muraskiewicz, former manager of the Prattstore on Myrtle Avenue, which closed in 2013. The site features a selection of casual wear and accessories, and is continuing to expand its range of Pratt‑themed gear and gifts.

School of Architecture Professor Stuart K. Pertz Dies School of Architecture Professor Stuart Pertz, architect, urban planner, ceramic artist, and planning commissioner, died on July 7 of cancer. Pertz had a long and distinguished career as a Professor of Architecture and Planning and Chair of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at Pratt, where he continued to teach in the graduate City and Regional Planning program. Pertz was one of the founding members of the Institute’s new Urban Placemaking and Management program. He taught extensively and developed curricula for a variety of courses in development strategies for cities, sustainable communities, and the design of places in the public realm. Pertz served as a member of the New York City Planning Commission and was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a past director of the New York City Chapter, and a past member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

In June, The Wall Street Journal highlighted the redesign of the Engineering Quadrangle, which was envisioned and supported by Pratt alumnus and Trustee Emeritus Bruce M. Newman (B.F.A. Interior Design ’53), in an article about the beauty of Pratt’s Brooklyn campus and the ongoing campus beautification effort led by President Schutte since his arrival at Pratt in 1993.

Memorial Held for Licio Isolani, Professor Emeritus and Plastics and Polymeric Materials Pioneer School of Art Professor Emeritus Licio Isolani, a prominent figure of the Italian-New York art scene in the ’60s and ’70s, passed away on July 4. A memorial service was held for Isolani at Pratt’s Brooklyn campus on July 10. Isolani’s illustrious career as a professor of sculpture at Pratt spanned more than five decades. A renowned pioneer in the exploration of plastics and polymeric materials, Isolani gave a collection of his own work to the Math and Science Department, fulfilling his passion for connecting science and art. An exhibition of the works, A Strange Road of Materials, was on view in June at Steuben Gallery on the Brooklyn campus. His greatest contribution to Pratt rests in the development of the Foundry, which he designed and which remains the only professional and academic foundry in the New York City area.

Contributing to Community

Contributing to Pratt “Pratt gave me the confidence to use my design skills in ways I’d never imagined.” –Aaron Nesser (M.I.D. ’17)

Above: Aaron Nesser in 100 Quincy Community Garden

For 100 Quincy Community Garden volunteer Aaron Nesser (Master of Industrial Design ’17), being a designer means giving fellow volunteers the tools they need to make New York a greener, more environmentally sustainable city. Aaron is just one example of a myriad of Pratt students and alumni who are having a profound impact on the world around them—thanks in large part to the essential resources provided by The Fund for Pratt. From scholarships and financial aid to faculty development and study abroad opportunities, The Fund for Pratt touches every Pratt student every day.

Make your gift today at www.pratt.edu/give. The Fund for Pratt

AT PRATT, CREATIVE CONNECTIONS GO WELL BEYOND THE CLASSROOM. With more than 40,000 alumni worldwide, plus parents and friends across the country and around the globe, Pratt Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative community extends far beyond the campus gates. To take part in this vibrant group, join Pratt Connect. Register at connect.pratt.edu using your Facebook or LinkedIn login, or create a unique username and password. Looking to share and read class news? To view or submit class notes and obituaries, visit connect.pratt.edu/classnotes.

It begins with you. Come back to campus and celebrate your Pratt connections. Save the Date Pratt Institute Alumni Weekend and Reunions Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17, 2016 Pratt Institute Brooklyn Campus

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BEYOND THE GATES Pratt’s Presence in the Public Realm

L to R: Alison Knowles, Holland Cotter, Pratt President Thomas F. Schutte, Shepard Fairey, and James Turrell. Photo by Sam Stuart

Pratt Honorary Degree Recipients Impart Wise Words to Class of 2015 Pratt held its 126th commencement at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, celebrating the achievements of 1,255 graduating students in graduate and undergraduate ceremonies on May 15. Boundary-pushing artists Shepard Fairey; Pratt alumna Alison Knowles (B.F.A. Illustration ’56); and James Turrell; and art influencers Karen Brooks Hopkins, president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and Holland Cotter, co-chief art critic and a senior writer at The New York Times received honorary degrees at the ceremonies.

Joseph V. Melillo, executive producer at Brooklyn Academy of Music, delivered the keynote address at the graduate ceremony on behalf of Brooks Hopkins, who encouraged Pratt students to “save the world one artistic project at a time.” Cotter was the keynote speaker at the undergraduate ceremony, where he, Fairey, Knowles, and Turrell received honorary degrees. Graduation speakers also included Adjunct Assistant Professor Andrew Lenaghan, who was named the Distinguished Teacher for 2015–2016, and elected speakers Matthew Boker (M.Arch. ’15) and Spencer Hill (B.F.A. Communications Design ’14). A short highlight video from Commencement can be viewed at www.youtube.com/prattinstitute.

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Guests taking in Pratt’s 2015 Fashion Show including an over-sized menswear design by graduating senior Kit Woo (B.F.A. Fashion ’15) Photo by Fernando Colon

L to R: Fashion designer Darlene Okpo, student presenter James Antwine, honoree and Pratt alumnus Joe Mizzi (B.S. Construction Management ’91), fashion designer Lizzie Okpo, and student presenter Alberto Silva

Annual Pratt Fashion Show Attracts Nearly 400 Guests from the Fashion Industry

Black Alumni of Pratt Celebrate 25th Anniversary of “Celebration of the Creative Spirit” Benefit

Unconventional draping, cutting, and construction techniques were on display at Pratt’s 116th annual Fashion Show on May 7, 2015. Nearly 400 guests from the fashion industry attended the sold-out show in Manhattan, which featured curated looks by 16 graduating senior fashion students. The event also honored Francisco Costa, women’s creative director of Calvin Klein Collection, who received the 2015 Pratt Fashion Visionary Award from actress Rose Byrne. Costa was celebrated at an exclusive cocktail benefit immediately following the runway show. The show received coverage and accolades in media outlets including Women’s Wear Daily, InStyle, Fashionista, and Fashion Week Daily. Highlights included looks by Sophie Andes Gascon (B.F.A. Fashion ’15), whose senior thesis collection was supported in part by a Cotton Incorporated scholarship awarded in recognition of Gascon’s work the previous year. Claire McKinney (B.F.A Fashion ’15) received “The Liz Claiborne Award—Concept to Product,” a $25,000 prize established by the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation to support the entrepreneurial activities and costs of developing a collection after graduation for one outstanding senior. Cotton Incorporated was the lead sponsor for the Pratt Institute Fashion Show + Cocktail Benefit and also provided scholarship support with the goal of educating Pratt fashion students about the versatility of cotton. Funding was awarded in part through a competitive grant presented to Pratt Institute by the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board and managed by Cotton Incorporated. Santander Universities, a division of Santander Bank, N.A., was the platinum sponsor of the Pratt Institute Fashion Show + Cocktail Benefit. Proceeds from the event benefited Pratt scholarship funds and the Institute’s Department of Fashion.

The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) hosted its annual “Celebration of the Creative Spirit” Benefit Gala at The Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan, marking 25 years of BAP working to create and sustain scholarship programs for highly talented African-American and Latino students at Pratt on the basis of their academic merit and financial need. The event attracted 200 supporters from New York City’s cultural, philanthropic, civic, and entertainment communities, such as award-winning actress and fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker; Deborah Roberts, ABC News correspondent; and Al Roker, NBC’s TODAY weather and feature anchor. The star-studded gala was co-chaired by Pratt Trustee Kathryn Chenault; Nancy Rabstejnek Nichols, senior vice president of external affairs at Weber Shandwick/Interpublic Group; and Stefano Tonchi, editor in chief of W. The Creative Spirit Award recipients were Harris Diamond, chairman and chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup; Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Pratt alumnus Joseph Mizzi (B.S. Construction Management ’91), president of Sciame Construction, LLC; and Pratt alumnus Mitchell J. Silver (B.Arch. ’87), commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Andrew Lenaghan Receives Pratt Institute Distinguished Teacher Award for 2015–16 Andrew Lenaghan, adjunct assistant professor of Foundation Art, received the Distinguished Teacher Award for 2015–16, which was presented at Commencement on May 15 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The award recognizes exceptional dedication to Pratt’s mission and applauds the accomplishments made over the course of a career. Students nominate the Distinguished Teacher, and the award is conferred by the Academic Senate.

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L to R: Faculty member, alumnus, and Trustee Emeritus Marc Rosen (M.I.D. ’70); Pratt President Thomas F. Schutte; Honoree and alumnus James Gager (B.I.D. ’67); and Board Chair Bruce Gitlin. Photo by Sean Zanni for Patrick McMullan Company

Lauren Lee’s winning Colors of the Sky Clock design. Courtesy of Lauren Lee

Pratt Celebrates Marc Rosen Scholarship and Education Fund for Packaging by Design at Annual Gala

Pratt Participates in Annual Citywide Celebration of Design

At its annual Art of Packaging Award Gala, Pratt Institute honored James Gager (B.I.D. ’67), senior vice president and group creative director at M·A·C Cosmetics and Jo Malone Worldwide, and announced a new full-tuition scholarship named for alumnus, Trustee Emeritus, and faculty member Marc Rosen (M.I.D. ’70). Proceeds from the glamorous gala, which was attended by more than 350 special guests, benefit the Marc Rosen Scholarship Fund for Packaging by Design at Pratt. Emceed by supermodel Carol Alt, the gala marked 26 years of the Fund, which has helped raise more than $3.5 million for scholarships for graduate package design students. This year’s student scholarship winners were Olivia Hwayoung Kim (M.I.D. ’15); Liyang Xu (M.S. Package Design ’15); Saana Hellsten (M.S. Package Design ’15); In-Young Bae (M.S. Package Design ’15); Hsiao-Han Chen (M.S. Package Design ’15); and Marc Valega (M.S. Package Design ’16). The new Marc Rosen Scholarship for Packaging by Design will provide full tuition on the basis of merit to a first-year student in the Graduate Communications Design Program beginning in 2016–17. The scholarship may be renewed for a second year, making it Pratt’s only scholarship with the potential to cover the entire cost of tuition.

Pratt participated in NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s official citywide celebration of design, through a variety of exhibitions and presentations of student, faculty, and alumni work at events and venues including BKLYN Designs, WantedDesign Brooklyn, Pratt Design 2015, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), Sight Unseen OFFSITE, and Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator. Highlights included: Pratt and New York City-based design brand Areaware presented an exhibition titled Objects of the Moment: An Exploration in Counting, Marking, and Contemplating Time at WantedDesign Brooklyn. The exhibition featured a range of household and tabletop products by masters of industrial design students under the direction of industrial design faculty Sinclair Smith and Henry Yoo. An esteemed jury helped to select the winning design, “Colors of the Sky Clock” by Lauren Lee (M.I.D. ’17). At ICFF, Pratt teamed up with twenty2, the design and printing studio of Kyra and Robertson Hartnett, to debut DEEP, an exclusive collection of lush 3-D wallpapers in five different styles created by Pratt interior design students under the direction of Visiting Associate Interior Design Professor Sarah Strauss. Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator (BF+DA) hosted a panel discussion featuring senior strategists from Patagonia; Nike, Inc.; and Eileen Fisher on the importance of integrating sustainable technology practices into business models and how brands can improve the environmental impact their products have on society.

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Bloom 3-D wallpaper by LuzElena Wood (M.S. Interior Design ’13). Courtesy of twenty2

Humanizing Aids installation by interior design students Ni Tsia Cheong, Mariko Higashiyama, Natalie Minott, and Mariana Rocha Hernandez. Photo by Marion Curtis/StarPix

Cooper Hewitt Acquires Alumna Luzelena Wood’s Wallpaper for Permanent Collection

Pratt Participates in New York Fashion Week 2015

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, voted unanimously to acquire wallpaper created by former interior design graduate student Luzelena Wood (M.S. Interior Design ’13) and accept it into their permanent collection. Wood designed “Bloom,” a 3-D wallpaper, during her time at Pratt with Sarah Strauss, visiting associate professor of interior design, in the graduate seminar “Pattern and Ornament.” The collection debuted at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in May and is now for sale worldwide on twenty2’s website.

A number of recent Pratt fashion graduates and faculty partici pated in exhibitions and shows during New York Fashion Week 2015. Highlights included a free public exhibition titled Fashion=Activism: Rethink, Reuse, Respect presented by Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, and an exhibition of Claire McKinney’s (B.F.A. Fashion Design ’15) thesis work as presented by Pratt Institute Trustee Ralph Pucci and the Museum of Arts and Design.

Interior Design Students Show Work at Manhattan Dining by Design Event (DIFFA) Graduate students from the Interior Design Department created two unique tabletop installations for the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) DINING BY DESIGN event, which was held in March in Manhattan. The event, which ran concurrently with the Architectural Digest Home Show, brought together some of the most talented and celebrated individuals in the worlds of fashion, interior design, art, and architecture to create 50 spectacular, over-the-top dining environments. Pratt was one of several schools to exhibit as part of DIFFA’s Student Design Initiative, which provides the next generation of designers with the opportunity to participate in the annual event.

Fashion=Activism: Rethink, Reuse, Respect featured exemplary work by 14 artists, emerging designers, and brands who are using fashion to address critical environmental and social issues, including Pratt Fashion faculty member and artist Liz Collins. Curated by Debera Johnson, executive director of Pratt’s BF+DA, the exhibition used artifacts, garments, performance art, and multimedia works to explore human rights, the impact of the industry on the environment, and the support of traditional cultures through fashion. McKinney’s award-winning thesis collection was on view at the Ralph Pucci International Showroom in Manhattan, and featured the recent Fashion alumna’s aesthetic interpretation of the struggle between nostalgia and the desire for innovation through hand-processed denim and unconventional materials.

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Deep Space Habitat and X-Hab Loft, the 2011 version of the deep space habitat at NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) analog field test. Courtesy of NASA

L to R: Jewelry Program Coordinator Pat Madeja, Casey Sobel (B.F.A. Jewelry ’15), Fangding “Andie” Xu (B.F.A. Jewelry ’15), and Mary Beth Rozkewicz at LOOT: MAD About Jewelry.

NASA Project Collaboration Inspires Students to Create Habitat for Travel to Mars

Museum of Arts and Design Show Features Work by Pratt Jewelry Designers

In a challenge presented by NASA, Pratt architecture and industrial design students are being inspired to address design concerns related to space travel. For an interdisciplinary studio class led by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture Michael Morris and Adjunct Associate Professor of Industrial Design Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, the upper-level undergraduate and graduate students are working on the eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) 2016 Academic Innovation Challenge “Human Centered: Designs for the Mars Transit Habitat,” a NASA project collaboration with academic institutions to develop a transit habitat, or module, for the exploration of Mars.

Casey Sobel (B.F.A. Jewelry ’15) and Fangding “Andie” Xu (B.F.A. Jewelry ’15) sold work from their thesis collections alongside renowned international jewelry designers at LOOT: MAD About Jewelry, the 15th annual juried sale and exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design from September 29 through October 3. The show gave Sobel and Xu the unique opportunity to network with other jewelry artists, curators, buyers, and collectors and gain practical insights into presenting and selling their creations. This marks the fourth year that Pratt students have participated in the event.

The Pratt students will design and build a full-scale prototype of the habitat and will present their project on the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in the summer of 2016. They will travel with faculty to NASA’s Johnson Space Center or Marshall Space Flight Center later this fall to present their work to NASA scientists, doctors, and engineers and to discuss and present their research and projects. The studio began in fall 2015 and will continue through the 2015–16 academic year. The project is made possible with the support of NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation.

Variety Magazine Names Four Pratt Students in List of “110 Students to Watch” Four Pratt Institute students were featured in Variety magazine’s “110 Students to Watch” list, which was published in the magazine’s “Entertainment Education Report” in its April 28 issue. In honor of the publication’s 110th anniversary, the “110 Students to Watch” list profiled the world’s top students in media, arts, and technology. Sydney Clara Brafman (B.F.A. Film/Video ’15), Emily Erhart (B.F.A. Film/Video ’15), Mark Fingerhut (B.F.A. Digital Arts ’15), and Hayden Hoyl (B.F.A. Film/Video ’15) were selected for the feature.

Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winners Celebrated at Pratt Manhattan Gallery Exhibition This summer, Pratt Manhattan Gallery featured an exhibition of work by students in grades seven through 12 who won national awards from the Scholastic Art & Writing program. The exhibition, titled Art.Write.Now. 2015 National Exhibition, included a day of celebration that featured an educators’ breakfast attended by President Thomas F. Schutte and Aileen Wilson, professor and director of the Center for Art, Design, and Community Engagement K-12. Other events throughout the day at Pratt Manhattan Gallery included an Albers Color Workshop for students by Pratt School of Art Professor Wilfredo Ortega, a performance by youth theater group The Possibility Project, and a reading and open mic that featured student poets.

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Visitors at the opening reception for Noguchi + Pratt: An Exhibition. Photo by Kate Abbott. Courtesy of The Noguchi Museum

L to R: Maria Cornejo, Eric Wilson, Landry Low (B.F.A. Fashion ’15), Tracy Reese, and Alumna Melisa Goldie (B.F.A. Photography ’91). Photo by Sam Stuart

Pratt Interior Design Students Exhibit Work at Noguchi Museum

Fashion Design Senior Landry Low Receives $10,000 Award from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Graduate interior design students from the “Interior Design Graduate Level Qualifying Design Studio” were challenged to draw inspiration from the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, by Visiting Assistant Professors Wendy Cronk and Rachely Rotem and Visiting Associate Professor Tetsu Ohara this spring. Their work came full circle when the museum, which was designed and created by Japanese-American sculptor and artist Isamu Noguchi, displayed selected student works in a month-long summer exhibition.

Landry Low (B.F.A. Fashion Design ’15) was presented with a $10,000 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Scholarship Award at “Pratt Presents: Women of Influence in the Business of Style,” which was held at the IAC Building in Manhattan in May. Low was selected by members of Pratt Institute’s Fashion Department as well as company executives for her exceptional talent and passion for design. The award was presented by Eric Shepherd, president of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America.

The students chose items from the Noguchi to research and drew on their knowledge to design a hypothetical annex for the Museum in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project also involved designing a temporary exhibition for the annex space using the subjects of their research. The exhibition, titled Noguchi + Pratt: An Exhibition, was featured in Architectural Digest and included six select student projects in their entirety as well as analyses of Noguchi objects from all of the students.

Museum of Arts and Design Presents Retrospective Exhibition on Work of Trustee Ralph Pucci The Museum of Arts and Design explored the work of acclaimed designer and Pratt Institute Trustee Ralph Pucci in an exhibition titled Ralph Pucci: The Art of the Mannequin. The exhibition, which was on view from March through October 2015, included more than 30 iconic mannequins by the renowned New Yorkbased designer, who is president of Ralph Pucci International, the high-end furniture and interior design company he created from his family’s mannequin repair business. The exhibition highlighted Pucci’s innovative mannequin designs, which elevated the form from a utilitarian object to a work of art.

Low was recognized before 300 guests who earlier in the evening witnessed the unveiling of the “Wraith Inspired by Fashion”— Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ latest expression of innovative design— and the panel “Pratt Presents: Women of Influence in the Business of Style” with three fashion leaders in conversation about leading change in the industry, moderated by the InStyle fashion news director Eric Wilson. The “Women of Influence” panel included Calvin Klein, Inc.’s Chief Marketing Officer Melisa Goldie (B.F.A. Photography ’91); designer Tracy Reese, who is founder and creative director of the Tracy Reese label; and designer Maria Cornejo, who founded Zero + Maria Cornejo. The sponsorship of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for the “Women of Influence” event was an effort led by Pratt’s Strategic Partnerships and Institutional Support department.

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The benefits of a Pratt legacy have never been clearer. Making a planned gift to Pratt is a great way to benefit future generations of creative geniusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and yourself. The Institute offers a number of planned giving options that allow you to earn income during your lifetime. To see how you can benefit from creating your legacy at Pratt, visit www.pratt.edu/pg-calc.

For more information about making a planned gift to Pratt, contact Drew Babitts, Director of Planned Giving and Major Gifts, at 718.399.4296 or dbabitts@pratt.edu.

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FINAL THOUGHTS Placemaking and the Livable City

by David Burney, Associate Professor, Graduate Center for Planning

The resurgence of urbanism is a global phenomenon. From New York to Sydney, cities around the world are growing and new ones are springing up at an unprecedented rate. As planners and architects, we have a responsibility to ensure that these new and expanded urban centers are well designed and not built haphazardly. This growth provides us with an opportunity to advocate for a new planning approach, one that is place-based and encompasses the very best in sustainable and equitable living. The ultimate goal is to create a livable city, where the attachments and connections between people and place are both understood and fostered. Beyond adequate hard and soft infrastructure, livable cities offer a variety of retail choices and good, affordable housing while also having low crime rates. Very often, a livable city is also a walkable city—one that supports the public realm associated with social activity with attractive and well-planned streets and plazas where we can stroll, shop, eat, and people watch.

Two sites in New York City—Manhattan’s Time Square and Brooklyn’s Marcy Plaza on Fulton Street—exemplify the challenges that a place-based approach aims to address. While both spaces act as centers for social gathering in an urban environment, they serve different purposes and require different designs and management models. Times Square teems with activity in a constant struggle between cars and pedestrians. The pedestrians won a significant victory with the closing of Broadway between 42nd and 47th streets to create five new pedestrian plazas. But that victory comes with some of the problems of success—managing the intense competition for that new pedestrian space among special events, office workers out for lunch, tourists, pedestrians just trying to get from A to B, and, not to overlook, the costumed characters whose plying for tips from tourists has sparked recent controversy about the benefits of creating such pedestrian plazas. The Times Square Alliance that oversees the space is well funded but must rely on the cooperation of city agencies such as the Department of Transportation and the New York Police

Department to success-fully manage the cauldron of activity that is Times Square. By contrast, Marcy Plaza is a relatively small and underutilized plaza, managed by the local Business Improvement District with far more meager resources. The challenge in Marcy Plaza is how to activate and maintain a place that reflects the needs of the local community. Who is that community and what can the plaza do to support it? There is a small green market two days per week, but not much programming. There are traffic issues. Can the plaza help improve local retail business? The success of this small plaza is important to the life of this community. Issues such as these are at the heart of placemaking. Both Times Square and Marcy Plaza under score the urgent need for place-based planning in the face of the rapid growth of global urbanism. We must act quickly to ensure that our public realm—so vital to livability—forms the basic frame work for that growth. With a place-based approach, we can achieve the ideals embodied by a livable city.

Big ideas. Bold thinkers. Brilliant dialogue. Pratt Presents A series of curated public programs presented by Pratt Institute www.pratt.edu/public-programs

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Reimagining the Runway 2016 Pratt Institute Fashion Show + Cocktail Benefit Honoring fashion icons and featuring collections by the Department of Fashion class of 2016 6 PM Award Presentation + Fashion Show, 7:30 PM Cocktail Benefit, New York City For more information, visit www.pratt.edu/fashionshow.

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