I LEGO N.Y. is an imaginative new look at life in New York City constructed entirely out of LEGOs. The former New Yorker illustrator, Christoph Niemann, posted photographs of his creations along with his handwritten captions on his New York Times blog. Resident and honorary New Yorkers around the world responded enthusiastically to the clever and minimalist inventions, which captured both the iconic (the Empire State Building) and the mundane (man standing on a subway platform) in fewer LEGO pieces than one might think possible.

This book includes all of the original images, plus 13 new creations. The resulting collection is delightful in its simplicity and moving in its ability to capture the spirit of life in New York in so few strokes.

Published on March 1, 2010, by Abrams Image, and priced at $14.95, I LEGO N.Y. is available now for purchase online at www.urbancenterbooks.org, the MAS bookstore for architecture and design. MAS members receive 10% off all purchases at Urban Center Books. (Note: discount is deducted from total cost post-sale. You will see the reduced price on your credit card bill, not at check-out.) To become a member of MAS, visit MAS.org/membership.

The Municipal Art Society has moved to the Steinway Hall Building, 111 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.  Our phone and fax numbers remain the same.

Urban Center Books will be open until January 23 at the Villard Houses, 457 Madison Avenue.  There is currently a pre-moving sale, with all stock 40% off.

If you don’t get a chance to say goodbye to the Villard Houses in person, you can read the lovely farewell to the Municipal Art Society at the Villard Houses in last week’s New York Times, available here.

As of Saturday, January 23, 2010, MAS’ bookstore, Urban Center Books, will close when we vacate the Villard Houses for the Steinway Hall Building at 111 W. 57th Street.

Until then, we are holding a sale with 40% off all stock. Print this voucher and bring it to the store to claim your discount. Come in today to take advantage of the sale in its final week. UCB stocks books on a diverse range of topics including, architecture, design, New York, landscape, urbanism, sustainability, interiors, construction, theory, magazines, journals, and much more.

We expect UCB to reopen in a new location in the fall. In the meantime, visit us at www.urbancenterbooks.org to order books and receive your MAS member discount.

MAS has much to celebrate and share with our members, friends and colleagues this holiday season. After more than 25 years in the Villard Houses, we are moving our headquarters to the Steinway Hall Building at 111 West 57th Street as of mid-January 2010.

So, join us on Thursday, December 10, from 6:00 p.m. for wine, beer, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, music, and good cheer throughout the evening. President Vin Cipolla and Chairman David Childs will toast MAS and its future, and bid farewell Villard Houses and hello Steinway. Architectural historian and MAS tour leader Francis Morrone will give a brief talk about the history of the Villard Houses and of the Steinway Hall Building.

Then, from 8:00 -10:00 p.m., DJ’s will play, dancing will begin and party-goers can enjoy special discounts of 20% off all books in stock at the MAS bookstore, Urban Center Books, where staff will be on hand to offer personalized recommendations for holiday gift books and a complimentary copy of The Villard Houses: Life Story of a Landmark is available with each purchase. Intermittent tours of the building will also be given by Tamara Coombs, MAS director of tours and programs.

MAS Holiday Party
Thursday, December 10, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
At The Villard Houses, 457 Madison Avenue at E. 51st Street, MAP.
Tickets: Members $25 in advance, $35 at door; Non-members $40 in advance, $50 at door. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

Growing out of the popular exhibit Unpacking My Library that looks at the book collections of some of the most influential architects working today is the new accompanying book Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books. Join moderator Barry Bergdoll, the Philip Johnson chief curator of design at MoMA, next Tuesday, December 8, at MAS, for the launch of this book and a fascinating discussion among renowned architects Stan Allen, Billie Tsien, Bernard Tschumi, and Tod Williams about their personal book collections and the importance of them to their careers.

Unpacking My Library is a publication of Urban Center Books, the MAS bookstore, and is published by Yale University Library. It is on sale now in the bookstore and copies are also available online at www.urbancenterbooks.org.

The exhibit Unpacking My Library is on display at MAS now through mid-January. For more information and gallery hours, click here.

Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books
Tuesday, December 8, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at MAS
$15, $10 MAS members. Reservations and pre-payment recommended. Purchase tickets online or call 212 935 2075. MAP.

Urban Center Books, the bookstore of the Muncipal Art Society, will close in January 2010, when we vacate the Villard Houses. MAS headquarters is relocating to the Steinway Building, at 111 West 57th Street, and a search for a new location for Urban Center Books (UCB) is underway.

Urban Center Books will be open in its present location throughout the holiday season, offering shoppers a diverse collection of books on architecture, design, New York, landscape design and urbanism.

We expect to reopen Urban Center Books in a new location by the fall. Urban Center Books will continue to have an online presence, at www.urbancenterbooks.org, and we hope our patrons visit us online until the store reopens. Check the UCB web site for updates on the move.

Last Monday evening, MAS welcomed Anthony Flint, author of the new book Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City, who gave an engaging lecture on the clash between these two influential figures.

Flint portrays their battle as the ultimate David-and-Goliath story: Jacobs was the quirky “girl from Scranton” who shunned academics and would later turn down an honorary degree from Harvard. Moses was the “master builder” who graduated from Yale, continued his studies at Oxford, and returned from England with an affected English accent. He wielded his power through appointed positions, while she used savvy activism to mobilize the community and to court both the media and up-and-coming politicians like Ed Koch. Continue Reading>>

MAS originated the architectural walking tour in New York City in 1956 and we’re still at it — last year, more than 10,000 people participated in MAS tours. Now, we’ve published The Municipal Art Society of New York – 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan (W.W. Norton & Company), a detailed, engaging, and lavishly illustrated guidebook to ten of the city’s most compelling districts. Francis Morrone and Matthew A. Postal, preeminent MAS guides with over 10 years experience leading visitors to all parts of the city, serve as your leaders as you navigate the city on foot.

Can’t read maps? No sense of direction? Don’t worry – the book is filled with intuitive, easy to follow directions of recognizable landmarks, clear maps, and more than 200 color photographs by Edward A. Toran, to ensure that you never confuse your chapels or misname your buildings. Continue Reading>>

Join author Randall Mason tomorrow night at MAS for the launch of his new book The Once and Future New York and a discussion of the emergence of historic preservation in New York urbanism.

In the popular imagination, the controversial 1963 demolition of Pennsylvania Station gave birth to New York City’s historic preservation movement, but, as the author reveals, historic preservation has been a persistent force in the development of New York since the 1890s, when the city’s leading politicians, planners, and architects first recognized the need to preserve the rapidly evolving city’s past.

Rich with archival research, The Once and Future New York documents the emergence of historic preservation in New York at the turn of the twentieth century.

The Once and Future New York
Tuesday, June 9, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
$15, $10 MAS members. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.
Sponsored by Urban Center Books, the MAS bookstore.

Travel back in time on Tuesday night to 1609 when Manhattan was home to thousands of species, over fifty-five ecosystems, and the Lenape, who called the island “Mannahatta,” meaning “island of many hills.” Coinciding with this year’s quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s arrival on the shores of Manhattan, the new book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, reconstructs, in words and images, the wild island as it existed 400 years ago.

Join landscape ecologist and author Eric Sanderson and illustrator Markley Boyer as they discuss the decade of work that is behind this astounding work, offering readers a unique window into the ecological history of New York and inspiration for green cities and wild places of the future.

Book Launch with Eric Sanderson, author, and Markley Boyer, illustrator
Tuesday, May 5, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at the Municipal Art Society
FREE, but reservations required. RSVP online or call 212-935-2075