The Municipal Art Society has convened a panel of renowned architects, developers and design experts to serve on its 2010 MASterworks Awards Committee. Launched in 2001, the MASterworks Awards celebrate new development in New York City by honoring excellence in architecture and urban design.

The 2010 Awards Committee members are Vishaan Chakrabarti, Marc Holliday Professor, Columbia University GSAPP and Founding Principal, VCDC, Thomas Woltz, principal, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at MoMA, Toshiko Mori, Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and principal, Toshiko Mori Architect, and Alan Suna, developer and CEO, Silvercup Studios. Continue Reading>>

Last Thursday, MAS proudly presented the 22nd Brendan Gill Prize to artists Mike and Doug Starn for See it split, see it change, their site-specific permanent art installation at the South Ferry subway terminal in Lower Manhattan. Commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit Program, See it split, see it change was completed in December 2008 to wide praise.

The Brendan Gill Prize is named for the long-time MAS trustee, renowned New Yorker theater critic, author, and architectural preservationist. The cash prize, funded by a permanent endowment, is awarded annually to the creator of a work of art, book, sculpture, film, musical composition, or architectural design, accomplished the previous year, that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City. It was established in 1986 by MAS board members Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen S. Tucker and Margot Wellington. Continue Reading>>

Greetings from the Bronx — the birthplace of hip hop, the breathtaking site of the New York Botanical Garden and home base for the 2009 World Series Champions, the Yankees. Now the Bronx has even more to celebrate, as six of the borough’s notable locations will be recognized on December 3rd by Place Matters.

The six honorees are:
52 Park in Longwood is a popular urban oasis run by the NYC Parks Department with the help of 52 People for Progress (52PFP). When the South Bronx experienced its bleakest period in the 1970s, the open space at 52 Park became a danger zone. Since 1980, 52PFP, a volunteer group formed by local residents Al Quiñones, Fred Demera, Eduardo Rivera and Victoria Medina, has committed itself to maintaining a safe and welcoming public park. Continue Reading>>

Earlier this week, the Rockefeller Foundation presented the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medals to Richard Kahan, Founder and CEO of the Urban Assembly, and Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES). A ceremony in their honor was held at the new Thom Mayne-designed building at 41 Cooper Square.

The juried awards process is administered by the Municipal Art Society as part of MAS’s continuing collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation to celebrate the legacy of the pioneering writer and activist. The Medal is awarded to two individuals each year whose work creates new ways of seeing and understanding New York City, challenges traditional assumptions and creatively uses the urban environment to make New York City a place of hope and expectation. Previous medalists have included, Omar Freilla of Greenworker Cooperatives, Alexis Torres-Fleming, founder of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Peggy Sheppard of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT), and Barry Benepe of the Greenmarket program. For more information about the Jane Jacobs Medal, visit www.mas.org/jane-jacobs-medal.

The Rockfeller Foundation announced today that the recipients of the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal are Richard Kahan and Damaris Reyes. The medal, which is administered by the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), was created in 2007 to honor the author and activist who died in April 2006. It is awarded annually to two New Yorkers whose work creates new ways of seeing and understanding the city.

Founder and CEO of the Urban Assembly, Richard Kahan is a former President of the New York State Urban Development Corporation and former Chairman of the Battery Park City Authority. Since 1999, the Urban Assembly has created, and now manages, 22 public secondary schools located, by design, in many of the lowest income neighborhoods in New York. Mr. Kahan will receive the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership. Continue Reading>>

The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design was the setting for the 2009 MASterwork Awards ceremony. The outstanding renovation/adaptive reuse of the Center was an exciting backdrop for honoring this year’s winners. Bob Kerry, President of the New School gave some welcoming remarks which were followed by the ceremony.  The video above captures the essence of each winner.

Each year, the Municipal Art Society honors the year’s top building projects for their excellence in architecture and urban design, and their contribution to New York’s built environment. For more information, visit www.mas.org/masterworks.

The winners of the 2009 MASterwork Awards are The Standard Hotel for Best New Building, the Times Square TKTS Booth for Best Neighborhood Catalyst, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons, The New School for Design for Best Renovation/Adaptive Reuse, and The Lion House at the Bronx Zoo for Best Restoration.

Launched in 2001, the MASterwork Awards recognize excellence in architecture and urban design, and are organized annually by MAS and sponsored by Helaba, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, the international banking and investment group. The four awards presented this year are for projects completed in 2008.

“The MASterwork Awards celebrate the year’s ingenuity in architecture and design across various building types,” said Vin Cipolla, president of MAS. “Year after year, MAS is continually impressed by the way these projects influence the way all of us view and live in the city.” Continue Reading>>

The Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award (YGCP) acknowledges the hard-working leaders of grassroots, community-based planning. The award was created to commemorate Yolanda Garcia, a community activist in the South Bronx. Under Garcia’s leadership, the residents of Melrose challenged the city, created an alternative to an urban renewal plan, and transformed a neighborhood. The organization created by Garcia, We Stay/Nos Quedamos, is bringing that community’s vision to life through planning, design, construction, and programming.

In 2007, MAS presented the second annual YGCP award to Elizabeth Yeampierre for her work with the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE), which has engaged local residents, particularly youth, in multiple community planning and environmental justice initiatives along the Sunset Park waterfront in Brooklyn. Last year’s winner was Jeanne DuPont, Executive Director of the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance. The award recognized her work engaging a diverse community and local youth in open space and environmental issues on the barrier island of Far Rockaway, Queens.
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Far Rockaway, Queens consists of two square miles of barrier island just across the bay from JFK Airport and just west of the Nassau County line. Its population is diverse, including a large Orthodox Jewish community, and immigrants from Russia, Jamaica, Guyana, and Guatemala. While there are some upscale areas, particularly near the Long Island border, a large percentage of residents live in public or rent-regulated housing. The area has been hit hard recently by a double-whammy: a wave of foreclosures due to the ongoing mortgage crisis, and a nearly simultaneous wave of new, often luxury, development.

Jeanne DuPont was inspired to start the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance (RWA) when she saw that much of that new development was proceeding with little regard for current residents. Continue Reading>>

The bright sun reflected off the many new buildings of Melrose Commons in the South Bronx, as elected officials, activists, developers, friends, family, and other admirers gathered on East 157th Street to honor the memory of Yolanda Garcia yesterday. Third Avenue between 156th and 157th Streets is now known as “Yolanda Garcia Way.”

Ms. Garcia’s family owned a carpet shop in the Melrose section of the Bronx, where she was working in the early 1990s when she learned of a City urban renewal plan that called for displacing local residents and creating low-density housing. Incensed that those residents who stayed in the South Bronx despite decades of disinvestment were going to be displaced, Ms. Garcia founded Nos Quedamos/We Stay. This grassroots group was dedicated to rethinking the plan, including the community in the process, and preventing displacement. The resulting Melrose Commons plan helped to create over 1,500 units of affordable housing in the area, kept thousands of residents from being displaced, and even brought green building principles to the South Bronx. Continue Reading>>