RYERSON WALK
COURTESY OF ZAHA HADID
amanda adams louis
Pratt Hosts Second Annual Green Week
Green Week keynote speaker Paul Polak.
Visionary Architect Zaha Hadid Shares Secrets to Success
THIERRY GOURJON
Zaha Hadid, widely considered the master of unconventional design, presented a heavily attended lecture in May as part of the School of Architecture’s Spring Lecture Series. In a series of slide presentations, the London-based Pritzker Prize winner showed the audience how her current projects for private residences, train stations, bridges, parks, concert halls, performance spaces, museums, and sports facilities are inspired by dune formations, mushroomlike umbrella shapes, pebbles in a river, coral reefs, and landscapes. Recalling her first visit to New York, the architect said, “Though I had already traveled extensively, what I saw in the city expanded my concept of the possible and gave me confidence.” Hadid acknowledged that the secret to her success was “hard work more than talent,” adding that the computer had greatly freed her up to create more innovative projects. Hadid, who had served as a guest critic at Pratt 25 years ago and described herself as having been “ruthless” during her assessment of student projects, told students: “Architecture is much more tough after school than in school. You have to be focused and juggle long hours. There is no easy way to do it.”
Pratt Ushers Forth Class of 2008 Pratt granted degrees to more than 1,000 bachelor’s and master’s candidates during its 119th annual Commencement on The Grand Mall of the Brooklyn campus on the morning of May 9. In addition, the Institute bestowed honorary degrees on architect Zaha Hadid, dancer-choreographer Judith Jamison, and arts administrator Thomas Cahill. Cahill, who is president and chief executive officer of Studio in a School Association, Inc., a visual arts education organization that places professional artists in New York City schools, delivered Pratt’s Commencement address, urging the graduates “to leave with a promise that when you land in your communities you’ll bring back the hope that art education can be a major part of the schools.” During the ceremony, Pratt also honored 2008-2009 Distinguished Teacher, Floyd Hughes, a beloved adjunct associate professor of communications design, and writing graduate Aimee Oz, who served as Pratt student commencement speaker. 48
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Pratt held it’s second annual Green Week on its Brooklyn campus this spring. During the weeklong observance, Pratt hosted a variety of events in which participants explored such topics as sustainable materials and transportation, environmental justice, local environmental actions, and global solutions for sustainability via gallery exhibits, competitions, lectures, panels, films, and hands-on activities. The keynote address was delivered on Thursday, March 27, by Paul Polak, above, who is the author of the acclaimed book Out of Poverty and founder of the social design network D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%. Polak discussed how to design products that enable the 800 million poverty-stricken people in the world to elevate their economic status.
John Shapiro Appointed Chair of GCPE John Shapiro has been named chair of Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE). He is a long-standing member of the Pratt planning family. He attended Pratt in the 1970s, and has taught economic development and land use studios at Pratt since the 1980s. He also has lectured at Columbia University, Harvard University, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University, among others. Shapiro is a principal of Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, one of the Tri-State’s leading planning firms. His award-winning work includes the Stamford, Conn., growth management plan, the Chinatown economic development strategy, the Hoboken master plan, and the Comprehensive Community Revitalization Program in the South Bronx, which won the first ever Presidential Award of the national American Planning Association in 1996, during his tenure. Shapiro’s activities in civic affairs include a prior stint as the president of the Metro-Chapter of the American Planning Association, which received a special award from the American Planning Association during his tenure.