Pelli Celebrates Architecture, Walkability at Downtown Event

The New Haven Independent reports today on the Town Green Special Services District's 10th anniversary event. The highlight of the event was a one hour lecture by internationally-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, who discussed projects throughout New Haven and around the world. He also explained why his office, which currently employs close to 100 architects, is located in Downtown New Haven. His explanation found a chord of agreement around the packed room.

"People ask me why I don’t live in New York. I think New York is too noisy, too distracting. New Haven is ideal for an architect. After a typical day of work, at 5:30, you can walk home and have a nice dinner with your family. Then, later in the evening, around 8:00, we all come back to work. That would never happen in New York City - it would be impossible."

“In what other city in the world does half of your staff walk to work? I even walk to work, sometimes.”

In showcasing his projects, Pelli kept referring to the critical need for walkability and developing an interface and dialogue with surrounding city streets. He was particularly proud of his newly-completed, $450-million Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, which closes down a section of U.S. Highway 1 at times so as to activate a pedestrian plaza between two buildings (see photo above courtesy of Critical Miami - how's that for traffic calming?).

In response to a question, he also stated his belief that civic, public projects "should always be more important than" private-sector projects. A native of Argentina and the recipient of hundreds of architecture awards, Pelli is currently on one of the teams applying to develop the former New Haven Coliseum site and Long Wharf Theater.

Pelli's speech was the capstone on the city's successful "Wine Dine Design" series, which discussed architecture and the future of New Haven, receiving widespread local and national attention. In addition, Stewart Johnson of Hull's, Wareck Real Estate chief John Wareck and SeeClickFix founder Ben Berkowitz received awards for their civic engagement. Town Green District Executive Director Scott Healy predicted that SeeClickFix would "soon be sweeping the nation." Expect to hear more on that this summer.

Meanwhile, a post from our neighbors at BlogStamford outlines some of the other reasons for promoting walkable urban districts.

Clothespins and Paper Pulp

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents works by Jennifer Davies and Lisa Keskinen at Gallery 195 at NewAlliance Bank on 195 Church Street, fourth floor. The exhibit takes place July 8 to September 26, with a public artists’ reception on Tuesday, September 9, 5 to 7pm.

In this exhibit, Jennifer Davies showcases new prints and handmade paper works. Davies is known for her innovative paper pulp paintings. Lisa Keskinen’s constructed pieces (example shown here), informed by her career as an architect, draw inspiration from the transformative possibilities of everyday objects.

Jennifer Davies received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has taught dozens of classes in handmade paper, at the Creative Arts Workshop in Downtown New Haven to the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk. Lisa Keskinen received her BA in psychology at the University of Connecticut and obtained a Master’s degree in architecture at North Carolina State University. She currently works as a project manager at Svigals + Partners, a New Haven firm known for its integration of art and architecture.

Arts & Ideas Festival tours New Haven

The Arts & Ideas Festival has wrapped up its series of public walking and bicycling tours, many of which focused on Downtown New Haven's rich panoply of history and culture. The tours were hosted by the New Haven Preservation Trust, Elm City Cycling and the Broadway Merchants Association. Check these links for media coverage of the New Haven public art and public sculpture bicycle tour, Hillhouse Avenue historic district walking tour, and "free speech" bicycle tour. Other tour sites featuring Downtown New Haven included sacred architecture, waterfront neighborhoods, city planning and art galleries. Upcoming summer bicycle rides, including the Wednesday Night Ice Cream Rides, are posted on the calendar at http://www.elmcitycycling.org/. Group walking tours can be arranged by contacting Design New Haven and other Downtown organizations.

Van Gogh's Starry Night and Cypresses: together for the first time

Original Post, 5/12/08: The Yale University Art Gallery in Downtown New Haven is pleased to exhibit side by side, for the first time ever, two of Vincent van Gogh's most renowned paintings: Cypresses and The Starry Night. Completed in June 1889, during his yearlong confinement at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, in southern France, these two paintings exemplify the work of this modern master at the height of his creativity. On view June 15–September 7, 2008. To ensure an unrushed visiting experience, free timed tickets will be available beginning May 29.

Update, 6/18/08: The Stamford Advocate has published a review of the show: "With a new art installation in "an intimate setting" in New Haven, museum-goers have the opportunity to view three masterpieces by one of the most beloved artists of the modern era."

Bike to Work: Bicyclist Appreciation Breakfast

Original post, 5/28/08: Free breakfasts for bicyclists, this Friday (5/30/08) from 7:30am to 9:30am at Phelps Gate on the New Haven Green. Helmet required. Click here for information on the Downtown New Haven event, which is being hosted by Yale University. Check ElmCityCycling for future Bike to Work breakfast announcements - they run throughout the year.

Update 6/12/08: Over 200 cyclists attended the first event. The next BTW breakfast takes place tomorrow morning from 7:30 to 9:30am in front of New Haven City Hall, with coffee provided by Koffee and the Mayor rumored to arrive around 8 or 8:30.

Update 6/13/08: Click here to launch the WTNH-8 news video about today's bike-to-work event. Also see a written version of the news story here. The Downtown New Haven event was also picked up on the national Bike Commute Blog and covered in the New Haven Independent and New Haven Register. Also see the 17 reasons why the bicycle is the most popular vehicle in the world.

Update 6/23/08: The next BTW breakfast takes place July 11th at City Hall.

Arts and Ideas Festival Kicks Off

The internationally-renowned Downtown New Haven event begins this weekend. The Hartford Courant has a nice piece on it today:

"This year the festival is expected to attract an even larger crowd than its typical 100,000-plus numbers. Gasoline-challenged families no doubt are looking to fill the warm-weather weeks with nearby events and the festival has much to choose from....

"And let's not forget the "ideas" portion of the festival, which includes many of the artists at the festival, such as Irish playwright Sebastian Barry. The U.S. premiere of his play about Ireland's emergence as a world player, "The Pride of Parnell Street," which bows here, and who will have a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon....

"Aleskie says she hopes audiences will check out off-beat, shorter shows like "Siren," "The Japanese Garden" and "Glow." But traditional, classic or just for fun shows abound as well: Roseanne Cash and Mark O'Connor perform a salute to Cash's father Johnny Cash; Maya Beiser performs a commissioned work on cello; New Haven native Ben Allison presents his new jazz group; mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves sings an evening of arias at the Shubert.

For contrast, East Village Opera Company reinvents classical opera with rock in a free concert on the Green. "Think Puccini meets Freddie Mercury," says Aleskie."

Stem Cells for Dummies

The Yale Stem Cell Center Presents "Stem Cells: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask," a program given by Haifan Lin, Ph.D., Director of the Yale Stem Cell Center and Professor of Cell Biology and Genetics at Yale, and Robert Mandelkern, Connecticut State Coordinator, Parkinson's Action Network. The event takes place on Wednesday, June 18, 2008, at 12:00 p.m. at the Anlyan Center Auditorium, 300 Cedar Street, Downtown New Haven. Please bring anyone you know who would like to learn more about stem cell research in non-scientific terms. This is a brown bag lunch, but cookies and drinks will be served.

One Floor, Two ECA Events

Downtown New Haven's Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) Visual Arts Department will be holding a Benefit Auction (bring your checkbook - artwork available for $10 and up) this Thursday, June 5th, 5-6pm, at 55 Audubon Street at the 5th Floor Observation Lab. There is also a visual arts reception for the End Collective - same day, same building, same floor: 5-7pm. ECA will be holding its senior thesis and faculty exhibitions on Saturday afternoon, as well as a sale of retrofurbished design work.

Green Drinks, Simple Pleasures, Pipas and Model City Blues

A trio of Downtown New Haven events this week (among many others):

1. New Haven’s monthly eco-friendly happy hour, New Haven Green Drinks, will be Wednesday, May 21, 6-8:00pm at Café Nine, at 250 State Street. This month Daniel Schaefer, the founder of the New Haven-based nonprofit Invested Citizens will be speaking on ways to make climate change and clean energy relevant to a wider audience. Remember to walk, bike, bus or carpool to the event.

2. New Haven band The Simple Pleasures - the featured musicians in the groundbreaking Yale School of Drama production of Baal last year - will play this Wednesday night at BAR. They are coming straight from their recent shows at Luna Lounge, Fortune Cookie and The Midway. On Friday night (5/23), check out Min Xiao-Fen's Asian Trio at Firehouse 12: Min Xiao-Fen is among the most renowned pipa masters in the world and has collaborated with Derek Bailey, Björk, Jane Ira Bloom, Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Susie Ibarra, the New York City Opera, Ned Rothenberg, Randy Weston and John Zorn among many others.

3. Mandi Isaacs Jackson, author of Model City Blues: Urban Space and Organized Resistance in New Haven, a new book about 1960s urban renewal and political struggle, will hold a discussion this Thursday, May 22nd at 5:30PM at Labyrinth Books New Haven.

Also, if you are an architecture writer, stay on the lookout for another one of Robert A.M. Stern's hard-hat tours of the renovated landmark Rudolph Building. The New Haven Register reports on Gwathmey Siegel's $130+ million Rudolph Building renovation here.

Downtown Traffic Safety Event and Ride of Silence

All are invited to "Traffic Safety in Our Community," an event being held by the community this Thursday in memory of Mila Rainof.

• Thursday, May 22nd
• 4 to 5:30 pm
• Fitkin Amphitheater, 330 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT
• Speakers include Dr. Kimberly Davis, MD, FACS, Chief of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Surgical Emergencies, Yale University School of Medicine and Michael Piscitelli, AICP, Director, New Haven Dept. of Transportation, Traffic and Parking.

For background information, see this post or join the Yale Traffic Safety Group email list here.

Update 5/20/08: On Wednesday, May 21st, at 7PM there will be a nationwide "Ride of Silence" to commemorate those injured or killed in traffic accidents over the past year. New Haven's silent bicycle ride leaves from the flagpole on the New Haven Green, and will be slow-paced and appropriate for all skill levels and age groups.

Update 5/23/08: New Haven Independent post-event coverage, and valuable information on what to do next, posted here. New Haven Register coverage here.

Update 5/29/08: The Yale Traffic Safety Group is one of the sponsors of the new citywide petition for safe streets.

Direct from London to New Haven

According to Variety, two very popular London plays - Happy Now and Scarborough - will have their American premieres in Downtown New Haven this coming season. In other, unrelated New Haven theater news, Yale University received a $3 million grant to establish a center for new theater commissions.

National Train Day to hit New Haven Union Station

First Robert DeNiro and Kate Beckinsale, now National Train Day. New Haven's elegant Union Station will host the "only National Train Day celebration between New York & Boston" this Saturday from 4:00-5:30 PM, on the 2nd Floor Balcony. See here for more photos courtesy Herbert S. Newman and Partners.

The press release notes that "sticker shock at the gas pump is matched by increasing congestion on the roadways and in the air, and that polls, referenda, and ridership data on train systems across the country (including those in New Haven) all point to a demand for more trains, the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) and its local affiliates are sponsoring events at stations across the country that highlight the role of passenger trains in a networked transportation system." In addition to discussing plans for the future of Union Station and the opportunities for the national rail network, the New Haven event is also likely to focus on multi-modal transportation, such as bicycle access on trains. The speaker-driven event will include a number of local and state officials and state environmental advocates, and several members of the media are expected. For more details, see the press release.

Downtown New Haven Unicycle Mania

Click here for New Haven Independent reporting on the latest Downtown New Haven impromptu circus event, and the city's unicycle craze:

Matt Feiner of the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop said that unicycles have been jumping off the shelves. “It’s crazy, it really is,” he said. “We’ve been selling about four or five a week for the last six weeks.”

Unicycling (well, or monowheeling) has hit New Haven before. At left, the 1869 US Patent 92,528 by Richard C Hemmings of New Haven, Connecticut. Not surprising for a city that was home to the world's first bicycle patent, and was home to a "velocipede craze" as early as 1819.

Grand Theft Velo II: Elm City

Alleycat race this Saturday in and around Downtown New Haven. Speaking of design, check out the excellent poster (click to enlarge). More information here.

An article on the alleycat race, and New Haven's bicycling culture, appears in this week's issue of Play Magazine:

""We've got about a dozen people coming up from Maryland," Nemetz says. "There's a group from Boston, the New York group, some from Chicago and everyone from Connecticut.""

Update 5/7/08: Post-event coverage from the New Haven Advocate.

Updated: Downtown New Haven “Export” Toasted

Original Post, 3/26/08: The third installment of Wine Dine Design was held last night. New Haven Independent coverage:

"The concentration of architectural firms in New Haven is extraordinary, with almost 200 firms and solo practitioners registered in the city alone. "

Update 4/28/08: The fourth installment of Wine Dine Design will be held this Tuesday at Downtown New Haven architecture firm Svigals + Partners. [Update: New Haven Independent post-even coverage appears here.] The series of Downtown New Haven events was covered in an article in this weekend's New York Times, in which architects from Downtown firm Studio ABK discussed their ideas for the Ninth Square and Shartenberg site.

NY Times: "Ninth Square has become New Haven’s hot fixer-upper district, partly because dozens of architectural firms have offices here and partly because of a number of recent high-profile development projects like the site of the former Coliseum, Gateway Community College and a new home for the Long Wharf Theater. It also doesn’t hurt that New Haven has one of the highest concentrations of architects in the Northeast."

Urban Poverty, Ethnography and The City

Conference this Saturday at Yale University, featuring an impressive roster of speakers. See this page for details on the program. For more information about featured speaker and Yale professor Elijah Anderson, see this article in the Yale Alumni Magazine.

Hollywood East

The New Haven Register reports today about upcoming movie shoots in Downtown New Haven and the surrounding area, including one with Robert DeNiro and Kate Beckinsale scheduled for next week at Union Station.

According to the Register, "Connecticut has become known as “Hollywood East” because of a 30 percent tax credit given to filmmakers who spend money here." Apparently, the enormous tax credit is already having a spillover effect in the regional real estate market.

Last summer, a significant portion of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was filmed in Downtown New Haven, pumping an estimated $10 million into the local economy and attracting thousands of tourists from all over the world hoping to catch a glimpse of Steven Spielberg. According to New York Times coverage at the time, film production in Connecticut had increased from $750,000 to $52 million immediately after the tax credit was introduced, and was expected to top $300 million this year. In other words, don't be surprised if someone even more famous than Harrison Ford hits New Haven this summer.

While we're on the subject of tourism, check out this week's article in The Independent's (UK) Business Travel section that highlights Downtown New Haven. We are guessing that the travel correspondent attended last week's Discover New England summit in New Haven. Tourism to New England from Europe is rapidly increasing, in part due to the decline of the dollar.

Update: The Courant writes about how you can volunteer your house for a movie shoot.
Update 6/3/08: DeNiro films at Yale.

Architects Taking Pictures

Enjoy photography by local architects. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit a local charity. Participating architects include Barry Svigals, Carlos Pena, Cesar Pelli, Dan Dryzgula, Dave Chen, Dave Coon, Dave Harlan, Dave Strong, Enzo Figueres, Eric Epstein, Fernando Pastor, Joe Rufrano, Jose Luis Cabello, Ke-Wei Chang, Manuel Wedeles, Mark Abraham, Mary Pont, Mihaly Turbucz, Peter Newman, Rob Narracci, Roberto Espejo, Sam Gardner, Scott Wood, and Sun Bo.

Details: Atticus Bookstore & Cafe, 1082 Chapel Street, Downtown New Haven, CT. Exhibition runs from May 1-June 15, with an opening reception on May 1 at 6.30 pm.

Visualization Lecture

Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, will give a talk titled "How the Mind Tricks Us: Visualizations and Visual Illusions" at 7 p.m. at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Ave, today (April 23). Professor Mazur is a well-known and extremely popular lecturer who has given invited talks all over the world. His lecture will illuminate the ways in which recent research in neurobiology and cognitive psychology enables people to understand how the mind processes information, in particular, visual information. The knowledge we can gain from these fields has important implications for the presentation of visual information and student learning. See here for more information about Dr. Mazur's work.

Earth Day Bike Repair Party

Today from 6-9pm in Downtown New Haven. Get your bicycle ready for National Bike Month. More information here.