APA Sponsors International Exhibition on Public Space

National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
January 15–May 15, 2005

The American Planning Association is pleased to co-sponsor the Washington, D.C., showing of OPEN: new designs for public space at the National Building Museum. Produced by New York's Van Alen Institute, the exhibition examines changing uses of public space in an era of heightened security concerns and high-tech possibilities for interaction.

Using models and more than 300 images, digital animations, and videos, OPEN illustrates a wide range of built and proposed projects — from memorials to new types of urban plazas and parks — from Macon, Georgia, to Melbourne, Australia, to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Attend the APA Co-Sponsored Symposium

On May 2, 2005, from 6:30–8 p.m., APA Executive Director Paul Farmer, AICP, will moderate the APA co-sponsored symposium "Private 'Public' Spaces — A Stimulus for Urban Revitalization."

Privately developed open spaces such as plazas, atriums, and parks are under-appreciated catalysts for urban revitalization. Panelist Jerold Kayden, a Harvard Graduate School of Design professor, will analyze the impact of such spaces, with an emphasis on New York City. He will join Andrew Altman, chief executive of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, to discuss other cities' experiences with privately financed pubic spaces.

Click here for registration information

More about the Exhibit

Joining APA in sponsoring the exhibition at the National Building Museum are the National Capital Planning Commission, the American Society of Landscape Architects, ULI-the Urban Land Institute, and EDAW, Inc. APA is a "Corinthian" member of the National Building Museum,

The projects in OPEN are organized into five themes: The Plaza Unbound, Information in Place, Opening the City, Active Memory, and New Meeting Grounds. Each reveals ways in which public space is evolving according to the needs of today's cities in the United States and around the world.

One additional section, In the News, focuses on "Parks to Watch" in New York City, "North American Competitions," and "Temporary Interventions in Public Space." The National Building Museum's presentation of OPEN also illustrates current and upcoming public space projects in Washington area, many of which reflect an effort to wrestle with the dilemma of security in a city intended to represent democratic ideals of openness and accessibility.

For more information on OPEN and the National Building Museum in general, see www.nbm.org. The museum's website lists special lectures and other public events organized in conjunction with this exhibition.

Image: Institute of Contemporary Art, Fan Pier, Boston, Massachusetts. Diller + Scofidio. Rendering: Diller + Scofidio