Exploring design at the intersection of time, place, program and identity, Ms. Rodriguez will discuss her work as catalysts for change throughout the boroughs of New York City. Her talk will address the importance of design at the intersection of architecture and the public realm—an approach that creates buildings that forge lasting and memorable connections to their immediate sites as well as the community at large. At its best, architecture can also redefine a neighborhood (the Frank Sinatra School for the Arts now anchors the Kaufman Arts District in Queens); recontextualize a long-standing debate (as does the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum); repurpose a building typology for societal good (as Schermerhorn House now shelters the formerly homeless, low-income artists and a non-profit performance space); and serve as an example of how institutional vision can create unique public buildings at the intersection of culture and transportation (New York Botanical Garden Parking Garage). Ms. Rodriguez will examine design as it operates in both visible and invisible ways in our City—all in the service of catalyzing change in the public realm.
