The founders of SPARK and their supporters believe that the exponentially increasing rates of energy and resource consumption leave the human population in a unique and challenging position: we must use our abilities to discover new ways of living through an integrated global ecology.  SPARK is a new resource for New York City, positioning itself at the cutting edge of the most innovative and progressive methods of environmental problem solving.  SPARK’s primary purpose is to display alternate energy opportunities, educate the public to these developments, and serve as a meeting place to further discussion and public awareness.

SPARK is an exhibition and learning center dedicated to the advancement of ecological consciousness through education, research, and experimentation.  Engaging a broad base of learners, researchers, and educators, SPARK will display alternate energy developments from major corporations and independent inventors, showcase new technologies, and create public programs (lectures, discussions, forums, newsletters, films, outreach programs) that forefront alternate energy sources and sustainable practices.  Merging educational and research components, expanding public awareness of our global ecology, and framing local issues in a global context, SPARK is charged with the responsibility of provoking positive change in the interrelationships of natural and social ecologies.

This project consisted of the transformation of existing offices and service spaces into reception, gallery, lounge, and meeting spaces while accommodating an enormous demand for storage. The open lounge can be used for informal discussions among Fellows of the Institute, by students waiting to meet with faculty, and for large screenings or other public events. The walls of the perimeter offices were transformed into a surface for display with an integrated custom display system. Materials were selected to take advantage of the multiple orientations of the building, allowing daylight to move into the central space through white and blue glass clerestories.

This project is both the complete renovation of, and addition to, a 1960s “Alexander House” in Palm Springs. The site is in Las Palmas, one block from a valley wall and within a small-scaled suburban development of modernist tract houses. The addition is a glass pavilion with large sliding glass panels screened with custom laser cut perforated aluminum panels – sliding screen panels to the west and fixed canopy screens to the east.

The entire landscape, including the swimming pool, is part of the overall transformation of the site into a series of expanded exterior living spaces. Perforated block walls, standard building material in this area, are used in both traditional ways to screen outdoor living spaces from the streets, and non-traditional ways as they continue as screen walls in the interior of the existing building. Original concrete floors are exposed and polished, with new concrete floors and cantilevered concrete decks at the kitchen / dining pavilion. The scope of work on the existing building includes new building systems, skylights, windows, roofing, and all interior finishes and fixtures. The new kitchen / dining pavilion is steel framed with concrete floor, glass sliding doors, and aluminum screens.

The primary goal was to provide an intimate and flexible teaching environment that would perform equally well for faculty members regardless of their preferences for digital or analog teaching technologies.

The site is on the sixth floor of Schermerhorn Hall with windows to Amsterdam Avenue.  The renovation included a sloped floor and new seating while maintaining universal access, reshaping the ceiling and incorporating new lighting and ductwork, addressing sound and light from the existing windows by replacing the glass, and new finishes, furniture, and custom designed podium.  Finishes include the use of porous expanded polypropelene bead foam panels for acoustic control and a woven vinyl floor covering.

The new extension to FIT’s campus has the unique role of both reorienting the campus with a stronger connection to the city and revealing the diverse curriculum of the school.  Our proposal focuses on making the new building a productive interface between the school and the various constituents it serves.  A glass façade on the street wraps into the interior and unites the extension with the existing classrooms and studios, establishing a series of visual and aural connections between the teaching and learning spaces.

Today FIT’s programs reflect the increasing specialization and complexity of the design industry. With specialization, however, comes a need for interdisciplinary work that combines ideas from various fields to generate innovative new forms of design and production. New spatial organizations can facilitate this move towards collaborative working processes. Our proposal promotes new learning paradigms that foreground integrated, non-hierarchical forms of organization and rethink established boundaries of knowledge.