The annual Ratensky Lecture was initiated by the AIANY Housing Committee in honor of Samuel Ratensky (1910-1972), an architect and NYC housing official who was responsible for major housing initiatives in the city from 1946 to 1972, and who served as a mentor to many architects who worked in his programs. The lecture series honors individuals who, like Samuel Ratensky, have made significant lifetime contribution to the advancement of housing and community design.
This year, the AIANY Housing Committee will honor 2021 Pritzker Prize laureates Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, as well as Frédéric Druot, who will discuss their transformative “never demolish” approach to social housing, instead focusing on designing from within to maximize space and prioritize the needs of residents.
Since the late 1980s, the offices of Lacaton & Vassal and Frédéric Druot Architecture have redefined the possibilities of social housing, sustainability, and community agency. Simultaneously sparing and transformative, its work adapts existing structures to meet the needs of contemporary urban communities. As Lacaton and Vassal’s Pritzker Prize biography notes, they have “vowed to never demolish what could be redeemed and instead, make sustainable what already exists, thereby extending through addition, respecting the luxury of simplicity.”
This lecture is organized in partnership with the Architectural League of New York’s “Current Work” Series and with Cooper Union, and with the support of Villa Albertine, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States.
Speakers:
Frédéric Druot, Principal, Frederic Druot Architecture
Anne Lacaton, Principal, Lacaton & Vassal
Jean-Philippe Vassal, Principal, Lacaton & Vassal
Location
The Great Hall at Cooper Union and Zoom
General Info