We are pleased to announce the completion of the mural for ARTfarm
Here is the video shot by Christopher Rosales documenting the first two days of work. Once again a big thank you goes out to all the amazing volunteers that helped Oscar execute his artwork.
For more pictures on the mural painting weekend check out this album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150329655504314.390816.232361714313&type=3

As of Fall 2011, ARTfarm had to be removed. The step street of Carroll Place is now available for other artists to submit their proposals to the DOT Urban Art Program, however, we are pleased to confirm the mural will stay on to complement the next installation for another year.

Many thanks to the Department of Transportation, The Bronx Art Museum, the residents of Carroll Place and all the Architecture for Humanity volunteers that made this project possible.

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In partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, we are looking for volunteers to help implement the winning Concrete Canvas mural.

Volunteers will paint under the direction of mural artist Oscar Lopez in a 'paint by numbers' style. No specific skills are required. Volunteer opportunities for gardening, watering, and site maintenance will also be available. Four shifts are available and six people are required for each.

To volunteer, please RSVP to aledbury@afhny.org and indicate your preferred shift:

Saturday, July 30 - 11am-3pm or 2-5pm

Sunday, July 31 - 11am-3pm or 2-5pm

Please note that the mural will be located on a steep slope, and much of the work will involve some climbing. You'll need to bring sturdy shoes, a water bottle, and be dressed for painting in sunny weather.

Snacks and water will be provided. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now!

ARTfarm : 180 East 165th Street

Between Carroll Place & Grand Concourse

Bronx, NY 10456

www.oscarelopez.com

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If you would like to get involved in garden maintenance please contact us at: studio@afhny.org

On other news we would like to thank Dedon for hosting a fundraiser for ARTfarm and celebrating the winner and finalists of Concrete Canvas. Check out Architecture for Humanity New York Facebook page for pictures of the evening. Courtesy of Gianni Seinfeld.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150237985729314.363567.232361714313

Next on ARTfarm: we are getting ready for painting the mural with artist Oscar Lopez. Painting dates will be announced at the end of May. Stay tuned.

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AFHny STUDIO is proud to announce Oscar Lopez as the Winner of Concrete Canvas
Please visit artist's website for more on his work and why we chose him as muralist for ARTfarm. http://oscarelopez.com/

We would like to thank everyone that applied to our competition, we had some amazing entries that made this decision difficult. Ultimately AFhny STUDIO coordinators and the DOT - Urban Art Program agreed that Oscar's concept was the most vibrant and engaging – and the perfect companion for ARTfarm!

Save the Date
On April 28th Architecture for Humanity New York will host Happy Hour Fundraiser for Concrete Canvas where we will toast and celebrate Oscar and his winning design along with the 10 finalists who will also have their designs on display. More details on this event will come soon

ARTfarm Saturdays: April 23, April 30, May 7
We'll be back at ARTfarm for some Spring cleaning and replanting. If you would like to attend please e-mail us at: studio@afhny.org

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The Bus Roots concept is a bus with a garden on its roof. It reconnects urban communities with nature, using plants in a practical and playful way. Bus Roots connects the citizens with the community using minimal resources and improving the quality of the urban environment. The purpose is to  reclaim unconsidered space, and provide more people a more equal access to green spaces.

AFHny STUDIO invites volunteers to join in a one-day charrette, graciously hosted by the Wix Lounge, to help bring this independent idea to life. Areas of focus for brainstorming will include: structural connection strategies, lightweight materials research, and visualization. Further participation may include creation of a rendering and a model for a number of upcoming international exhibitions.

Space is limited, so please RSVP to aledbury@afhny.org Materials and refreshments will be provided. Please visit www.busroots.org for more information.

Wednesday April 6, 6:30-8

WiX Lounge

10 W 18th Street, 2nd Floor

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Update_ Due to an overwhelming response within the past few days, we have decided to extend the deadline to Wednesday March 30th 5pm EST
Many thanks to everyone that submitted a design, we are really excited to see some amazing ideas!.
Winner will now be announced the week of April 4th. Stay tuned.

Concrete_Canvas_rfp.pdf Download this file

ConcreteCanvas_TEMPLATE.pdf Download this file

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In conjunction with AFHny monthly working meeting, AFHny STUDIO would like to invite you to a panel discussion on: "The intersection of Architecture & Public Art for Innovative Community Revitalization". STUDIO's Shagun Singh will be the moderator to our guests:
Wendy Feuer
Assistant Commissioner Urban Design & Art, NYC Department of Transportation

Jerome Chou
Director of Programs, Design Trust for Public Space

Mateo Pintó
Architect, Artist, & Educator at Parsons New School for Design

Borbay
Location Artist & Architectural Impressionist

Join us on: March 1st, 7 - 8 pm
at the Center for Architecture
536 La Guardia Place, New York, NY 10012

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On October 13^th, 2010 The Department of Transportation officially presented ARTfarm to the community with the installation of 2 informative plaques. We would like to thank the DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and the Museum Director Holly Block that arranged this little ceremony on the steps and invited the press. We also would like to thank the students from PS 73 that join AFHny STUDIO and the local authorities for a photo up!

For official press document of the installation please visit the DOT ARTfarm press release:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2010/pr10_049.shtml

Other press:

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/9197

http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/16/new-york-streets-turn-green-with-the-artfarm-...

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/artfarm-needs-help-making-city-a...

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After one month from the completion of ARTfarm, AFHny STUDIO went back this weekend to check out the status of our installation and prepare for the winter time. Thanks to some cooler weather and some significant rain, we found the plants doing well and we are pleased the local Community is working together with the DOT to keep the place tidy. We actually sighted some ARTfarm tourists! As visitors of the Museum now walk around the building and sit on the stairs.

See below pictures from the second weekend of October. We had to replace a bottom planter and say goodbye to our Zinnias, but we welcomed our newest additions: Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips. They are buried underground now but will begin to come out at the end of March.

If you are interested in volunteering for garden maintenance of ARTfarm please contact us at studio@afhny.org

Lastly we would like to thank our friends at Inhabitat for featuring us in their site. http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/16/new-york-streets-turn-green-with-the-artfarm-project/ 

Stay tuned for more ARTfarm news…

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At last we completed our installation. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and ARTfarm had some extra excitement provided by the tail end of hurricane Earl. As we moved along adding soil and placing our plants & bushes, we were excited to see the project come alive! Thanks once again to our amazing volunteers that embraced the strong winds, battled loose soil and even some ‘flying bushes’.

Many thanks go out to: The Bronx Museum staff, the DOT Urban Art Program staff, NYC Parks & Recreation and the NYC Fire Department.

If you could not make it on Saturday, you have more chances: this weekend AFHny STUDIO will be there for some touch-up work as well as the start of garden maintenance with the local residents.

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After a few quiet weeks, an update is overdue, but we are back with really exciting news. Over this past weekend we installed all our planters. This time we had a little help: after some serious considerations, AFHNY studio decided that unless we wanted to be working in the Bronx till Christmas of 2012, we needed to bring in some expert hands for the daunting task of drilling into stones. Thanks to Henry and his crew, we conquered the slippery slopes and anchored our remaining planters.

Our next and last task: PLANTING!

We are having one last Big Party-Planting day session next Saturday September 4^th, 9am to 5pm. We encourage everyone to come out. The Bronx Museum is lending us space to celebrate the completion of the installation, with some food & refreshments. Please contact studio@afhny.org to let us know if you can join us.

Note: if you live in Brooklyn, have a car and are interested in coming; we would love to hear from you, as specific help is needed for transporting the plants from our partnered nursery to the site.

We would like to thank all our amazing volunteers that have joined us during these past months. If you never visited us on site this will be a perfect opportunity for you to check it out.

We look forward to see you on Saturday!

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AFHny Studio would like to thank all our amazing volunteers that keep braving the heat and come out to build ARTfarm. Workdays vary each week, please contact: studio@afhny.com for exact times of the next workday.

Last but not least, big thanks to our 81 backers that supported us on Kickstarter, we reached our funding goal, YAY!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farming-project

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At last we started working on the slope, let’s see

Permit from the city: check

plants & paint: check

enthusiastic and very helpful kids: check!

We ended our last build day of June with our first really big planters in place with their blooming and drama queens hydrangeas.

Big thanks go out to the Bronx Museum and local community for their precious help and for bringing us water; from bottles (us) and from the hydrant (plants)

Please join us as we continue building ARTfarm. We will be there on July 3^rdand July 10^th in addition to that we more likely will have build days during the week too, so let us know if you are interested in coming up.

For exact times and more information on other ways to help, please e-mail us at: studio@afhny.org

If you would like to donate to this project please visit our Kickstarter page, we only have few days left!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farmin...

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These first 2 weekends of June saw AFHny STUDIO working from the Bronx Museum outdoor space. Once again luckily the rain did not make an appearance and we are happy to report we finished assembling 71 planters! We also painted and treated them with sealers. Now the fun really begins as we are going to anchor them on the slope. Please join us as we continue building ARTfarm. We will be there on June 19^th, June 26^th and possibly more.

For exact times and more information on other ways to help, please e-mail us at: studio@afhny.org

Lastly our Kickstarter page is up: spread the word!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farming-project

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At last we did it! Our last day working from Re-builders source went smoothly, thanks again to our awesome volunteers that helped all day assembling boxes and then loading and unloading everything to the Museum storage area and parking lot.

We are very lucky to have found a new spot to work that it is inches away from the site.

From June 5^th we will be setting up in the parking lot behind the Museum, join us as we start this new phase. Follow this link for map and directions:

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The day was a stunning one, the weather fully collaborated. The museum set up a place for us in their private courtyard and armed with brushes and paint we greeted the local kids.

We had 7 circular planters to paint, each divided into 4 quadrants. We started by giving each kid one quadrant to paint one solid color, it was fun to see how excited children get around paint; parents and older siblings were also eager to help. By the end of the first hour it was clear that one quadrant was not enough! And each kid started to draw on them: flowers, hearts, faces, the creativity was unleashed!

Right next to our station, Edwin one of the educators from the Museum held another activity that beautifully supported our project. Each kid was given a little pot to paint and by the end of the day, they were each given tiny plants to keep into their own planters. This activity brought a strong connection to ARTfarm, where every family will enjoy their full size painted planters on the steps of Carroll Place.

We would like to thank the Bronx Museum for inviting us to be part of this event and for supporting ARTfarm, by letting us use their storage facilities.

Stay tuned for moving weekend update…

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Call for Solutions: The Future of WORK

The current world climate has created many topics of debate, such as global and local economies, technology, healthcare, unemployment, and the environment.  Not surprisingly, these themes are all tied to the core of our existence – work.  While governments and corporations are implementing major overhauls to fix the system, the architecture profession struggles to manage these rippling effects that influence all aspects of the industry - from architectural education to clientele.

The Project is: A conference that draws designers and related fields together through a series of lectures, panels, exhibition, and workshops to help explore the future of the architecture profession (please see concept prompt under additional information).

The target community for the Project is:  Architectural profession – architecture firms, architecture schools, independent designers, consulting industries, and professional boards.

What is the current condition the Project will be working with? (ie., What is so? What services are needed?)  This project deals largely with event planning – drawing a diverse body of people from the architectural/design profession to debate the future of the industry as it relates to current world events – such as financial instability, malleable workforce, global communications and diversified education.

How can we frame this challenge as an opportunity to redesign of our profession through the changes and challenges taking place in our world today?  What is the future of the WORK?

We ask you to redefine: WORKspace, WORKplace, WORKshop, WORKtime, WORKforce

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Following are the Images from a presentation that was made to DOT as a part of series of design reviews. A very commited group of AFHny Studio volunteers made this presentation happen.

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ARTfarm was proposed to the DOT as a part of the UrbanArts  program. We won this competition in Nov 2009. As the name suggests, ARTfarm  derives inspiration from the Bronx Museum and the local farmers market. The site is three flights of steps. There is a weeded, run down area surrounding these steps. We propose using found objects like fruit crates and dresser drawers (donated or discarded by the local community and the huge neighbouring C-town) to create planters and seating elements to create a community space.

Other than that we want to initiate a local ‘donate a planter day’ where the community would get a chance to use a discarded item to create a seating element or a planter within the site. The artists will instruct the overall vision of the site installation but the installation will come together by the donations from the community and the skilled labour of the AFHny volunteers. We plan on encouraging ownership of this space by asking neighbouring households, bodegas etc to adopt a planter in the site and look after its upkeep. The installation will sport a mix of design, art, community and culture.

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