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The New York Public Library

 

presents

 

Architectural Explorations in Books Series Event

 

One World Trade Center

 

Judith Dupré

in conversation with

Kenneth A. Lewis, Ahmad Rahimian

Carla Swickerath, Patrick J. Foye

and other special guests

 

Wednesday May 25, 2016

6:00 p.m. 

 

Celeste Auditorium 
Celeste Bartos Education Center

 Lower Level

 

The New York Public Library

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

5^th Avenue at 42^nd Street

New York, NY 10016

917-275-6975

 www.nypl.org

(directions)

 

 Auditorium doors open to public at 5:30 p.m. 
All events are FREE and subject to last minute change or cancellation

 

Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at how One WTC was planned, designed, built, and funded by those who were intimately involved in this controversial, unprecedented building project. Judith Dupré moderates what promises to be a lively discussion between architect Kenneth A. Lewis of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; structural engineer Ahmad Rahimian of WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff; architect and master planner Carla Swickerath of Studio Libeskind; Patrick J. Foye, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and other special guests.

 

One World Trade Center: Biography of the Building is the definitive story of the most astonishing architectural project in recent memory. Bestselling author Judith Dupré, the only writer given unfettered access to the Port Authority’s site and archives, chronicles the fourteen years of conflict and controversy that resulted in this triumphant 1,776- foot-tall engineering marvel. Exquisitely produced and lavishly illustrated, the book features hundreds of exclusive images and interviews, timelines, cutaway diagrams, and historic photos, as well as in-depth chapters on Two, Three, Four, and Seven World Trade Center; the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; Liberty Park; St. Nicholas National Shrine; and the soaring Transportation Hub.

 

Copies of the book (Little, Brown and Company 2016) are available for purchase and signing at the end of event.

 

Judith Dupré is passionate about the built environment. Few writers possess her breadth of experience in writing about history through the lens of a single building type, whether skyscrapers, bridges, memorials, or churches. A New York Times bestselling author published in eleven languages, she has written books about all these subjects. Above all, she seeks to engage and delight those who profess “not to know much” about architecture. A graduate of Brown and Yale universities, Dupre´ is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, and, most recently, was named a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar.

 

Diplomat, taskmaster, and deal doer Patrick J. Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey since 2011, wears many hats. A native New Yorker, a first-generation American, and the first in his family to attend college, Foye worked summers as an elevator operator and doorman in skyscrapers. He attended Fordham University on a scholarship from the Local 32BJ, his father’s union; he later earned a law degree at Fordham. Foye was New York State’s deputy secretary for economic development before Governor Andrew Cuomo selected him to head the Port Authority. He was a mergers and acquisitions partner at Skadden Arps, later managing the firm’s offices in Brussels, Budapest, and Moscow. In the 1990s, Foye worked pro bono helping to put together the Long Island Power Authority’s takeover of the Long Island Lighting Company, which, at the time, involved the largest ever issuance of municipal bonds. He was the executive President of AIMCO, a real estate investment trust and a component of the S&P 500. Foye also served as president and chief executive of the United Way of Long Island, and served on the board of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

 

Kenneth A. Lewis, AIA, is a Managing Partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP’s New York office. He joined SOM in 1986 after receiving a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University. He has since directed a diverse range of projects for mixed-use developments, commercial office towers, corporate headquarters, and healthcare facilities. He has managed many large-scale projects in New York City, including One World Trade Center, Brookfield Property’s 4.5 million sf Manhattan West Development, and 250 West 55th Street, a 1 million sf Class A office tower. All of the projects Mr. Lewis is managing are slated to achieve a LEED Gold rating. He was closely involved in the development of sustainability design guidelines for the World Trade Center. Kenneth Lewis is also a principal of the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE), a research collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With a focus on developing new sustainable materials and technologies, CASE blends private sector practicality, academic exploration and scientific rigor to seek emergent technologies and develop them for practical application in buildings. Lastly, he is an adjunct faculty member at Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments and has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. His studios focus on the large scale mixed use developments.

 

Ahmad Rahimian led One WTC's structural engineering efforts. Soft-spoken and urbane, Rahimian’s approachability belies the string of letters— Ph.D., P.E., S.E., F.ASCE—that follows his name. An internationally recognized expert in tall buildings, Rahimian has implemented innovative designs for supertowers and sport facilities. He has played a key role in the structural engineering of numerous landmark skyscrapers in Manhattan and around the globe, including Torre Mayor, the tallest building in Mexico City; Trump World Tower in Manhattan, at one time the world’s tallest residential tower; and the London Shard, the tallest building in Europe. He has been honored with numerous awards for his pioneering structures and holds multiple U.S. patents for seismic-protective design. Rahimian is the USA Director of Building Structures for WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services consulting firms. The firm’s expertise ranges from environmental remediation and urban planning, to engineering iconic buildings and designing sustainable transport networks, to developing the energy sources of the future and enabling new ways of extracting essential resources.  

WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff has engineered One, Two, Three and Seven World Trade Center; 432 Park; 53W53; One57; and 56 Leonard Street, among many iconic buildings across the country.

 

Since joining Studio Libeskind in 1999, Carla Swickerath has gained diverse experience in cultural, civic, retail, commercial, residential and planning projects around the world. She has led many of the Studio’s successful project teams from concept design through to completion—including the Crystals retail complex at CityCenter in Las Vegas, the Hyundai Haeundae Udong I-Park residential development in Busan, Korea, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Carla Swickerath also led the complex World Trade Center redevelopment process from the initial competition phase through to the present. Today, her dual management and design skills come into play in her position of CEO, as she oversees all aspects of operations at Studio Libeskind. Carla Swickerath is also a Principal and continues to lead many of the Studio’s projects, coordinating design teams and consultants, liaising with clients and client representatives and managing project budgets and schedules. She earned a Masters in Architecture from the University of Michigan, following undergraduate studies in English and Art History at the University of Florida. She has taught at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee in Berlin and University of Michigan. Carla speaks publicly on architecture, design and planning.

 

In its seventh year Architectural Explorations in Books, initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni, is a series of engaging programs delving into the critical role that architecture publications play in the understanding of contemporary urban developments and structures. The events feature book presentations and discussions by acclaimed architects, critics, curators, designers, photographers and writers.

 

Events at The New York Public Library may be photographed or recorded. By attending these events, you consent to the use of your image and voice by the Library for all purposes.