BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:735@live-spitzer-arch.pantheonsite.io DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251106T173000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251106T190000 DTSTAMP:20251103T160017Z URL:https://live-spitzer-arch.pantheonsite.io/events/fall-2025-sciame-lect ure-series-nandini-bagchee-fabian-llonch-and-shawn-rickenbacker/ SUMMARY:Fall 2025 Sciame Lecture Series: Nandini Bagchee\, Fabian Llonch\, and Shawn Rickenbacker DESCRIPTION:Please RSVP here to attend.\n\nThis in-person lecture is part o f the Fall 2025 Sciame Lecture Series\, "rePURPOSE."\n\nProf. Nandini Bagc hee is the principal of Bagchee Architects and Associate Professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture (CCNY\, CUNY). Her research focuses on acti vism in architecture and the ways in which ground up collaborative buildin g practices provide an alternative medium for the creation of public space . Nandini is the author of a book on the history and impact of activist-ru n spaces in New York City entitled\, Counter Institution: Activist Estates of the Lower East Side (Fordham University Press\, 2018). Nandini’s des ign work and writing has been published in the New York Times\, Interiors Now\, Urban Omnibus and the Journal of Architectural Education. She is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council of the Arts\, the Low er Manhattan Cultural Council and the Graham Foundation. Her research-base d architectural work involves an engagement with grass roots organizations such as the South Bronx Unite\, Upbeat NYC\, Interference Archive\, the C lemente Center and the Laundromat Project in New York City. Through her pr actice- Bagchee Architects is working with a few different community land trusts in the Bronx\, Brooklyn and Queens to design community-controlled s paces.\n\nProf. Fabian Llonch (he/him) is an architect and educator based in New York. He earned his professional architecture degree from the Unive rsidad Nacional de Rosario\, Argentina\, and a Master of Architecture with Honors from Washington University in St. Louis\, where he received the Fr ederick Widmann Prize. He co-founded llonch+vidalle Architecture (LLV) in 1998\, a practice recognized with national and international awards for pr ojects in the U.S.\, Argentina\, and Spain\, including the Rock Bridge Chr istian Church and the Nuevo Centro Cultural in Rafaela. His work has been widely exhibited—in the U.S.\, Argentina\, Spain\, Brazil\, Ecuador\, an d at the Venice Biennale—and published in magazines and books internatio nally. LLV’s monograph\, [dis]PLACED\, was released in 2015\, with a sec ond volume underway. Fabian has taught in Argentina\, Spain\, Italy\, and the United States\, and has served as a guest critic at institutions such as Harvard\, Yale\, Columbia\, Pratt\, and UPenn. He is currently an Assoc iate Professor at City College of New York\, Spitzer School of Architectur e.\n\nProf. Shawn Rickenbacker (he/him) is a trained architect\, urbanist\ , and urban data researcher. He is the Director of the CCNY J. Max Bond Ce nter for Urban Futures where he directs the Center’s sponsored research and an Associate Professor of Architecture at the CCNY Spitzer School of A rchitecture. Under his leadership\, the Bond Center has become a hub for p ioneering transdisciplinary research among academics\, government agencies \, communities\, and industry partners. His transdisciplinary research and work directly confront the complex intersection of architecture\, spatial equity\, and the socioeconomic impacts of place-based policies\, through the lens of urban data\, forensic and design research. His work has been e xhibited and published by MIT Press and NY Times.\n\n"Upcycling: Toward a Pedagogy of Material and Cultural Conservation": As architecture confronts a new generation of environmental and urban design challenges\, adaptive reuse emerges not merely as a technical solution but as a critical pedagog ical framework. Amid climate imperatives to reduce embodied carbon\, shrin king inventories of viable urban building sites\, and the rise of “zombi e buildings” left vacant by shifting economic patterns and work-from-hom e trends\, the discipline must rethink its relationship to existing struct ures and urban fabric.\n\nProfessors Bagchee\, Llonch and Rickenbacker wil l present work from their advanced design studios at the Spitzer School of Architecture to outline a pedagogy of looking at the adaptive reuse of bu ildings as an important aspect of an architectural education. Together the y will examine how adaptive reuse can anchor a pedagogy of decarbonization : teaching designers to prioritize transformation over demolition\, levera ge latent spatial and material resources\, and reimagine the city as an un finished\, renewable construct. Focus will be given to the design of new v ertical public and third spaces as augmented social infrastructures\, that emerge from repurposed towers\, underused podiums and lobbies\, and obsol ete commercial cores to address sparse urban public space and redefine com munal life in dense cities. By engaging with constraints as generative for ces\, we invite both students and practitioners to view the aged\, the emp ty\, and the overlooked not as liabilities but as foundations for regenera tive design. Adaptive reuse\, in this framing\, becomes more than preserva tion: it is a forward-looking\, carbon conscious design ethos suited to ou r era’s urgent spatial and ecological realities.\n\nSuggested Reading: L lonch\, F.\, &\; Vidalle\, G. (2014). Displaced: Llonch+Vidalle Archite cture. Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers.\n\nGupta\, Arpit and Mittal\, Vrinda and Van Nieuwerburgh\, Stijn\, Work From Home and the Office Real Estate A pocalypse (January 23\, 2025). forthcoming American Economic Review\, Avai lable at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4124698 or http://dx.doi.org/1 0.2139/ssrn.4124698\n\nMischke\, J.\, Luby\, R.\, Vickery\, B.\, Woetzel\, J.\, White\, O.\, Sanghvi\, A.\, Rhee\, J.\, Fu\, A.\, Palter\, R.\, Dua\ , A.\, &\; Smit\, S. (2023\, July). Empty spaces and hybrid places: The pandemic’s lasting impact on real estate. McKinsey &\; Company. Avai lable at: https://tinyurl.com/ymy8sfwv\n\n"rePURPOSE" centers on the pract ice of adaptive reuse in the built environment. Repurposing\, embedded in historical patterns of city building and for the most part discarded in th e modern movement\, is undergoing a remarkable renaissance. The lecture se ries invites architects\, planners\, developers\, advocates\, and engineer s to present the technologies\, designs\, economic incentives\, and policy changes that are needed to advance a substantively renewed and at-scale p rogram of repurposing in New York and other global cities. The reuse of ol d structures is not a new idea. After the fall of the Roman Empire\, for e xample\, the Colosseum was repurposed for housing and workshops during the medieval period. Although reuse is understood as a convention that both r equires and imposes minimal impact\, rePURPOSE shines light on how the met hodology might not be entirely benign\, how it might in fact have real imp act\, and the ways in which it challenges and would necessarily disrupt th e very conventions with which we typically assume it is aligned.\n\nOf spe cial\, although not exclusive\, interest is unpacking the relationship of repurposing to the climate crisis. Might historic preservation sit at the center of technical innovation? Are all older buildings valuable as climat e mitigation assets\, or will new uses\, such as data storage in old build ings\, undermine the LCA embodied carbon savings achieved? What rules\, la ws\, and incentives are needed to sustain innovative approaches to meaning ful reuse\, and to what extent will a complete reform of preservation regu lations and zoning frameworks be required?\n\nThe Fall 2025 Sciame lecture series will address the profound potential inherent in giving new life to old structures\; employing adaptive reuse methodologies to impact environ mental\, economic\, and cultural conditions by reducing waste and carbon e missions\, lowering costs and raising property values\, maintaining histor ical character\, and preserving local identity.\n\nAll lectures are free\, open to the public\, and held in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of A rchitecture Sciame Auditorium. For live captioning\, ASL interpretation\, or access requests\, please contact ssadean@ccny.cuny.edu.\n\nThis lecture series is made possible by the Spitzer Architecture Fund and the generous support of Frank Sciame ’74\, CEO of Sciame Construction.\n\n(Photograp h ©Paul Raphaelson) CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Sciame Lectures LOCATION:Sciame Auditorium (Room 107)\, 141 Convent Avenue\, New York\, NY\ , 10031\, United States GEO:40.8177595;-73.95047339999996 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=141 Convent Avenue\, New Yo rk\, NY\, 10031\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Sciame Auditori um (Room 107):geo:40.8177595,-73.95047339999996 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR