Van Alen Institute

Marvel is excited to be part of Van Alen Institute Design Sprints, a community-led design program. Eduardo M. Llinás Messeguer, Architectural & Urban Designer at Marvel, presented for our team last month on April 11th, showcasing our collaboration with Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) in developing an interactive map tool for Sara D. Roosevelt Park that helps advocate for the community’s influence within the capital process as a whole.   More updates to come!   Learn more about this ongoing initiative here: https://lnkd.in/emeEQjw2   #designeverywhereforeveryone

Our artist open call is running for a few more days — deadline Friday 4/26! Watch the recording of our info session, read the FAQs, and apply here: https://lnkd.in/ePi2UEe6

So nice to see friends, old and new, at the Van Alen Institute Design Sprint Summit Event last week and have the opportunity to share our work with Think!Chinatown on behalf of our fabulous design team! We are still going strong with this community-based project aimed at building awareness and capacity of local Chinatown residents with exhibition design and community engagement. Such a pleasure to collaborate with Fu Wilmers Design and Pentagram and looking forward to other projects together!

Artist and designer open call — Van Alen is seeking NYC-area artists with fresh ideas for community engagement to help inform Gowanus residents about evolving impacts of flooding. Gowanus artists encouraged to apply. Learn more and apply by 4/26 at the link below! We'll also hold an info session on Zoom, 4/9 at 5 pm — RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eieDxpMH (or watch the recording on our website later on).

We're honored to host Curry J. Hackett's installation at 300 Ashland. This project is the 4th iteration of Two Trees Management Co. ongoing partnership with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Van Alen Institute to bring new, critical design to Downtown Brooklyn. #publicart

Ensuring that design has a positive impact on community health, equity, and sustainability is our mission at Civitas, and we love working with like-minded people. Our friends at the Brooklyn-based Van Alen Institute, where our own Mark Johnson serves on the board, has a similar focus; and as The Architect's Newspaper reports, their work has recently focused even more sharply on justice. As board treasurer, Mark has played an important role in ensuring that the 130-year-old Institute is strong and stable for this forward-looking mission, and we're proud to be part of this movement. Click to read more in AN's in-depth article:

Thank you Raymond Hu and The Architect's Newspaper for chatting with us and our partners about Van Alen’s mission shift over the last few years! Moving to our Brooklyn space in 2020 provided a new opportunity to root ourselves in a community. Gowanus is full of passionate neighborhood advocates, and forming strong bonds with them has profoundly influenced how we collaborate with our community partners citywide. Read more about these shifts, and how we’re supporting community organizations as they go “from 60 to 100":

Introducing DESIGN SPRINTS, our newest community-led design program! For the next 8 weeks, a 5-team cohort of community leaders and designers are collaborating on solutions and tools to meet immediate neighborhood needs across NYC. Design Sprints follows the lead of people already working towards equity and justice in their neighborhoods. Community partners identified a pressing challenge, and Van Alen shaped design teams + provided each team with $5,000 in seed funding to implement plans. ✨ 82nd Street Partnership, Librería Barco de Papel, N H D M Architects PLLC, and Pentagram are creating a brand identity for Librería Barco de Papel's fundraising campaign to expand NYC's last remaining Spanish-language bookstore ✨ Equality for Flatbush, BD Feliz, and Youth Design Center are designing promotional materials for Equality for Flatbush's Black Rapid Responders initiative, which trains Black residents to respond to community crises ✨ Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) and Marvel are building an interactive digital tool that demystifies the city's construction process for Sara D. Roosevelt Park ✨ Loisaida Inc. and Pentagram are creating a communications strategy for  Loisaida Inc.'s Ecolibrium project to improve public health ✨ Think!Chinatown, Farzana Gandhi, AIA, LEED AP, Fu Wilmers Design, and Pentagram are designing Think!Chinatown's upcoming exhibition on Paifang (archways) & their relationship to perception of Chinatowns Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/emeEQjw2

Soooo excited for tomorrow! Last chance for tix: https://lnkd.in/gQhMH-8p

Sometimes I say yes this to things so quickly! After the prep call with Randy Cohen I was like “OH I LOOOOVVVEE this format!!” If you’re in NY I hope to see you at this event! It’s going to be a fresh take even for me!