by Eveline Chang and Tim Hayduk Center for Architecture Foundat
The Foundation’s Brooklyn Heights Walking Tour for families began at the Brooklyn Historical Society and concluded at the Promenade, overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.
Eveline Chang
Visitors learned about Modernist architecture in the Middle East on the Foundation’s guided tour of exhibits at the Center on March 14th.
Jaime Endreny
On 03.14.12, the Center for Architecture Foundation welcomed the public to its first guided exhibition tour of “City of Mirages – Baghdad, 1952-1982” and “CHANGE: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present,” led by CFAF’s Lead Design Educator, Tim Hayduk. “City of Mirages” tells the story of Iraq’s struggle to modernize in the mid-20th century with the help of some of the West’s best practitioners. The show, which traveled from Barcelona, Spain to the Center for Architecture, includes models, video footage, and drawings sourced from around the world. Tour attendees were also introduced to the “CHANGE” exhibit, which provides a survey of current work in the Middle East throughout regions of varying geography, cultures, climates, and economies.
In contrast to the expansive geographical area covered by CHANGE, the CFAF gave a local tour, just across the East River in historic Brooklyn Heights. The program began with an overview of the Center for Architecture’s 2009 exhibition, “Context/Contrast: New Architecture in Historic Districts, 1967-2009,” currently on view at the Brooklyn Historical Society. “Context/Contrast” investigates how “appropriate” new architecture in historic districts has allowed neighborhoods to evolve without endangering the essential character that contributes to their public value and makes them worth protecting. Families then explored the architecture of this architecturally diverse and historic neighborhood on an interactive walking tour with Design Educator Jane Cowan. Both children and adults learned how to look for clues in the built environment to uncover some of Brooklyn Heights’ fascinating history.
The Center for Architecture Foundation is offering an exhibitions-based FamilyDay@theCenter on 04.14.12, and an additional lunchtime exhibitions tour of “City of Mirages” and “CHANGE” on 05.04.12. For additional information about the CFAF’s various programs, please visit www.cfafoundation.org.