by Center for Architecture
Since the 1980s, we have gathered architects, designers and industry professionals together for the Center for Architecture’s annual Common Bond, a fundraising gala that attracts hundreds of guests in celebration of design excellence and our community leaders. On October 23, 2025, we congregated once again at Chelsea Piers’ Pier 60 to honor four entities who embody our community’s most cherished values: collaboration, sustainability, inclusion, civic engagement, and design excellence. The 2025 honorees were REX; Daniel Brodsky, Managing Partner, The Brodsky Organization; Joel Towers, AIA, President, The New School; and Maria Torres-Springer, Senior Fellow, Ford Foundation; Former First Deputy Mayor, City of New York.
Dinner began with opening remarks from Jesse Lazar, Assoc. AIA, Executive Director of AIA New York and the Center for Architecture, who addressed the evening’s honorees, scholarship recipients, and distinguished guests. “We know how challenging and uncertain these times have been for our profession—for firms, practitioners, educators, students, everyone—and we are deeply grateful that you chose to stand with us tonight,” said Lazar. “Tonight, we celebrate not just individual achievements, but the collective strength of a profession that continues to imagine a better, more equitable city.”
The evening’s first honoree, Daniel Brodsky, was introduced by 2025 AIANY President Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA. Brodsky is Managing Partner of the Brodsky Organization, one of New York City’s leading developers, builders, and property managers of residential and mixed-use real estate. “Under his leadership, the firm became a pioneer of 80/20 developments, integrating luxury residences with affordable housing to strengthen the city’s social and architectural fabric,” said Gilmartin. “Dan is known to many of us, though, as patron of arts and culture in the city… His long-standing commitment to arts and education in this city is truly admirable.”
“I am proud to support the Center for Architecture’s mission: inspiring students, providing scholarships, and creating spaces where ideas and creativity can flourish,” said Brodsky, accepting his award. “Thank you again for this recognition and for supporting the organization that keeps the bond between architecture, design, and community so strong.”
The night’s second honoree was Maria Torres-Springer, a nationally recognized public servant with over 25 years of experience across the government, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors. “In her current roles at the Ford Foundation and the Boston Consulting Group, Maria continues to identify ways to support cities and states, grounded in her core beliefs in the dignity of home, the power of the work, and the capacity of government to transform lives,” introduced Lazar.
“…If we believe, as I do, that design is ultimately an act of hope, then this is precisely the moment to design harder, to imagine better, to build with more care, more courage, and more conviction than ever before,” said Torres-Springer. “And if there is a room that can do it, I think it is this one.”
Peter Robinson, Chair of the Center for Architecture Board of Trustees, presented the next honoree of the evening, Joel Towers, AIA. An architect, educator, and a passionate advocate for design-based solutions to climate change, Towers has worked at The New School for more than 20 years as a member of the faculty and administrative leadership. He became the tenth president of The New School in August 2024.
“Let me thank the AIA and the Center for Architecture for the bravery of honoring education and universities at this time, when standing up for the values and the critical importance of free speech, of learning, of research, feels somehow and sadly political,” said Towers. “The truth is, education has always been a target, because as a pathway for progress and change, it challenges power and the status quo.”
The evening’s final honoree was REX, represented by Founding Principal Joshua Ramus, FAIA, and Associate Principals Alysen Fiore, Assoc. AIA; Adam Chizmar, AIA; and Raúl Rodríguez, Intl. Assoc. AIA. Gilmartin introduced the firm: “They challenge and advance building paradigms, and promote architectural agency. This ethos guides the studio to produce inventive designs so functionally specific that they offer new and inspiring aesthetic experiences.”
In accepting the award, Ramus chose to address particularly the students in the audience: “We spend most of our time in this noble profession feeling like children, and that has upsides and downsides. The downside is the general panic that we don’t actually know what we’re doing … but the upside is that when our projects take form, the child in each of us still whispers in our ears, ‘I can’t believe they’re building this.’ The greatest part of this honor is that it will bestow confidence that that childlike awe is actually a really powerful tool … This is the best means of retaining the optimism that is so crucial to the creative alchemy that everyone in this room performs on a day-to-day basis.”
Common Bond also recognized three promising students pursuing architecture at New York City-based schools, awarding each a scholarship of $3,500: Justine Flora, Master of Architecture Candidate, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; Amanda Mostafa, Bachelor of Architecture Candidate, New York City College of Technology; and Daniela Pedroza Altamirano, Bachelor of Architecture Candidate, Parsons School of Design. Read more about the scholarship honorees here.
Thank you all for making Common Bond 2025 an incredible success. We look forward to seeing you next year!