Announcing 3rd Annual BBB RED Research Award Winners

July 24, 2018
Credit:

The annual Research Award is the cornerstone of BBB’s RED (Research, Exchange, Develop) initiative. For its third year, we received seven provocative proposals – ranging from conceptual ideas and social issues to material, fabrication, and technology – from individuals and teams in both the New York and Washington DC offices. A jury comprised of a cross section of BBB and Joel Sanders, founder and Principal of Joel Sanders Architect , selected the two winners, who have received stipends to advance their research:

Design for All: No-Cost Accessibility Implementation Strategies for Architects, submitted by Brad Polsky, will look at accessibility holistically and integrally with respect to broad issues of design and sustainability. The project will create a guide for BBB that designers can access and use as well as sponsor a mini-conference to bring together experts.

Beyer Blinder Belle

PoMo, conceived by Dana Litowitz, Katie Hummelt and Rebecca Lesher, will research American Postmodern architecture and encourage the exchange and dissemination of information on this subject within and outside of BBB. The project includes review of literature and existing resources, investigation of preservation methods for PoMo, and creation of a searchable PoMo database.

Beyer Blinder Belle

Each team will develop their project over eight weeks in the summer, with firm-wide presentations after Labor Day. An exhibition of the final projects will take place in the fall. The intention is for these initiatives to offer ways of thinking that can be developed beyond the award period.

The Research Award program has generated much enthusiasm among staff, including grassroots communication and sharing during the process of forming teams as well as great interest in peers’ research topics. The goal of the award program – and the larger RED initiative – is to facilitate dialogue, challenge assumptions, push the limits of design, construction, and technological boundaries, and expand the firm’s approaches to architecture and planning.

In its third year, RED has already impacted the life of BBB’s practice above and beyond sponsoring independent research. For example, RED has organized trips to local fabricators and designers to engage in dialogues about process and materials; launched a series of firm-wide tech talks led by in-house experts on specific software programs; and hosted seminars with thought leaders such as Cynthia Davidson and Peter Eisenman.

Stay tuned for more RED updates and outcomes of the RED Research Award this Fall. (Click here to see 2017’s winners and here to see 2016’s winners.)

RED supports and advances BBB’s people and projects through:

researching and investigating knowledge of new and innovative materials, processes, and methodologies;

• encouraging a culture and community of open dialogue, inquiry, creativity, and critical exchange;

• fostering development and propagation of ideas and applications that align with BBB’s practice and culture.