Reflecting the firm’s longstanding impact on New York City and national urban policy issues, Cooper Robertson will participate in a major symposium Sept. 15 about the city’s zoning rules, passed into law 100 years ago.
Cooper Robertson’s cofounder Alexander Cooper, FAIA, will speak on a 9:45am panel as part of the full-day program “Zoning at 100: A Symposium for the Future,” which includes an address by the city’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. It will be held at the Bar Association at 42 West 44th St. in Manhattan. (Details below.)
Known internationally for its work on urban design and zoning in addition to architecture and public space design, Cooper Robertson has been involved in major urban initiatives and groundbreaking projects. In New York City, these include Battery Park City, the 42nd St. Redevelopment, Zuccotti Park, and the Hudson Yards plan. The firm also advises local officials globally on architecture, resiliency and planning matters.
Who: Alexander Cooper, FAIA
What: 9:45am panel, “Zoning at 100: A Symposium for the Future”
When: Thursday, Sept. 15, 8am – 5pm
Where: New York City Bar Association, 42 W. 44th St.
The “Zoning at 100” program has been developed by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and New York’s Department of City Planning, led by its director Carl Weisbrod, “to explore how zoning may be deployed in New York and around the world to create more equitable, productive, sustainable, and livable cities.”
ABOUT THE PANEL
As part of the panel titled “The Record of the 1916 and 1961 New York City Zoning Resolutions,” Cooper Robertson’s Alexander Cooper, FAIA, will discuss how the initiative reflected health and livability concerns including light and air at street level, building density, and the need for open space.
ABOUT ALEXANDER COOPER, FAIA
Cooper is a former New York City planning commissioner in the administration of Mayor John Lindsay, and he directed the graduate Urban Design Program at Columbia University in the 1970s. Subsequently Cooper served as architect and urban designer for many pivotal public projects in New York City as well as master planning and zoning projects around the world. Among the most notable works are Diagonal Mar in Barcelona, Stuyvesant High School, and the streetscape design for Lower Manhattan.