Pratt Institute’s 2024 fall exhibition at Pratt house on Governors Island is a continuation of the Adaptations program started in 2023. Adaptation(s) 2.0 pairs established architecture offices with current students exhibiting island-based projects developed with climate resiliency goals. The collection of design proposals range from realistic to conceptual. The exhibition compliments Governors Island future role as a climate study hub in NYC.
Beyond all the physical architectural scale models was the welcome inclusion of some concept sketches for the Foster + Partners projects, some by Norman Foster himself. It’s a rarity to see them in design shows these days and I’m glad to see some analog 2D thinking.
SOM’s proposal for a swoopy mass timber climate research and training facility called The Exchange strikes me a bit as a firm vanity project. It’s way out of scale for the rest of the existing buildings on the island. Maybe the big firms feel pressured to make all their proposals Heatherwick-esq these days to maintain social media clout.
Path of Space by Bilal Sadiq reimagines what interior plumbing pipes could become if they were designed as interior room elements. Sadly this project would never meet code but it does represent some fascinating left field thinking. Sadiq’s design use the pipes to create room dividers, shelving and seating structures. There are also integrated fire sprinklers.
Full Description
Future Positive: Evolving Resilient Strategies (Foster + Partners):
Foster + Partners has been among the earliest architecture firms working on climate adaptation reflecting its expertise and long-time commitment to the environment and related subjects. The exhibition is bookended by two public premiers — one an ecological master plan developed by Norman Foster for the island of Gomera (in the Canary Islands) from 1975 and the other a current masterplan to address climate change for Gaafaru Atoll on the Maldivian Archipelago. Between are examples of ongoing adaptation projects by the practice in NYC and the Stockholm archipelago
A Tale of Two Islands: Planning for a Post-Carbon Future (Skidmore Owings and Merrill):
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has been a leading force in the redesign and redevelopment of the East River Corridor. This exhibition presents two design proposals, one built and one unbuilt, for redeveloping two islands within the New York City archipelago. SOM’s master plan for Cornell Tech on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, is shown in dialogue with a new campus plan that SOM is developing for the future New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island, in New York Harbor at the southern mouth of the East River. Designed a decade apart, these two projects reveal evolving strategies to advance coastal resilience and climate change adaptation.
Patagonia and Beyond (Pratt Institute Center for Climate Adaptation):
This three part exhibition includes field work, findings, student research and realizable proposals bringing together four academic institutions: Pratt Institute, Universidad Del Desarrollo (UDD), Singapore University of Technology and Design and Georgia Institute of Technology. Including expeditions across the Patagonian archipelago, to Chiloé (its largest island), to Singapore and Governors Island, the exhibition showcases an array of methods and technologies and the potentials of design-based research in climate adaptation.
Archipelogics 2.0 (Pratt Institute MS. Urban Design and Architecture):
The third annual exhibition including work from recent Master of Science in Architecture and Master of Science in Urban Design yearlong studios at Pratt Institute focuses on building adaptation proposals in Rockaway, Queens and Urban Design adaptation in Red Hook, Brooklyn; both located on Long Island, the 17th most populous island on the planet.
Photos and Text: Dave Pinter
Additional Exhibition Text: Pratt Institute




























































