Media Contact: Shea Communications LLC
George Shea, Teresa Brady (212) 627-5766
New York, January 13, 2014—Van Alen Institute, an organization dedicated to advancing innovation in architecture and urban design, has announced that Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Jessica Healy, and Hunter Tura have joined its Board of Trustees at the start of its 120th anniversary year.
With the addition of three new members, the Institute expands its Trustees to a group of 15 leaders with diverse expertise in the built environment, including practicing architects, artists, academics, developers, and representatives of the business community.
“Kai-Uwe, Jessica, and Hunter are highly accomplished professionals who bring to Van Alen Institute invaluable experience across the fields of architecture, planning, design, and business,” said Stephen Cassell, Chair of Van Alen’s Board of Trustees and Principal of Architecture Research Office.
“As we celebrate our 120th anniversary in 2014, our Board will help us build on the Institute’s long history, adapting to new environments as we investigate complex challenges facing cities and seek new opportunities to transform urban spaces through our design competitions, research, and public programs,” added David van der Leer, Executive Director.
Kai-Uwe Bergmann is a Partner at international architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), where he heads up business development, engaging current projects in over 15 countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. Bergmann, who also serves as BIG’s Head of Communications, is registered as an architect in the U.S., U.K., and Denmark, and was Project Manager of Central Asia’s first carbon-neutral master plan for Zira Island in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Jessica Healy is a real-estate developer with more than 25 years of experience, having worked with major financial institutions, governmental agencies, cultural institutions, and nonprofits. She has managed the design, engineering, and construction of a wide range of building types, from corporate headquarters and federal courthouses to traveling museum structures and single-family affordable housing. Recent projects include Goldman Sachs’ world headquarters in Lower Manhattan, federal courthouses in New York and Minneapolis, and the BMW Guggenheim Lab that traveled to New York, Berlin, and Mumbai.
Hunter Tura is president and CEO of Bruce Mau Design, Inc. (BMD), where he is responsible for driving the firm’s global growth across all business sectors and expanding the BMD brand. Under Tura’s leadership, BMD has clarified its service offerings, pursued new markets, and expanded its network of collaborative partners. Tura has directed creative business initiatives including recent BMD collaborations for G.E., Unilever, Starwood, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Coca-Cola, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.
The three new Trustees join the Board as Van Alen Institute develops key projects including Elsewhere: Escape and the Urban Landscape, a multi-year initiative of competitions, public programs, and research to explore the experience of escape in the urban environment. The Institute is also a collaborator in Rebuild by Design, a multi-stage, regional design initiative to promote resilience, public health, and prosperity in the Sandy-affected region through innovative planning and design
Among other current projects, Van Alen is a partner in Changing Course, a design competition to reimagine a more sustainable Lower Mississippi River Delta, bringing teams together from around the world to create innovative visions for one of America’s greatest natural resources. Changing Course is an independent effort led by Louisiana and national leaders, with the support and participation of the State of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Van Alen is working with the Environmental Defense Fund to support this competition, along with technical advisors from Happold Consulting.
Van Alen Institute is also collaborating with Times Square Arts on the 2014 Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition, celebrating five years since the opening of the revitalized Father Duffy Square and iconic Red Steps, the result of the Institute’s TKTS2K: A Competition to Design a New York Icon. Throughout 2014, Van Alen will mark its 120th anniversary as a catalyst for design innovation, hosting a series of events and projects to explore the organization’s more than century-long legacy. As another major milestone for the Institute in the coming year, Van Alen will relocate its operations to a newly designed street-level venue, creating a work space and public venue that is more visible, accessible, and participatory in public life.
About Van Alen Institute
Since its founding in 1894, Van Alen Institute has promoted innovative thinking about the role of architecture and design in civic life. Today the Institute’s competitions, research, and public programs shape the public conversation and bring design excellence to the built environment of cities and sites around the world. Van Alen’s widely influential legacy of competitions includes Public Property: An Ideas Competition for Governors Island (1996), which kicked off an international conversation about Governors Island and its redevelopment as a public resource, and TKTS2K: A Competition to Design a New York Icon (1999), which led to the TKTS booth in Times Square and reactivated the public space at the busiest pedestrian intersection in New York City.
Learn more about Van Alen Institute at past.vanalen.org.