Queens is the city’s largest gateway for immigrants, and is also arguably New York’s most important launchpad to the middle class. Yet, given rising rents, climate change, an aging population and other challenges, Queens has significant work to do to ensure all of its residents can fully participate in the borough’s prosperity. This report presents bold policy ideas from 50 Queens leaders for what city leaders can do to create a stronger, more equitable Queens.

by the Center for an Urban Future

What’s the secret to success, when a project lasts years longer than planned?
 
What keeps us going when our work takes more time? How does the subject matter of a project relate to the form of a project? Why should we be thinking equally about the budget for what happens after a project opens? What is the “architecture of delight”? Why do “reverberations matter”? Which is more important: patience, or pushing? (Hint: it’s a trick question.) And most importantly, why should everybody visit the house of Louis and Lucille Armstrong in Queens, New York?
 
Regina Bain (Executive Director, Louis Armstrong House Museum & Archives) and Sara Caples, (Principal and co-founder of Caples Jefferson Architects) join host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss the new Louis Armstrong Center project that all three worked on.

Along the way: why everyone should take acting classes, and what it’s like being inside a cello.

The Weeksville Heritage Center testifies to a long forgotten chapter in Brooklyn’s history. For the past ten years, visitors have been able to experience the physical vestiges — three restored houses and gardens — of a free and intentional 19th century African American community, hidden by successive waves of 20th century development. Earlier this year, WHC inaugurated a new era with the opening of a new building on this campus, designed by Caples Jefferson Architects, that boldly announces that this “multidimensional museum” is as firmly committed to its neighborhood’s present and future as it is to recovering and interpreting its legacy for contemporary audiences.

We are thrilled and honored about our Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize nomination for the Louis Armstrong Center! We are so excited and can’t wait to see the exhibition in Chicago at S.R. Crown Hall on March 20th!

“I hope that social equity will be more than just another box to check off and become a critical aspect of what and why architects create.

In 2023, World-Architects presented 39 US Buildings of the Week, featuring short Q&As with architects about recently completed buildings in the United States.

To bring this year's feature to a close, American-Architects is holding a Building of the Year poll and asking you to decide a winner from these Buildings of the Week. With just a few mouse clicks you can vote for your favorite building. The deadline is Sunday, January 28 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, January 30.

Please vote for our building, the Louis Armstrong Center, for World-Architects’ Building of the Year 2023 competition. Hats off to our team and their hard work to bring this vision to life!

Many thanks to the Louis Armstrong Center, Severud Associates, DASNY, WSP USA, Arup Group, Arup Americas, CG Partners, Potion Design, Hill International, CUNY, Queens College, Steven Winter Associates, Paul J Scariano, Regina Bain, Jason Moran, The Dormitory Authority and the Art Guild!