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UID:734@ssa.ccny.cuny.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251030T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251030T190000
DTSTAMP:20250908T202620Z
URL:https://ssa.ccny.cuny.edu/events/fall-2025-sciame-lecture-series-ruchi
 ka-modi/
SUMMARY:Fall 2025 Sciame Lecture Series: Ruchika Modi
DESCRIPTION:Please RSVP here to attend.\n\nThis in-person lecture is part o
 f the Fall 2025 Sciame Lecture Series\, "rePURPOSE."\n\nRuchika Modi: With
  a background spanning industrial design\, economics\, and journalism\, Ru
 chika Modi brings a multifaceted understanding of the ways in which cities
  function to her architectural practice. Modi's experiences living and wor
 king in Mumbai (then Bombay)\, New Delhi\, and San Francisco have also inf
 luenced her nuanced view of urban planning and design\, inspiring her pass
 ion to find architectural solutions to a range of relevant issues\, from s
 ustainability to inequality. At PAU\, Modi sets the firm's vision in partn
 ership with Creative Director Vishaan Chakrabarti\, including shaping the 
 firm's diverse portfolio of projects and overseeing all aspects of the des
 ign process. Currently\, Modi is leading the design team for the FAA's new
  sustainable airport traffic control tower prototype\, which will be adapt
 ed to replace over 100 aging towers in regional and municipal airports acr
 oss the nation. She is also project lead for Princeton University's newest
  residential college\, Hobson College\, as well as for the master plan. Sh
 e spearheaded the design of the iconic Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn\,
  an adaptive reuse project transforming the historic nineteenth-century fa
 ctory into offices with a mixed-use ground level\, which opened in the fal
 l of 2023. Modi holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate Sc
 hool of Architecture\, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University\, 
 where she was awarded the Charles McKim Prize for Excellence in Design / S
 aul Kaplan Traveling Fellowship\, the William Kinne Fellows Prize for Stud
 y and Travel Abroad\, and the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize. Mod
 i received her BA in economics from the University of Delhi and a BA with 
 distinction in interior architecture from the California College of Arts\,
  San Francisco. Her work has been exhibited at the Center for Architecture
  in New York\, the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam\, and 
 the China International Architectural Biennale in Beijing.\n\n"Palimpsest 
 | Repurposing a Sugar Refinery": The Domino Sugar Refinery on the Williams
 burg waterfront—originally purpose-built for sugar production—is now r
 epurposed as one of New York’s most ambitious adaptive reuse projects. T
 he NYC landmark\, a merger of three separate but conjoined industrial stru
 ctures with small\, misaligned windows\, defied normative approaches to ad
 aptive reuse. In this lecture\, Ruchika Modi\, AIA\, Senior Principal at P
 AU\, will unpack the transformation of the 19th-century factory into a con
 temporary workplace\, event venue\, and community hub. Described as a “b
 ottle in a ship\,” the design tucks a modern curtainwall building within
  the existing masonry in order to create level\, wheelchair-friendly offic
 e floors bathed with ambient light. The gap between the two façades engen
 ders a phenomenological experience while enabling daylight\, biophilia\, a
 nd interior views of the patinaed brick\, resulting in a unique post-pande
 mic workspace of the future. Modi will explore the challenges of working w
 ithin the complex historic structures and how these constraints inspired p
 rogressive solutions that marry sustainability\, accessibility\, and archi
 tectural integrity. More than a case study in design\, the Refinery demons
 trates how adaptive reuse can reinforce the palimpsest of the city\, conse
 rve embodied energy and narrative\, and celebrate history by projecting it
  into the future.\n\nSuggested Reading: The Theory of the Body is Already 
 a Theory of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty.\n\n"rePURPOSE" centers on
  the practice of adaptive reuse in the built environment. Repurposing\, em
 bedded in historical patterns of city building and for the most part disca
 rded in the modern movement\, is undergoing a remarkable renaissance. The 
 lecture series invites architects\, planners\, developers\, advocates\, an
 d engineers to present the technologies\, designs\, economic incentives\, 
 and policy changes that are needed to advance a substantively renewed and 
 at-scale program of repurposing in New York and other global cities. The r
 euse of old structures is not a new idea. After the fall of the Roman Empi
 re\, for example\, the Colosseum was repurposed for housing and workshops 
 during the medieval period. Although reuse is understood as a convention t
 hat both requires and imposes minimal impact\, rePURPOSE shines light on h
 ow the methodology might not be entirely benign\, how it might in fact hav
 e real impact\, and the ways in which it challenges and would necessarily 
 disrupt the very conventions with which we typically assume it is aligned.
 \n\nOf special\, although not exclusive\, interest is unpacking the relati
 onship of repurposing to the climate crisis. Might historic preservation s
 it at the center of technical innovation? Are all older buildings valuable
  as climate mitigation assets\, or will new uses\, such as data storage in
  old buildings\, undermine the LCA embodied carbon savings achieved? What 
 rules\, laws\, and incentives are needed to sustain innovative approaches 
 to meaningful reuse\, and to what extent will a complete reform of preserv
 ation regulations and zoning frameworks be required?\n\nThe Fall 2025 Scia
 me lecture series will address the profound potential inherent in giving n
 ew life to old structures\; employing adaptive reuse methodologies to impa
 ct environmental\, economic\, and cultural conditions by reducing waste an
 d carbon emissions\, lowering costs and raising property values\, maintain
 ing historical character\, and preserving local identity.\n\nAll lectures 
 are free\, open to the public\, and held in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer S
 chool of Architecture Sciame Auditorium. For live captioning\, ASL interpr
 etation\, or access requests\, please contact ssadean@ccny.cuny.edu.\n\nTh
 is lecture series is made possible by the Spitzer Architecture Fund and th
 e generous support of Frank Sciame ’74\, CEO of Sciame Construction.\n\n
 \n(Photograph ©Paul Raphaelson)
CATEGORIES:Events,Lectures,Sciame Lectures
LOCATION:Sciame Auditorium (Room 107)\, 141 Convent Avenue\, New York\, NY\
 , 10031\, United States
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