Annual Heritage Ball honors design leaders.

On Thursday, October 12, 2006, the AIA New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture Foundation will honor leading New Yorkers at the annual Heritage Ball. The sold-out benefit gala, to be held at Chelsea Piers' Pier 60, between 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. recognizes the contributions of outstanding individuals and organizations to the physical, cultural and civic environment of New York. Nearly 1,300 leaders from the architecture, design, construction and real estate community will attend.

The Heritage Ball helps kick off Architecture Week 2006, a six-day, city-wide festival of events and special programs on architecture and design, designed to appeal to New Yorkers of every age and walk of life. Home base for Architecture Week is the Center for Architecture, the public gallery of the AIA New York Chapter and Center for Architecture Foundation.

This year's honorees, all of whom will be in attendance at the Heritage Ball, explicitly reflect the Center for Architecture's multi-faceted mission and diverse audiences: Together with Dinner Chair MaryAnne Gilmartin, the Executive Vice President of Forest City Ratner Companies, and the Director of their Commercial & Residential Development division, who represents the Center's enthusiastic cadre of developers, the Heritage Ball honorees demonstrate the breadth and depth of the Center for Architecture's growing importance to New York's design community.

2006 Heritage Ball Honorees

Walter A. Hunt Jr., FAIA, is Vice Chairman of Gensler and directs the firm's Global Client Program from the New York office. He served as Co-Managing Principal of the New York office for 18 years, having relocated in 1985 from the Denver office, where he was the Managing Principal for seven years. He also directs selected projects in the New York office, in addition to serving on the Board of Directors.

Mr. Hunt specializes in project development for significant and unique projects. He is presently one of the two key principals serving as Executive Architect for the MGM Mirage CityCenter project in Las Vegas, the largest privately funded project in the United States.

Mr. Hunt is a past president of the AIA New York Chapter and president emeritus of the Center for Architecture Foundation. He also served as co-chair of the Center's capital campaign, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Yale Alumni Fund and the Dean's Council at the Yale School of Architecture. In 2000, Gensler received the American Institute of Architects' Architecture Firm Award, America's highest award for a collaborative design process. The AIA recognized Gensler as a model for the design professions in the 21st Century. Walter Hunt Jr., FAIA, Gensler's Vice Chairman, exemplifies that spirit, and has been a very model of an engaged civic professional, harnessing design, like his firm does, to empower people and transform organizations.

After end if Commissioner David J. Barney add

Since the Agency's formation in 1996, DDC has completed more than 2,500 projects in every corner of the City of New York, valued at more than $6.7 billion. In July 2004, Mayor Bloomberg announced the "Design and Construction Excellence Initiative" for New York City that would be led by the Department of Design and Construction with the aim to produce public works "....that embody the highest standards in contemporary architectural and engineering design while respecting our City's historical context." In furtherance of that goal, DDC has been encouraging the best design firms in the City to participate in their public works program and in so doing the program has become more accessible to new design firms. Under the new initiative, DDC is also working to make the design and construction process more efficient and more focused on producing quality architecture.

After end of Richard L. Tomasetti, PE, Hon add

Mr. Tomasetti is honored for his outstanding contributions to architecture and engineering, and for fostering collaboration in the greater design community. He is currently Chairman of the New York Building Foundation and Public Director of the AIA New York Chapter.

After end of Nontraditional Employment for women add

NEW strengthens the construction industry and union movement by helping to build a diverse, skilled workforce and dynamic rank and file. But there's a long way to go, with women still making up less than two percent of the construction workforce. Our goal is to ensure that over the next five years women will constitute at least seven percent of the unionized labor force at construction sites, rail yards, and utilities facilities across the city. NEW's efforts have a direct and substantial impact on economic opportunity and diversity in our city. NEW's success is reflected in the lives of the thousands of women we have trained and placed in the skilled trades over the past 28 years--the hardworking women who build our city.