While most people have been generally obsessed for the past 15 years with buildings and the starchitects behind them, the "public realm," for lack of a better term, went into hibernation. Now, with the economy stalled and the amount of new buildings - and their architects - stalled, the forums of our cities are getting some much deserved attention. Hey, we're architects and we support the construction of new and renovated buildings as a matter of livelihood, but that has not ceased our intense interest in the care and development of successful urban places where these buildings live and where people move and breathe between buildings. Where we can stand back and look. And talk. And eat. And play. If our cities were just buildings, we'd be living on the Death Star. The buildings may define a city by it's skyline, but it's the public spaces between buildings that define a city by it's people, their culture, and how they inhabit and move through it.

"We’ve been so fixated on fancy new buildings that we’ve lost sight of the spaces they occupy and we share," Michael Kimmelman says in his report on New York's amazing public spaces. He spent an afternoon walking through some of New York's famous - and infamous - public spaces with the urban planner and architect Alexander Garvin. Earlier this year I took a class of NYU students on a very similar walking tour. The point of both walks was to point out the canvas that our building icons sit upon. How do buildings hit the streets? How do the spaces around them support human movement, transportation, relaxation, urban enjoyment? I argued on my walk that most buildings do a rather poor job of transitioning to the sidewalk. They look great from a distance and from aerial photographs - the postcard shots - but often fail at negotiating the all too important human scale at the ground. The Seagram building is seminal architecture, to be sure. The plaza in front (and on the sides) has much to be desired.

Call it "ground up" architecture instead of "trickle down." Kimmelman writes about how the Dutch begin their urban design projects thinking about granular aspects like subway entrances, bike paths, crosswalks, and storefronts before handing off building sites to architects. here in the States it's most often the reverse. The developers design their buildings, and the public realm has to adapt to what is given them. I am always struck in Europe with the prevalence of "square," or, "plaza, piazza, place, ter, trg, torg, plein, platz," or any number of translations that make open space in the city so loved and respected. It's hip to be square.

We at Mapos are thrilled to announce the initiation of the new Mapos Internship Trimester! This internship initiative will be an ongoing program wherein we will take on one or two interns in tours of 3-4 months each. This may be part time or full time and will vary in tenure length, depending upon the availability of the candidates.

Here at “World Domination Headquarters” (a.k.a. Mapos) on the Bowery, you will not be chained to your desk and forced to generate mind-numbing CAD details for a pittance like your fellow interns in corporate firms. Rather, you will be faced with a series of mind-bending mental and physical challenges for a pittance. These challenges will range from designing our office space, light construction, helping to concept new ideas for the city, researching and collecting cutting edge materials, working with live animals (some completely feral), and entertaining the staff and partners, among many other things. There will also be ice cream and lots and lots of Kool-Aid^TM!

After working here, you can expect to walk away with the following:

• A fun and amazing, hands-on experience in your field of study

• An unfiltered, first-hand view of how to run a small and growing design studio

• At least a couple amazing projects for your professional portfolio

• The possibility of built work

• Excellent references…

• If you are good

• Our recommendations have resulted in jobs at Shop, Avroko, Studio Daniel Libeskind, Pompei AD, and Peter Marino Assoc.

• The possibility of working at Mapos upon graduation…

• If you are awesome

• All of our full time employees were former interns here

You must have strong skills in:

• AutoCad

• Sketchup

• Adobe CS

• WordPress

• General computer skills

These traits would also preferred:

• A fearlessness in the face of challenges

• A proactive, “can do” spirit

• A willingness to get one’s hands dirty

• A sense of humor

•  An “Eye of the Tiger,” by Survivor

• Reliability, reliability, and reliability

Note that this is an unpaid internship, but will include a base lunch stipend to be paid 50% at the beginning and 50% upon completion of the program.

If interested, email a brief cover letter, resume, and work samples in PDF format to info@studiomapos.com. Please indicate your availability (start date, end date, weekly hours) in your cover letter. NO PHONECALLS.

This past Saturday, I joined a small crew at Rocking the Boat in the Bronx, an amazing organization that works with local teenagers and teaches them how to build boats. After a quick tour of their workshop, some of the kids joined us as we paddled their creations on the adjacent Bronx River and where, I believe, was the true power of the organization. Learning how to build boats teaches the kids craftmanship, team work, and those intangible skills that any focused pursuit can give to young people. Out on the river, the boats opened up whole new worlds to normally landlocked urbanites: water issues, ecology, wildlife, the environment, community context, social responsibility. The students at Rocking the Boat were born in the Bronx. Now they are studying the river ecology and restoring wetlands with their neighbors. They are camping in the Catskills and taking Outward Bound classes in the Sierra Nevada. They're getting scholarships and going to college. A couple of oars can take you way past the Whitestone Bridge.

Be sure to check out the first of 4 episodes on NBC's Open House featuring the construction progress of the Montagnaro House. In this episode, Glenn Callahan and David Jackson of American Green Home Builders touch upon some green design strategies that everyone should consider when building a new home. Hats off to the greenest and most camera-ready GC team out there!