Going public: the roundtable

Southern Cross Station in Melbourne mitigates emissions from the diesel trains with its wave-form roof

I love thinking about public buildings, how they get used, how they withstand the test of time, how they fulfill the public purpose, so I went to the Going Public Roundtable at the Center for Architecture last night, the second half of the Going Public exhibit now up in the main gallery through December 30 and part of the AIA New York chapter's ongoing theme this year, Architecture as Public Policy.

Hm...new directions in the form of case studies, yes. I did see some cool images of new public buildings here and abroad. The presentation led me to believe that architecture in public policy is, at least right now, an exploration of how built design can support a policy solution; it does not claim to solve them (thankfully). Except, they can go a long way in mitigating greenhouse emissions, as in the Melbourne station, above. And yes, it means striving for better design in public buildings, with a program initiated by the Department of Design and Construction. I couldn't find any information about the DDC program. Sorry - nothing too enlightening.