Nina Rappaport
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Fellowship

Nina was the Writer/Critic Fellow for the Long Island City: Connecting the Arts project.

Co-Fellows

Colin Cathcart, urban planner
David Reinfurt, graphic designer

Related Publication

Nina Rappaport is an architectural critic, curator, and educator. She is publications editor at Yale School of Architecture and the editor of the school’s book series, the biannual publication Constructs, and the school’s exhibition catalogs. Her current research and projects focus on the intersection of urban design and infrastructure, innovative engineering, and factory spaces.

She has contributed articles and essays to Architecture, Architectural Record, Praxis, Future Anterior, 30/60/90, and Tec21. Her exhibitions include “The Swiss Section” at the Van Alen Institute, 2003, and “Saving Corporate Modernism,” Yale School of Architecture, 2001, among others. She is chair of Docomomo/New York, a chapter of the international non-profit dedicated to the preservation of modern architecture.

Ms. Rappaport is currently a professor in the Syracuse in New York City program, teaching a seminar called "Alternative Urbanisms." She has previously taught at Parsons School of Design, Barnard, City College and Yale University. Her book, Support and Resist: Structural Engineers and Design Innovation, was published in 2007 by Monacelli Press.

Personal Statement

Design Trust fellowships allowed our interdisciplinary team — graphic designer (David Reinfurt), architect/urban designer (Colin Cathcart), and writer/critic (myself) — to work in a new way on a real city issue exploring a unique approach to urban design. As people asked me about the Design Trust, I said, “It is like getting the Rome Prize, but in New York.” What could be a better place to investigate and push creative urban design issues.  Being able to work collaboratively with city agencies and our team, on a project where we could emphasize a local identity in Long Island City, and not cliché planning, that then is adopted by the arts organizations and the city, is an extremely productive process to understanding and emphasizing this ever-changing, hybrid urban environment.