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On June 16, 2005, the Design Trust held a second
Designing the Taxi event, titled
How Do We Get There? At this public presentation,
panelists presented preliminary designs,
public-space proposals, and other concepts
sparked by the first workshop.
Moderator Kurt Andersen, of WNYC and Studio 360, led the
conversation among presenters and took questions from the audience
of over 200. The preliminary materials presented during the forum
were later used as the basis for the Designing the Taxi publication
and exhibit.
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Presentations were organized into three
sessions:
Systemic Approaches:
The Taxi in the Public Realm
Bruce Schaller, Schaller Consulting
Erhan Tuncel, Taxi Driver
Jennifer Carpenter, TRUCK Product Architecture
Ernest Tollerson, Partnership for New York City
Michael Levine, Ronart Leasing Corporation
Harris Silver, CityStreets
Welcoming & Green: The Taxi Vehicle
Ayse Birsel, Birsel + Seck
Antenna Design
Russell Robertson, Hybrid Product Design
Ken Smith, Ken Smith Landscape Architect
Jason Abbey, Fox & Fowle Architects
Yerina Mugica, Natural Resources Defense Council
Wired & Branded: Taxi Identities & Services
Fred Dust, IDEO
Rachel Abrams, Imagination (USA), Inc
Michael Bierut, Pentagram
Tucker Viemaster, Springtime
Mark Yoes, Weisz + Yoes
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Panelists
Jason Abbey, FXFowle Architects
Jason
Abbey moved to New York to work for FXFowle,
formerly Fox & Fowle
Architects, in 2000. He is a key member of the
firm’s Team Green, a committee of design
professionals dedicated to research, investigation,
and development of new sustainable systems, materials,
and technologies. Jason volunteers time with
the EBANYS and Canstruction, and regularly attends
National sustainable design conferences. He
is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Rachel Abrams, Imagination (USA) Inc.
Imagination
is a global strategic consultancy, a multi-disciplinary
creative agency, and a high quality production
company. Established in London in 1978, Imagination
has offices in New York City, Detroit and Los
Angeles, as well as hubs in Europe and Asia.
Rachel Abrams is a content strategist and interaction
designer in the New York office of Imagination
(USA) Inc.
Antenna Design
Antenna was founded
in 1997 by Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger.
Antenna’s mission is to make the experience
of objects and environments more meaningful and
exciting. Antenna’s diverse output ranges
from public and commercial projects, such as
New York City subway cars, to exploratory environments,
such as Power Flower, an interactive installation
in Bloomingdale’s windows.
Michael Bierut, Pentagram
Michael
Bierut is a partner in the New York office of
the international design consultancy Pentagram.
He is a Senior Critic at the Yale School of Art,
a board member of the Architectural League and
New Yorkers for Parks, and a member of the Art
Directors Club Hall of Fame.
Ayse Birsel, Birsel + Seck
Ayse
Birsel and Bibi Seck design products, environmental
systems and packaging. Focused on user-centered
design, they practice an intelligent creativity
in close collaboration with industry leaders
including Herman Miller, HP, Target, and Renault,
among others. Garnering numerous awards for innovative
design, their work spans office and home interiors,
bath, retail and automotive sectors.
Jennifer Malia Carpenter, TRUCK Product
Architecture
Ms. Carpenter studied
architecture at Yale College and at the Columbia
School of Architecture. In 2000, Jennifer and
Rogers Marvel Architects founded the furniture
and product design firm TRUCK Product Architecture.
The firm has won Good Design awards from the
Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and
Design and Future Furniture awards from Interior
Design magazine.
Fred Dust, IDEO
Fred Dust leads
IDEO's Smart Space practice from IDEO San Francisco.
An architect by training, Fred leads multidisciplinary
teams to create immersive, interactive spaces
for diverse industries, including healthcare,
education, retail, financial services, and workplace
design.
Michael Levine, Ronart Leasing Corporation
Michael
Levine is the owner of Ronart Leasing Corporation,
which operates one of the largest taxi fleets
in New York City. He also owns Yellow Cab of
Chicago, a fleet of 1,500 vehicles, the largest
in that city. He is currently president of
the Committee for Taxi Safety and is a former
executive board member of the International
Taxicab and Livery Association.
Yerina Mugica, Natural Resources Defense
Council
Natural Resources Defense Council
is a national non-profit environmental organization
that works to provide for the conservation
and wise management of land and natural resources.An
analyst with the NRDC, Yerina develops strategies
for various Air & Energy projects; she
has an MBA with a concentration in Sustainable
Enterprise and Nonprofit Leadership from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Russell Robertson, Hybrid Product Design
and Development Inc.
Hybrid Product
Design and Development is a NY industrial design
consultancy that develops concepts for the
transportation, consumer electronics, housewares,
and the medical diagnostic industries. Hybrid
was co-founded in 2000 by Jeanne Pfordresher
and Russell Robertson, who both graduated from
the Cleveland Institute of Art with BFA degrees
in Industrial Design.
Bruce Schaller, Schaller Consulting
Bruce
Schaller is a leading practitioner in the area
of municipal taxicab regulation. He has consulted
extensively for local and federal government,
university and non-profit organizations, and
for-profit companies. Prior to establishing Schaller
Consulting in 1998, Mr. Schaller served as Director
of Policy Development and Evaluation at the NYC
Taxi and Limousine Commission and as Deputy Director
for Marketing Research and Analysis at NYC Transit.
Harris Silver, CityStreets
Harris
Silver is an urbanist, strategist, and writer
who has worked on communication campaigns at
industry leading advertising agencies including
BBDO and DDB, and is currently the President
of an innovative independent called Think Tank
3. In 1998, Mr. Silver founded CityStreets, known
internationally as a forward thinking non-profit
focused on urban transportation and pedestrian
safety issues.
Ken Smith, Ken Smith Landscape Architect
Ken
Smith is a landscape architect who has worked
on a wide variety of national and international
projects. His interests include landscape design
of varying scale with a particular emphasis on
projects, which explore the symbolic content
and expressive power of landscape as an art form.
Ernest Tollerson, Partnership for New
York City
Ernest Tollerson has served
as senior vice president for research and policy
at the Partnership for New York City since
2001. Prior to that, he spent more than two
decades in the newspaper business as a reporter
and editor for a number of newspapers, including New
York Newsday and the New York Times.
Erhan Tuncel, Taxi Driver
Erhan
Tuncel, an owner/driver with seven years of cab
experience, immigrated to the USA from Istanbul,
Turkey, 28 years ago; he has lived in NYC for
the past 25 years. Prior to driving a cab, he
owned a retail produce business. He says, "I
decided to change my business because I wanted
to be more flexible with my hours. I enjoy driving
and cannot think of a better way to make a living
that allows me to be a dad and a husband at the
same time."
Tucker Viemaster, Springtime
Tucker
Viemaster is the president of Springtime-USA,
a Dutch industrial design group. He helped found
Studio Red with RockwellGroup, Razorfish's
physical design capability, frogdesign's New
York office, and Smart Design, famous for OXO "GoodGrips".
Tucker is named for a car his father helped design.
He is Vice President of the Architectural League
of New York and a Fellow of the IDSA.
Mark Yoes, Weisz+Yoes
Mark Yoes
is a founding principal of Weisz+Yoes, an architectural
firm specializing in design and programming solutions
for challenging sites. He received his Bachelor
of Architecture degree from Rice University and
a Master's Degree in Architecture from Yale University.
Weisz+Yoes recently received an Honor Award in
the Boston Society of Architects Educational Facilities
K-12 Awards Program in 2005, for The Bronx Charter
School for the Arts. |
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