Conceiving the Plan: Nuance and Intimacy in Civic Space

Projects and dialogues in homage to the influential New York architect and educator Diane Lewis

Combining civic architecture projects with contributions by writers, historians and artists ranging from Dan Graham to Fran Lebowitz, Conceiving the Plan constructs a dialogue with the legacy of the late architect and longtime Cooper Union professor Diane Lewis (1951–2017).
Lewis’ pedagogy defined Cooper Union’s architecture departure from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. Here, architectural historians Barry Bergdoll and Daniel Sherer converse about the themes and approach in her pedagogical style and thinking. Architects, former students, colleagues and friends generate projects as a continuous discourse with Lewis’ pedagogy, carrying her legacy into contemporary dialogues.
Conceiving the Plan includes more than 250 images and diagrams of projects pertaining to Lewis’ legacy by Georg Windeck, Preston Scott Cohen, Dorian Wiszniewski, Pippo Ciorra and Peter Lynch.