Architecture Omi:
Exploring the intersection of art and architecture.

This program will probe the line between architecture and art. Wherever the line may be, clearly these two forms are becoming more and more allied. Both architects and/or artists will be invited to construct pavilions on Omi's grounds that explore this relationship.

Francis J. Greenburger

Peter Barton
Architecture Omi Program Director


Board of Directors:

First Chair: Peter Barton, Francis J. Greenburger, Elisabeth Akkerman, Isabelle Autones, Jacob Buksbaum, Tarik Currimbhoy, Bruce L. Ehrmann, Peter Franck, Abby Hamlin, Paola Iacucci, Marc Kemeny, Carter Ratcliff, Hedy Roma, Lee Skolnick, Kathleen Triem


Advisory Council:

Meta Brunzema, Gabrielle von Bernstorff, Lisa Chamberlain, John Cleater, John Cross, Linda Cross, Phylis Derfner, Philip Douglas Heilman, Philip Nobel, Liane Nouri, John Powers.

Our Mission

To provide a setting for the convergence of art and architecture; to encourage awareness of the relations between architecture and the environment; to harmonize environmental needs with aesthetic possibility.

About The Program

Architecture Omi will explore architectural forms and structures for their sculptural aspects and esthetic sensibilities through an ongoing exhibition program located on the Omi International Arts Center campus in Columbia County, New York. With more than 480 acres of open land available, Architecture Omi has unlimited potential for creative endeavors and the exercise of free imagination in a landscape where woods, meadows and cornfields are plentiful and are liberally crisscrossed by brooks, wetlands and ponds.

Our aim is to place architectural sculptures in harmonic relationship to the existing grounds and trails of the Omi campus, which also includes The Fields Sculpture Park which is open to the public year-round. The Board will assess future site development and the viability of a residency program to investigate and elucidate this emerging art field which is quickly finding resonance around the world.

The program is a response to contemporary creators and arts organizations seeking opportunity and rural locations in order to accommodate this new art activity on the basis of shared revenues and resources. Our goal is to match creative projects with innovative funding sources and initiatives. The Architecture Omi Program is seeking proposals that are primarily self-funding submitted under the auspices of accredited sponsors. While we review all presented material we are not funding proposals, models or presentations at this time.

In addition to the property itself, The Fields has a new Visitors Center and Gallery with event capabilities, café service and a 30' x 50' exhibition space which will augment the outdoor projects. In addition to a regular exhibition schedule planned by invited curators and the Director of The Fields Sculpture Park, Architecture Omi will offer a seasonal group show in order to highlight new international movements and display drawings, plans and images associated with our land sites, as well as give voice to exceptional contemporary creators in this emerging genre.

Please return to this Web Page periodically for updates and feature project announcements.

Architecture Omi: Director: Peter Barton


ACCLAIMED ARCHITECT LEE H. SKOLNICK APPOINTED NEW CHAIRMAN OF ARCHITECTURE OMI'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lee H. Skolnick, photo Ralph Gibson

Architecture Omi, an ambitious new creative project in Columbia County, New York, has named Lee H. Skolnick, FAIA, Principal of Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, as its first chairman of the board. Architecture Omi is part of Art Omi, an internationally renowned not-for-profit art program that includes The Fields Sculpture Park and artist residency programs on its rural campus, where a collaborative environment flourishes among visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mr. Skolnick as the new chairman of Architecture Omi," said Art Omi Founder and Chairman Francis Greenburger. "The lines between architecture and art are disappearing and we are excited to explore the convergence of these two worlds through interactive artist workshops which have been so successful for Art Omi."

Architecture Omi will seek to explore the myriad intersections of architecture, art, and nature. Art Omi has over 480 acres of open land available on the Omi Campus for both architects and artists to create structures that engage in a dynamic dialogue the rural environment's woods, meadows, cornfields, brooks, wetlands and ponds.

"I'm extremely excited to be involved with Architecture Omi and look forward to my new role in helping to guide the fusion of architecture and art that this endeavor will inspire," said Skolnick.

An acclaimed architect, Skolnick has served on advisory and grant evaluation panels for the National Endowment for the Arts Design Education and as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts for grants for Architecture, Planning and Design. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Skolnick's work has been widely publicized. He has also served as a juror on many design competitions and awards panels, and has lectured and taught internationally. Most recently, the Cooper Union honored Skolnick with its prestigious President's Citation and AIA Long Island granted him their Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award. Mr Skolnick is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, England.

Through his work, Skolnick explores the ability of architecture and design to create meaningful experiences that connect people with their culture and their community. His highly developed philosophical approach to interpretive design is evident in his cultural projects that serve not only as rich storehouses, but also as tools for learning, and as reflections of their importance in society. Skolnick's approach to architecture is congruous with Architecture Omi's purpose - to express meaning through architecture and to create environments and structures that exist in a positive relationship with their surroundings and elucidate fundamental truths.

Photographs of site proposals:

FT Architecture, Charles Frazier, Jon Isherwood, Tarik Currimbhoy, John Cleater, Michael Tong, Pino Barillo with Fausto Ferrara, Caspar Henselmann