President’s Circle

A Message from 2025 AIA New York President Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the saying, “I’ll meet you IRL.” Literally, it means to see one another physically. For New Yorkers, this often entails logging off to confront the urbanity of our public life in the street, the park, or the subway—in other words, public space. This post-election moment has amplified individual feelings of uncertainty and division. There is palpable tension in the air and it’s tempting to retreat into the digital realm or into our own echo chambers. In the face of these challenges, the urgency to reconnect in meaningful, real-world ways has never been more critical. The experience of being together ‘in real life,’ in the physical spaces we designers create, is powerful, particularly right now. 

My presidential theme will focus on designing for public life: our shared social, cultural, and civic experience IRL. Every day in New York City, our serendipitous encounters with communities from all walks of life feed our creativity and energize our work as designers. By virtue of passing through the city, we absorb and transmit ideas, building our social understanding and resiliency. As architects and design professionals, we are uniquely positioned and privileged to both shape and experience our urban environment, living in the places we have transformed and sharing in them with others.   

Public space is crucial to New York’s health and vitality. Our waterfronts have been rebuilt as bulwarks against superstorms; our streets, parks, and plazas are the City’s lungs. Our lives online have radically expanded connection, access, and political participation, but this virtual sphere has also given rise to collective feelings of isolation. Our public spaces serve as both common and contested ground, where the City’s most urgent problems come into focus. The proliferation of homelessness speaks to a deepening affordability crisis, while protests against racial and economic injustices routinely find freedom of expression in the public realm.    

In our role as citizens, we can advocate for greater equity, health, and justice within the common spaces of our communities. In our professional capacity as designers, we should both listen carefully and articulate strong artistic visions that serve the greater interest. Cross-disciplinary collaborations will help us identify blind spots and think holistically about interconnected issues of our shared environment. We must conjure vibrant in-between spaces that embody the principles of inclusivity and connection—distinctly urban settings that promote joy, active lifestyles, and peaceful assembly.  

As we approach the upcoming mayoral election and look toward navigating the next four years, AIA New York remains steadfast in its commitment to advocate for just, sustainable communities. We will continue to push for policies that prioritize the health, safety, and well-being of all New Yorkers, namely climate-resilient infrastructure, equity and inclusivity, and the protection and enhancement of our vital public spaces.  

In this pivotal moment, we have the ability to reimagine New York’s public spaces—the theaters of our public life—to be places of belonging that are lively, distinctive, engaging, and welcoming to all. In 2025, my presidential theme will be “See You IRL: Designing for Public Life.” Throughout the year, in collaboration with AIANY’s committees, we will organize programs that critically examine the process of designing for our contemporary public life. In the fall, we will host an exhibition at the Center for Architecture showcasing projects around the City that exemplify new design approaches to large scale civic and social spaces as well as speculative ideas that interrogate the very nature of our public sphere. Together, we will re-envision a city that responds to the converging crises of access, affordability, and resiliency.  

Please join me in celebrating our public life as citizens of New York City, and in shining a light on the ways in which design professionals are creatively rethinking our shared spaces.  

It is my pleasure to invite you to explore and contribute to “See You IRL: Designing for Public Life” by joining the 2025 AIANY President’s Circle. This patronage offers a range of benefits, including opportunities for recognition, the chance to forge meaningful connections, and the ability to directly influence initiatives that shape public spaces and experiences. For details, please contact the Development Office at 212-358-6117 or email development@aiany.org.