Text: Adrian Gaut
Photos: Kathy Lo
Sebastian Mendez is an Argentinean born architect working with Foster + Partners in New York. After washing up in New England 7 years ago on the tail end of a surf trip turned extended vacation, he now finds himself working shoulder to shoulder among the best and brightest in his field. After recently completing the design for a high-profile building with the firm for a New York mega-gallery, he sat down with me at a sidewalk cafe surrounded by the new construction on the Bowery to talk about starchitects, photography and New York City.

Well, I’m really happy to sit down with you. Having photographed architecture for so long in a very private way, it’s exciting to talk to someone who is involved in the process so intimately. First off, tell me a little bit about your background.
I was born in Buenos Aires. I studied there at the University of Buenos Aires. I switched to architecture from graphic design halfway through my first introductory year. I was pretty involved with the university, I also taught there. Around 2002, I moved to America. It was supposed to be a surfing trip, which then it turned into an extended vacation of six months and then somehow I just found myself in Massachusetts with a bunch of offices offering me work and I just decided to stay for a while. I was there working for 2 firms and teaching architecture before I moved to New York.
Do you still surf?
Not so much. Last time I went to Montauk, I had intentions of surfing but it was so freaking cold. Here on the east coast a good day is a bad day in California, and I’ve never really been able to adjust.
So which came first, Foster + Partners or New York?
I moved to New York because I was hired by Foster + Partners. I had always known about Foster’s work, I’d read tons of books and studied their work long ago from grad school on. It was actually one of those things where without thinking you end up where you want to be, it was all coincidence. And in a way, the first two firms were a preparation for New York. I didn’t speak English when I arrived to the US, so I was trying to learn at the same time you know, each time moving to a slightly larger film. I am really fortunate to be where I am now.

When you’re working on a high profile project in NYC how much does the city itself become part of the project?
I used to do a lot of master planning, as well as being very involved in urban design. In my mind, when you design a building, it cannot be such without being in a specific place, hence every building is different because of where you are. Consideration of the site is the most important factor in how a project develops. You know, it tells you everything about how to move forward. Of course, there are some notable architects who design regardless of place and they do it well, but I like to think otherwise.

It seems to me that there is much more fluctuation in style to accommodate the irregularities of the site, whereas before architects set their style a little more definitely. A Mies Van Der Rohe building is more or less the same regardless of if it is built in Chicago or New York for example, while some very reputable architects don’t necessarily have a signature style.
Well, the profession itself has changed so much. The age of architect as genius, sitting alone at a drawing board, and coming up with a fully-formed project is a bit outdated, I think. There are few firms that are able to do that, and fewer still are the ones that do it well. Today, the process is much more collaborative, and the team grows. It’s not strictly architecture anymore, it’s now mixed with so many different aspects. There is of course a conflict between trying to stay true to that initial idea, or allowing the idea to develop organically. The often complex process involves clients, program, con¬¬text, materials, budget, region, climate–literally hundreds of variables. By the time you put all those things together, there is no way you can know what it’s going to develop into. It’s a rational process in the end. Especially in a city like New York. Yet, I have to say that even from the time I’ve been working, I’ve seem immense change in that area.

What do you think about the Starchitect syndrome, if I can call it that? Do you think that it hinders real creativity in architecture? Or is the attention it draws to the architectural process beneficial overall?
I think it’s beneficial. Obviously, working for a firm with such a reputation opens doors. People trust you more, but expectations also are far higher. Clients trust you more, and being surrounded by incredibly talented colleagues means you can take your skills to the next level. So in that sense, I think it actually induces creativity. I think firms that are not so well-known have to make a bit more effort to communicate what they want to say. They encounter more resistance in the process. Yet today, everyone has so much exposure, and for famous architects, if they do something less than great they are going to be crucified. One of the biggest differences at a such a well-known firm is the pressure. I definitely didn’t find that before, when I was working with smaller firms. Designing high profile projects in a city like New York, all eyes are on you.
It sounds like you don’t have much time to really consider something before everyone else is considering it with you. The cycle between conception and creation is sped up.
Well, hasn’t the same thing happened in photography?
It depends on the context, definitely. If you’re an art photographer, it’s a very different, slower, process. My work is continually straddling two worlds, so I am able to experience that style of working. However, it’s not uncommon to be on an advertising shoot where there are 7-8 people watching each photograph on a monitor as it is shot, each with their own opinion, and in that sense it’s not that unlike what is happening in the design world.
Well, one of the things that I really like about the process is that the time between shooting and finished result is much shorter. In architecture you can spend years on one project. Even the smallest project can take 2-3 years from conception to finish. It’s a draining process. It requires immense focus and concentration to stay interested in a project for that long. You start at A and end up at Z going through every letter of the alphabet.

Do you have other ways to express yourself creatively?
I draw. I take a lot of photographs. I used to paint when I was younger, however I don’t seem to find the time for that anymore.
Do the drawings or the photographs inform your architectural work?
Absolutely. Sometimes you start with a drawing or a photograph. Or I may see a fabric that makes me think for example about a technology, which could be the creative force of a new project. Textile design, specifically is a big inspiration. Fashion design is constantly changing and moving very fast whereas in Architecture sometimes is harder not to think about tradition, historical influences, context… and thus the evolution could be slower.
I’m trying to approach architecture in a way that is my own. For the most part, architectural photography is still dominated by the relationship with the architect and/or the client, and by shooting it as personal work, I’ve kind of sidestepped that dilemma. A lot of the buildings I photograph I wouldn’t even consider good architecture. Paradoxically, it’s often the least successful buildings that make the best photographs. As a photographer, though, I have to ask: in the design process, to you consider how a building will photograph?
I can’t speak for every architect, but I don’t consider how a building will photograph. I definitely consider the aesthetic effects, however. Architecture, after all, is a mix between something completely rational and something more interpretive and creative. Architecture is proportion, languages, texture, color. So of course you consider aesthetics when you are designing. It’s a very important piece of it, at the moment of creation. Not the way that it’s going to be photographed, necessarily, but it’s a very present element nonetheless.

I feel like there have been some amazing things built, and it’s exciting to witness. In the last 10 years, the caliber of projects in New York has increased astronomically. Architects like Shigeru Ban, Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry and even Neil Denari all have very prominent projects recently completed. That said I personally think most of what gets built in New York is pretty low-quality overall.
I agree, but there is always going to be a conflict. Not everyone holds beauty and proportion above all else. It’s tough though. For example, look at a city like Rome, which is full of well-proportioned and beautiful buildings, yet very difficult to do anything with contemporary architecture.
Maybe they learned too well from their mistakes. Take Les Halles, in Paris, which seemed bold and progressive at the time and most people today see it as a major tragedy of architectural progress.
Or the Pompidou. Half the planet hates that building, and I love it.
I personally don’t believe in beautiful buildings that don’t work and I don’t believe in functional buildings that aren’t beautiful. That’s why I think sometimes it’s hard to find good architecture, because in the end not many people are good at combining everything and coming up with something that satisfies everyone.
New York is having a real progressive moment right now, and I think that’s great because it sets a precedent for cities trying to move away from the automobile, even slightly. Yet, I think there are also a lot of failures, and a lot of reckless development. I have a real problem with the fake-brick, get it up cheap, fast and dirty style of building. On the one hand there is a lot of emphasis on green building, what with LEED certification and everything, but this way of building seems to me to be the exact opposite of what being “green” means in the larger picture.
Well, building in New York (like everywhere else) is a responsibility. You take any ugly building that has been built in the last boom. Think about it. Somebody came up with that idea, someone threw money at the project and now we’re stuck looking at it forever.

But it’s one things to sit on the sidelines and say, hey, that’s a shitty building, but it’s another thing entirely to be involved in making good architecture.
You can’t preach. You just have to do something good. Hopefully people who do good stuff will get more work and people who don’t, well . . . At the end of the day, the only thing any architect can do is just to do something good.

Text: Molly Ringwald
Photos: Kathy Lo
Julian Fleisher is a polymorphous autodidact, by which I mean he does a lot of things, very well. He’s a singer, producer, songwriter, book writer, podcaster and even sometime actor whom I first met when he was producing the first studio recording for my friends Kiki & Herb, aka Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman. We reunited when he invited me to sit in with him and his amazing Rather Big Band at the Winter Garden in Battery Park City in New York, where had been invited to perform for three amazing weeks there — the first act to perform in the Winter Garden after it was rebuilt, post-9/11. We also spent a memorable Thanksgiving at his charming little cabin in the Catskills. We’ve become great friends since then and we got on the phone recently to catch up.

Molly Ringwald: Hey Julian!
Julian Fleisher: Hi Molly! I’m recording this call off my land line speaker phone into my iPhone. So it might crap out.
MR: (laughter) You are so high tech, Julian.
JF: You think so? I find this to be so ghetto.
MR: It’s better than I could do. For such a creative guy, you’re also very tech savvy.
JF: But isn’t that what creativity is? Taking nothing and turning it into something? Don’t you think?
MR: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.
JF: Larry (Julian’s dog with the distinctively deafening bark) is sitting right next to me.
MR: He is? How is Larry?
JF: He’s my best friend!
MR: (Laughter). That makes one of us! So tell me what’s going on with you?
JF: I have some gigs coming up soon to promote my new CD which is just about finished. It’s called, appropriately, “Finally“.
MR: How perfect.
JF: But I’m also working on a new musical with a really exciting team. It’s called “Stop talking” and we hope to be workshopping that this summer, but those things take a long time to complete!
MR: You’re the composer?
JF: Oh, girl. I’m the composer and the lyricist. So you know it’s gonna take a while.
MR: That reminds me, I just saw somewhere that the “Coraline” CD is out.
JF: Oh yes! It came out just yesterday and I saw a copy when I went to see the Magnetic Fields at BAM last night.
MR: Right. Stephin Merrit wrote the songs for “Coraline”.
JF: He’s a genius,
MR: How was their show?
JF: Exquisite.
MR: As ever…

JF: It’s funny for me to watch them because they sit stock still and they make this extraordinary music. And I think about how hard I work when I sing, just working up such a sweat with every song. And they don’t lift a finger! I need to take it easy.
MR: It’s kind of wonderful. I saw them do 69 Love Songs at Lincoln Center and it was incredible.
JF: Well, the Coraline rehearsals were tough, but in the end I am so grateful to have gotten that chance and now to be on a recording singing that insane and insanely beautiful music!
MR: You got amazing reviews.
JF: I wont deny it. But I surely didn’t expect it.
MR: We have a lot of exciting things going on! Tell me about the new album. What kind of songs are on it?
JF: It’s really different from my first one which featured all those “big band” arrangements of songs you wouldn’t expect to hear. This one’s very mellow. There’s no horn section, no shouting. It’s more of an Art-Pop record. And almost all original songs!

MR: Wow. Songs by you?
JF: Yes. Originally by me. Almost all by me and almost all songs of heartbreak.
MR: Mmm. Something you know nothing about.
JF: And there are three covers on it, all songs from my misspent youth that I needed to get out of my system.
MR: Ha! What are they?
JF: Well, there’s Tomorrow from Annie — done as a really fast latin number.
MR: Oh, I love your version of that! It really makes you think twice about that song.
JF: Thank you. And then there’s When We Grow Up from Free to Be You and Me, that I sing as a duet with the fabulous Melissa Haizlip and a Carly Simon song from Anticipation called The Girl You Think You See, which I think is wildly underperformed.

MR: How great. I’m surprised you didn’t record N.Y.C.
JF: Ah! Our song! Well, I thought a lot about it. But I figured one song from Annie was just too fucked up. Don’t you think?
MR: (Laughter) Indeed. You’re probably right.
JF: And now you! You’ve got a book coming out!
MR: Yes, I do! It’s called “Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family and Finding the Perfect Lipstick.” And that’s coming out April 27th — just in time for Mother’s Day!
JF: Wow: So we are both cooking! I’ll expect a signed copy for my mom.
MR: No problem!
JF: Thank you. I need a groovy Mother’s Day gift. Are you enjoying LA?
MR: Well I sure am enjoying the weather. Certainly compared to what I hear about the weather there. What’s it like today?
JF: it’s the first day it’s been over 30 degrees in, like, a year.
MR: Yeah. You know, when I hear about that I don’t feel so sulky about being in Los Angeles.
JF: Copy that. This is first year that Winter really got to me in my bones. I need to go where it’s warm. I need to follow my ancestral programming and just, I don’t know…go to Boca.
MR: (Laughter)
JF: Summers in the Catskills. Winters in Boca.
MR: Ah! The Catskills! That’s the place to be during the summers, isn’t it.
JF: Oh, it is so magnificent there.
MR: I miss it! I haven’t been since we had Thanksgiving up there. Have I?
JF: Nope. That was it. And I have to say, Bovina has really turned into the “it” town upstate. The photographer Kathy Lo took some genius pictures up there that are part in this article and I think you will find them… well, lets just say I think you will enjoy them.
MR: Oh, I’m sure. What a lovely place you found up there.
JF: I am super lucky. And now it seems that all the kids are going there.
MR: I know, I know.
JF: Our friend Kenny (Mellman of Our Hit Parade and Kiki & Herb) visited and wrote a piece for some popular food blog about Bee’s amazing breakfast sandwiches at Russels General Store there and suddenly people were coming from hundreds of miles away for bacon, egg and cheese on a roll.
MR: Wow.
JF: Yeah. It’s attracted — almost by accident — an amazing group of creative people. Mostly because it’s affordable and beautiful. It’s like the East Village of the upstate, but with no “scene” at all. Well, you remember. Its heaven. It’s where I plan to die. Next week.
MR: Oh now. Let’s not talk about that! This is hardly the time to die! You have so many exciting things going on right now!
JF: You are correct. 2009 was a long hard slog and now 2010 is starting to deliver, so you’re right.
MR: Well, I can’t wait to hear your music. Are you going to send me an advance copy?
JF: Absolutely. Autographed.
MR: Are you coming out here?
JF: I have some plans in the works to promote the CD. But if I come out there to sing, you know you’re singing with me.
MR: (Laughter) But of course! How could I not?
JF: Because I don’t know if the world knows enough yet what a great singer you are.
MR: Aw.

JF: Are you gigging in LA?
MR: I am! And I’ve got plans to start recording my new album when the book tour is over.
JF: You are? Who’s producing it?!
MR: Peter.
JF: Well, I’m jealous.
MR: (Laughing) You can’t be jealous! You have all this other stuff going on! You can’t be jealous!
JF: Well. Ok. But I am. Where are you gigging?
MR: There are a couple of places around LA. But did you hear that the Jazz Bakery closed?
JF: No. What a bummer!

MR: Yeah. It was THE place where real musicians played and now it’s closed.
JF: That’s because nobody leaves their house anymore.
MR: I know. It’s true.
JF: We should have been around 40 or 50 years ago when nightclubs were where people went.
MR: Yeah. And we could take cable cars to get there!
JF: Horse and buggy!
MR: Yeah!

JF: In the future, we’re going to be performing from our living rooms for other people who are watching us on flat screen TVs in their living rooms.
MR: It’s hard to go out! LA is so big and if you want a couple drinks, you know… the last thing I want is my mugshot paltered all over the internet. You end up having to take a designated driver everywhere. It’s not like that in New York.
JF: Yeah. You’re all floating around in your own little bubbles out there.
MR: Our own little hybrid bubbles.
JF: Ah. Yes. Well, don’t step too hard on the gas pedal…
MR: I know, right? Recall!
JF: Yikes. You be careful!
MR: I will. I will.
JF: Okay. Well, I will see you soon! Either here or there.

Designed by David Covell

Julian Fleisher’s Guilty Pleasures
The 92nd St Y Podcast
The Drag Quees of New York
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Text: Chris Shonting
Photos: Kathy Lo
Where I’m from, a landscaper is a guy who drives around in a truck all day drinking beer and cutting lawns, sometimes even weedwacking the occasional rose bush by accident from time. Trust me, I used to be one of those guys back home. The type of landcaping that Brook Klausing does, is NOT the type I’m accustomed to. Brook’s landscaping is, as my white rapper friend would say, “on some famous shit.” It is bursting with creativity, inginuity, and personality, as well as an abilty to adapt to New York’s always slightly off-kilter spacial enviromentsm. Here’s a little Q & A with Brook about being New York’s high-end green thumb.

Hey Brook, my most pressing question is this: Who in their right mind moves from Kentucky (THE BLUE GRASS STATE) to New York City to do landscaping? Why not bring a weed wacker up to Everest and look for work?
I bet you if I did take a weed wacker up Everest it would be the first climb sponsored by Stihl. I think life sold me on the idea of the move. I started a landscape management company with my brother when we were kids and at 24 it all seemed scripted to me. One day you wake up and think, “Man am I going to do this shit my whole life?” I like the idea of being a small fish in a big pond rather than a big fish in a small pond. I lined up a job with a celebrated rooftop gardener in the city and made the move. New York seemed to me like the Wild West of landscaping when I moved here seven years ago. The work was plant-centric but style was the motivating factor. I love the whole picture and how spaces feel. Landscaping in NYC allows me the opportunity to create spaces that suburbanites might not value as much. When you see one of our gardens out the back window of a town house or on a roof, it becomes another space to inhabit rather than a just another yard.

Were you doing this stuff before you came to NYC?
I was only doing installation and landscape management down south. Container gardening was new to me along with NYC politics. I used to sell jobs to corporate property managers and Mrs. Jones’. I gladly left behind the whole production of kiss ass customer service. My job is to deliver a great product and make the process comfortable and sit well with clients. Business in New York just seems more about being real and loving what you do; manners and keeping clients happy is the standard. I still have my Southern drawl but it’s a lot faster and to the point.

What things do you draw on to figure out how to approach each project?
Each space and every client is different.. We aim to create gardens that compliment the client’s personalities and preexisting conditions. Some beautiful aspects should be highlighted, and there are some things that need covering up. Both engineering and building codes play big parts in the process, but all things can be overcome with creativity, as well as the desire to push and a solid budget. Classic European garden design in modern mode is at core of every project. It’s kinda like religion. You’re raised Catholic, you believe in those principles but your allegiance is not to the Church, it is to be a good person. The client’s aesthetic will tell us where and what gardening style we can take ideas from. From there we mix, match, and edit. Spatial intelligence rules most of the games we play.

What is your favorite type of foliage and why?
I love evergreens because they offer sculptural qualities and weight when you least expect it, and a year round garden is important to me. Summer is the peak season, but when you look out your window at that extra piece of real-estate you want to have a comforting effect when needed the most. It’s not for all my clients but I’m into Dr. Seuss looking plants, and black foliage has become a favorite. When paired up it makes any other foliage look rich and pop.

What is the benefit of talking to the plants? Does that actaully do anything? Do you suggest playing Beethoven to your gardens?
Do you believe in God? If so go ahead and talk to your plants too. From a horticultural standpoint, it ain’t worth a damn. From a love standpoint, sometimes the universe listens. All things are connected and if you’re talking to your plants, chances are you care more than the average Joe. If they still get sick, try Beethoven and let me know if it works.

Do you guys find yourselves doing a lot of work outside of just with plants to make the whole things sit together nicely?
Plants are just a percentage of what we do. Our average job consists of 80% construction and 20% plants. This is the best part about gardening in the city, architecture matters and how the plants relate to that is behind every success story. When space is limited, everything matters. Our stone walls offer overflow seating, our bench planter boxes have storage built in, lighting allows you to use the garden anytime, and looks hella sexy. We installed walk-on glass over a lot of existing skylights so the client could maximize the use of his 20′ x 20′ Soho roof top. Now instead of 4 stories, he has 5. A lot of my friends do high-end interiors. We offer that same thing outside in a space that is often under-utilized.
Do you bring in other folks to handle the carpentry that seems to be incoporated into most of the stuff?
I’ve been very lucky to have such a talented group of craft people to work with. Our staff manages all aspects of a project but can’t always do everything in house. We’re often juggling multiple jobs, depending on the schedule we may subcontract out components of a project. When I’m interviewing potential employees or subcontractors, I look for people that love what they do. Every medium has different quirks and variables. The more specialists I work with, the more value it adds to every project. I’ve collaborated with an architect friend of mine for years now on certain projects that deserve a second opinion. When you love what you do, focus on that. Don’t act like you know it all because you don’t. My favorite woodworker is more than happy to tell me if I’m making a design mistake, and she is always ready with a better move. You listen then you read what feels right after you fully understand. We are equal parts passion, craft, and style.

What  is the oddest or most challenging request a client has come to you with for their home garden, patio etc?
We built a custom armoire for a client and had to have it craned through a second story window. It was not a request but to pull off all the engineering aspects of what the closet offered, it couldn’t make it up the stairwell to the bedroom. This piece was a challenge and we obsessed over it. I generally start out loving something, get in the thick of it, hate it, and love it again when its done. Getting a twenty-foot, 500 pound steel I beam through a townhouse and to the second floor was also a challenge. All request within reason, from there we decide if we want to partake or if it is just best to walk away.

Have you ever just been stumped on how the hell to make something work?
I have a history of construction work and I know renovating is always a can of worms as opposed to starting with a clean slate. In NYC it seems rare to have a clean slate with most of the buildings and properties here. One of the toughest spaces I did was pimping out an existing 9 x 7 deck. They wanted a gas grill, storage for the kids toys, a place to sit four and for it to feel like a private garden. I love that shit! Once you pay some attention to the problem an answer generally presents itself. There are not rights or wrongs, it’s more a series of choices that please the audience you’re talking too. I have a catalog of tricks for every challenge we have faced to date, and every job we do there’s a new and different problem, it’s rare that you get to start from scratch, and a lot of good solutions come from those challenges.

You ever find yourself just sitting around with a couple of beers and watch Little Shop of Horrors?
You’ll definitely find me chillin sipping on a brewski. Little Shop of Horrors was rad when I saw it in the fifth grade … “Feed me Seymour.”

Do you have any new or interesting projects coming up? For isntance I know there’s an outdoor glider thing. But I don’t quite get what the hell that is.
We are juggling a few projects. I’m most excited about an outdoor glider I’m collaborating on with a friend of mine. It’s inspired by the classic old metal love seat gliders but with a taste of modernism. They will be made with random reclaimed batches of wood like Coney Island’s boardwalk and redwood from a deconstructed water tower. All I’ve done is “one-off” custom pieces over the past few years, so it’s sweet to be doing something for ourselves. I’m a sentimental sap, and this piece is designed with the nostalgia for sitting on the patio as a kid just rocking the day away down south. We will be offering them on the website this spring in a single or a love seat version. Keep and eye out on the web for all the cool stuff happening.