10 am

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Reimagining Penn Station, Grand Central, JFK, LaGuardia and the City’s Streets

Roger Duffy, Senior Consulting Design Partner, SOM
Temoor Ahmad, Associate Principal, Grimshaw
Anne Fletcher, Principal, HOK
Story Bellows, Partner CityFi
Moderated by Greg Lindsay, Senior Fellow, New Cities Foundation

Around the world, mega-airports like Dubai's World Central are setting the new bar, while in New York, even modest enhancements to our airports have long proven elusive. That all is poised to change with the transformations afoot at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports. Exactly what will these revamps bring? Will New York get our "Aerotropolis?"

New York’s train stations and subways are likewise undergoing much-needed large-scale overhauls. At Grand Central Station, renovations will make room for 2,200 more riders every hour; Penn-Moynihan station expansion will bring will transform the James A. Farley post office into an enormous 250,000-square-foot train hall with 50% more room for commuters.

But even with these major improvements to how New York City will be moving its denizens around over the next decades, be it above ground or below, without pedestrian-focused streets and new design standards to lessen congestion, our City cannot reach its highest levels of inclusivity, creativity and safety. New York is making historic changes here too, giving the streets back to New Yorkers in empowering ways.

Don’t miss a rare opportunity to hear from these architectural masterminds and urban visionaries.

11 am

Making Places: Favorite Neighborhoods, Hot Spots and New Destinations

Stuart Wood, Group Leader, Heatherwick Studio
James Ramsey, Co-Founder, Lowline
Jonathan Butler, Founder, Smorgasburg
Steve Cornwell, CMO, Howard Hughes Corporation
Moderated by Cassim Shepard, Author, Citymakers: The Culture and Craft of Practical Urbanism and Founding Editor-In-Chief, Urban Omnibus

Place-making is part science, part art. From the Vessel, a new kind of public landmark at Hudson Yards that, with 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings, is meant to be climbed and explored; to the Lowline, an underground urban park of 50,000 square feet beneath Delancey Street, and many points of interest in between, an illustrious panel of architects, developers and visionaries talk about creating new neighborhoods and offer their predictions for the next “it” destinations.

Attendees will be among the first to hear from The Howard Hughes Corporation, which since 2010 has been revitalizing Seaport District NYC and whose Pier 17 is on track for a 2018 opening with restaurants by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and the Momofuku Group, as well as a 1.5-acre rooftop that will have a restaurant, outdoor bars and a one-of-a-kind performance venue with unparalleled views of the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and the city skyline.

2 pm

Gilded Age of New York Real Estate: Exploring New Iterations of the Classics

Ken Horn, Founder and President, Alchemy Properties
John Cetra, Founding Principal, CetraRuddy
Adam Koogler, Design Director, Enterprise at WeWork
Howard Zimmerman, Principal, Howard L. Zimmerman Architects PC
Moderated by Donald Albrecht, Co-Curator, Museum of the City of New York

All over the city, from neighborhoods such as the Financial District to West Harlem, developers are converting iconic municipal and office monoliths into luxury housing and innovative commercial concepts.

But how can these building both speak to the future while still honoring and preserving their historic legacies? We look into how some of New York’s legendary addresses — such as the Woolworth Building, 40 Broad Street, 108 Leonard and 30 Morningside Heights — are being rejuvenated and readapted. Hear from the developers and architects who are re-envisioning provocative new uses for old structures, and breathing new life into the city’s architectural icons.

3 pm

Ethics of Architecture: The Social and Political Implications of the Built Environment

Alan Ricks, Co-founder and COO, MASS Design Group
Don Weinreich, Managing Partner, Ennead Architects
Jane Greenwood, Principal, Kostow Greenwood Architects
Moderated by Susan Szenasy, Director of Design Innovation, Metropolis Magazine

Can there be an architectural product infused with ethics? Do architects, by nature, have a responsibility to help right the inequalities of the world?

This group of architects answer “Yes,” as they examine their imperative roles in the conception of public spaces and memorials, as well as equality and diverse representation in the workplace. Their firms are behind some of the most ambitious projects in the nation such as the Cholera Treatment Center in Port au Prince, Haiti, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR)’s “Rethinking Refugee Communities” program providing humanitarian assistance to the 35.8 million refugees around the world.

10 am

All Around the Town: Get the Inside Scoop from Top Brokers on Some of the City’s Most-Coveted Neighborhoods

Raphael De Niro, Douglas Elliman
Julia Spillman, Chief Executive of Sales & Operations Of Eklund|Gomes
Lorenzo Avati, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Stephen Kliegerman, President, Terra Development Marketing
Moderated by Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc.

Join broker-experts and New Development gurus as they share their insights on hot neighborhoods such as Tribeca, the West Village and the Lower East Side. Learn where you can get unexpected value right now, what the next hot neighborhoods are to invest in, and which ones are making a comeback. Leave with an insider’s take on the newest “ground ups,” conversions, retail and restaurant concepts that are going to shake up the grid.

11 am

What’s Happening in 92Y’s Backyard

Beth Fisher, Senior Managing Director, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group
Matthew Bauer, President, Madison Avenue Business Improvement District
Gina Malin, Executive Director, Parents League of New York
Joanna Cawley, Executive Director, Carnegie Hill Neighbors
Moderated by Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc.

With a slew of fresh retail concepts like Peloton opening over on Madison, multiple noteworthy condominiums coming on line over the next 18 months, and primary or ongoing schools opening and expanding, there is no better time to be talking about the Upper East Side. Join our panel of experts and brokers as we take a tour around the neighborhood.

12 pm

Not Your Parents’ Brooklyn

Jay Solomon, Creative Director, Sugar Hill Capital Partners
Alexander Maroni, Douglas Elliman
Tatiana Nikichina, Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices
David Ehrenberg, President & CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
Moderated by Amy Plitt, Editor, Curbed NY

Join industry experts debate how New Yorker’s will be working, living and playing in the City’s most populated borough. Find out which neighborhoods are on the cusp of transforming into sought-after hubs for culture, food, commerce and real estate.

2 pm

The Mysteries of New York Real Estate Revealed

Ellie Johnson, President, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Esther Muller, President and CEO, Academy for Coaching and Training
Carole Bloom, President and Founder, Bloomstone Group
Stephen Lascher, Sales Manager, President's Club, Wells Fargo Private Mortgage Banking
Moderated by Konrad Putzier, Reporter, The Real Deal

This discussion will revolve around demystifying some of Manhattan real estate’s best-kept secrets, from board packages, closings and leases to what your rent increases really mean (and how you can challenge them); you’ll hear about creative ways to finance your new home that you didn’t know existed, get a sneak peek behind the curtain of co-op boards, learn what the other side’s lawyer probably isn’t telling you, and more.

3 pm

Managing Your Home, Keeping Your Sanity

Sabrina Fierman, Vice President, New York’s Little Elves
Gary Mindlin, Co-Founder, Top Hat Home Services
Forrest Barnett, Vice President, Hire Society
Moderated by Steven Mandel, Publisher, ASPIRE HOME AND DESIGN

Now that you have the beautiful home of your dreams, don’t you want to keep it beautiful and running smoothly? Maintaining and managing a distinctive residence properly can seem nothing short of daunting. But these three professionals will leave you with invaluable tips on everything from how to polish silver “the right way” to what considerations need to go into hiring staff for a dinner party. Best of all: You don’t need to remove your shoes while learning about this lost art form.

10 am

Creative Ways to Finance

Senior advisors from the leading financial firms lend their experience on how higher interest rates will impact housing demand, financing solutions for your next home purchase or renovation, and alternative sources of financing for real estate that you didn’t know were possible.

11 am

Protecting Your Investment, How to Care for Your Art

Sara C. Smith, Director of Collections at The Leiden Collection
Christopher Wise, Vice President, DeWitt Stern
Christine Minas, Founder, Christine Minas Fine Art
Moderated by Hannah Martin, Senior Design Writer, Architectural Digest

For many of us, collecting art is as much an emotional investment as it is a financial one. Whether you collect contemporary or Old Masters, protecting your art must be one of the most important concerns. Learn from a panel of experts who specialize in maintaining some of the most valuable and storied works about how to take care of your art.

1 pm

Meet the Jetsons

Taher Baderkhan, Chief Technology Officer, You Visit
Bill Strang, President, Operations, TOTO USA
Tamica Fields, Senior Product Specialist, Sony Life Space UX
Moderated by Laurie Jennings, Deputy Editor, Good Housekeeping Magazine and Director Good Housekeeping Institute

Remember how far-out the cartoon family’s home once seemed? Well, the future has arrived. Meet the smartest toilets in the world, virtual reality that transforms your home into anything you can imagine and electronics that think before you do. Bring your GI*as we look at AI for the home and hear about new technology that will revolutionize our daily lives. (*genuine intelligence)

2 pm

Innovative Problem Solvers

Jianshi Wu and Yitan Sun, Architectural Designers, Central Park Sidescraper
Mary Mattingly, Founder, the Swale
Masayuki Sono and Ostap Rudakevych, Founding Partners, Clouds Architecture Office
Moderated by William Menking, Editor in Chief, The Architect’s Newspaper

From design proposals to transform Central Park into a sunken landscape that allows for “sidescrapers,” to a food garden atop a Hudson River barge and a vending-machine skyscraper that dispenses 3D-printed homes, this panel will make you rethink … everything! Hear from these cutting-edge architects and innovators who are posing critical questions, questioning the status quo, and finding brilliant solutions for the urban conundrum.

10 am

Your Home Is Your Temple: Applying Healing and Wellness Modalities To Design

Rashia Bell, Interior Designer and Crystal Healer, the Cristalline
Ellie Burrows, CEO, MNDFL Meditation
Deborah Hanekamp, Founder, Mama Medicine
Laura Cerrano, Co-Founder and CEO, Feng Shui Manhattan
Moderated by Cristina Cuomo, Editor in Chief, The Purist

Mindfulness, energetic healing and crystal therapy are no longer just practices; now they can become part of our everyday home environments. You won’t want to miss out on hearing from Rashia Bell, designer behind the famed wellness studio “The Class by Taryn Toomey” (think healing clear quartz light fixtures, color wheel gems to manifest positive thinking, and cleansing floors of tourmaline and hematite) or Shaman and reiki master Deborah Hanekamp, who – along with their incredible co-panelists, MNDFL’s Ellie Burrows and Feng Shui expert Laura Cerrano – will show you how to bring home the healing and transcendental arts.

11 am

Working with an Artisan

Benoist Drût, Gallery Principal, Maison Gerard
Melanie Courbet, Founder, Les Ateliers Courbet
Glenn Gissler, President, Glenn Gissler Design, Inc.
Moderated by Michael Boodro, Editorial Director, Dering Hall

Nothing adds to your home’s personality like bespoke or custom-made design. Imagine a commissioned custom staircase, chandelier or even piece of kitchen hardware. We speak with the City’s leading designers and gallery owners, who detail this intricate process and offer insider tips on how to work with an artisan.

12 pm

Women in Design

Malene Barnett, Founder, Malene B Atelier
Lora Appleton, CD/Founder kinder MODERN and Founder, Female Design Council
Elena Frampton, Frampton & Co.
Moderated by Mieke ten Have, Design and Interiors Editor

Join some of the industry’s top female entrepreneurs as they share their remarkable journeys in developing their design practice; hear about their award winning interiors, what inspires their fine art and design process and how they shape some of the city’s top textiles and design products.

1 pm

The Best in Kitchen and Bath Design

Christopher Peacock, Founder, Christopher Peacock Cabinetry
Julia Buckingham, Founder, Buckingham Interiors
Steve Fanuka, Founder, Fanuka, INC
Gregory Rohl, VP Marketing, Rohl Luxury Faucets and Fixtures
Moderated by Carisha Swanson, Senior Market Editor, Hearst Design Group

Whether you dream in Carrara, copper or granite, you’ll leave this talk about kitchens and baths swooning. Hear about the latest in luxury cabinetry and construction from DIY Network’s Million Dollar Contractor, Stephen Fanuka, who works in the high-end world of opulent spaces and Christopher Peacock, designer of some of the most luxurious kitchens in the world for his eponymous firm. Renowned interior designer Julia Buckingham imparts her expert knowledge in creating award-winning kitchens and baths, while Gregory Rohl, who leads his family company, Rohl, talks premium fixtures and faucets found in the chicest homes.

2 pm

What Is American Style? Tastemakers Debate Design

Thomas A. Kligerman, Ike Kligerman Barkley
Robert Stilin, Robert Stilin
Caleb Anderson, Drake/Anderson
Joan Craig, Partner, Lichten Craig Architecture and Interiors
Moderated by Kendra Frisbie, CEO DECASO

What is American design? Is it rustic barn house chic? Palm Springs modern? Jet set New York glamour or Midwestern colloquial charm? Since our nation’s style is as regionally diverse as its food and its accents, we call upon top design minds from around the country to learn how they define local style.

3 pm

The Power of Pattern and Prints

Jason Nixon, Co-Founder, Madcap Cottage
Dana Gibson, Founder, Dana Gibson
John Robshaw, Founder, John Robshaw
Moderated by Tori Mellott, Senior Editor, Traditional Home Magazine

Pleasing patterns, tantalizing textures and sumptuous colors create vibrant and enjoyable interiors with impact. This panel of textile designers lends expertise for combining patterns to create a room of your own.