Myrtle Avenue Restaurants & Cafes Celebrate Pratt's 125th Anniversary w/Lunch Specials on Sat., 10/1!

Pratt Institute is turning 125, and they have LOTS of activities planned to celebrate the very first day of classes that took place on October 17, 1887! This weekend, October 1st and 2nd, kickoff weekend!

Pratt has placed twelve (12) anniversary banners on Myrtle Avenue, waving and flying high in commemoration and celebration!

A number of Myrtle Avenue restaurants and cafe's are offering all kinds of very enticing lunch specials on this Saturday, 10/1. Get those Pratt IDs ready! This Saturday, it's your passport to savings on all types of delectable fare up and down the Avenue.

MYRTLE AVENUE (WASHINGTON PARK/CARLTON)

Noor Restaurant, 336 Myrtle

15% off anything on the menu, including smoothies

Sans Souci Restauant & Bar, sanssouciny.com, 330 Myrtle

Happy hour drink specials + 10% off anything on the menu

MYRTLE AVENUE (ADELPHI/CLERMONT)

Duncan’s Fish & Seafood, 385 Myrtle

10% off all lunch plates

MYRTLE AVENUE (VANDERBILT/CLINTON)

Falafel House, 407 Myrtle

All sandwiches and wraps $5-$6; 10% off large meat or spinach pizza pies; 2 slices + can of soda, $5

MYRTLE AVENUE (CLINTON/WAVERLY)

Karrot Health Store, 431 Myrtle

10% off everything, including smoothies (blueberry jubilee, Omega 3 [protein], Obama [peanut butter and banana]

MYRTLE AVENUE (WAVERLY/WASHINGTON)

Anima Italian Bistro, 458 Myrtle, animabistro.com

20% off food and beverages for the day

Five Spot Soul Food & Supper Club, 459 Myrtle, fivespotsoulfood.com

Platters w/2 side orders + cornbread, $7.95 (includes choice of fried chicken, meatloaf, whiting, beef brisket, jerk chicken and chopped BBQ); $2 off beer and wine

Maggie Brown, 455 Myrtle, maggiebrownrestaurant.com

Happy Hour Special: buy one, get one on all well drinks, house wine and draught beers. Available from 5p-7:30p only: burger + beer special, $12; beer + wings special, $10 and $2 off burgers (outside of coupon)

Thai 101, 455A Myrtle

10% off any entree

Thai 101 Bistro, 448 Myrtle

10% off any entree

El Cofre, 454 Myrtle

lunch specials only $5-$6

MYRTLE AVENUE (WASHINGTON/HALL)

Kum Kau Chinese Cuisine, 463 Myrtle

10% off all day (both takeout and sit in)

Zaytoons, 472 Myrtle, zaytoonsrestaurant.com

10% off any entree

Liberty Pizza, 482 Myrtle

2 cheese pizza slices + medium fountain drink, $5

MYRTLE AVENUE (HALL/RYERSON)

Los Pollitos, 499 Myrtle between Hall and Ryerson

10% off all food items

Waza Sushi and Ramen, 485 Myrtle

10% off food and drink items all day

MYRTLE AVENUE (RYERSON/GRAND)

Fork Café, 507 Myrtle, forkcafe.com

15% off all lunch/dinner items for full day; 20% off for party of 5 or more for full day

MYRTLE AVENUE (EMERSON/CLASSON)

Jive Turkey, 570 Myrtle, thejiveturkey.com

50% off all sandwiches on the menu between 12p-5p w/the purchase of a seasonal lemonade

Wally’s Square Root Café, 584 Myrtle, squarerootcafe.com

15% off food and beverages for the day

Wicked Good Franks, 579 Myrtle, wickedgoodfranks.com

15% off of classic burger (frank, fries + soda regularly 5.50), classic burger (cheeseburger, fries + soda regularly $6.50 and kids meal (mini frank or grilled cheese, fries + soda regularly 4.50)

Kadir Nelson, Pratt alumnus and acclaimed illustrator of nearly 30 children's books, will speak at Pratt Institute's Higgins Hall (61 St. James Place) tonight at 7pm.

Nelson will be on hand to discuss his latest book, "Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans" (HarperCollins, 2011).

Nelson is the illustrator of Caldecott and Coretta Scott Award-winning book, 'Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom' as well as many other titles, has been commissioned to illustrate Anna Julia Cooper and Richard Wright stamps for the United States Postal Service and has recently been commissioned by the U.S. Congress to paint a portrait of Shirley Chisholm.

Nelson's work graces the cover of Michael Jackson's posthumous album, 'Michael'.

image taken from Pratt's Facebook page

It's a fashion month of sorts at Pratt.

The Fashion Design Department in collaboration with the Graduate Communications Department is creating a wall mural as part of preparations for the Annual Pratt Fashion Show.

Pratt Fashion students came up with the word 'Inspiration' as the theme of this year's show.

Photo above is of artist, Anthony Acock [Grad CommD student]). He will create the mural and use the footage as part of a video installation that will be shown in the main entrance to the Fashion Show.

The Pratt Fashion Show will be held April 27th at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan and is a major event at Pratt. This year the show is a celebration of Pratt's Brooklyn roots and will honor Hamish Bowles, editor-at-large of Vogue Magazine.

The mural (on the southeast corner of Hall Street, just off of Myrtle Avenue) will be up throughout the month of April.

To celebrate Pratt's history and contributions to the world of art and design since its first day of classes on October 17, 1887, Pratt is lauching the Pratt 125th Anniversary Memory Project. The Project will document recollections of the Institute over the past several decades.

Pratt invites you to share your most compelling memories and images of the school through the decades. Selected submissions will appear in a special commemorative issue of Prattfolio, on the pratt.edu website, and in promotional and other materials related to Pratt's 125th Anniversary.

Deadline to submit memories is February 15, 2011. Send your submissions to the 125th Anniversary Memory Project, including photographs (300 dpi at 100%, if possible), via email to 125memory@pratt.edu. Please include your contact information and Pratt affiliation, including degree and year if you are an alum.

Here's more.

Pratt Institute opened its new six-story, 120,000-square-foot green academic and administrative building, a striking space that is expected to both serve as a physical manifestation of Pratt’s commitment to sustainable design education, and further promote the revitalization of Myrtle Avenue.

Called Myrtle Hall, the building at 536 Myrtle Avenue houses Pratt’s Department of Digital Arts and several administrative offices.

Designed by the New York City architecture firm WASA/Studio A, the new building is expected to meet the United States Green Building Council standards for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification based on its eco-features that include exterior sun shades; a green roof that absorbs rainwater, reflects heat, and sequesters greenhouse gasses; and solar photo-voltaic panels that generate on-site electricity. It will be the first higher education building project in Brooklyn to receive a LEED certification and the first academic building to receive a LEED Gold certification in Brooklyn.

In addition, Myrtle Hall will afford Pratt’s Digital Arts department the space and facilities necessary for its faculty and students to continue their cutting-edge design and research. The digital arts area includes state-of-the-art wired studios/classrooms, a digital resource center, animation labs, a recording studio, graduate studio spaces, and a prominent all-glass gallery in the atrium. The building will also soon allow for an incredible improvement to the Pratt student experience by consolidating all student services offices under one roof.

“This is a momentous occasion for Pratt as it demonstrates the Institute’s commitment to innovative design, environmental sustainability, the renewal of Myrtle Avenue, and most of all to its students,” said Pratt President Thomas F. Schutte, who also has been a driving force in the economic revitalization of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill for more than 10 years as chair of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership.

“Myrtle Hall will move forward our academic program in digital arts and will tremendously improve Pratt’s services for students while serving as a point of pride for the campus community and our neighbors as the first green building in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill area.”

This post is excerpted from a story in Gateway, the community newsletter of Pratt Institute. More details and the full story can be found in Pratt's December issue of Gateway.

Photo courtesy of Pratt Institute. Top: The main entrance to Myrtle Hall facing Willoughby; Bottom: Myrtle Hall facing Myrtle Avenue.

Starting Fall semester '09, Pratt students, faculty and staff will be able to use their Pratt identification cards to make purchases on Myrtle Avenue.

In this expanded capacity id cards will essentially be used as debit cards with cash balances used to shop or dine at local businesses on the Avenue. Currently the cards can be used to make purchases solely on the Pratt campus and related facilities: cafeteria, the PrattSTORE, computer labs, copy center.

The program will be open to approximately 6,200 students, staff, and faculty, and to 150 eligible businesses on Myrtle Avenue.

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership is currently signing up a smaller number of Myrtle businesses to help pilot the program in the Fall.

Come take part in the MAS free training workshop, the "Livable Neighborhoods Program", at Pratt on Saturday, October 18th.

The Livable Neighborhoods Program, which first launched in May, 2007 at Hunter College, was created to provide communities with the knowledge, tools, and training needed to transform local vision into effective plans. This workshop is hosted by the Municipal Arts Society, the Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, and the Cornell Urban Scholars Program.

Students and community members will have an opportunity to receive NYC?specific, in?person training and reference materials on a number of planning topics, and access to a web?based network for ongoing discussion.

When Is the Training? Saturday, October 18, 2008 8:30AM – 1:00 PM

Who Can Attend? Registration is open to students from GCPE, CUSP, and local residents.

What Is The Cost? Participation in the program is free.

Where Is The Training? The training will take place in Higgins Hall at Pratt Brooklyn with special assistance from The Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. Please see attached campus map.

What Should I Bring? Please remember to bring a notebook and a few pens and/or pencils.

Will Food Be Served? Yes. We will provide lunch.

How Do I Register? Email Sideya Sherman at ssherman@mas.org.

Can I Bring My Child? Yes. The LNP is designed to be as convenient for participants as possible. We will have a supervised children’s activity room available for children school age children and up.

Where Can I Find More Information? Click here for more information on the Livable Neighborhoods Program. To learn more about the MAS and the Planning Center visit www.mas.org.

Also, you can contact Sideya Sherman via email at ssherman@mas.org or via phone at 212.935.3960 ext. 259 for more information.

Pratt Institute will star in Metropolis Magazine as one of the two schools nationwide that will be featured in its next issue as part of “Focus The Nation”, a national teach-in on global warming solutions for America taking place this week. The event, organized by Architecture 2030, will create a dialogue at over a thousand colleges, universities and other institutions, that will directly engage thousands of faculty and millions of students nationwide.

This week, Wednesday and Thursday, January 30th and 31st, the entire community is welcome to come meet over 30 of Pratt Institute’s most illustrious faculty, administrators and special guests as they come together and offer a series of exciting programs that are highly relevant to Pratt students, educators, and the community at large. This is a unique opportunity to explore the impact of sustainability on the future careers of our artists, designers, and architects; see how Pratt is taking on the challenge to reduce its carbon footprint; and to be inspired by real world, environmentally conscience work that is being done by Pratt’s faculty.

You will also have the opportunity to see exhibits by studios, take part in a nationwide body painting competition sponsored by Architecture 2030 with $20,000 in prize money (the winner will have a full page ad in Metropolis), and meet some of the city’s most vocal leaders in advocating change.

The full schedule of events and panels is here.

After a considerable amount of planning and negotiations, Pratt Institute has made its plans to build a second building on Myrtle Avenue official. Pratt will be building a 120,000-square-foot building at the former "KFC site", with 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail. The new building will further extend Pratt’s presence on Myrtle Avenue, joining the Prattstore, the Institute’s art supply and bookstore, which opened in 2005 at Myrtle and Emerson. Pratt will be aiming to achieve a LEED Gold certification for the new building, and recently received a $75,000 Kresge Foundation grant to help plan for integrating green building technologies. Green features currently being considered for potential application include a landscaped roof to help insulate the building and prevent water runoff, photovoltaic solar panels, and a geothermal climate control system.

Pratt's new building will house several academic programs and administrative offices, including the offices of admissions, financial aid, the bursar, and the registrar; the Pratt Center for Community Development, (formerly PICCED); the offices of the Institute’s Division of Development; The Department of Digital Arts and the Digital Arts Lab; and studios for graduate students.

The building is being designed by the multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering firm of Clinton Hill resident and Pratt alumnus Jack Esterson, Studio A and WASA. The firm is designing the new building to serve as a connection between Pratt’s campus and Myrtle Avenue with an atrium allowing views into and through the building from both sides.

Excerpted from Pratt's press release:

“We are committed to the idea that the building be exemplary, both as architecture and in its environmental performance,” said Jack Esterson, partner in charge at Studio A and WASA, who received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Pratt in 1975.

“The North façade is highly insulated and finished in brick and glass, in order to complement the 19th century commercial architecture of Myrtle Avenue without imitating it,” added Esterson. “On the South side, a glazed wall with ultra high-performance clear and translucent glass and solar shading is designed to bring daylight into the building year round, while keeping summer heat out.”

The firm’s Director of Sustainable Design and the point person for this project, Tony Daniels, is one of New York City’s most well known experts in sustainable architecture. His work has been recognized for excellence by numerous organizations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Renewable Energy Congress, and the New York Society of Registered Architects, among others.

Pratt plans to break ground on the new project in spring 2008 with an anticipated completion date sometime in summer 2009. Stay tuned for further details, as the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership will be working closely with Pratt to integrate the new building into the commercial corridor, and to make major streetscape improvements along that part of Myrtle Avenue.