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.