Emilio Ambasz donates to MoMA to establish a new green research institute

MoMA in New York announced the establishment of The Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment. The Institute was made possible by the generous donation from architect and designer, Emilio Ambasz, who has supported The Museum of Modern Art for decades and is acknowledged as “the Messiah of Green Architecture”. It stems from Ambasz’s often stated belief that “We need to conceive of an architecture that stands as the embodiment of a pact of reconciliation between nature and building.” The goals of the Institute, through a range of curatorial programs and research initiatives, are to foster dialogue, promote conversation, and facilitate research around the relationship between the built and the natural environment. This is to make the interaction between architecture and ecology visible and accessible to Museum visitors and the broader public while highlighting the urgent need for an ecological recalibration. 
The Ambasz Institute will focus in particular on digital initiatives to both advance a global conversation on this crucial issue and ensure that the Institute reaches a diverse audience. The Institute, to be located on MoMA’s Midtown Manhattan campus within the Department of Architecture and Design, will specifically study creative approaches to design at all scales of the built environment–buildings, cities, landscapes, and objects–to work toward an ecological future and environmental justice.
“We are immensely grateful to Emilio Ambasz for this generous gift,” said Glenn D. Lowry, the David Rockefeller Director of The Museum of Modern Art. “As a visionary in the field of green architecture, Emilio has been leading the charge on the issues of architecture and ecology for years. The Ambasz Institute will no doubt serve to further the important work that both he and The Museum of Modern Art have been doing in the field and I look forward to tackling these crucial issues.”
The establishment of the Ambasz Institute offers a far-reaching opportunity for MoMA to continue its global leadership on sustainability issues while celebrating and cultivating a deeper public understanding of architecture and design. Research opportunities and a variety of programs including public lectures, conferences and symposia, many of them online, will bring together and prompt conversations amongst experts in their fields, and the general public.
“Issues of ecology and the ongoing climate crisis are the most urgent challenges of our time, not only for architecture, but for humanity as a whole,” said Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art. “I am thrilled that with the new Ambasz Institute at MoMA, the Department of Architecture and Design will be uniquely positioned to shape discourse and foster necessary change in the field of design toward a more equitable and ecological future.”
Emilio Ambasz was born in Argentina and is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects and an Honorary International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He recently received his fourth Compasso d’Oro award from the Italian association of industrial design (ADI) as an innovative inventor of architectural and product designs. Within the next few years, the MoMA will organize and present a major exhibition focused on green architecture and how Emilio Ambasz’s life work has influenced this ground-breaking field.

Christiane Bürklein

The Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment
New York, USA
Year: 2020
Images: see captions
1 - Emilio Ambasz. ACROS Fukuoka, Fukuoka City, Japan, 1990. Photo credit: I. Watanabe