Come for the Man, Stay for the Women
This Friday, the Brooklyn Museum will open a sprawling exhibition devoted to street artist Keith Haring. Wait patiently until Saturday to see the show, however, and you can also catch “Women Shaping Our World: Architecture, Gender, and Space,” a panel discussion on women in the traditionally male-dominated field of architecture and how the feminine perspective is shaping the contours of our built environment. There will be one man on hand—John Cary, editor of PublicInterestDesign.org—to moderate a conversation between Anne Fougeron, principal at Fougeron Architecture; Toni Griffin, director of the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Design at City College; Susan Rodriguez, partner at Ennead Architects, who designed the hall in which the panel will take place; and Karen Stein, a writer and architectural consultant. The program is free with museum admission (200 Eastern Pkwy., at Washington Ave.; 2 p.m.; 718-638-5000; brooklynmuseum.org).
Deadly by Design
Tonight is your last night to see the American Design Club’s Threat, an exhibition of everyday objects turned defensive weapons, at Present Company gallery in Williamsburg. In answer to the question “It’s 3 a.m. and someone is in the house: What do you grab?” a handful of up-and-coming designers have created objects from a regular wooden hanger with a hidden razor blade to an innocent-seeming chair with a handgun-holder carved under the seat, to a doormat that informs potential burglars “The neighbors have better stuff.” In addition, the AmDC asked ten well-known figures, including Lindsay Adelman and Paul Loebach, to design a souped-up baseball bat for the occasion (29 Wythe Ave., at N. 14th St., Brooklyn; americandesignclub.com).
A Drawn-Out Process
Postwar European architect Carlo Scarpa will get his first solo exhibition in New York City beginning next Tuesday, when Cooper Union opens “Carlo Scarpa: The Architect at Work.” Scarpa lived and worked before the invention of AutoCAD technology, and his hand-drawn sketches and detailed architectural drawings provide a now-rare opportunity to see a master architect’s thought process rendered in his own hand. The exhibition consists of 22 original drawings related to one of his most famous works, Villa Ottolenghi in Bardolino, Verona, Italy, as well as reproductions of drawings for several of his other works, as well as in-progress photos of Villa Ottolenghi (7 E. 7th St., nr. Fourth Ave., second fl.; opening reception Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.; 212-353-4100; cooper.edu).
Modern for Less
The Design Within Reach semi-annual sale has officially begun and will roar on until next Tuesday, offering 15 percent off almost the entire inventory. Pendant lights by Tom Dixon are currently $318.75 (from $375), and the Prouvé Cité armchair by Jean Prouvé is down to $3,510.50 from $4,130. While items in the Herman Miller collection are not part of the sale, they are eligibly for free shipping through March 19 (110 Greene St., nr. Spring St.; 212-475-0001; dwr.com).