City Planning Chairperson Amanda Burden recently named Raymond Gastil, a former director of the Van Alen Institute, as director of City Planning’s Manhattan office.
A founding director of the Van Alen Projects in Public Architecture, which advocates planning and design for urban regeneration, Gastil also was a member of the Memorial Center Advisory Committee for the World Trade Center site, and has served as juror and adviser to a number of major urban projects. He is the author of “Beyond the Edge: New York’s New Waterfront” and has organized a wide range of exhibits, forums and competitions.
Gastil previously directed programs for the Regional Plan Association and taught at Pratt Institute and University of Pennsylvania. He received his master of architecture degree from Princeton University.
Gastil succeeds Vishaan Chakrabarti, who is returning to the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill after heading the Manhattan office for two years during the planning of the Hudson Yards, West Chelsea and High Line projects as well as the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan.
As head of the Manhattan office, Gastil will also advise the commission on Manhattan issues and act as liaison to elected officials, community organizations and the private sector on matters of land use, zoning and economic development in Manhattan.
