This course is a seminar built around a venerable Parsons institution, the public “At the Parsons Table” programs, with prominent architects and other figures who influence the shape of the city. The seminar will have an unusual structure: classes will meet mostly in a regular weekly seminar period, and four times a semester students will be expected to attend the “At the Parsons Table” events in the evening. Those public conversations with architects will form the framework of the seminar, which will investigate the state of architecture, design, and planning in New York today. Students will analyze the work of the semester’s “At the Parsons Table” guests and use it as a springboard to a broader and deeper look into the condition of New York architecture right now. Past guests in the “At the Parsons Table” series have included Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, and David Rockwell, among others. Readings will include the work of this semester’s guests, as well as other material on current New York architecture and planning.