Dialogue

Moss’s Legacy
FROM SOPHIE ROBERTS:
Bravo to Murray Moss for his dedication and vision—his store will be missed (“Murray’s Next Act,” by Jennifer Kabat, April 2012, p. 70). It is disappointing to watch New York’s sky-high rents stifle an entire creative class of artists, designers, and those, like Moss, who promote their work. It’s already clear that young creative people can’t afford to live and work in the city, and it seems that, soon, those who support their work will be forced out too. While it may be naive of me, I hope New York wakes up and realizes that we need people like Moss who are willing to take chances and support artists and designers in the process. Without them, we risk losing the sublime.

FROM TITOA:
It’s time to leave this gallery space/ironic interior-design thing behind. It was never architecture, just a bit of intellectual naughtiness. Fun for some, but annoying to most architects. “Figurative stuff painted white” isn’t clever anymore—and it never really was, in my opinion. It was an unfortunate turn for design when the trend started, but it’s good to hear that it’s waning. I suspect that, in the future, people who want to be taken seriously in the industry are going to have to start actually embracing contemporary architecture, rather than treating it like a too-cool-for-school interior decorating exercise.

Luxurious and Wasteful
FROM MICHAEL LACHOWSKI:
Yikes! The trend toward “home spas” (“Homebound Luxury,” by Paul Makovsky, April 2012, p. 90) is just furthering the unsustainable use of materials, energy, and water that the United States continues to spearhead. What if all the emerging middle-class citizens of the world did this? Toilets, showers, and sinks are elaborate enough. We need to back off and get real.

Dutch Transparency
FROM JEFF BAILEY:
What’s notable about Rietveld Landscape’s installation on Holland’s vacant government buildings (“The New Ingenuity,” by Susan S. Szenasy, April 2012, p. 16) is the transparency. As a resident of Chicago, I can imagine our former mayor—and, sadly, our current one—assembling a list of unused city structures, and then keeping it under wraps, rather than sharing it with citizens. Go, Rotterdam.