The Task at Hand: 100 Years of the Adjustable Desk Lamp
A technological breakthrough and a little-acknowledged bellwether of Modernism, the task lamp finally gets its due.
Author: Akiva Blander
In Small Town Appalachia, Researchers Find an "Evolution Towards Resilience"
Columbia University students found consensus around the post-carbon economy and riverfront rehabilitation among Appalachian locals.
Revisiting Ruth Adler Schnee’s Enduringly Modernist Legacy
Gropius and Saarinen taught Adler Schnee—97 next month—whose works microcosmically document the ebb and flow of streams of Modernism.
Brooklyn Museum Presents a "Hemispheric" Survey of Indigenous Responses to Climate Change
Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas explores how global warming has affected the visual culture of indigenous communities.
At Rem Koolhaas’s Countryside, the Medium Doesn’t Fit the Message—If There is One
The memelike exhibition will please crowds of most stripes, but it’s doomed by an excess of unorganized, sentimentalist content.
In the Driverless City, How Will Our Streets Be Used?
A glut of speculative plans reimagine the future streetscape. But is it a road to nowhere?
Berlin Architects Draw on Traditional Building Techniques for Kurdish Safe Haven
The Healing Garden in Iraqi Kurdistan provides animal therapy, basic medical care, and community spaces.
Year in Review: What Has and Hasn’t Been Said About the Bauhaus at 100
So much has already been made of the so-called Modernist progenitors, but Metropolis editors and contributors produced commentary that sought to fill in—and question—some of the gaps.
8 Lighting Releases That Show the Best Design is Often Hidden in Plain View
Recent lighting products can take a minimal form, seemingly dissolving into the spatial ether, or manifest more arrestingly.
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Revisiting the Meaning of “Native Architecture”
Chris Cornelius of studio:indigenous speaks with Metropolis about (de)colonization in the practice, education, and experience of architecture.
Colorful Japanese Posters Take Over Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum
The exhibition, spanning over 80 years of Japanese graphic design, is a tribute to designer Shigeru Watano's long-standing relationship with the museum.
Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Spatial Research and Urban Conflict
With an unabashed embrace of the empirical, contributors assert something about how space is experienced.
High Mineral Content: Geology-Inflected Designs Take Over
From furniture to accessories, surfaces to lighting, Metropolis digs up the latest designs that rock.
Planning For (In)Justice: Toni Griffin's Mission to Foster Equitable Cities
Griffin founded the consultancy Urban Planning for the American City, which she complements with her pedagogical work at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Design Cities 2019: Fukuoka, Japan
After a three-year renovation, the Fukuoka Art Museum reflects the coastal city’s international links, both past and present.
Looking Back at NYCxDesign’s Edgier Installations and Exhibitions
Metropolis highlights eight young practitioners who kept this year’s design week fresh and alive with experimental works.
From Playful Products to Clever Urban Interventions, New Affiliates Distills Design to Its Essence
Founded by Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb, the New York–based firm creates visually pleasing design, but its most interesting work is cerebral.
With Installation at Madison Square Park, Artist Leonardo Drew Ponders Temporality and Horizontality
“City in the Grass” marks a scaling up of a practice that has long investigated materiality and decay.
Design Museum Gent Explores Humanity's Complicated Relationship with Animals
Creatures Made to Measure: Animals and Contemporary Design explores multiple perspectives on our immensely complex relationship with the animal kingdom.
Estiluz's New Circ Family Distills Lighting to Its Essentials
Another hackneyed release aimed at peripatetic minimalists Circ is not: The light’s cheeky proportions direct attention—gently and quite novelly—to its handle.
