The "Research" in Architecture Research Office Is No Joke
Having reached architectural early middle-age, ARO now seems poised for greatness.
Philip Nobel
What Catastrophe? The Real Dangers of Forgetting Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy hits Red Hook, Brooklyn, prompting our columnist to wonder if we’ll learn its hard lessons.
Architizer Killed the Architecture Star?
Architecture has undergone something of a cleansing in recent years. With a few notable exceptions.
The Eisenhower Memorial Incites a Gehry Resistance
The architect finds himself under attack by right-wing culture warriors.
Vishaansanity: The Rising Star of Vishaan Chakrabarti
SHoP’s new partner, Vishaan Chakrabarti, promises to turbo-charge a firm already operating at full speed.
Rem's New Book Is a Love Letter to Japan's Metabolists
Koolhaas pays tribute to the architects of the 1960s who forged a new path in postwar Japan.
Ennead Emerging: Polshek Partnership Re-Brands & Revitalizes
In the middle of a brilliant second act, Ennead Architects is showing exactly how to build on—and succeed—its legendary founder.
Memory Holes
Two ongoing wars and many controversies later, the search for meaning at Ground Zero still proves painfully elusive.
Blobism: The Digital Era Gives Into The Vice of Formalism
The new millennium ushered in an era of computer-enabled shapes increasingly divorced from the real concerns of architecture.
The Pros and Cons of the Red Hook Ikea
A big-box retailer arrives in hipster Brooklyn and (shockingly) fails to end the world as we know it.
The Concrete Splendor of Tadao Ando
The primal power of Tadao Ando derives from his sublime use of one material and one move.
In Praise of Polshek Partnership Architects, the "Style-less" Firm
A daring new building by one of our quietly great firms shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
Design Rolls Into the World of Skateboarding
A newfound rigor has taken skateboards out of the realm of pure fashion.
Delirious Beijing
A unique set of circumstances has combined to create the most insane building boom in the history of man.
Lovefest 2008
Due to a recent run of glowing columns, our resident curmudgeon changes the approach to his annual rite.
Good Box Work
SANAA’s New Museum makes compelling use of an elemental form.
Sublime Insanity
Herzog & de Meuron’s 40 Bond is Ian Schrager’s latest over-the-top attack on the cultural status quo.
After the Aftermath
Two years after Katrina, New Orleans faces huge challenges—amid glimmers of real hope.
Between Noise and Light
The Yale University Art Gallery triggers a reappraisal of Louis Kahn’s message.
Model SHoP
Our columnist’s favorite architects? His list of one begins here.
In My Backyard
Our columnist’s first built work casts a slightly different light on criticism.
Anti-Starchitecture Chic
What’s a budding celebrity architect to do when the winds of change begin shifting away from fame?
Die Another Day
The cycle of codependence between critics and stars does a disservice to both public and profession alike.
Fear of Furniture
Hans Wegner’s daybed is all the more beautiful for having broken decades of personal confusion on the subject.
Good Malls and Bad Cities
New quasi-urban shopping centers and the digital public sphere call into question traditional hatred of malls.
Lovefest 2007
In his annual valentine, our resident curmudgeon finds—to his mild surprise—an awful lot to like.
I ♥ IIT… But I Still Don't Like Rem
A visit to the Koolhaas-designed student center in Chicago places our columnist in a real quandary.
Dear IKEA, Thanks For Ruining My Red Hook
A new waterfront development has our laissez-faire columnist gasping in horror.
New York's Still New York: Evaluating Ground Zero in Middle Age
Despite years of rancor surrounding it, the WTC site still possesses a deep emotional power.
Good Times
By resisting easy temptations Renzo Piano has accomplished something rare: unstrained symbolism.
Designis Personae
The architecture crit—that tragicomic rite of passage—often has a cast of characters worthy of Shakespeare.
Gehry's First NYC Project Disappoints—Yet Again
The promise of a “Gehry” is often compromised by the unforgiving realities of building.
Goodbye, Columbus
Modernism failed to save the Indiana town that architecture famously built.
Norman Foster vs. New York
The unique challenges of building here can confound even the giants.
September 11, 2001
The events of 9/11 brought architecture center stage—an unprecedented opportunity—but was it “good for the profession”?
Remembering the Philippe Starck of 1984
His prodigious talent, outsize personality, and unparalleled ability to generate press revolutionized design.
A Valentine to Place
Our resident curmudgeon’s annual ode to all things good and true.
Bursting the Zaha Bubble: Ordrupgaard Museum a Failure of Form
A visit to Hadid’s latest project—a museum addition to the Ordrupgaard in Copenhagen—produces some uneasy feelings.
Welcome Restraint
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, something strange happened: architects kept their mouths shut and their hands off their pens.
Onward and Upward?
Four years after 9/11—at perhaps the peak of the real estate bubble—very tall has never been hotter.
C-Stud Poker Anyone?
At the AIA convention in Las Vegas, the material creativity on display far surpassed the rhetorical flourishes.
Aquatic Aspirations
Can an upscale Miami Beach island change the world?
Swordplay
Why is architectural thought taught without the benefit of architectural fact?
Pier Over Troubled Waters
In the Nomadic Museum, Shigeru Ban survives a close call with kitsch.
An Open Letter to the Dean
Our irrepressible columnist takes an irreverent look at the legacy of architecture’s most famous (and irrepressible) gadfly.
Gehry Weasels His Way Into Ground Zero Masterplan
By keeping the messy process at arm’s length America’s most famous architect lands a plum job at Ground Zero—on his own terms.
The Futures of Architecture
Why buildings smothered in signs are actually good for the profession.
The High Line: When Architecture Really Isn't the Answer
Architects can’t resist the lure of buildings—even if the brief doesn’t really call for them.
This Westchester Memorial Is Everything the WTC, Regrettably, Won't Be
Quick: think of a good contemporary memorial. No, not that one we’ve all heard quite enough about: Maya Lin’s shrine to the Vietnam War—a wonderful thing, a bolt from the blue, a one-in-a-million shot—a modern design that people actually respond…
My Love Letters to Louis Kahn and Shigeru Ban
Our resident curmudgeon offers up his second annual valentine to things he loves.
