Archinect - Features

Jay McCafferty Studio by Coy Howard; An Architecture of Seashells and Gold

2021-10-06T12:52:00-04:00

This is an article about a structure and the people who commissioned and designed it. The building was to be a studio, during construction it became an inspiration for Jay McCafferty to hold on to life longer, and at the end when he died, the place was just finished enough for him to see and appreciate. It has since become a sanctuary for his art and a place to burn his presence in this world. All his friends, including me, will remember it as such.

Unpacking The Spatial Implications Of Architecture's Accessibility Failures

2020-01-14T13:19:00-05:00

There is a particular type of obliviousness to the built environment that most of us have the privilege of experiencing day-to-day. This obliviousness relates not to architecture’s aesthetic values, but rather to architecture’s accessibility out in the world. Built to Scale, an exhibition by artist Emily Barker currently on view at Murmurs Gallery in Los Angeles, is designed to knock you right out of it. And for designers and architects, it's a must-see. On view in a young gallery tucked between the nondescript buildings of LA's Manufacturing District, Barker's new solo show delves deep into the fundamental misunderstandings of architectural accessibility and its spatial implications, particularly in the realm of the home.

The Propping of Art and Architecture: a Review of the Frieze Art Fair Los Angeles

2019-02-26T18:54:00-05:00

The inaugural Frieze Art Fair Los Angeles, held on the famed Paramount Studios Lot, proved to be a success in numbers and figures. But what did the event suggest about the current states of art and architecture, and what did it suggest about the future of cultural events in the city often overlooked for its sprawl?

Drawing a Blank: Harvard GSD's Recent Exhibition, Inscriptions, Asks Visitors to Imagine Architecture Before Speech

2018-09-26T09:30:00-04:00

Inscriptions: Architecture before Speech, the inaugural exhibition of the Drucker Design Gallery at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, prompted visitors to “read” the works on display as blank pages might be read.

In an essay on artworks that take the form of blank pages, the media theorist Craig Dworkin catalogs many different ways artists have done something significant while ostensibly doing almost nothing. For example, in the movie Orpheus, a Parisian poet published a book of poetry consisting of nothing but blank pages, titled Nudisme. What this book did in the context of the movie’s fictional poetry scene was very different from a similar blank book, also titled Nudisme and styled in a similar way, that was recently on sale in fashionable Brooklyn shops. Another of Dworkin’s examples, a poet bought 1,500 reams of blank paper and stamped his name on the cover, aiming to sell them as poetry. The patron who funded the project threw “the wretched little thing” into the garbage (...

Apple's Latest Offering is a Wood, Metal and Glass "Town Square", Designed by Foster + Partners

2017-10-25T18:47:00-04:00

With the grand opening of Apple’s brand new Chicago outpost this month, it appears that the tech giant’s new line of stores, recently renamed "town squares", has well and truly dropped. We saw a sneak peek of their glass curtain wall system and super slim roof lines at the Apple Park this year but it now appears that this is more than just a one-off thing for their big time California HQ; it seems that this is their latest rendition of Apple Architecture, delivered by Foster + Partners.

Review: The Japanese House Architecture and Life after 1945 at Barbican Centre

2017-04-05T11:29:00-04:00

The home continues to play a central role in contemporary Japanese architecture. This year, the Barbican has put together an exhibition that documents the development of post-war Japanese domestic architecture, from the traditional to the modern, drawing on the work of over 40 Japanese architects from the past 70 years.

Art + Architecture: Refik Anadol at Walt Disney Concert Hall

2014-11-21T18:16:00-05:00

The billowing wood panels of the concert hall imploded before my eyes, as if physically ripped apart by the thundering crescendos of Edgard Varèse’s Amériques. One moment the massive organ was radically disfigured to the point of unrecognizability; the next, its forms re-emerged beneath the luminous, moving mesh mapped onto the structure by the artist Refik Anadol. For less than a half hour, the Walt Disney Concert Hall was transformed in an exhilarating synthesis of architecture, music and digital art: the first iteration of in/SIGHT, a series of ongoing collaborations between video artists and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Review: Glen Small, Father of Green Architecture

2013-11-25T17:33:00-05:00

It is always good to see old friends, past mentors and new students at an exhibit honoring someone you love and admire. The work of Glen Small, the 'hesitant' father of Green Architecture is on display until the end of November.

The organizer and curator of the exhibit, Assembly and Archinect's own Orhan Ayyüce, has put together a smart, focused, visual overview that also includes several lectures, workshops, a book and a screening of the documentary film MY FATHER THE GENIUS.

A review of Joe Day's "Corrections and Collections: Architectures for Art and Crime" (2013, Routledge)

2013-09-10T11:25:00-04:00

“Since 2000, institutions of display and discipline have taken on transnational dimensions, many of them unanticipated and controversial. In the most literal of convergences, yesteryear’s prisons have simply been reopened as today’s museums.”

The Science Fiction of "Never Built: Los Angeles"

2013-08-01T17:16:00-04:00

What can we learn from the aborted potential icons of Los Angeles? Whether underfunded, over-dramatic or anachronistic, the structures on display in "Never Built: Los Angeles" at the Architecture and Design Museum in L.A. never saw the light of day. But because they were the twinkle in the eye of a few established names in post-war American architecture, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra and John Lautner, these imaginings are vetted with their creators' robust reputations for modern, revolutionary forms. Seen with a 21st century perspective, jaded by the likes of Frank Gehry or Bjarke Ingels, it's actually pretty easy to imagine these never-built structures existing -- at least in terms of form, anyway.

Instigating Change with Common Ground

2012-09-18T10:16:00-04:00

In the age where cultural production has usurped industrial production as the driver for Western economies, the Venice Architecture Biennale represents a special kind of affair. This three month-long bonanza of architecture and urban design represents a collection of diverse principles produced under a unified curatorial umbrella. Despite the trash-talk that has proliferated in certain circles since the opening of the event in late August, this year’s Biennale doesn’t have much to be cynical, negative, or nasty about.

NEXT SERIES: ARCHITECTURE JURY, A Factual and Fictional Manual

2011-05-31T16:53:46-04:00

To spectators, the architecture jury critics might mean deities if they don't know they are not. In fact, some students know this but it is a best kept secret so they can stand back and watch the divine comedy folding out on the first rows of their presentation. Not all students take criticism personally although it is hard not to.

Most architecture schools are the continuation of the traditional model, design studios taught by people who are, if you say so, spatial experts. In general, architecture education is defined by how to draw and produce space. Most people in the world can say something about buildings. Naturally, architects use a unique vocabulary to control and develop their craft.

I was asked if I would write a piece on architectural juries. After thinking about it for a few hours I came up with this idea of subjectively stereotyping the people who sit in front of the presentations and say 'wise' things about student projects. I hope this will help the audience and...

Venice Biennale Review

2008-09-16T17:58:00-04:00