Archinect - Features

"architecture, architectural & Architecture" - 100 Young Architects Present Their Post-Digital Microcosms at the A+D Museum

2017-08-16T12:52:00-04:00

I may be stepping over some kind of line by reviewing an exhibition that I have something in, but I promise to assume the responsibility of the critic—that is, to be critical, even self-critical. And to have a point. The eminent art critic Claire Bishop recently lamented that there haven’t been many projects that thematize our digital condition. [1] I'd like to elaborate on how this exhibition and the works in it did just that. The take away will be an encapsulation of some of the things to absorb from "the digital" and some themes being pursued in post-digital architecture.

Finding "Shelter" in Los Angeles' housing chaos

2015-09-08T12:00:00-04:00

With all the media attention on California’s drought, the “atoning L.A.” narrative has gotten pretty common. The city’s gluttonous lawns, sprawling infrastructures and indulgent residents – in short, its sinful stereotypes – have become untenable as the drought, a housing crisis and pressing sustainability measures come knocking at the city’s door.

"Work on Work" exhibition turns public space into office space

2015-07-31T11:55:00-04:00

If the current exhibition at Los Angeles’ Architecture + Design Museum was titled by a sarcastic person, it would be called "Work/Life Balance: Pshaw!" As it is, the infographic-laden collection of vinyl banners loosely mounted to stacks of brown boxes, co-organized by Gensler and UCLA’s cityLAB, is called "Work on Work", and it is both the history of and the proposed future for society's daily grind. And man, what a grind it is.

Koolhaas wreaks havoc at A+D Museum's "S,M,L,XLA" exhibition

2014-07-14T11:02:00-04:00

In the 1958 classic film "The Blob", a globular alien terrorizes a small Pennsylvanian town, ravenously absorbing everything and everyone in its path. It's formidable but silly looking at the same time, and the more it takes in the bigger and angrier it gets. Walking through the Architecture and Design Museum at the opening of their S,M,L,XLA exhibition, at times it felt like The Blob had overtaken curation.

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.