Archinect - News

A 12th-century Scottish monk may have invented modern architectural drawing techniques, new research claims

2023-09-22T17:30:00-04:00

Research from a professor at the University of Aberdeen has advanced evidence that the art and practice of architectural drawing may have been invented by a 12th-century Scottish clergyman working in Paris around the time of the construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral and other important Gothic structures.

Dr. Karl Kinsella is a lecturer in Medieval Art History at the institution. His new book, God’s Own Language: Architectural Drawing in the Twelfth Century, presents the idea that a previously unknown monk named Richard the Scot was likely the first person to use the term ‘plan’ for drawings, sections, and elevations he apparently made in order to demonstrate the vantage point of the prophet Ezekiel's visions using then-modern concepts of geometry.

Kinsella says: “This is the earliest evidence we have of a complete visual description of a building including several plans, elevations and sections, but they appear in this strange theological work instead of coming out of building sites...

LACMA and Snapchat unveil third Monumental Perspectives AR collection across Los Angeles

2023-09-09T08:00:00-04:00

The third collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)’s ongoing Augmented Reality Monumental Perspectives series has been unveiled to the public, featuring works of five artists that offer insights into the histories of their own unique pockets of LA’s patchwork mosaic of communities.

The series’ final trove includes Victoria Fu, Yassi Mazandi, Rashaad Newsome, Rubén Ortiz Torres, and Alison Saar. Each is accessible through Snapchat’s Lens Explorer tab. The initiative is being funded as part of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s larger $250 million The Monuments Project project. LACMA President Michael Govan says each work “challenges us to examine the individual and communal legacies we are leaving today and how we are shaping the future of Los Angeles.”

Rubén Ortiz Torres, Dead Heads (2023). Image courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Yassi Mazandi, The Thirty Birds (2023). Image courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Fu will offer a virtual take on a subject,...

Michael Kimmelman on some newer rays of light in NYC’s public housing stock

2022-02-07T11:59:00-05:00

Writing about Twin Parks in 1973, The Times’s former architecture critic, Paul Goldberger, speculated that the project might “turn out to be important in the history of housing design.” [...] design, however compassionate, can mean only so much against the obstacles that make up the housing problem today.” The calculus is the same half a century later. But the South Bronx isn’t. Gradually, it has been remade. Progress isn’t impossible, it’s a process.

Both observed South Bronx developments, 1490 Southern Boulevard and a transformation of the Lambert Houses, are seen as examples of high-quality and effective public housing that offers residents more than just desultory amenities. The Times critic broke down the new-ish developments by Dattner and Bernheimer Architects by first cautioning us with a history lesson about nearby Twin Parks (which Paul Goldberger predicted might “turn out to be important in the history of housing design” at its opening in 1973), adding that, in his view, the pair offer “templates for redoing” many of NYCHA’s 302 other campuses.

“It’s an 18-story building with 163 permanently affordable units and a doorman. The boxy, drab exterior, set a few steps up and back from the street wall, looks almost belligerently banal. But inside the building is comfortable, luxurious even, compared with the deteriorating apartments and hallways I saw in the old buildings. Crucial to the conversion, no tenants are being dis...

Architectural historian and curator Irene Sunwoo joins Art Institute of Chicago as new Architecture and Design Chair

2021-02-15T20:19:00-05:00

Art Institute of Chicago names Irene Sunwoo the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator, Architecture and Design. Sunwoo's extensive background in architectural history, exhibition, and curatorial studies create an exciting chapter for the Institute and its leadership.

Sunwoo served as Curator of Columbia GSAPP's Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery and Director of Exhibitions since 2016 and curator of the Ross Gallery. Her writing has been featured in the Avery Review, Getty Research Journal, to name a few. She is in the process of writing two books focusing on Alvin Boyarsky and Arakawa and Madeline Gins' architectural experiments. Well-versed and heavily invested in Chicago's architectural history and curatorial community, Sunwoo served as Associate Curator and a key team member for the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial launch in 2015.

Sunwoo completed her undergraduate studies at New York University in Art History. She also holds two MAs from Bard College in History of Decorative Art...

Lee Bey reminds us of the beauty and importance of Chicago's Black Churches

2021-02-08T16:54:00-05:00

Photographer, writer, and lecturer Lee Bey has used his experience as a Chicago native to help uncover, highlight, and preserve the historical significance and importance of architecture within Black communities. In 2017 Bey showcased Southern Exposure, an exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Biennial consisting of photographs of buildings located on Chicago's South Side.

After years of documenting, Bey has created a deeper meaning behind these buildings. The images he's captured are reflections and visual narratives of his perspectives and viewpoints behind the camera lens. In tandem with his exhibition, Bey published his book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side. Previously covered on Archinect, he shared in conversation with Iker Gil that "The exhibition and the book grew up together [...] The idea was to not make the book an exhibition book, but to use the exhibition as inspiration and to go beyond the show and showcase more buildings and pla...

Why the National Register of Historic Places lacks a diverse history

2021-01-08T14:04:00-05:00

Less than 8% of sites on the National Register are associated with women, Latinos, African Americans or other minorities. [...] The reason for this underrepresentation is an overly technical, legalistic approach to determining what merits designation.

Sara Bronin, a University of Connecticut Law School professor specializing in historic preservation law, penned an LA Times op-ed about the technical hurdles that have hindered many non-white historic sites to be designated for the National Register of Historic Places.

"Preservationists have started to see past the formalities that have too long prevented us from recognizing diverse histories," writes Bronin. "But we must go further to tackle the legal structures that devalue the stories we all need to hear."

Read also V. Mitch McEwen's latest op-ed on Archinect: Form Follows Fascism Redux.

Remembering the built environment of segregated America

2020-12-07T13:22:00-05:00

Vestiges of racism and oppression, from bricked-over segregated entrances to the forgotten sites of racial violence, still permeate much of America’s built environment.

For the NYT, photojournalist Richard Frishman shares powerful images of sites, buildings, and places throughout the United States along with their almost forgotten, sometimes preserved, stories from America's segregated past.

"All human landscapes are embedded with cultural meaning," Frishman writes. "And since we rarely consider our constructions as evidence of our priorities, beliefs and behaviors, the testimonies our landscapes offer are more honest than many of the things we intentionally present."

Docomomo US highlights 18 projects as winners of the 2020 Modernism in America Awards

2020-11-13T17:01:00-05:00

The seventh iteration of the Modernism in America Awards program Docomomo US recognizes 18 projects that "highlight the best in preservation practice by today's architects, designers, preservation professionals, and grassroots advocates."

For this year's awards program, winning projects were selected based on their model preservation efforts that showcase meticulous, innovative, and a continual pushes towards the preservation field within inclusive histories and holistic approaches.

Below are the winners and selected project images.

Hunt House. Image © Dan Chavkin Photography

Eames House Conservation Management Plan

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Hunt House (Malibu, CA)
Texwipe/EarthCam (Upper Saddle River, NJ)
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice (New York, NY)
Florida’s Midcentury Modern Architecture (Florida)
Eames House Conservation Management Plan (Los Angeles, CA)

Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. Image © Garret Rowland, Gensler

Arvonne Fraser Library. Image © Peter J. Sieger Phot...

David Rockwell on his favorite historic NYC Broadway theaters

2020-03-31T00:45:00-04:00

I find it interesting that theaters are so resilient. They can have many lives. [...] For architects, set design can be a lesson in the fact that nothing is permanent. Permanence can be a little restricting, it turns out. Theater isn’t permanent. It exists when there is an audience.

Michael Kimmelman shares an interview with architect David Rockwell, who talked about some of his favorite historic Broadway theaters in NYC while the two went on a walk recently. Rockwell talks about the influence that theater had for him as a child, a few theater design projects his firm worked on, and not to mention some valuable, heartfelt lessons that the world of musical theater can teach during these uncertain times.

"Mistresses of Pratt" honors the legacy of female educators at Pratt Institute's School of Architecture

2020-03-14T14:00:00-04:00

Pratt Institute in New York City has launched a new initiative honoring and celebrating the institution's historic legacy of female design leadership. Organized by the School of Architecture, the Mistresses of Pratt program presents "a multifaceted project focused on the contributions to architecture and planning education by female-identifying faculty and alumnae."

Kicking off the initiative at a Dinner Party on March 9th, Dean Harriet Harris shared, "To be mistresses is to reclaim your right to public life—to leadership, to expertise, to autonomy, and to simple equality. Pratt is a school strongly associated with many such women both historically and among us today, and we are here to launch the beginning of what will become an institute-wide Mistresses Archive—an initiative determined to restore Pratt women to their respective disciplinary canons, one school at a time."

Image courtesy of Mistresses of Pratt/Prat Institute School of Architecture

Included among the list of honorees...

The archived works of Cape Cod-style architect Royal Barry Wills are now publicly available

2020-03-13T13:08:00-04:00

Historic New England, one of one of the oldest and largest regional architectural heritage organizations in the United States, has announced that the archives of Boston-based architecture firm Royal Barry Wills Associates will be made available to the public for the first time. Founded in 1925, Royal Barry Wills, FAIA is famously known for its mastery of the iconic Cape Cod-style house, in addition to other notable projects reflecting Colonial Revival designs.

The collection was made possible by Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Wills' son, who donated a majority of the firm's archives to Historic New England in 2013. Consisting of architectural drawings, photographs, negatives, and other firm documents dating between the 1920s and 2003, the collection is another example of organizations aiding in providing access to pieces of architectural history.

By digitizing and cataloging the collection, Historic New England will provide the public with an account of Wills' ...

Colonial Williamsburg embraces its queer histories

2019-12-20T13:00:00-05:00

Alongside a wider effort to uncover and rediscover the lost and forgotten histories of historically marginalized groups and populations, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia has recently taken steps to uncover the 18th century living-history museum's queer legacies.

In a recent report, Atlas Obscura takes a look at the nascent efforts being undertaken at Colonial Williamsburg to shed light on these historical narratives in order to present a more complete picture of the time.

Photo of the Raleigh Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Humberto Moreno.

A recently formed research committee is digging through court records, historical accounts, and other forms of documentation pertinent to the era of the museum in order to better understand and communicate the lived experiences of people who did not conform to the gender or sexual norms of the time, with the eventual goal of incorporating these stories into the "living" aspects of the museum in some way.

Of par...

Examining history and theory education at Los Angeles’s schools of architecture

2019-12-04T14:20:00-05:00

Please join Archinect and the Architecture + Design Museum on Saturday, December 7th at 2pm for History + Theory Education in LA's Schools of Architecture, a panel discussion investigating the current and future state of historical and theoretical approaches to architectural education. The panel discussion is presented in conjunction with The Los Angeles Schools exhibition, for which Archinect is serving as media partner.

As climate collapse, equity-based social movements, and technological advances destabilize and recalibrate traditional architectural practice, how is architectural thinking coping?

A few questions to consider:

What are the most important “historical questions” being engaged with (or not) in architecture academia today at LA institutions?
How are contemporary social/political/environmental concerns shaping the development/cultivation of architectural theory?
What is the current state of the architectural canon?
How/are digital workflows impacting theories of design?

W...

Win a copy of “Trajan's Hollow” by Joshua G. Stein!

2019-12-03T13:13:00-05:00

“Trajan's Hollow” is a new book by Joshua G. Stein — founder of Radical Craft and co-director of the Data Clay Network — that sheds new light on the historic Trajan's Column, one of ancient Rome's great monuments that has been obsessively documented by archaeologists and historians for centuries and visited by tourists from around the world. Thanks to ORO, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers!

Intrigued by Piranesi's iconic engravings on the Column and “the perennial tension between classical geometry and picturesque ruin,” Stein compiled his research into a book that exposes and renders new material qualities of the Column that have long been overlooked. The book “proposes a new ethos of scanning and replication, saturating digital technologies with an expansive material awareness to amplify the projective capacity of historical inquiry.” Plus, it features written contributions from David Gissen, Michael J. Waters, and Michael Swaine.

Courtesy ORO Edition...

R.I.P. Shoji Sadao, the unsung force behind some of Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi's iconic designs

2019-11-15T12:42:00-05:00

“Shoji’s architectural background was instrumental to these large projects,” Thomas T.K. Zung, who became a partner of Mr. Sadao’s in the firm Buckminster Fuller, Sadao & Zung Architects, said by email. “Shoji’s accomplishment was his service to two geniuses, Bucky and Isamu,” Mr. Zung added. “Shoji was an architectural samurai — he understood them both and added to their mix, without need or benefit of self-glory.”

Architect Shoji Sadao, who played a major role in bringing some of the most famous designs by Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi into the world, passed away in Tokyo at the age of 92 on November 3.

As one of Fuller's most important collaborators, Sadao applied his mathematical and cartographic expertise for iconic projects like the Dymaxion Airocean World Map and the U.S. pavilion geodesic dome at Expo ’67. Some of the projects he worked on with Noguchi include the Hart Plaza fountain in Detroit and the production of the well-known Akari Light Sculpture. He led the design of the Noguchi Museum in Queens, for which he served as Executive Director from 1989-2003.

In 2006, Sadao authored the book, “Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi: Best of Friends,” an informal biography of the lasting friendship and shared influences between the two visionaries.

“During his life, Shoji was modest and reserved, keeping his name out of the limelight,” the Buckminster Fuller Institute wrote in an o...

University of Virginia's Rotunda transformed into a planetarium, sharing Thomas Jefferson's original vision for the building

2019-11-08T18:22:00-05:00

Neal Curtis, Samuel Lemley and Madeline Zehnder conducted some keen literary sleuthing to discover Thomas Jefferson’s original intentions for the Dome Room, and then harnessed modern digital technology to bring the planetarium to life in a way that the University’s founder could not have imagined. “The concave ceiling of the Rotunda,” Jefferson wrote in 1819, “is proposed to be painted sky-blue and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude copied exactly.”

While planning the early stages of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a fantastical planetarium for the school's historic Rotunda. In 2019, that vision has been achieved as the Rotunda Planetarium, thanks to three Ph.D students from the school's English department, and a grant from the Jefferson Trust.

In addition to the temporary digital-projection installation, there is a related exhibition — which features books, specimens, and artifacts from the Rotunda’s early history — that is on view through February 18.

David Adjaye on memory in architecture

2019-10-16T14:45:00-04:00

Making a building is such a big thing. They impact people for generations and act as massive transfers of information. It’s very profound. You can’t think enough about what the responsibility is.

Writing in The Guardian, architect David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates shares his personal thoughts on architecture as it relates to the creation, maintenance, and longevity of memory by highlighting his firm's recently completed Linda Pace Foundation building in San Antonio, Texas.

View of the Ruby City project in Texas. Image © Dror Baldinger, courtesy of Ruby City and Adjaye Associates.

Adjaye writes, "Some people say you don’t need any more physical memorials because the internet archives everything, but I think architecture has a role in editing and presenting that knowledge in building form as new monuments. It’s important to be able to synthesise ideas and give them a quality that creates an engagement and usefulness with people."

The Getty devotes $100 million to global “Ancient Worlds Now: A Future for the Past” conservation initiative

2019-09-23T15:45:00-04:00

As a response to the race against time to preserve the world's ancient cultural heritage, The Getty recently announced an ambitious, $100 million initiative called “Ancient Worlds Now: A Future for the Past” that aims to promote a stronger understanding of global cultural heritage and its value to present and future society. Although activities related to the decade-long initiative are already underway, an official launch is scheduled for next summer.

Main objectives of the initiative include:

raising broad awareness of the threats to ancient heritage caused by development, economic pressures, mass tourism, political forces, climate change, and violent conflict;
creating effective conservation strategies and educational programs to engage audiences worldwide about the significance of protecting ancient sites;
and pursuing further research to strengthen understanding of the interconnections between ancient cultures.

“In an age of resurgent populism, sectarian violence, and climate ch...

How Canadian designer Eric McMillan redefined the way we play through the Ontario Place Children's Village

2019-08-01T19:33:00-04:00

Watching the way children used his equipment, often in ways he could never have anticipated, made him more and more certain: play wasn’t a frivolous distraction from learning, but something essential to childhood and indeed humanity. [...] According to his design philosophy, each park wasn’t just a place to jump on a shockingly large air mattress. It was “a place where a child can ask questions of what it means to be human.”

Journalist Nicholas Hune-Brown profiles Canadian designer Eric McMillan, who started out his career as an exhibition designer and was then thrown into the spotlight after he designed the Ontario Place Children's Village in Toronto. Suddenly becoming the expert on children's design, McMillan incorporated elements that aimed to help kids learn through play — which includes helping create the world's first ball pit.

In the piece, McMillan looks back on those years — from the thought process behind the iconic Toronto playground, to how changing attitudes towards playgrounds led to the end of those glory years, to what he thinks should be done with the now-defunct site.

“The key was to build things that sparked interaction, between kids and the equipment, but especially between the kids themselves,” Hune-Brown writes in the piece.

Ford Motor Co. to renovate Detroit's Michigan Central Station into “future mobility” research center

2019-07-18T16:48:00-04:00

This all makes what is happening now all the more remarkable. Last summer, Ford Motor Company announced it had bought the building, with plans to invest $740million to transform it into a world-leading research centre for ‘future mobility’. The very industry that signed the station’s death warrant in the first place is now set on resuscitating it as a beacon of sustainable transport.

Oliver Wainwright pens a piece on the upcoming renovation of the Michigan Central Station, which was a celebrated icon of Detroit when it first opened in 1913. After the station closed in 1988 and was abandoned, it became the epitome of the city's ruin porn.

After buying the building last summer, Ford Motor Company will transform the ground floor into a public market-style space, while offices in the upper floors and neighboring buildings will house their 1.2 million square-foot “future mobility” Headquarters and Research Campus, which Snøhetta is designing.

In the article, Ford's construction manager Richard Bardelli tells Wainwright that the renovation project aims to turn Detroit into “the mobility capital of the world”.

UNESCO finally recognizes Iraq's Babylon as a World Heritage Site

2019-07-08T18:31:00-04:00

Since 1983, Iraq has lobbied to have Babylon, the "Mesopotamian metropolis," recognized as an official World Heritage Site. For three decades, Iraq persisted until finally, on July 5th, a committee met in Azerbaijan to vote for the city to be recognized by UNESCO. According to a piece in Al Jazeera, Iraq's UNESCO World Heritage Committee representative stated, "What is the world heritage list without Babylon? How to tell the history of humanity without the earliest of old chapters, Babylon?"

Reconstructed ruins of Babylon. Image courtesy of unsualtraveler.com

The Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Image © Hussein Faleh/AFP

Located near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad, Babylon was the center of the Babylonian empire. Recognizable by its temples and towers made of mudbricks, Babylon is famously associated with the Tower of Babel as well as the Is...

A Look Back at Some Articles Celebrating American Architecture and Architects

2019-07-04T14:01:00-04:00

Who and what comes to mind when thinking of American architecture? In practice, academia, and culture, America's influence on the built environment has undergone moments of triumph as well as moments of reflection. In celebration of the nation's independence from British monarchy in 1776, Archinect rounds up a selection of news coverage discussing American architects, architecture, and discourse.

Notable American Architects

Manhattan's Battery Park was once a surreal beachfront

2019-06-23T10:45:00-04:00

Technically, the sand wasn’t intended for public use. But Manhattan is not your usual island, and beaches are whatever Manhattanites say they are: sidewalks, tar-paper roofs, the hoods of cars or, in this case, acres and acres of landfill.

Though Manhattan skyline has been the focus of countless photographs, movies and television shows, there are still images out there that can defy expectations. For a brief period, between the late 1960's and the 1980's, the lower West end of Manhattan (known as Battery Park City) was an "ersatz beach," the consequence of a failed makeover planned by New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller which, according to the New York Times, "was so exuberant that it could only fail."

A sculpture by Nancy Rubins made from found objects in Battery Park City, Aug. 1, 1980. Photo by Fred R. Conrad.

Officially known as "the Battery Park City landfill," the unplanned beach front provided a surreal stage for many of New York's diverse set of classes, including artists and college students. Sculptor Nancy Rubins, for instance, collected waste and compiled it into what eventually became a 15 foot structure (above).

Battery Park City, Aug. 18, 1981. Photo by Sara Krulwich

By the mid 1980s, a masterplan was...

The 'Stonewall Forever' augmented reality monument celebrates 50 years of LGBTQ Pride history

2019-06-05T17:31:00-04:00

The Stonewall Riots in June 1969 set forth the fight for LGBTQ rights that continues today. To honor the last five decades of its lasting impact, the LGBT Community Center of NYC teamed up with the National Park Service, with support from Google, to create an interactive, augmented reality monument called “Stonewall Forever”, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Stonewall and aims to preserve LGBTQ history and amplify voices from the community.

"We hope that this effort lifts up a broad array of voices and creates a connection to Stonewall's legacy for people everywhere,” the Stonewall Forever website states.

The rainbow “living monument” lets users scroll through scores of videos, a documentary film, historic photos, audio, and text that tell the ever-growing, multi-faceted story of the LGBTQ community. Also, anyone anywhere can add their own images and text to the monument.

In 2017, Google.org — the tech giant's philanthropic arm — granted $1 million to the LGBT Community Ce...

How an obsession with illness shaped modern architecture, according to Beatriz Colomina

2019-05-06T18:49:00-04:00

Clean lines, white surfaces and indoor-outdoor living epitomise early modern architecture. Contrary to received wisdom, to Colomina this is less a machine aesthetic than a hospital aesthetic. Through the lens of disease, nervous disorders, sexuality and self-expression, Colomina’s fascinating interpretation of modern architecture suggests the motivating factors behind the architectural revolution were the need for health and cleanliness, hygiene and smooth, calming surfaces.

In light of her recently published book X-Ray Architecture, architectural historian Beatriz Colomina talks about the history of how illnesses shaped the clean aesthetics of 20th-century modern architecture.

‘‘In the 20th century architects from Le Corbusier to Mies van der Rohe to Alvar Aalto are all obsessed with illnesses,’’ Colomina tells The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘‘Corb says the old city has to be destroyed and a new architecture should emerge because it produces tuberculosis.’’

Architect Minnette de Silva pioneered Sri Lankan modernism, yet her work has been largely forgotten

2019-04-29T18:58:00-04:00

These setbacks toughened her demeanour. [...] Her toughness soon gave her a reputation for being a “difficult woman”. Following an intense period of building in the 1950s, De Silva’s contracts dried up, while [Geoffrey] Bawa’s rocketed. Ismeth Raheem, an architect who worked closely with Bawa in the early years, recalls De Silva telling him on several occasions: “I was dismissed because I am a woman. I was never taken seriously for my work.”

While Minnette de Silva's influence can be seen in the more progressive architecture in Colombo in her native Sri Lanka, “her contribution to architecture has been only belatedly – and sometimes begrudgingly – acknowledged,” writes Shiromi Pinto in The Guardian.

Throughout her career, de Silva wasn't taken seriously as an architect, and her studio and her surviving built works remain in a precarious state 20 years after her death. However, close associates like architect C Anjalendran are ensuring that her work isn't forgotten.

“Sunlight was weaponized”: How shade has been an index of inequality in LA's urban design

2019-04-24T11:30:00-04:00

Shade is often understood as a luxury amenity, lending calm to courtyards and tree-lined boulevards, cooling and obscuring jewel boxes and glass cubes. But as deadly, hundred-degree heatwaves become commonplace, we have to learn to see shade as a civic resource that is shared by all. In the shade, overheated bodies return to equilibrium. [...] Shade is thus an index of inequality, a requirement for public health, and a mandate for urban planners and designers.

In this longform piece, writer Sam Bloch delves into the history of how shade has served as an index of inequality in the urban design of Los Angeles, and how the city (and perhaps other locations) should learn to consider shade as an important public health requirement.

“People living in poor neighborhoods, many of them black and brown, are exposed not only to higher levels of air pollution, soil toxins, contaminated water, and flood risk, but also to higher temperatures on unprotected streets. [...] Maybe we ought to start talking about shade deserts, just as we talk about neighborhoods without grocery stores as food deserts,” Bloch writes.

“Look at what happened to Pershing Square, where sunlight was weaponized to clear out the ‘deviates and criminals,’” Bloch adds.

The cultural and historic impact of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral

2019-04-15T16:46:00-04:00

In light of the recent Notre Dame Cathedral fire, many have posted photos and stories remembering the historic landmark across social media. As news of the fire's progression airs around the world, we can not help but stay optimistic for the cathedral's recovery. Although the public eye may be focused on the structure's current state, let us take a moment to recall the historical and cultural importance of this famed Parisian landmark.

Notre Dame Cathedral - cross section. Image courtesy of pitt.edu

Considered one of the most notable structures in Paris, the 850-year old building is located in the center of the River Seine on a small island called Ile de la Cite. The name Notre-Dame de Paris, which translates to "Our Lady of Paris," began its construction in 1163 and took nearly 200 years to complete. It is recorded that the cathedral's completion took place during the reign of Kin...

Revisiting the “surreal, weirder” spirit of the Bauhaus

2019-03-15T14:32:00-04:00

Many imitators have missed the element of Bauhaus that breathed life into what might have become sterile functionalist designs; the surreal, sensual, irrational, and instinctual spirit of the Bauhaus. [...] If one seeks to emulate the Bauhaus today, it is vital to remember the elements of weirdness, pleasure, and even organized chaos that made it what it was. And, also, the moments where it failed to rise to fulfill its own ambitions and principles.

Many people today recognize the Bauhaus — which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year — for its clean lines and minimalist aesthetic. In this piece, writer Darran Anderson delves into the history of the “other, weirder, irrational” side of the infamous art school.

The Columbus Square pavilion by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher, Philadelphia's first licensed female architect, is slated for demolition

2019-03-13T15:24:00-04:00

The loss of this charming pavilion would be a double blow for Philadelphia history. Not only is Columbus Square’s little stone tower a fine example of mid-century modern design, it is also one of a handful of surviving buildings by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher, the first woman in Philadelphia to receive a license to practice architecture.

The crown-roofed cylindrical pavilion designed by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher in 1960 is a landmark in South Philadelphia's Columbus Square. Now, the building is slated for demolition as part of a renovation of the park.

“Because this is women’s history month, it’s also worth pointing out that, 85 years after Fleisher received her architecture license, it’s still rare to find a Philadelphia building designed by a woman. The Columbus Square pavilion may be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find a use...”, architecture critic Inga Saffron writes in the article.