Archinect - News

Christopher Hawthorne goes 1-on-1 with Peter Zumthor in LACMA makeover preview

2023-10-06T13:12:00-04:00

Zumthor describes the wing as “a concrete sculpture,” with floors, walls and ceilings of exposed concrete. There will be bronze surrounds on the window and door openings throughout the building. When I visited Haldenstein, he and his colleagues were weighing final choices for the color palette of the walls at the base of the new wing, inside the various legs. “Lively, not dark colors, to give identity to different spaces,” he said. “And then you come up into this world of concrete.”

Ahead of next year’s anticipated completion, Peter Zumthor says his sculptural new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA will be bereft of the most recognizable traces of his Pritzker-winning design signature — a claim the museum's director Michael Govan then refuted. The man who once said, “the real core of all architectural work lies in the act of construction,” pointed to a faulty concrete pour at the outset and difficulties with the site’s foundation as factors that forced his design to be streamlined. The paring down of the overpass-like wing connector that covers Wilshire Boulevard was another point of contention.

Critics like Mimi Zeiger have described the project as “environmentally tone-deaf.” Hawthorne has thus far withheld any criticisms of his own, preferring to cover the project through a more explanatory journalism.

Construction on the new building is now 65% complete as of October 1st. The article mentioned the new wing may not be fully opened to the public until 2026.

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Next Up: Exhibit Columbus / Part 1: A Conversation with the Curators

2021-07-20T08:27:00-04:00

Today, in partnership with Exhibit Columbus, we're introducing Next Up: Exhibit Columbus, our 5-part series of conversations with the curators of Exhibit Columbus and the recipients of The J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.

The designers awarded the Miller Prize were each selected for their commitment to the transformative power that architecture, art, and design have to improve people’s lives and make cities better places to live.

Each designer, or team, was tasked with creating a site-specific installation in and around the city of Columbus, Indiana. Our conversations touch on each project within the context of the designer's body of work, the process involved during the research and development, and finally discussing each installation in detail.

The installations will be unveiled in person with a preview party on August 20th and will be open to the public from August 21st to November 28th.

To begin, our conversation today is with Mimi Zeiger and Iker Gil, co-curators of the ...

Exhibit Columbus names Dream the Combine, ecosistema urbano, Future Firm, Olalekan Jeyifous, and Sam Jacob Studio as Miller Prize recipients

2020-08-12T13:38:00-04:00

Exhibit Columbus has announced that the organization's forthcoming 2020-2021 exhibition cycle, curated by Iker Gil and Mimi Zeiger, will focus on the theme of New Middles:From Main Street To Megalopolis, What Is The Future of The Middle City?

In addition to announcing the new theme, the organization has also named the winners of this year's J. Irwin and Xenia Miller Prize winners. The winners are: Dream the Combine of Minneapolis, ecosistema urbano of Miami and Madrid, Future Firm of Chicago, Olalekan Jeyifous of Brooklyn, and Sam Jacob Studio of London.

Previously on Archinect: Archinect Sessions Site Visit: Exhibit Columbus.

Describing the theme of the symposium and exhibition, the former of which will be presented virtually in 2020 with in-person installations taking shape in 2021, the organizers write that "Midwest, mid-sized, or middle American, the notion of “middle" goes beyond geography and does not mean average or neutral. Middle is its own condition, especially in relation ...

Mimi Zeiger and Iker Gil selected for inaugural Exhibit Columbus Curatorial Fellowship

2020-06-18T16:39:00-04:00

Architect Iker Gil and critic Mimi Zeiger have been selected for the inaugural 2020-2021 Curatorial Fellowship created by Exhibit Columbus. The pair is slated to co-curate the 2020 Exhibit Columbus Symposium as well as the 2021 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition.

Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based curator, critic, and editor, while Chicago-based Gil leads MAS Studio, the nonprofit MAS Context, and is also the executive director of the SOM Foundation. According to a press release announcing the selection, "Gil and Zeiger bring an extensive background in researching and creating exhibitions and publications around architecture and design through themes related to alternative histories of modernism, cities and the urgencies of civic space, resiliency, and connectivity."

Describing the goals of the Curatorial Fellowship, Exhibit Columbus Director Anne Surak explains, “Exhibit Columbus is excited to build upon its first two cycles by introducing new curatorial voices to the third iteration of the pr...

Mimi Zeiger combs SCI-Arc media archive to create lecture playlist highlighting feminist thought in design

2020-03-09T18:02:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based critic and curator Mimi Zeiger has developed Feminisms: 1974 to Now, a curated video playlist of lectures that have taken place at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) over the decades highlighting "feminist thought and dialogue" at the institution.

The playlist, dubbed a "Collection," is hosted on the newly-launched SCI-Arc Channel website, a dedicated online space that makes available videos created over the last 30 or so years from the school's lecture series, collected via the SCI-Arc Media Archive. Zeiger's Collection includes contributions from Design, Bitches, Penelope Spheeris, Dolores Hayden, Phyllis Birkby, Beatriz Colomina, Sheila da Brettaville, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Keller Easterling, Esther Choi, Izasjun Chinchilla, and Cecilia Fajardo-Hill.

The lectures focus on a variety of topics that stake a claim the for "feminist outlooks [that] shape our work and our world," Zeiger writes in an introduction for the collection. Ze...

'Atlas of Brutalist Architecture' reflects a significant change in public opinion

2019-01-17T16:19:00-05:00

"If there was any lingering doubt that Brutalism — the architectural style derided for everything the name implies — was back in fashion, the “Atlas of Brutalist Architecture” quashes it with a monumental thump. At 560 pages representing some 878 works of architecture in over 100 countries, the outsize volume is part reference tool, part coffee table book, and certainly part of an ongoing design trend favoring big, big books."

It has been remarkable to see the dramatic change in public opinion towards brutalist architecture in the last few years. Not only has the style shed its identity as a blight on the majority of modern cities, but dozens of products have recently entered the market in honor of these monumental edifices.

Spread of "Atlas of Brutalist Architecture" Phaidon

Mimi Zeiger's review of 'Atlas of Brutalist Architecture,' the 560-page treatise to the movement now carried at Archinect Outpost, is a reflection of this recent phenomenon. "Today," Zeiger writes, "the architectural ugly duckling is a swan with an Instagram following. The monolithic and blocky design of Kanye West’s Yeezy headquarters in Calabasas was inspired by Brutalism. And this fall, Archinect, a digital platform for architecture based in Los Angeles, launched a line of coffee called Brutal in partnership with Yeekai Lim, a former architect and founder of Culver City’s Cognoscenti Coffee."

Brutal Coffee at Archinect Outpost. Pho...

The LA Forum Reader Traces 30 Years of LA's Architectural Discourse

2018-07-06T17:40:00-04:00

The LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design has offered a critical look at the city of Los Angeles since the late 80's. The nonprofit has been providing public programming, exhibitions, and publications through its ever-shifting board of directors and volunteer contributors. To celebrate this 30-year milestone, the Forum has carefully selected a collection of pieces published from its origin to today, and has published these in a book under the themes of Experiments, Detours, Hunches, and Santa Anas.

Today, Los Angeles is a major architectural and urban player, but for decades the city was dismissed suburban and centerless. In republishing three decades of material on architecture and design in Los Angeles, the LA Forum Reader reclaims and reconsiders the city’s architectural and discursive histories. It establishes, or reestablishes, a textual context for critical experimentation and urban investigation. This anthological volume includes essays, interviews, and reproductions of...

DS+R, Studio Gang, Keller Easterling among exhibitors selected for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

2017-09-12T21:03:00-04:00

The U.S. Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled Dimensions of Citizenship, is further taking shape: the curatorial team — announced just two weeks ago and comprised of Mimi Zeiger, Niall Atkinson, and Ann Lui — today revealed a line-up of the seven pavilion exhibitors:

Amanda Williams & Andres L. Hernandez
Chicago, IL

PXSTL: Williams and Hernandez won the 2016 design-build competition. Image courtesy of Michael B. Thomas / Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

Design Earth
Cambridge, MA

Pacific Aquarium. Oslo Architecture Triennale, After Belonging, 2016. Project Team: El Hadi Jazairy + Rania Ghosn. Reid Fellenbaum, Ya Suo, Jia Weng, Shuya Xu, Saswati Das, with initial contributions from Rixt Woudstra. Image courtesy of DESIGN EARTH

Diller Scofidio + Renfro
New York, NY

The Shed, View from 30th Street looking northwest, Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group. Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group

Estudio Teddy Cruz...

Dimensions of Citizenship: Curators of the US Pavilion for 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale announced

2017-08-30T21:33:00-04:00

Months later than usual, the US State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs has finally announced that the exhibit for the 2018 Venice Biennial will be put together by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. Titled “Dimensions of Citizenship”, and organized by UC's Niall Atkinson, SAIC's Ann Lui and the Los Angeles-based independent critic Mimi Zeiger, the show will tackle the controversial question of what it means to be a citizen.

The pavilion will present both—newly commissioned projects created in response to the subject and already existing work, featuring entries from theorists, historians, and artists in addition to architects and designers. Commenting on the choice of the theme, Lui noted, “We thought that citizenship was a very urgent topic right now, both within national and global conversations. We noticed that architecture was often squarely in the center of these conversations, whether it was the border wall, or about mor...

Archinect Sessions & Bureau Spectacular team up at the Arroyo Seco Weekend festival this Saturday in Pasadena

2017-06-22T17:45:00-04:00

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, you are already aware of the Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival, taking place in Pasadena this weekend. The festival is a new event hosted by the same people that run Coachella, Desert Trip, and other amazing art/music/culture events.

For this inaugural festival, Archinect has teamed up with Jimenez Lai/Bureau Spectacular. Hosted by Archinect's Paul Petrunia and Nicholas Korody, we will be running our 5th Next Up podcasting event inside of Bureau Spectacular's project "Field House."

If you're coming to the festival, come by and say hi, or pull up a blanket and stick around for a few to listen to our conversations.

Lineup & Schedule

Mimi Zeiger: 1 PM
Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based critic, editor and curator that has covered art, architecture, urbanism and design for a number of publications including The New York Times, Domus, Architectural Review, and Architect. She is also author of New Museums, Tiny Houses, Micro Green: Tiny Houses i...

Can late modernism survive the near future?

2017-01-05T18:32:00-05:00

All across Los Angeles, buildings by the city's most important firms face preservation threats. Rejected and outmoded, can late modernism find love?

What is the value of history in a city known for its ephemerality? (Hint: um, not much, unless everyone agrees it is pretty.) In this piece for the L.A. Weekly, Mimi Zeiger thoroughly investigates the state of late modernist structures in the City of Angels, and how likely it is that many of these often repurposed (and unfortunately altered) buildings will survive changing public tastes. While the LAX theme building has been legally protected from demolition, other notable works--like William L. Pereira's original LACMA buildings--haven't met with the same preservationist zeal.

Modernism, in the news:

"Tiny Houses in the City" showcases big opportunities in small housing

2016-03-31T20:19:00-04:00

It’s not enough to just give someone a shelter. A home really needs a certain amount of consideration as to how you live in it. As we look at housing as a solution for helping the homeless and middle class -- especially in L.A. -- we have an opportunity to expand the vocabulary. We’ve never been tied down with what housing looks like in Los Angeles. We can have super interesting approaches to density here.

"Women in architecture" vs. "now in architecture": Mimi Zeiger on gender and architecture today

2016-03-01T15:56:00-05:00

For a while I’ve held the belief that identifying oneself as an architect is a kind of drag, a mannered persona donned for effect. How else to describe the clichéd sartorial signifiers: extreme eyewear, black daywear and designer footwear? As the education of an architect is so historically weighted to a canon of male practitioners, theorists and educators, a woman entering the field often operates as a kind of architectural androgyne...

"...we are trained to see world of design through black-framed, male-coloured glasses. Gender differentiation, then, comes with a thorny rhetorical question: ‘What’s the difference?’ If the goal is to recognise talent, experimentation and innovation, there seems no reason to create a binary in the field."

For more articles on issues related to gender-parity and -visibility in architecture, take a look at these links:

Bonus Session: "Scenes from the Post-Geographic City"

2016-02-03T09:02:00-05:00

Back in December of last year, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture launched in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, featuring an exhibition curated by Los Angeles-based critic Mimi Zeiger and designer Tim Durfee, representing Art Center’s Media Design Practices program. Their show, “Now, There: Scenes from the Post-Geographic City”, winner of the Biennale’s Bronze Dragon, reconsiders what makes up today’s idea of a “city”, specifically regarding our digital and virtual presences, as well as contemporary issues of globalized economies.

The exhibition features work by Besler & Sons, Walton Chiu, Tim Durfee and Ben Hooker (with Jenny Rodenhouse), John Szot Studio, m-a-u-s-e-r, and Metahaven, as well as texts by Joanne McNeil, Enrique Ramirez, and Therese Tierney. Check out some of their work below.

Mimi and Tim joined Paul and I in Archinect’s podcasting studio to talk about the exhibition, and introduce a discussion recorded in Shenzhen among the participants of “Now, There" and one of the...

Bonus Session: Reflections on "Shelter" in Los Angeles

2015-11-20T14:49:00-05:00

We're pleased to announce a special bonus episode of Archinect Sessions, featuring a live recording of the closing panel discussion for "Shelter" at the Architecture + Design Museum in Los Angeles.

To close out the exhibition on November 6, curators Sam Lubell and Danielle Rago hosted two panel discussions with the featured architects, focusing on the sites that serve as the exhibition's organizing principles: the Metro subway extension in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the stretch of the LA River running through the city proper. Both sites embody much of what is affecting Los Angeles' changing urbanism – ongoing drought, invigorated public transportation, gentrification, and increasing density.

Mimi Zeiger, West Coast Editor of The Architect's Newspaper moderated the panel on the River, with Jimenez Lai (Bureau Spectacular), Elizabeth Timme (LA-Más), and Lorcan O'Herlihy (Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects), and I moderated the panel on Metro, with Jennifer Marmon (PAR...

Op-Ed: Architect Magazine Finally Found its Voice

2012-11-28T03:04:00-05:00

I recently received my November Issue of Architect and for the first time since the blogs caused us all to begin devouring images at warp speed and sent print media into a battle for survival, I actually "read" an architecture magazine. It was truly satisfying.

From its inception, the idea behind Architect was clear; its title was the proof. Architectural Record had lost touch. It had become a glossy product placement catalog, serving its advertisers but increasingly bereft of intellectual rigor. Architect promised to peel back the facade of idealized pre-occupancy images and to share the stories of the people who make architecture: to deliver us process and ideas. The bar was high and so were many of our expectations. Perhaps that is why I have been so underwhelmed as Architect has struggled for nearly 7 years to find a voice. The magazine has taken us on a journey from in-depth interviews of firms producing irrelevant projects, to garnish cartoony graphics that distracted from...