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Architecture critic Mark Lamster on the inaccessible trope 'plaguing new buildings'

2024-05-22T18:43:00-04:00

Over the past decade or so, bleacher stairs have become a ubiquitous marker of contemporary public architecture. It’s time for the trend to stop. Its subsequent proliferation serves as a good example of how avant-garde design, or at least a consumerist version of it, filters down to the mainstream. The broader point is that architects need to be more inventive as they plan new public spaces, and their patrons need to demand that those spaces are accessible for the entire population.

The ubiquitous “bleacher stair” feature can be seen in designs for the Studio Museum of Harlem, Perez Art Museum Miami, and the new Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History (just by my count) and can be traced to Rem Koolhaas’ design for Prada’s NYC flagship in 2001, says architecture critic Mark Lamster in a look around Dallas. (He later mentions SOM’s new Schwarzman College of Computing for MIT as a positive adaptation of the trend.)

Interestingly, architect and disability advocate David Gissen tells him, “I think a giant mattress would be a more appropriate element with which to gather people together. Many disabled people have called for cities to re-imagine rest as a public good, and I think it is important that we explore the possibilities.”

Other critics have begun taking note elsewhere. How refreshing it is still to see criticism include a discussion like this that doesn’t expressly encourage “bad building.”

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Online events today worth checking out include David Gissen, Eric Salitsky & Rachel Armstrong

2020-05-13T12:39:00-04:00

Today's featured virtual event happenings, from Archinect's Virtual Event Guide, address issues from the climate crisis, resilience, health and wellness, and diversity and inclusion to equity, economy and environment and much more.

Are you hosting a virtual lecture? Presentation? Tour? Interview? Happy Hour? Submit it for consideration by clicking here.

Are you an expert in an arena that's especially important right now? Let us know if you would like to work with Archinect to host an online event.

UCLA Virtual Lecture: David Gissen
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT
David Gissen, architecture historian and designer, to speak as part of UCLA's Architecture & Urban Design 2019-20 lecture series.
Click here to attend and/or register

LeBrun Grant Lecture - Exploring the Phenomenon of Multifaith Spaces with Eric Salitsky
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
In this webinar, Eric Salitsky will present his 2018 Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant research in which he...

"The Mound of Vendôme" digs up Paris' dirty revolutionary past

2014-07-02T19:20:00-04:00

Situating The Mound of Vendôme, the current exhibition on view at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, requires looking back into Paris' history after the French Revolution. For a tumultuous two months in 1871, the city was under the control of the Commune de Paris, a socialist revolutionary government. Their distaste for imperialistic brute force and Bonapartism led to their demolition of the Place Vendôme Column, a monumental column celebrating Napoleon's military victories -- and so on May 16, 1871, the Column was felled, and the statue of Napoleon from the Column's peak melted down for coins. After the Commune was ousted, the Column was rebuilt in 1874, topped by a copy of the original Napoleon statue.

To control the Column's fall and protect surrounding buildings, Communards piled a large mound of sand, straw, branches, and manure at its base, a large architectural intervention that completely disrupted the Column's imposing icon. These days, however, all traces of these events...