“It’s not so bad,” offered an architect who has a window facing the building.

Alas, it is.

Like the corporate campus and plaza it shares, 1 World Trade speaks volumes about political opportunism, outmoded thinking and upside-down urban priorities. It’s what happens when a commercial developer is pretty much handed the keys to the castle. — The New York Times

“We looked at Frank Gehry designs and a lot of modern architecture with folded planes and fractalized surfaces and kind of riffed on all of that. It looks like it fell from the sky onto this field.” Looking at Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao the influence is clear.

Two other architects immediately come to mind as possible influences. Daniel Libeskind and Greg Lynn are leaders in the field of “folded planes and fractalized surfaces.” — smithsonianmag.com

“Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities” is, at least nominally, about urbanism and architecture. [...]

The problems, not the solutions, presented in “Uneven Growth” are very real. Before Gadanho and his teams of architects, planners, and researchers can suggest productive solutions, they would do well to acknowledge that their fellow practitioners hold responsibility for the very state of urban affairs they seek to remedy. — blouinartinfo.com

A hundred and some years ago, an aesthetic force called the City Beautiful movement professed the theory that grand public buildings, lovely civic palaces, could inspire Americans to become good citizens. [...]

Since the 1960s, though, it seems as if great civic architecture has become an embarrassment. Politicians who love to cut ribbons find it hard to justify paying for beautiful on top of functional. The result is a style I call Sunbelt Stalinism [...]. — latimes.com

In a young city predisposed to wrecking and rebuilding, impressive works of architecture can sometimes be discarded as effortlessly as last year’s runway accessories.

But Miami Marine Stadium, a bold structure on Biscayne Bay that sought to jolt the city into the future back in 1963, may prove a rare, stubborn exception. Abandoned and shuttered more than two decades ago, the Modernist stadium is in the midst of a turbulent, nearly seven-year effort by a nonprofit group [...]. — nytimes.com

The work presented for the Lucas Museum has precedent. It's not just out of the blue; it is something that has been in the air for many years. [...]

I would hope that the people of Chicago take the proper time to review the Lucas Museum. I also hope that they will give the client and the architects sufficient time to develop the project — to work with the city and the public to evolve the design.

Please do not dismiss it because it doesn't look like something you've never seen before. — chicagotribune.com

Back in 2008, architect Santiago Calatrava placed an $11.34M lien on the Chicago Spire in the hope of being paid for his work on the project, which officially died in November, having never amounted to anything more than a hole in the ground. Now, Crain's Chicago reports that Calatrava may have missed the two-year window he had to file a lawsuit to enforce his claim. — curbed.com

First, parking structures need to be used for longer periods of the day and for different purposes, both public and private. [...]

Second, parking structures need to be designed as flexible structures that can accommodate transitions from parking alone to a variety of other uses as parking ratios decline with further mixed-use development and increased use of shared parking facilities and transit. — urbanland.uli.org

Watching two grown men in a social media hissy fit over a building sign is actually a lot more amusing than one might think.

In this corner, Donald Trump, rich guy, who, in the view of one esteemed newspaper critic, has defiled our fine city by slapping his name on the side of his silvery, shiny building.

In the other corner, Blair Kamin, decorated architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune and defender of building aesthetics. — chicago.cbslocal.com

Good architects strive to balance design and function while listening closely to a client’s emotional needs for the space. Public projects often have the added layers of bureaucratic paperwork,  media scrutiny, and community outreach. But rebuilding a school after a shooting presents a unique kaleidoscope of intense feelings. Architects must create an environment that not only promotes learning, but also helps the students—and their towns—heal from tragedy. — theatlantic.com

Clemson University has backed off its plans to build a modern architecture center at Meeting and George streets - a project applauded at first but later bitterly fought by two neighborhoods and preservation groups.

Clemson announced its decision to change course on its $10 million Spaulding Paolozzi Center in the wake of a recent lawsuit filed challenging how the city's Board of Architectural Review handled its approval. — postandcourier.com