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I started the blog McMansion Hell to document—and deride—the endless cosmetic variations of this uniquely American form of architectural blight. [...] I worry that I’ve actually reinforced the idea that McMansions are a relic of the recent past. In fact, there remains a certain allure to these seemingly soulless suburban developments [...] the McMansion is alive and well. Far from being a boom time fad, it has become a durable emblem of our American way of life. — The Baffler
Wagner says that, without noticing, the media’s focus on gentrification and the affordability of cities has meant that the rise of “modern farmhouses” and other forms of McMansions following the end of the great recession has gone largely unscrutinized. She claims these and other designs... View full entry
The material is essentially free, or at least locally available for a fraction of the cost of concrete...Mud construction contributes little to global warming. And concrete tends to be a gateway, once people can afford it, to another fossil-fuel-guzzling invention: air-conditioning. — National Geographic
Peter Schwartzstein explores the work of folks such as Clara Sawadogo, Francis Kéré and Salima Naji who are trying to rekindle an interest in materials and methods that have a long tradition in Africa and the Middle East. View full entry
The new developments look startlingly alike, often in the form of boxy, mid-rise buildings with a ground-floor retail space, sans-serif fonts and vivid slabs of bright paneling. The bulky design is conspicuous, jutting out of downtown streets and overpowering its surroundings. Over time, it attracts a certain ecosystem — the craft breweries, the boutique coffee shops, the out-of-town young professionals.
It’s anytown architecture, and it’s hard to know where you are from one city to the next.
— The New York Times
The disappearance of America’s vernacular architecture and subsequent rise of what some call developer modernism is the product of necessity, reluctance towards artistry, and the monopolization of residential development across the country, according to the Times’ real estate reporter Anna... View full entry
The apartment signs of L.A. announce location through flair, decadence, strangeness, absurdity, signification. When you see an otherwise unremarkable name affixed to a building in your neighborhood, you know — probably to the exact number of paces or miles, if you counted — how much further your intended destination is. That’s the thing about L.A. apartment signs — they point you toward where you need to be: home. — The Los Angeles Times
The LA Times has a really cool new series I am personally obsessed with wherein the “architecture of everyday life” is explored in and around the city. In this iteration, the Times’ style editor Ian Blair waxed poetic about LA’s midcentury typographical elements, best embodied on the... View full entry
After 20 years of frantic city-building, rustic China is in a death spiral. Now architects are helping to reverse the exodus – with inspirational tofu factories, rice wine distilleries and lotus tea plants — The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian's architecture critic, on the new crop of Chinese architects seeking to create a renewed sense of local pride and cultural identity across the country's vast rural areas. "After an era of foreign architects using China as their playground," Wainwright quotes design... View full entry
The LMN Architects-designed Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal has officially opened in Mukilteo, Washington. The two-story terminal building is inspired by the tribal longhouse built and used by the region's Coast Salish tribes. Designed in partnership with KPFF Consulting Engineers, the new... View full entry
Students at the Yale University School of Architecture have completed construction on the 2019 Jim Vlock First Year Building Project, a student-led design-build exploration that has brought a three-unit "triple-decker"-style home into existence. View of a upperlevel balcony-porch attached to... View full entry
There are many names associated with the documentation of American fringe culture during the transformative middle of the 20th century, among them Johnny Cash, Hunter S. Thompson and even architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. But one of its principal photographers - whose images may be... View full entry
I repeat: The most influential residential architect of the 20th century — and unless you are a longtime reader of this blog (and why aren’t you, pray tell?) you probably never heard of him...Bottom line: Royal Barry Wills’ ethic dominated the housing landscape then — and I’d say, even now. — Retro Renovation
Since at least 2008, Pam Kueber (of the The Mid-Century Modest Manifesto) has been singing the praises of American architect Royal Barry Wills. First-time learning his name, already a fan, what is your take? View full entry
Eunpyeong Hanok Village was selling locals hanok, the traditional Korean tile-roofed residences that have, after hundreds of years, increasingly been destroyed and replaced by towering steel structures; indeed, not since the 1930s have hanok been constructed in significant numbers.
The decline of vernacular architecture in the face of global urbanization is, of course, hardly new, though traditional Korean hanok are a particularly stark contrast to modern city living.
— The New York Times
A new housing development, Eunpyeong, in northern Seoul is solely dedicated to constructing traditional Korean hanok houses. The design adheres to certain guidelines on proportion and design, with a low center of gravity, a courtyard, and an orientation towards nature. The hanok's popularity... View full entry
How could an architect who had made the pursuit of lightness the essence of his design aspirations become one of the great form-givers of the aesthetics of weightiness? — Places Journal
In this rich examination of the work of Marcel Breuer, Barry Bergdoll explores the marked shifts between his early European and later American work, and finds a constant in the pursuit of lightness. In his efforts to reconcile vernacular traditions with modern expression and the conditions of... View full entry
Each piece of the structure tells that grander story. The poorly constructed stone walls in the original room hint at the area’s isolation and the need to use nearby materials. A sundial over the northern door installed by the fort’s early inhabitants is a celebration of the return of two men who were kidnapped during a Native American raid. In one room, a prayer is inscribed on a ceiling beam. — NYT
Serena Solomon traveled to the small town of San Ygnacio, Texas, where the River Pierce Foundation is working to identify, conserve and make known the built vernacular and cultural heritage of the rural village. With a special focus on the early 19th century sandstone complex of the Treviño-Uribe... View full entry
In Toronto's central Summerhill neighborhood sits a steady line-up of typical 19th century workers' row houses. Nestled among them, between the colored brick facades and conventional front porches, is Twelve Tacoma, designed by the Toronto-based Aleph-Bau. Drawing on the surrounding vernacular... View full entry
Innovative Industrial Properties, Kalyx and other similar groups are following the same strategy: buy buildings, retrofit them and lease them to commercial or medical marijuana growers. But it can often cost millions to turn a vacant warehouse into a facility suitable for cannabis cultivation. — NYT
David Gelles reports that the spread of legalization means the weed business is booming and with it, demand for commercial, industrial space. The latest post-industrial trend in states like California, Colorado, Massachusetts or even New York is a retrofitted industrial-scale "cultivation... View full entry
They were basically city blocks that functioned as gated communities, with guards manning the front entrance. The whole essence of old Shanghai was that life was lived horizontally — all the activity happened at street level...Commissioned mostly by Western developers, the first shikumen appeared in the 1870s...local contractors who built them drew upon the interior floor plans of traditional Chinese courtyard homes and local decorative motifs. — NYT
Taras Grescoe pens a paean to shikumen, alleyway complexes entered through a stone-framed kumen (gateway), which at one point housed approximately 80 percent of the population of Shanghai. While fewer authentic examples remain, the city has in recent years begun redeveloping, "fake vintage"... View full entry
