All in all — despite a pretty obvious blind spot in Hustwit's thinking about cities like Los Angeles — "Urbanized" ranks among the smartest recent analyses of mass global urbanization and its discontents. Think of it as a cinematic version of "The Endless City," the book that Ricky Burdett (who plays a significant role in "Urbanized") and Deyan Sudjic put out three years ago. — articles.latimes.com

The Case Study program, in case it still needs any introduction, was a pioneering effort sponsored by L.A.-based Arts & Architecture magazine and its ambitious editor, John Entenza, to develop new and unapologetically modernist prototypes for the postwar American house. — latimesblogs.latimes.com

Though the planned building has a futuristic gleam — Jobs told the council "it's a little like a spaceship landed" — in many ways it is a doggedly old-fashioned proposal, recalling the 1943 Pentagon building as well as much of the suburban corporate architecture of the 1960s and '70s. And though Apple has touted the new campus as green, its sprawling form and dependence on the car make a different argument. — latimes.com

Any skyscraper is a contradiction.

The tall tower is architecture's most famous building type and also the one most clearly at odds with the profession's roots. Fundamentally, architecture is shelter, a concession that we're afraid to face the elements without protection. A skyscraper is vertical hubris. — latimes.com

Institutions including SFMOMA, the Whitney, the Barnes Foundation and MoMA plan various additions and exits, a boom for contemporary architects but a bust for architectural history. — latimes.com

As much as the blogosphere often turns crucial issues into soap-operatic fodder, it also keeps us honest to a degree that didn’t exist before. What has emerged is an architecture criticism less contemplative, perhaps, but more nimble — and better attuned to its audience, in ways good and bad. Martin Pawley might not recognize this new criticism right away, but even he, I think, would have to admit its heartbeat is plenty strong. — Christopher Hawthorne, Architectural Record

How to explain, much less minimize, the relative obscurity of L.A.'s landscape architects? There's no easy answer but our open spaces and preservation efforts give the issue added urgency. — latimes.com