Archives: Architectural History

An interesting dynamic characterizes the design world: while the client may foot the bill, a long list of stakeholders—from users to community representatives to neighborhood opponents—shape the project. Ultimately, these stakeholders can significantly alter a project’s final outcome. For this reason, stakeholder groups comprise an important piece of your competitive landscape puzzle. In recent news, [...]

Technological advances, in the design industry as well as those in seemingly unrelated industries, have a major impact on your competitive landscape. Let’s begin with an example directly related to the design and building world—the development of mass-producible structural steel, a material advance that forever changed how we design and what we design. Before the [...]

Aside from the mild winters, the Boston area is blessed with another great perk—plenty of amazing architecture. (Okay—clearly I jest about the mild winters, but I speak the truth about the architecture.) We walk by a lot of it every day, in distraction, zipping from point A to point B. I think we can change [...]

As I drive through Cambridge every morning, I purposely chart a course by the Fogg Art Museum, or what remains of it during this considerable expansion. The massive “Transformation,” as Harvard describes it, will unite the three university art museums (the Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger, and the Sackler) while providing additional exhibition, study, and visitor spaces. [...]

Cool Spaces!, a new program proposed for PBS, promises a positive twist on the ubiquitous trend of reality TV. In lieu of poorly behaved 20- and 30-somethings á la MTV’s Jersey Shore, Cool Spaces! offers a glimpse into the “reality” we walk by everyday, often in distraction and without a second glance. The host, Stephen [...]

As an architectural historian and Atlantic City native, I have been anxiously awaiting the premiere of Boardwalk Empire, which aired last night on HBO. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, but for me, the real star of the show is Atlantic City herself, “the World’s Playground” wonderfully recreated in all her 1920s glory. While [...]

In a July 2010 commentary titled “No ‘Megamosque’ Near Ground Zero,” Newt Gingrich declared: “‘Cordoba House’ is a deliberately insulting term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex.”* Gingrich’s statement is both [...]

Over the past fifteen years I have come to the conclusion that, all too often, architectural notions of context focus on a project’s physical site and surroundings. I have no concrete proof for this, only anecdotal evidence and gut feeling supported by tidbits such as the following: In 1950, a young Robert Venturi declared that [...]

I am happy to announce that, after two+ years of research, writing, and editorial toil, Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009 is now available. This anthology, published by Princeton Architectural Press, focuses on architectural developments since the early 1990s. Check it out and let me know what you think!

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer article by architectural critic Inga Saffron covered four firms in the City of Brotherly Love: KieranTimberlake, Erdy McHenry, Onion Flats, and Interface Studio Architects. Aside from their location, the connection between these designers lies in their emphasis on improving the process of construction, making it more cost effective and environmentally responsible. [...]