James S. Russell

Architecture Critic, Journalist and Consultant

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Blunt-Spoken Zaha Hadid Wins over Critics in Death

by James Russell on April 2, 2016 - Get free updates on posts here

Blunt-Spoken Zaha Hadid Wins over Critics in Death

Zaha Hadid was indomitable, tough, blunt, and pugnacious. You did not want to be on the receiving end of her withering tongue. Her abundant critics said she was an insatiable egoist, inflicting her personal vision—heedless of budget and context. Her projects asserted the primacy of form over operational convenience or easy maintenance. Though she is (incredibly!) the first woman since the professionalization of architecture to reach the pinnacle of architectural fame entirely on her own—with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture

In Long Island City Real Estate Thrives on Dystopia

by James Russell on March 20, 2016 - Get free updates on posts here

In Long Island City Real Estate Thrives on Dystopia

As it emerges from a tunnel, the 7 subway line clatters upward in a broad curve high above the streets of Long Island City, opening a panorama to the East River and the Manhattan skyline pinpricked with skinny super-luxury towers. Welcome to the New New York. In the foreground amid the lumpen jumble of lowrise loft buildings, tower cranes and new residential high-rises are fast forming a new skyline rivaling the old one it is fast obscuring. Long Island City, which has seemed to exist … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City, Architecture, Cities

Compassionate Voice That Heralded Pope Francis

by James Russell on January 7, 2016 - Get free updates on posts here

Compassionate Voice That Heralded Pope Francis

Few of us will mourn the passing of a year of terror, so much of it inflicted under the banner of alleged religious orthodoxy. Senseless and shameless fanaticism dominates politics in the U.S. The one voice that drew together the hopes of global millions was Pope Francis. He roiled the war mongers with a message of peace. As millions of refugees slogged across continents, forced out of their home countries by power-grabbing autocrats, he chastised the perpetrators, along with the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture

Moving On

by James Russell on November 3, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

I am thrilled to announce a major career change. I have been appointed to a new position with the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC). As its Director of Design Strategic Initiatives, I—and my team in formation—will be helping the agency to build its already impressive capacity in environmental sustainability and resiliency. We’re engaging issues of equity—by just about any definition—in the design of facilities, consulting with agency clients and outside experts. All of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City, Architecture, Cities

Splendor in the Glass

by James Russell on October 22, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

Splendor in the Glass

One of the most exquisite works of recent architecture seeks to fade into its bucolic surroundings. From a ridge at the high point of an 80-acre former horse farm in New Canaan, Connecticut, a pathway protected by a breathtakingly thin roof hairpins around mature trees as it glides down a slope. The roof broadens to cover five pavilions, each one a curved-wall bubble of floor-to-ceiling glass. Grace Farms, hunkering amid forested exurban splendor, is a spare-no-expense destination for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture, Arts Architecture, Celebrity architecture, Cities

You Can Save Journalism!

by James Russell on October 5, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

You Can Save Journalism!

Ad-blocking software: what a great idea! Ad-blocking software: what a terrible idea—if you are a media company. The handwringing about ad blocking happened largely behind closed doors until Apple announced the enhancement as part of its new mobile-platform operating system. Don't worry. This post is not to announce a Kickstarter or other hustle for cash. Why do I care? Apps, software—none of this is my usual journalistic bailiwick. I can’t argue if you say I have no business writing about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City

Ferguson and Failing Suburbs

by James Russell on August 17, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

Ferguson and Failing Suburbs

It is distressing to see Ferguson, Mo., making headlines again for demonstrations that turn violent. To outsiders, especially those who have not followed every detail of the injustices revealed by the shooting of unarmed Michael Brown by policeman Darren Wilson (who sought to question Brown in the theft of some cigarillos), the enduring protests seem senseless, even destructive. Certainly no community wants to fear its police, and no police force wants to work where they’re not wanted and feel … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City, Cities

Fortified Island: New Orleans Changes, Yet Remains True to Itself

by James Russell on July 12, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

Fortified Island: New Orleans Changes, Yet Remains True to Itself

Drivers in New Orleans who make a wrong turn may confront the high concrete walls that line drainage canals and top levees. They, and enormous flood gates and pumping stations, are the product of some $14 billion in flood-protection, funded largely by federal taxpayers, that has been built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 10 years since Hurricane Katrina left the city stewing in fetid flood waters for weeks. The Corps is the same agency that under-engineered the levee walls that failed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City, Architecture, Cities

Architectural Record Sale: Wane or Gain of Architects’ Influence?

by James Russell on June 21, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

Architectural Record Sale: Wane or Gain of Architects’ Influence?

It’s hard to see the sale of Architectural Record magazine (and its sister publication ENR) to BNP Media as anything but a shift downmarket, since it joins a portfolio that includes Stone World and Floor Trends. It is Record's second sale in less than a year, having been already spun off from its longtime corporate parent, the McGraw-Hill Companies. Record and other publications aimed at architects are not immune from the struggle of condescendingly termed “legacy” publications that teeter in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture, Arts Architecture

Historic Preservation: Fighting the Wrong Battles?

by James Russell on June 16, 2015 - Get free updates on posts here

Historic Preservation: Fighting the Wrong Battles?

The Frick Collection’s formality is as astringent as a dry martini. We marvel at the works of great art hung within rooms of impersonal splendor. Yet the Frick is rather contrived, an elegant knockoff of a French country seat, by Thomas Hastings, of Carrère and Hastings, carefully re-proportioned to fit on a New York City block. Its horizontality and stiff front garden set it defiantly in contrast to the much larger buildings that surround it. Does it lose its relevance if it can’t evolve and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile City, Architecture, Arts Architecture, Cities

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About James Russell

James S. Russell is an architecture critic, journalist, teacher and consultant. He's the author of the book, The Agile City, and has written for publications like Architectural Record, Bloomberg News, NY Times and more. Continue reading

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