In 2014, Frank Gehry’s upraised middle finger went round the world. So did Zaha Hadid’s apparent dismissal of horrific construction working conditions in Qatar, where her design for a World Cup stadium will be built. Prominent architects have become whipping boys and girls in anger about concentrated global wealth. Architects are drawn into the battles because they are seen as serving wealth that’s sometimes ill-gotten, while ignoring those who need to be housed, educated, and … [Read more...]
Five Cheap Oil Myths
Clap your hands for cheap gas. Everyone else is. Allow me to prick the happy oil-price balloon. Prices have declined rather quickly from well over $4 a gallon last summer to—supposedly—$2 somewhere. (I am never where super cheap gas is.) But don’t cheer too hard. The “good” news is hype. Myth 1: Lower oil prices boost the economy Dropping oil prices are described as a “windfall” and a “stimulus package” for American consumers in stories like this one. This is exactly the language that oil and … [Read more...]
Sometimes You Don’t Know Where a Story Will Take You
Occasionally I embark on a project that sends me straight down the rabbit hole. That turned out to be the case with my story just-published in the New York Times, “On Elite Campuses, An Arts Race.” For a “trend” piece, this one is fairly short (not all readers agree…) , but I ended up interviewing people in seven states ranging across most of the country. And though most of the projects I had in mind initially made it into the story, I found out just how big the trend is—I didn’t understand the … [Read more...]
Kaci Hickox’s Heroism v. 1 World Trade’s Architecture of Fear
I admire the guts of Kaci Hickox, the Maine nurse who put herself at risk to help stop the Ebola scourge in Africa. Her idealism and that of others who do this work is so inspiring at a time when we seem to be surrounded by cynicism and lack of leadership. On her return to the US, she resisted a quarantine and stood up to fear-mongering media and politicians who panic rather than lead. I don’t hear her saying it, but clearly this is a crusade against bogus science: Creationism, climate-change … [Read more...]
Model Sugar Hill Project: How Not to Fund “Affordable” Housing
If you asked a reasonably well-informed New Yorker what the chief problem of housing for low income people is, they would probably answer “the poor door.” In projects that mix market-rate apartments with so-called affordable ones, some segregate units serving lower incomes and give them a separate entrance. That entrance no doubt lacks the doorman and high-end finishes of the market-rate lobby, and affluent tenants won't have their sense of entitlement ruffled by people of other income classes, … [Read more...]
In 3rd Phase, High Line Park Confronts Crowds, High Buildings
The High Line Park transformed Manhattan's Meatpacking district in its first two phases. Now as its last stretch wraps the massive Hudson Yards megadevelopment, the city around the High Line is transforming the park. Compare the image above to the current state below: The High Line was the first American park to go viral. The romance of a wild garden perched big above the streets and slicing through city blocks caught the world's imagination, and it can seem that the world is trudging … [Read more...]
When Esthetic Elites Inflict Strange Architecture
I‘m drawn to the broad revulsion by both critics and ordinary people against architecture that’s willful, acrobatic, theatrical—essentially attention-demanding. So I’ve found the diversity of comments on my story running now in Architectural Record (“Obdurate by Design: The Difficult Case of Willful Buildings That Demand Heroic Efforts to Adapt and Preserve”) instructive—running the gamut from vituperation to plaudits. It’s not that flashy buildings can do no wrong. Indulgent … [Read more...]
Zaha Hadid Wins Defamation Battle, Loses Reputation War
The London celebrity architect Zaha Hadid has attracted widespread criticism for saying she has no power to affect labor conditions reported to be akin to slavery on the building site of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where she has designed a voluptuous stadium. It’s reported that hundreds have died of heatstroke and other worksite ailments as the Qataris, among the wealthiest people in the world, rush the multi-venue complex to completion, spending a breathtaking $200 billion. The ITUC, a … [Read more...]
Winning Hearts and Minds in #Ferguson
Police in riot gear and armored vehicles confronting a couple hundred angry suburbanites was unthinkable until a few days ago. The ordinary middle-class people of Ferguson, Mo., turn out to be mostly black, protesting ongoing harassment after a police killing of an unarmed young man. The unrest brought back images of law-enforcement clashing with black citizens that stretch back to the big-city riots of the civil-rights era. All of which is very confusing — I almost expected to see … [Read more...]
The Stupid Starchitect Debate
“Here’s to the demise of Starchitecture!” wrote Beverly Willis, in The New York Times recently. Willis, through her foundation, has done much to promote the value of architecture. But like many critics of celebrity architecture, she gets it wrong: “In my 55-plus years of practice and involvement in architecture, I have witnessed the birth and — what I hope will soon be — the demise of the star architect.” The last few years has seen the rise of the snarky, … [Read more...]
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