Rippling layers of ice grew on the inside of an ancient window in our apartment as waves of Siberian cold assailed us repeatedly this winter. It was very Dr. Zhivago. Now I feel like an idiot for not replacing that window, which isn’t so much artfully distressed as rotting in its frame. Repeated encounters with Read more

Omigod, a flood is coming. OHHHH it’s here. It’s over, and I don’t know where to begin. Find new place to live. Muck out house. No power, no car, no water. Apply for FEMA help, try to keep job, put kids in new school. Where’s the damn insurance adjuster? March to demand Congress send aid. Read more

As many of you know, I am I am no longer the architecture critic for Bloomberg News, though I continue to write for the company. My column, along with almost all cultural coverage, was eliminated at Bloomberg late last year in favor of a yet-to-be completed revamping that focuses on luxury and lifestyle. Obviously, the Read more

The Perez Miami Art Museum seems like the most luckless new museum in recent memory. The vandalism of an Ai Wei Wei work, “Colored Vases,” by local artist Maximo Caminero is only the latest episode in the museum’s long and contentious escape from the bloated faux hacienda Philip Johnson inflicted on it in 1983. Noisy skepticism accompanied Read more

Should NY State take over building airports? That’s what Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed in his State of the State address. Congratulate him for finally realizing that the Port Authority of NY and NJ is completely dysfunctional, a money pit, and an impediment to the region’s economic vitality. However, his model is the Tappan Zee Bridge Read more

I have long been a critic of NYU’s growth plan, but the stop-growth-at-any-cost contingent was won a victory in State Supreme Court, which ruled that the city wrongly permitted NYU development on public park space. I cannot comment on the legalisms that drove this decision, but the ruling will not help either NYU’s cause or Read more