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...]
Facebook, Whitney Museum, Eli Broad, Merging Architects
I would like to think I am a writer adept enough to tie together the assorted items in the headline. I'm not. These are simply several writing projects that have stretched over months but which coincidentally appeared almost at the same time. They are collected here for your convenience. I have had a long fascination with architecture that helps organizations reach their aspirations. This would seem like a no-brainer except that architecture that deeply explores and expresses work culture … [Read more...]
Why Did Nouvel Whine While Paris Mourned?
In photos from opening night last week, the exterior of the Philharmonie de Paris looked truly terrible, with construction debris littering the plazas and trusswork poking through unfinished outside walls. Reviewers spoke of traipsing through an unfinished lobby across chipboard temporary floors. The orchestra prepared to play in an auditorium they had barely set foot in, designed with a radically new acoustical concept. Jean Nouvel, France’s most celebrated architect, was justifiably furious … [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...]
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...]