New York's Secret Maps

I present for your inspection NY Songlines. The title is rarified, and there are no graphics. It feels like the site should be on an Apple G4 Cube, which is running system 9, for an exhibition called "Websites Before...

The Secret Star of MOMA Architecture

Remember those two shows I saw at MoMA a couple of weeks ago? I nearly forgot to tell you: the secret star was someone I've seen around, but whose name was always in the background. The shop's work was...

Design+Technology Exhibition

One of the people in my studio is an inventor/artist/circuit board designer/sex toy defacer. It's a fascinating profession. He'll walk over and ask what I know about injection-molded plastics (little) or to review the relationship between his circuit board...

Vito Acconci Creates Facade, Winka Sues

I was totally kidding about the Winka part. The resemblance is striking, isn't it? Vito Acconci is lecturing tonigth, at 7pm, at The Accompanied Library, The national Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, 6th Floor. RSVP (like you were...

High Line at MoMA

MoMA has an exhibition on 3 of Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro's winning entry for the High Line competition of last year. Please note that I led the competition entry for one of the seven firms invited...

Big Museum Weekend

When we aren't meditating in front of the Atlantic Ocean at our Fire Island house on the weekends, we like to stay in our little borough to see some art. This weekend's offerings have some relevance here. 1. The...

National AIDS Memorial Website is Live

We here at Second Nature got the early jump on the official website for the winner of the National AIDS Memorial Competition in San Francisco. It's always heartening to see young designers being chosen for this kind of thing. Their...

Criticism of Criticism of OMA's Concert Hall in Porto

The LA Times' new critic, Christopher Hawthorne, reviews OMA's just-opened Concert Hall in Porto. Mr. Hawthorne states "Still, had Koolhaas managed to pull it off � had he created a box of space that looked flat and cool but...

Architecture School Show

Graduates of Columbia University's School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation have a frenzy of work at the end of the year: they are working on their final portfolios (which are the tool the faculty uses to grant school awards)...

High Line Project Gets Boost From Dia

The Times reports that the Dia Center is going to move into The High Line. It solves the problem of one end of the High Line: it gives the tracks an end, and a reason to go to that...

Surprise On The Drive Back From Fire Island

One of the pleasures of the drive to and from Fire Island is the piece of the Hecksher Parkway the Richard Meier's United States Courthouse and Federal Building is on, in Islip, New York. At the almost-end of a...

Satellite Architecture and Art

In honor of the fledgling Google Sightseeing, I humbly submit images of interest to architects. There are some wonderful additions over at Daily Dose, too. Chicago buildings by Mies (a partial list): The Farnsworth House IIT Lake Shore Drive...

WTC Redesign Wrapup, 2002-2005

I have so little to say about the WTC Master Plan and Building Designs that this will probably be my only post about it. 2002-2005: Daniel Liebeskind does some stuff, which turns out to be completely bogus, because he...

Pratt Architecture School Nearly Done Nine Years After Fire

Nine years after a fire destroyed Pratt Institute's Architecture School (because someone propped open the fire doors), it's nearing completion. Higgins Hall, which houses the Architecture Department at Pratt, is becoming rejoined again by the Central Wing, designed by...