FT 3.0

yawn. Safe. Sorry....

I Told You So: PS1 Warmup Edition

Look, I'm happy you all don't have to sit on cheese graters. But I think this is crap. Not materially interesting or even well-resolved. The form is not interesting, just some random wave shit flowing around. No new social...

Ken Smith's Takeover Foiled By Nicholai Ouroussoff!

Clearly, there is no reason to describe, in depth, the landscape architect's contribution to this project. N.O. to Ken Smith: you shall not pass! N.O. describes the landscape, but not in terms of who did it. Frankly, this is...

The Green House

For those of us who want Green Architecture to not look like a hemp basket....

How To Build A Better Skyscraper

I was in the elevator. It was as the first tower was falling. I stepped off and saw what appeared to be a perfectly vertical column of smoke, as if the first tower was engulfed in flames, and you couldn't...

Libeskind: Eternal Optimist

Just when I was starting to believe the media carping about him, I read something that inspires me: "The most important quality an architect can possess is optimism." I'm still annoyed at the Cincinnati condo, though. And I'm not saying...

An Open Email To City Planning

Ms. Burden: I am an architect who lives in the far West Village. As both designer and resident, I have a dual interest in the development future of the far West Village. I am writing to tell you of my...

Stadium Wrapup

Dr. N.O. has conveniently put together a few interesting stadiums for your review. As an enemy to completists, nothing can compare to print journalism. I invite you to search this site for some more, too. I wasn't saying weblogs were...

Stupid Preservation Tricks, coda

And when I got home Friday afternoon, my building had distributed a letter-writing campaign to fight the development I referred to in Friday's entry. Brought to you by the guy on the 19th floor, who also owns the 20th floor...

Stupid Preservation Tricks

One of the preservactivists leading this effort, the one who contacted me about a letter-writing campaign, lives on the 19th floor of the tallest building in the West Village. He is trying to stop the new 17-story residential tower from...

Friday New York Mapping

It's the day for New York mapping! Intersection of New York Tropolism with Interwebism! NYCBloggers brilliantly maps us by our subway stop. They've even made special accomodations for the Borough With No Subway System (no, not New Jersey). Yet...

High Line Progress

While I'm sure that our friends observing New York development will find something to complain about here, or at least downplay the significance, I'm relaxing. Amanda Burden is on the job. She will get the job done. Park will...

Highline Passes Federal Milestone

From the press release I e-got a second ago: On Monday, June 13, the Surface Transportation Board, the federal regulator with oversight of all rail lines, approved the City of New York's request for a Certificate of Interim Trail...

Nature, and Second Nature

After months of whois searches, a new name emerges, because as you know Second Nature abhors a vacuum. The URL thicket that is what we call the World Wide Interweb is not as overgrown as you might be led...

Friday New York Links

It's Friday, which means after you've creeped out to your Hamptons/Fire Island time share, you can enjoy the tall buildings of New York (all the ones you don't have a second to look at during your lunch break at...

Architects on Art Action

Architects on Art? Is that allowed on school property? We here at Whatever Our Site Is To Be Named are always looking for artistic actions that are neither Art nor Architecture. Which is why we found this postcard a...

Joshua Prince-Ramus

Yet another good-force reminder from someone who wants to change the world: "Architecture is not created by individuals. The genius sketch . . . is a myth. Architecture is made by a team of committed people who work together,...

Building Big In New York City

"New York was always singular for the dynamism with which the Brooklyn Bridge went up and skyscrapers went up and roads were built," he said. "Then, in the 1970's, civic reputation began to be acquired by people who prevented...

Dead Architects Never Die

Like the good-force protagonists in Star Wars (you KNOW this is going to be a great post), good architects never die: their building designs just keep getting built. Their glowing ghosts hang out, literally, over everything we in the...

The Highs And Lows of PS1

I'd rather not put my ass on an expanded aluminum cheese grater while I'm sweating and waiting for a beer. Can we have our lovely bamboo canopy back, please? (I thought nArchitects' construction last year was a brilliant way...

East River Waterfront Is Latest Part Of Ken Smith Takeover Plan

When the LMDC announced the plan it commissioned for the East River Waterfront, the images looked very familiar. They are almost identical in shape and character to the images I developped at Rogers Marvel Architects for the 55 Water...

Scottish Parliament Wins, Period

Anyone who reads this little column long enough will discern a bias towards Enric Miralles' work. If you were looking for objective news, there's always CNN. Our friends at Archinect have reported that EMBT's Scottish Parliament building, which opened...