Tropolism On Gridskipper

On Gridskipper today: an article asking writers about architecture what they think the ugliest building in New York is. Of course, we picked the Whitney, but as we make plain, ugly has never been a perjorative for us. Photo by...

Abu Dhabi Update Part 2: Zaha and Nouvel

This Abu Dhabi wonderland update we are showing off pictures of the models for the designs by Jean Nouvel (pictured) and Zaha Hadid. Nouvel's scheme for a "classical museum" (possibly a branch of the Louvre) features a huge, flattened dome...

Abu Dhabi Update Part 1: Overview, Ando, and Gehry

A few weeks ago we mentioned a new design by Zaha Hadid for a planned arts supercomplex in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A special UAE correspondant has provided us with photographs of the exhibition. We weren't prepared for the...

Tropolism Exhibitions: Gordon Matta-Clark You Are The Measure

For anyone who has been a regular visitor to Chelsea art galleries in the last eight years, the new Gordon Matta-Clark show at the Whitney will hold little that is new. At some point, most of the works in the...

The Architecture of Death and Resistance

It's been a while since a project emerged that is at once a beautiful proposal and an act of political critique. The proposal for a suspended funeral structure for Baghdad by Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo O. C. de Ostos (warning:...

Lectures: The Cliff Notes

We love it when a weblog hits their stride. Do You Want Some Coffee? has been summarizing, and making informed commentary, on some of the lectures it lists, offering something unique to online architectural discourse. It's fascinating, and brilliantly useful....

Graffiti Research Lab

One of the reasons we love Gordon Matta-Clark is that his presence in the art world is so unique. He did things to buildings that were disruptive, in a direct, physical way. He played with the very stability of structures,...

Tropolism Fact Correction

Tropolism stands corrected. The smashup panes of glass at IIT, subject of one of our very first posts, were replacement glass from a 1970s renovation. The source of this is a press release describing the origin of the panes. The...

Review of Crown Hall and Yale University Art Gallery

The February issue of Artforum includes an article appraising the renovations of Crown Hall at IIT and Yale University Art Gallery. You'll recall our irritation at the destruction of the original glass from IIT. We haven't seen Crown Hall since...

Tropolism Buildings: 40 Mercer

When the renderings first broke, and sites like Triple Mint wrote love letters to the development called 40 Mercer, we were skeptical. Sure, the retractable glass walls were amazing. Nouvel is a wonderful architect, but his designs often teeter toward...

Robert A.M. Stern Is Almost Alright

Robert A.M. Stern was the critic no one wanted to have when I was a student at Columbia. If you put his studio as anything but last in your preferences, you would get him. It was a widely held belief...

Clip/Stamp/Fold

The exhibition "Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines", on view now at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, is in our world the perfect exhibition: about rare architectural publications, and curated by Beatriz Colomina. The show is only...

Moynihan Station: Not Dead Yet

Back when we last checked in on Moynihan Station, Madison Square Garden was all set to cross 8th Avenue and devour a second McKim, Mead, and White building. Then...silence. The proposal seemed dead as the previous governor wrapped up his...

More Zaha Craziness

Today's New York Times reports not once but twice about a planned arts supercomplex in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The articles cover all the art hot topics of the day: the pros and cons of the development, east...