Spanish Steps

[Originally published in Azure, Nov/Dec 2013] One thing becomes immediately apparent when approaching MediaLab-Prado. There is no confusing old with … More

Old Buildings, New Buildings

“I don’t know whether we should be designating heritage buildings.” — Frank O. Gehry Why is preserving old buildings only … More

Hotel Agbar?

Barcelona’s La Vanguardia newspaper reported three days ago that the Agbar Tower, an office building designed by Jean Nouvel and completed in … More

Sagrada Familia Doubt

A recent video illustrating “the final stages of Gaudí’s masterpiece” represents, we are led to believe, La Sagrada Familia completed. However, … More

Sociability Generator

[Originally published in Azure, October 2013] Gràcia, with its narrow streets and the atmosphere of the former village still intact, … More

How Much Does Your Conscience Weigh, Mr. Koolhaas?

Mr. Koolhaas, you designed a daring and ambitious building for CCTV, China’s state-controlled television broadcaster. But it is from this … More

Adam’s House in Paradise

The courtyard house may be ancient, but it is still contemporary and modern. This became apparent to me on a … More

A Barcelona Hotel gets Graphic

[Originally published in Azure, September 2013] For Pau, its new hotel in Barcelona, the Room Mate group sought an interior … More

Learned from Las Vegas: DHUB Design Museum, Barcelona, by MBM

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #45] This building is important. It occupies a prominent site at the intersection of three of … More

Step Right Up. Architectural Monumentality. Three Boxer Shorts for Only 6€.

Flea markets are normally found under bridges, in empty parking lots, or in old industrial sheds. This flea market (which … More

Remembering Marshall Berman

I think it was in 1985. I would have been in my second year of study at University of Waterloo’s … More

Product Placement / Emplazamiento publicitario

Product Placement [Originally published in Arquitectura Viva #153 under the title “Marcas y contextos”. Translation: Eduardo Prieto] “Designed by Apple … More

Architecture Road-Tripping: Marseille

Earlier this August, I went on a roadtrip through southern France and spent two nights in l’Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, … More

La Grande Motte Revisited

I first saw La Grande Motte in the summer of 1978, more than a decade before I would graduate from … More

The Forest Metaphor

The Drassanes Reials (royal shipyard) of Barcelona has recently reopened after a lengthy renovation by architects Robert and Esteve Terradas. … More

Bullshit Island

“Barcelona Island will be an out of this world experience for all guests of ‘Mobilona Space Hotel’ who wish they … More

Making Bullshit Mountains out of Buildings

“If architecture is landscape, buildings are mountains.” -Vicente Guallart, chief architect of the city of Barcelona and general director of Urban … More