Isn’t it great when something that looks ‘arty’ turns out not to be art at all? A well-designed object that…
New ‘Public’ Space in Barcelona
“The goal is to turn this old, unloved port into the best super marina in the world, to integrate yachting…
From Baukunst to Kunstwelt: The Biennalization of Architecture
There is no doubt that architecture is an art. The eternal question is which kind. Is architecture a building art? A…
Taste
RCR, the Catalan architectural firm known for its love of Corten steel, has an exhibition in Barcelona’s Palau Robert that…
The Tall Building Politically Reconsidered
The tall building has been an expression of machista one-upmanship since its earliest beginnings. San Gimignano’s stone towers are a built testament…
Brutal Underground
[Originally published in Mark Magazine #54] Barcelona has a problem: too many motor vehicles occupy too much space and fill…
A Response to Marc Kushner’s ‘A New Golden Age of Architecture’
[Originally published on medium.com] Dear Marc Kushner, Like yourself, I also want people to love architecture. But unlike yourself, I don’t…
Death of a Manifesto
“Architecture Must Blaze” is the title of a 1980 manifesto by Coop Himmelb(l)au. In it, the architects declare: “we don’t want to exclude everything…
Emot-Icon Building
Considering the recent spate of ‘icon’ buildings, you would think that an Emoji would exist for ‘Architecture’ by now, but no, this is in fact…
Multiple Discovery, Idea Theft, or Tweaking?
Having an original idea is everything in architecture. Its history is one of innovations and breakthroughs; of new ideas, materials, and…
Observations on Attitude
[Originally published in Log Journal #32] Visiting “Fair Enough,” the satirical exhibition in the Russian Pavilion, I was reminded of…
2015 Atmosphere Symposium: Emergence
The annual Atmosphere symposium, presented by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, will be held February 5–7,…
Radical Architecture at its Most Subversive
This house near Barcelona ranks among the most radical and subversive works of architecture of 2014, and yet it’s not by…
Seeing Things
Mountain architecture is very different from its flatland counterpart. This may be stating the obvious, but I’m referring here to…
Seriously now, folks.
The other day, a friend of mine posted a rather humorous item titled “Religious Truths” on Facebook along with the…
Tradition
It’s early January, and in Spain the Christmas shopping season is still in full swing. Aarrgghh! It’s all because of…
Pure Shit (II)
This building in the Catalan Pyrenees is a perfect example of the kind of “pure shit” that, according to Frank…
The STEM Turn
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It’s an acronym that can be heard a lot coming from the…
Thinking Big: The City of Culture of Galicia as Regional Development Strategy
[Text originally commissioned in 2011 by a Swiss art institution for an exhibition that never materialized and for which I…
Barcelona’s Disappearing Green Façades
Barcelona’s ‘green façades’ are disappearing at an alarming rate. A part of this city’s vernacular tradition, the small balconies typically used by apartment…
Criticalista 