Fred A. Bernstein


Fred Bernstein has degrees in architecture (from Princeton University) and law (from NYU) and writes about both subjects. He lives in New York City and has two sons.

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Featured Articles

The Undaunting Courage of Rio's Gay Crusader

The late David Miranda, in his prime

Published in Out, May 11, 2018

Glenn Greenwald: Life Beyond Borders

The controversial journalist and activist opens the (guarded) gate of his Rio de Janeiro home

Published in Out, April 18, 2011

Why Patti Smith and I Like the Smithsonian

Because of Hide/Seek, its brave and beautiful show on sexual identity

Published in Out, December 14, 2010

A Natural Spirit

In Central Washington State, Painter Leo Adams unveils his masterpiece: a house that gives new life to found objects

Published in Metropolitan Home, May 2003

Why Architecture Critics Must Ask About Embodied Energy

Because our lives depend on it!

Published Architect, October 31, 2019

Robert Irwin's 'Barcelona Pavilion for the 21st Century'

A thrilling installation at the Dia Center for the Arts explores tranlucency; it's like seeing snow for the first time.

Published in Blueprint, December 1998

Meet Chatham Towers, New York's Architects' Aerie

Published in Curbed, March 1, 2019

Taking a Holistic Approach to Embodied Carbon

A sobering look at how designing a building to meet Passive House standards affects its overall energy use.

Published in Architectural Record, October 10, 2022

Negative Energy and (Dis)embodied Carbon VIDEO

Ignoring embodied carbon lets architects, developers and even architecture schools call wasteful buildings "green"

Published in Speeches / talks, November 11, 2021

Negative Energy and (Dis)embodied Carbon WRITTEN VERSION

Ignoring embodied carbon lets architects, developers and even architecture schools call wasteful buildings "green"

Published in Speeches / talks, November 11, 2021

Taking credit for trees planted elsewhere is a whole lot of embodied chutzpah

Can a house alone on a mountainside in British Columbia possibly be “climate positive,” as its architects and developer claim?

Published Dezeen, June 18, 2021

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's feature-filled Zaryadye Park opens in Moscow

Architecturally ambitous, it's also a model of international cooperation

Published in Architectural Record, September 12, 2017

What Price Honor?

A temple to honor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs damages perhaps the greatest modernist campus in the world. And it's by the campus's original architect, SOM

Published in Architectural Record, January 8, 2016

Altering the Definition of Green Could Weaken Efforts to Mitigate the Climate Crisis

Making buildings resilient does not slow climate change. Usually, the opposite is true.

 

Published ARCHDAILY, January 10, 2021

Sweet Sixteen Acres

My assessment of Ground Zero, in 2018

Published in Log, October 1, 2018

How Green Are Apple's Carbon-Sequestering Trees, Really?

Not as green as we might hope -- or as Apple might suggest

Published in The Architect's Newspaper, September 2007

A Park Grows in Moscow

Diller Scofidio + Renfro leads an international team of designers, working in the shadow of the Kremlin

Published in Blueprint, October 13, 2017

An Arch Installation in Miami's Design District

For Daniel Toole, a major commission while still in architecture school

Published in Architectural Digest, January 8, 2018

Frank Gehry Turns a Former Bank Building Into a Home for the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles

The project marks the nonagenarian architect's latest pro bono gig 

Published in Architectural Digest, August 11, 2021

An Icon in Eclipse? Let the Empire State Building Continue to Shine

The Empire State Building risks being obscured by lesser towers

Published in The Huffington Post, November 28, 2014

American Architecture 1945-1970: From Post-War to Post-Modern

(all that in 2,500 words)

Published in A+U (Japan), November 6, 2017

A Harbor Cruise, Under a Rainbow

Aboard the fireboat John J. Harvey

Published in The New York Times, July 26, 2002

Forget the Hype. Is Harvard's HouseZero Sustainable?

A very expensive experiment in creating an energy-efficient dwelling overlooks the impact of embodied energy

Published in Architectural Record, July 1, 2021

40 Years on Montgomery Place

On the street where I lived . . .

Published in The New York Times, October 22, 2002

The Side of North Korea That Isn't Making Headlines

A country of candy-colored architecture. Who knew? (Oliver Wainwright did.)

Published in Introspective (1stdibs), July 28, 2018

Architects Remember the 1964-65 World's Fair

One after another, architects who grew up in New York in the sixties recall how the fair inspired them

Published in Architectural Record, May 30, 2014

The Innovative Brooklyn Architects Paving the Way for a New Generation

Fourteen years after founding their experimental practice, the architects of SO–IL hit their stride

Published in Architectural Digest, February 14, 2022

The Punctured Sky: New York's Architectural Heritage

A history of New York City architecture: the last 150 years in 4,500 words

Published in Books, April 16, 2008

Lighting Matches in Cuba on the 4th of July

The U.S. "ambassador" makes her presence known

Published in The New York Times, July 4, 2002

Gordon Matta-Clark's Indelible Influence on Architecture

His subtractive approach has countless applications

Published in Architectural Digest, November 25, 2017

How Diller Scofidio + Renfro Have Reshaped Manhattan's Contemporary Cultural Landscape

And What's Next for These Hometown Heroes?

Published in Architectural Digest, December 10, 2019

The Many Dimensions of Roberto Burle Marx

Should the great landscape architect be recognized for more than his astounding parks and gardens?

Published Architect, April 10, 2016

MASS Design Group's Lynching Memorial Is Powerful and Tragic

The saddest of American crimes evokes the best in American architetcture

Published in Architectural Digest, April 22, 2018

A Planned Expansion of the New Museum

OMA's design seems to hit all its marks

Published in Architectural Digest, June 27, 2019

Immigrant Architect: I.M. Pei (China)

Published in Architectural Digest, January 15, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Elizabeth Diller (Poland)

Published in Architectural Digest, February 16, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Denise Scott Brown (South Africa)

Published in Architectural Digest, January 12, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Vishaan Chakrabarti (India)

Published in Architectural Digest, May 7, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Toshiko Mori (Japan)

Published in Architectural Digest, March 18, 2018

My New App: Splainer

Uber and Tinder are just the app-etizers

Published in Metropolitan Home, May 31, 2016

Immigrant Architect: Kevin Roche (Ireland)

Published in Architectural Digest, March 22, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Sandro Marpillero (Italy)

Published in Architectural Digest, March 9, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Amale Andraos (Lebanon)

Published in Architectural Digest, February 1, 2018

Immigrant Architect: Kulapat Yantrasast (Thailand)

Published in Architectural Digest, January 25, 2018

Concrete Makes a Comeback

Following the lead of Tadao Ando, architects raise pouring concrete to an art form

Published in Interior Design, November 7, 2014

Immigrant Architect: Anda Andrei (Romania)

Published in Architectural Digest, April 10, 2018

A Congress for the Many, or the Few?

By performing "constituent services," senators and representatives short-circuit the democratic process, weakening separation of powers, equal protection, and other constitutional safeguards

Published in The New York Times, September 9, 2012

Glazing Over Manhattan

Too many glass buildings, and the city becomes just another banal office park

Published in Architectural Record, May 9, 2013

Critic Takes New Catholic Architecture to Task

Published in The New York Times, January 1, 2000

Immigrant Architect: Matthias Hollwich (Germany)

Published in Architectural Digest, March 16, 2018

Calatrava's New Saint Nicholas Church Opens at Ground Zero

A "national shrine" now hovers over the World Trade Center site

Published in Architectural Record, December 10, 2022

A Fellowship of Fabulists

The zany artistic duo of Kahn & Selesnick spin fantastical worlds that captivate collectors and critics alike

Published in Introspective (1stdibs), November 2021

Harry Bates obituary

Published in The New York Times, November 2, 2022

Apple versus Bloomberg

Only one of them can be "the greenest office building in the world"

Published in Architectural Digest, November 27, 2017

Ricardo Bofill obituary

Published in The New York Times, January 19, 2022

Paolo Soleri obituary

Published in The New York Times, January 10, 2013

Kali Is an Art World Sensation, 40 Years after She Hid Her Work Away

 
Published in Introspective (1stdibs), January 1, 2000

Robert Venturi obituary

Published in The New York Times, September 19, 2018

Leslie Robertson obituary

Published in The New York Times, February 11, 2021

Stanley Tigerman obituary

Published in The New York Times, June 4, 2019

John Johansen obituary

Published in The New York Times, October 26, 2012

Arakawa obituary

Published in The New York Times, May 20, 2010

Romaldo Giurgola obituary

Published in The New York Times, May 16, 2016

Gene Summers obituary

Published in The New York Times, December 20, 2011

Dan Rowen obituary

Published in The New York Times, November 23, 2009

Eero Saarinen's Better Half?

A new book gives Mrs. Saarinen too much credit, and its author, Eva Hagberg, too much space

Published in The Architect's Newspaper, September 12, 2022

James Polshek obituary

Published in Architectural Record, September 12, 2022

Frederic Schwartz obituary

Published in Architectural Record, April 29, 2004

Ed Feiner obituary

Published in Architectural Record, June 5, 2022

Kevin Lippert obituary

Published in Architectural Record, April 1, 2022

Christopher Alexander obituary

Published in Architectural Record, March 23, 2022

Gyo Obata obituary

Published in Architectural Record, March 11, 2022

Richard Rogers obituary

Published in Architectural Record, December 20, 2021

Kristen Richards obituary

Published in Architectural Record, July 2, 2021

Paulo Mendes de Rocha obituary

Published in Architectural Record, May 24, 2021

Terry Riley obituary

Published in Architectural Record, May 19, 2021

Art Gensler obituary

Published in Architectural Record, May 11, 2021

Helmut Jahn obituary

Published in Architectural Record, May 10, 2021

Hugh Newell Jacobson obituary

Published in Architectural Record, March 12, 2021

Will Alsop obituary

Published in Architectural Digest, May 14, 2018

David Marks obituary

Published in Architectural Digest, October 10, 2017

A Country of Micro-cribs and Mega-mansions

America's housing disparity grows worse

Published in The Huffington Post, December 2, 2011

In Zurich, a Building That Dances

Architect Manuel Herz taps into a long history of kinetic architecture

Published in T Magazine (The New York Times), August 14, 2018

Grace Farms, by SANAA

A Gossamer Serpent in New Canaan

Published in Blueprint, June 20, 2018

Letting the High Line Be the High Line

The gentle architecture of Phase Three

Published in Architectural Record, September 10, 2014

Architecture Firm Succession Plans

Can Frank Gehry's firm outlive its founder? Norman Foster's? Zaha Hadid's?

Published in Architectural Record, December 28, 2014

NYU Law School Commencement Speech

Published in Speeches / talks, May 9, 1994

Transparent's Creator

A few minutes with Jill Soloway

Published in Blackbook, August 16, 2014

Santiago Calatrava's Four Billion Dollar Mall

A review of the World Trade Center "Transit Hub"

Published in Blueprint, July 17, 2016

Commentary on Korach

Lessons on leadership from the Torah

Published in Synagogue, June 16, 2018

The Disruptors

Technologies that are changing how architects practice

Published in Architectural Record, May 31, 2018

How Giant Architecture Firms Encourage Design Excellence

Internal competition is one of several successul methods

Published in Interior Design, January 29, 2014

Saving L.A.'s Modernist Houses, One by One

This one's a gallery; that one's a publicly accessible private home

Published in Interior Design, May 1, 2014

The End of Sixties Architecture

Some buildings just couldn't be saved

Published in The New York Times, October 31, 2004

Starchitects on the Buildings That Influenced Them Most

Ando, Meier, Scott Brown, Decq, and others talk about their inspirations

Published in Architectural Record, April 13, 2016

Not All Couples Are Same-Sex or Opposite-Sex

Do you have to be male or female to be married?

Published in The Huffington Post, June 16, 2015

Bob Dylan's Mother

"He's a beautiful poet. But I don't think he was ever the greatest singer."

Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 23, 1990

Gene Simmons's Mother

The Holocaust survivor who birthed a rock star

Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 23, 1990

Harvey Fierstein's mother

"Is Harvey gay? I don't know. I don't sleep with him."

Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 21, 1990

A Proposal for the Next New York World's Fair

It will be great for the city's economy, its infrastructure, and its reputation

Published in Design Observer, November 13, 2011

Why The City Needs to Save a House in the East Village

Without the old brick house, it's glass-on-glass

Published in Design Observer, October 13, 2011

We Have a Family Welder

Arthur Cotton Moore designs a curvy metal house to test his theories

Published in The New York Times, September 24, 2000

Vito Acconci

"I can't stand art. I never could," the former artist (now designer) claims

Published in Art Basel Magazine, November 2, 2012

A Carbon Fiber House by Ali Tayar

Published in The Architect's Newspaper, May 2, 2015

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Amazing Continuous Surface Building

Their new Columbia Medical School study center caps decades of experimentation

Published in Blueprint, November 9, 2016

Rauschenberg and Johns

Two great artists as lovers

Published in Out, February 16, 2010

Queen for a Day

Events of the summer of 1969

Published at fredbernstein.com, October 14, 2016

If I can make it there . . .

The importance of New York to architects' careers

Published in Interior Design, October 5, 2016

To Live or Die Inside: Introduction to Unatanneh Tokef

What does it mean to be "inscribed in the book of life?" My interpretation.

Published in Speeches / talks, October 4, 2016

The Ethereal Architecture of Sou Fujimoto

Perhaps Japan's most innovative architect, Fujimoto makes buildings that resemble clouds and forests.

Published in The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2014

Building on Sacred Ground

Toshiko Mori's architectural dialogues with the masters

Published in The New York Times, May 8, 2005

Nara: The Town That Time Forgot

A quiet alternative to Kyoto

Published in The New York Times, November 13, 2006

Being Frank Gehry

With the triumphs have come many disappointments

Published at fredbernstein.com, September 2, 2015

D'var Torah on Behar

Let's give the land a rest

Published in Speeches / talks, May 13, 2014

It's the Architecture, Not The Architect, I'm Rooting For

Give Calatrava a chance!

Published in Architectural Record, December 10, 2013

The Parenting of Low Expectations

Foreword to "52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom: Effective Strategies for Raising Respectful, Happy Kids" by Meg Akabas

Published in 52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom, December 13, 2012

Panama Highway, A Noose Around Casco Viejo's Neck?

An old city gets an unwelcome new neighbor

Published in Architectural Record, October 26, 2012

U.S. Flops at Shanghai Expo

Another embarrassing U.S. pavilion, courtesy of a shortsighted Congress

Published in Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2010

A School by Edward Durell Stone

While fighting over his Columbus Circle building, preservationists overlooked another Stone structure just a few blocks away

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), December 26, 2006

Stitching Together a New Life in Riverdale

Surviving the Holocaust with needle and thread

Published in The New York Times, August 8, 2008

Poll Watching (and Worrying) in Philadelphia

Published in FredBernstein.com, November 5, 2008

Pecha Kucha

Around the world in 20 slides

Published in Culture + Travel, September 5, 2008

How Green Is My Renovation?

A roundtable of experts on making existing houses greener

Published in Metropolitan Home, April 7, 2008

Turning Steel Into Lace

Living rent-free, Cal Lane makes her mark

Published in The New York Times, January 20, 2008

Rediscovering a Heroine of Chicago Architecture

Many of Frank Lloyd Wright's most evocative drawings were by Marion Mahony Griffin

Published in The New York Times, January 20, 2008

Glass House, Great Performance

Merce Cunningham animates Philip Johnson's estate

Published in Interior Design, August 25, 2007

Remembering the Royalton

Mourning Phiippe Starck's Miracle on 44th Street

Published in Interior Design, September 21, 2007

Greetings from Resisterville

A town where Vietnam draft avoiders have made a difference

Published in The New York Times, November 20, 2004

High Hopes and Worthless Land

My father's bad investment

Published in The New York Times, November 6, 2005

A Brief History of the Twin Piers: What Might Have Been

Published in FredBernstein.com, January 25, 2007

Post-Renovation Depression

The contractors are gone. So why do I feel blue?

Published in The New York Times, February 22, 2007

The Town the Boom Forgot

Tired of high real estate prices? Consider the alternative

Published in The New York Times, June 25, 2006

Billy Doesn't Live Here Anymore

The incredible saga of the bakery founder's loft

Published in The New York Times, January 27, 2007

Free Homes for Disabled Vets -- But Where's the Land?

To rebuild their lives, they need barrier-free houses

Published in The New York Times, December 4, 2005

Are McMansions (Finally) Going Out of Style?

There's evidence that the size of new homes in America has peaked

Published in The New York Times, October 1, 2005

Seaside at 25: Paradise, With Problems

The walkable community now has valet parking, and other concessions to the real world

Published in The New York Times, December 9, 2005

Where the Best Antiques Can't Be Bought

A day trip to Troy, N.Y.

Published in The New York Times, April 7, 2006

Visiting the Barnes -- While You Still Can

The museum-going experience of a lifetime

Published in The New York Times, June 23, 2006

Clerkship Politics

A dialogue with Judge Alex Kozinski, of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, about the clash between a liberal clerk (me) and a conservative judge (him).

Published in The Green Bag, October 21, 1998

Me and My Geiger Counter

Was I being practical, or paranoid?

Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2002

Not a Palace, But It's Home

The Ottoman emperor-in-waiting lives in a walk-up, rent-controlled apartment

Published in The New York Times, March 26, 2006

Unloading His Books, But Not His Conscience

Amazon is now the place to sell used books -- but with unexpected consequences

Published in The New York Times, April 11, 2002

Legacies Passed from Father to Son

Gustavo Bonevardi in the West Village

Published in The New York Times, December 3, 2006

A Loft in Boston's Chinatown

Sam Davol, the cellist for the Magnetic Fields, and his wife, Leslie, move north

Published in The New York Times, November 22, 2007

A Cathedral to Science in Queens

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), October 24, 2004

An Artful Retreat from the Art Scene

Building a modernist house in the Hamptons

Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2007

These Walls Could Talk . . .

In Salem, Witchcraft and Old Architecture

Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2007

Shining Moment

A Paul Rudolph apartment, untouched for nearly 40 years

Published in The New York Times, October 10, 2007

In Costa Rica, Built for Books and Breezes

A son designs a Costa Rica retreat for a literary dad

Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2007

A Firehouse Becomes a Home for Art and Music

Living with century-old bricks and massive wooden trusses 

Published in The New York Times, September 9, 2007

The World Is Going to Hear of This Boy

An interview with Leah Adler, Steven Spielberg's mother

Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, December 15, 1990

From Modest to Modernist

Jennifer Luce's triumph in La Jolla

Published in The New York Times, August 23, 2007

Oysters Seeking Home on Quiet Maine Island

Cultivation is legal, but it isn't scenic

Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2007

A House for a Korean-American Family

Life in multi-culti Brooklyn

Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2007

The B&B Option Is Put to the New York Test

Staying in other people's houses -- in my home city

Published in The New York Times, July 23, 2007

Don't Call it the Poconos

Northeastern Pennsylvania Gets Chic

Published in The New York Times, December 22, 2006

An Airy Retreat from a Jam-Packed Store

At home with the Ricky of Ricky's

Published in The New York Times, October 18, 2007

Betting the Ranch in South Florida

Syd Kitson's big deal

Published in The New York Times, July 29, 2006

Do Ask, Do Tell

David Mixner moves to Livingston Manor, New York

Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2007

In Provincetown, an Unlikely Gay Marriage

Rosie O'Donnell puts her stamp on Family Week

Published in The New York Times, July 23, 2007

Housing Plan Turns Disney Grumpy

Affordable housing, near the happiest place on earth

Published in The New York Times, May 18, 2007

Shaving My Wallet Better Than My Face

Falling for the Infinity Razor

Published in The New York Times, April 13, 2007

A Road Trip Back to the Future

Visiting Paul Rudolph's Buildings in New England

Published in The New York Times, March 25, 2007

Lessons Learned at the Academy for Anything

Cass Calder Smith comes to New York

Published in The New York Times, May 18, 2007

Up in the Attic, Millennium Style

Gorgeous interiors, up (under) the roof

Published in The New York Times, March 29, 2007

Not in My Front Yard

Controversy on West 15th Street

Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2007

Will the U.S. Be at the Shanghai Fair?

Published in Architectural Record, December 5, 2006

Art Above and Below, With Life in the Middle

At home with Ann Brashares and Jacob Collins

Published in The New York Times, January 4, 2007

Letting the Architecture Speak for Itself

Tom Killian and Francoise Bollack keep their interventions subtle

Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2007

Mass Market and Couture

Young designers mix it up in Greenpoint

Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2007

In Michigan, A Green Museum

Kulapat Yantrasast's Grand Rapids Art Museum has a light footprint

Published in The New York Times, March 29, 2007

Getting In at the Underground Floor

Lillian Schloss bought Chinese antiquities early

Published in The New York Times, February 25, 2007

The Central Park of Southern California

Rare public space for Orange County, California

Published in The New York Times, February 4, 2007

An Island Where Millions Aren't Enough

The high price of Bermuda real estate

Published in The New York Times, September 10, 2006

Letting Kahn Be Kahn

Restoring the Yale University Art Gallery

Published in The New York Times, December 10, 2006

Sky-High Style

Master Architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen used his signature vocabulary to create a unique rocky mountain retreat.

Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2006

Marc Newson

The high-flying designer lands in Miami

Published in Design Miami, December 1, 2006

Good Things in Small Packages

West Village resident Marianne Cusato designs Katrina Cottages

Published in The New York Times, November 5, 2006

With a Diocese as a Developer, Emotions Run High in Santa Fe

Especially if the church has already borrowed against the planned buildings

Published in The New York Times, October 29, 2006

In Marfa, a New Interior With an Old Soul

Why Barbara Hill is one of my favorite designers, ever

Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2006

A Makeover Too Far

The conspicuous consumption of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Published in Dwell, October 29, 2006

Modernism Comes to Frump's Island

A new house breaks with tradition

Published in The New York Times, July 9, 2006

Making a Neighborhood Safe for Kids

A brilliant way to privilege underprivileged children

Published in The New York Times, September 17, 2006

A Paparazzi-Proof Condo

The apartment every celebrity needs

Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2007

Getting the Glass House Ready for Its Close-Up

Marty Skrelunas polishes Philip Johnson's masterpiece

Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2006

Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada

A review of the cold accommodations

Published in The New York Times, December 17, 2006

A Battle Over Modernism Goes Casa a Casa in Santa Fe

Modernism arouses ire in the city's historic district

Published in The New York Times, July 13, 2006

A Former Studio, Still Filled With Art

Latin American art fills one of the city's most dramatic living rooms

Published in The New York Times, December 31, 2006

For an Artist, a Glass Box by Mies

And it's in Newark!

Published in The New York Times, June 16, 2006

Sprawl Outruns Arizona's Biosphere

Designed for isolation, it's now surrounded

Published in The New York Times, May 28, 2006

The Wright Stuff, in the Japanese Heartland

Visiting the Meiji Mura Museum

Published in The New York Times, April 2, 2006

A studio that refuses to think small

Extraordinary ingenuity makes a tiny apartment seem spacious 

Published in The New York Times, March 30, 2006

A New Orleans Hotel Bounces Back

A review of the W New Orleans

Published in The New York Times, March 12, 2006

In Princeton, Architects Get Lucky

Ron Witte and Sarah Whiting live in a modest, modernist masterpiece.

Published in The New York Times, February 26, 2006

Pretty Profits from Ugly Houses

How HomeVestors went national

Published in The New York Times, February 19, 2006

Spending Money Like Water

Two hotels in Miami Beach makes waves

Published in The New York Times, February 17, 2006

The Disappearing Las Vegas Condos

Related Las Vegas sold them, but never built them

Published in The New York Times, January 29, 2006

Tall Order

Nationally, ceiling heights rise

Published in The New York Times, January 22, 2006

Where New and Old Collide

Steven Holl's building for Pratt Institute in Brooklyn

Published in Metropolis, January 17, 2006

That Tear-Down Could Become a Haul-Away

Saving modernist houses

Published in The New York Times, January 5, 2006

A Poor County, Rich in Modern Architecture

Visting the Rural Studio's buildings in Alabama is one of the world's great architecture pilgrimages

Published in The New York Times, December 25, 2005

Frank Lloyd Wright on Staten Island

The Cretellas renovate

Published in The New York Times, December 18, 2005

Outside The Box

Boston-based architect Adolfo Perez turned a mid-century starter house into a home of substance for design-wise clients.

Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2005

Second Nature

Contemplative architect George Suyama built a house for himself and his wife that is as hospitable to the landscape as it is to the couple's guests.

Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2005

A Home for Artists, and for Art

The avant garde, on Staten Island!

Published in The New York Times, November 27, 2005

Mies in Newark

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), November 14, 2005

More Twists Than a Mardi Gras Parade

Assessing the New Orleans real estate market after Katrina

Published in The New York Times, November 13, 2005

Smart Elevators

No more guessing which car to take

Published in The New York Times, November 2, 2005

Paul Rudolph's Tracey Towers

The fate of Rudolph's apartment buildings in the Bronx

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), October 13, 2005

Controlling Growth by Controlling Water

In Bolinas, a water meter sells for $310,000

Published in The New York Times, October 9, 2005

An On-Screen Alternative to Hands-On Dissection

Dealing with the yuck factor

Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2005

Alumnae House at Vassar

A great base for exploring the Hudson Valley

Published in The New York Times, September 30, 2005

El Tovar

A grand lodge near the Grand Canyon

Published in The New York Times, August 7, 2005

Private Lives

The difficulties of saving New Canaan's modernist architecture

Published in Metropolis, August 6, 2005

Healing Buildings in the Catskills

The Twelve Tribes in Oak Hill and Coxsackie

Published in The New York Times, July 24, 2005

Wynn Las Vegas

A review of the $2.7 billion hotel

Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2005

An oasis in a toxic world

A haven for "multiple chemical sensitivity" sufferers is threatened

Published in The New York Times, July 9, 2005

Daring Design in a Laid-Back City

Thanks to Rem Koolhaas, Porto, Portugal will never be the same

Published in The New York Times, June 19, 2005

Hotel on Rivington

A review of the long-awaited Lower East Side hotel

Published in The New York Times, June 12, 2005

Sleek in the Heart of Texas

Small houses buck the McMansion trend

Published in The New York Times, May 22, 2005

Move the United Nations to Ground Zero

The Freedom Tower could become a true symbol of freedom

Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2005

Southwest Florida's Red Tide Woes

Contaminated beaches -- and persistent respiratory problems -- hit a region that includes some of America's fast-growing cities

Published in The New York Times, April 23, 2005

Rate Your Landlord; Get Sued

But there's protection for tenants or former tenants

Published in The New York Times, April 10, 2005

Take That, Grandpa!

Smashing Mies

Published in The New York Times, April 3, 2005

A Loan That Keeps on Paying

The MFA Boston comes to the Las Vegas strip

Published in The New York Times, March 30, 2005

Washington's forgotten river

Reviving the shores of the Anacostia

Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2005

What next, the Grill Room?

The state of Philip Johnson's buildings

Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2005

In My Backyard, Please!

Infrastrucutre gets a new look

Published in The New York Times, February 27, 2005

Granny Flats for Cool Grannies

In Santa Cruz, accessory dwelling units are encouraged

Published in The New York Times, February 8, 2005

A Steakhouse with Rooms

Review of Browns Hotel, Miami Beach

Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2005

Securing the Iraq Museum

Protecting antiquities from war and looters

Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2005

Tony Goldman in Miami

An urban pioneer's new venture

Published in The New York Times, January 18, 2005

A Long Time for a Little Grandeur

An addition to the Tilles Center soars

Published in The New York Times, January 5, 2005

Get Ready for the High Line

How Robert Hammond and Joshua David Saved the Elevated Railway

Published in Surface, December 25, 2004

Danger Signs

Vornado's billboard boondoggle at 34th and 7th

Published in Metropolis, December 24, 2004

Mildred (Mickey) Friedman obituary

The great critic, curator and connector

Published in Architectural Record, September 5, 2014

Peter Eisenman in Verona

A review of the architect's 2004 Castelvecchio installation

Published in Architectural Record, December 6, 2004

Noguchi's Unknown Home

An apartment the world deserves to see

Published in Interior Design, December 1, 2004

Restoring Louis Kahn's "Undergraduate Project" at Yale

The Yale University Art Gallery gets an extensive, but faithful, renovation

Published in The New York Times, November 7, 2004

Design Diplomacy: U.S. Rejoins World's Fairs

With a little help from its sponsors . . .

Published in The New York Times, November 5, 2004

Where Are All the 60's Buildings Going?

Baby boomers lead the charge to tear down 60's architecture

Published in The New York Times, October 31, 2004

America Joins Architecture's Rem-formation

Published in Icon, October 20, 2004

Bridge Apartments

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), September 29, 2004

Frank Lloyd Wright Stays Busy in Buffalo

45 years after his death, three buildings by Wright are in the works

Published in The New York Times, September 6, 2004

The Death of Nest

A quirky magazine's farewell

Published in The New York Times, August 17, 2004

Will the U.S. Be at the Fair?

A world's fair pavilion costs less than an Apache helicopter -- and Shanghai 2010 is approaching

Published in Architecture, August 6, 2004

Whither the Tent of Tomorrow?

Finally, someone's paying attention the New York State Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair

Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2004

A Monument to Arriving in the Middle of Nowhere

A review of the Secaucus Transfer

Published in The New York Times, July 11, 2004

Who Should Pay for Presidential Posterity?

Endowments for the presidential libraries are coming up short

Published in The New York Times, June 10, 2004

Clinton's Legacy: Just a Little Library from Little Rock

The Clinton library rises on the Arkansas River

Published in The New York Times, June 10, 2004

The Sculpture? It's Next to Home Depot

Can art save a strip shopping center from aesthetic irrelevance?

Published in The New York Times, May 15, 2004

On Campus, Rethinking Biology 101

Transgender students gain rights, and respect, in college

Published in The New York Times, March 7, 2004

eBay and Taliesin

The fight for photos of a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece

Published in The New York Times, February 14, 2004

Greece's Colossal New Guilt Trip

Bernard Tschumi's New Acropolis Museum was designed to settle a score

Published in The New York Times, January 18, 2004

Not Your Daddy's SOM

Roger Duffy remakes the mega-firm

Published in Metropolis, December 24, 2003

Married or Not, It's a Full House

The lives of Steven Lofton, Roger Croteau, and their foster children

Published in The New York Times, November 19, 2003

World on a String

A puppeteer copes with Parkinson's disease

Published in The New York Times, November 19, 2003

The Provincetown Outflow Settles in Truro

Cape Cod's first "gay suburb"

Published in The New York Times, November 14, 2003

Architecture's Quiet Soul

A profile of artist and memorial designer MAYA LIN

Published in Blueprint, November 4, 2003

Let's make New York un-gateful

A proposal for improving New York's streets.

Published in The New York Daily News, November 4, 2003

A Neglected Modernist Masterpiece

Pier Luigi Nervi's bus station at the George Washington Bridge deserves respect

Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects), November 2, 2003

Santiago Calatrava, from the Canary Islands to Manhattan Island

Santiago Calatrava's opera house at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is dominated by a winglike canopy nearly 200 feet tall.

Published in The New York Times, October 26, 2003

Don't Dodge the Drafts

My philosophy of writing -- and rewriting.

Published in California Lawyer, October 21, 2003

Mama's Meatballs

Published in The New York Blade, October 10, 2003

From the Torch to the Toes, Digital Insurance

How the Statue of Liberty could be recreated, after a disaster

Published in The New York Times, September 11, 2003

Pierwise, One Person's Wreck Is Another's Art

Saving two rusting piers in the Hudson River

Published in The New York Times, September 4, 2003

How much design do public spaces need?

Published in Architectural Record, August 14, 2003

An Elite Contest for a Growing U.N.

Pritzker Prize-winners compete.

Published in The New York Times, August 5, 2003

Post Prada, A Design Star Slims Down

Rem Koolhaas's relationship with New York is on the rocks

Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2003

Now Pitching For Wahconah, Jim Bouton

The "Ball Four" author cries "Foul Ball" in the Berkshires

Published in The New York Times, April 10, 2003

This Store Sells Rice Pudding -- Nothing Else

Rice to riches? Or rice to ruin?

Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2003

Washington Irving Didn't Sleep Here

A developer recreates Sunnyside (or tries to)

Published in The New York Times, March 16, 2003

A New Opera House for Tenerife

Calatrava helps bring tourists to Santa Cruz

Published in Islands, February 5, 2003

One campus, two faces

Princeton goes Gehry -- and Gothic -- at the same time

Published in The Princeton Alumni Weekly, January 21, 2003

The Man With the List at Architecture's Party

Profile of Reed Kroloff, an advisor to architecture competitions.

Published in The New York Times, January 11, 2003

This Child Does Have Two Mothers... And a Sperm Donor with Visitation

Published in NYU Review of Law and Social Change, November 4, 1995

Irish Pride Meets Gay Pride

The gay backstory of New York's Irish Hunger Memorial

Published in The Advocate, October 6, 2002

A Store that Thinks Different

Tekserve lives the Apple slogan

Published in The New York Times, June 20, 2002

Daddy, Why Are You So Old?

How I became a middle aged father.

Published in The Advocate, May 28, 2002

White on White

Big Architecture in a Small Town

Published in Metropolitan Home, April 1, 2002

Prada Placement

A Review of Rem Koolhaas' new store in SoHo

Published in World Architecture, March 15, 2002

Memorials fit for a city

Architects get busy after 9/11

Published in Blueprint, February 22, 2002

City Folk

A review of the new American Folk Art Museum, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.

Published in World Architecture, February 22, 2002

Room With a View . . .

And not much else (a review of a new Ritz-Carlton)

Published in The Washington Post, February 10, 2002

When Modern Married Money

Blue blood meets white architecture in New England.

Published in The New York Times, February 3, 2002

Dust-Up In the Desert

Trouble at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture

Published in The New York Times, January 31, 2002

Franoise Bollack at the Center

Published in Genre, January 17, 2002

A Chicago Chop Shop Takes the Hayden's Guts

What happened to the planetarium's glamorous gizmo?

Published in The New Yorker, November 4, 2001

Drawing Closer to an Old Friend

Thoughts on the importance of the Empire State Building after September 11

Published in The New York Times, October 11, 2001

Architect Returns To a County He Helped Define

Edwad Larrabee Barnes Visits Westchester

Published in The New York Times, May 20, 2001

Architects' View: Nice Furniture, Not-So-Nice Buildings

Ikea's plans for Westchester draw ire

Published in The New York Times, January 21, 2001

Mission 66

An endangered species at the National Parks: modernist architecture

Published in Architecture, December 15, 2000

Being of Sound Mind, and a $55 Consultation

Can a website write me a new will?

Published in The New York Times, December 14, 2000

Take-Off

A review of The Full Monty on Broadway

Published in The Independent on Sunday (London), October 29, 2000

An Online Peek at Your Politics

Do my neighbors need to know which candidates I support?

Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2000

The House That Harry Potter Built

A magical new building in SoHo

Published in The Independent on Sunday (London), July 10, 2000

Is That Your Final Answer?

My life as a juror.

Published in California Lawyer, May 1, 2000

Users of Fake Stucco Find Problems Are Very Real

Beware of Dryvit. Artificial stucco, sometimes called EIFS, lets architects and builders add postmodern flourishes inexpensively, but at significant cost.

Published in The New York Times, July 1, 1999

Maya Lin in mid-career

A portrait of the memorial designer as architect and artist

Published in The New York Times, March 1, 1999

The Men from Bubbling Magma

Climbing a volcano in Bali.

Published in The Washington Post, June 14, 1998

Ball Games

My life as a sissy

Published in The Advocate, June 15, 1994

Behind the Gray Door: Williams, Secrecy, and the Federal Grand Jury

Published in NYU Law Review, January 1, 1994

Homeowners Aren't Smlling for These Cameras

Cities assess properties remotely

Published in The New York Times, August 20, 2006

A Facade Like No Other: Once Temporary, Now a Treasure

The badly damaged 1993 exterior of the Storefront for Art and Architecture in Lower Manhattan, by Steve Holl and Vito Acconci, will be restored

Published in The New York Times, June 19, 2008

A NIGHT OUT WITH Richard Chamberlain -- and (for the first time) Martin Rabbett

The veteran actor comes to dinner with the man who has spent decades hiding in plain sight

Published in The New York Times, July 13, 2003

For the New Barnes, Everything Old Is Old Again

Moving fabled galleries to a new building, while changing almost nothing

Published in The New York Times, March 14, 2012

Empty Nest Syndrome

For children of minimalists, only more is more

Published in T Magazine (The New York Times), November 7, 2009

Architect Alison Killing Uses the Latest Technology to Pinpoint Forced Labor Camps in China

The architect was awarded a Pulitzer Prize last month for her investigative work

Published in Architectural Record, June 28, 2021

Charles Correa

David Adjaye and Moshe Safdie remember the Indian architect, who died at the age of 84

Published in Architectural Record, June 17, 2015

Jon Jerde (1940–2015)

How Ray Bradbury inspired L.A.'s "Mister Mall"

Published in Artforum, March 18, 2015

Madeline Gins (1941–2014)

When her partner, Arakawa, predeceased her, she declared dying "immoral"

Published in Artforum, March 2014
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