Super Sad Tiny Home Fetish
Micro-living is no longer just for the very poor and the very bohemian. But how much space do we really deserve? Tracking down the minimum square-footage below which no one should be forced to endure.
architecture
A collection of 26 issues
Home on the Thames
London's evolution is measured in centuries, not years. But when half of the city's new abodes go to foreign buyers—frequently as third or fourth homes—who's steering the design? Assessing Battersea's return from 30 years in the desert, just in time for a brand new American embassy.
Rising Up at Ground Zero
Construction continues at the new World Trade Center—as does criticism of the approved designs. But a look deep inside the new structure shows the progress so far has proven to be in exactly the right direction.
Losing Paradise
For centuries, New Yorkers have looked for relief to the trees of Governors Island--nearby, but a forbidden world away. A new plan to make it more accessible won't make them feel any better.
The Higher Line
When the new High Line Park opened last summer, New Yorkers lined up to be disappointed. A recent transplant finds it full of miracles.
A New Beijing, in Focus
Don' be distracted by the hubbub surrounding the impressive buildings Beijing is constructing for the Olympics. It's the people of the Chinese capital who need your attention.
Following Function
While America's urban poverty is a visible and often-addressed problem, the nation's rural poor live a life apart. Examining one architecture program's work to connect them with what they really need.
Our Champion
When the New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp died recently from lung cancer, America lost one of its most riveting writers--one of the best critics we've ever had, and quite possibly among the worst.
A New Social Construct
Modernism may be dead, but the world desperately needs radically new ideas about living, working, and governing in the 21st-century city.
Ozymandias's Washington
Though the U.S. capital is home to scores of memorials, just a handful of them command the attention of most visitors. A tour of Washington's other monuments.
Biloxi Blues
Katrina's destruction of the Mississippi coast left many residents homeless, unemployed, and vowing recovery. One year later, our writer revisits the coast, but finds little sign of progress.
The Bright Side
In this day and age of unmet expectations and underwhelming results, it’s more important than ever to follow the examples of others and look at things in the right light. Welcome to the Bright Side.
The House of Truth
Washington's DuPont Circle may now be a posh address for lawyers and diplomats--and 4,000 Starbucks outlets--but it was once a bohemian hotseat for intellectuals.
Wrong Way Home
To rebuild the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, Mississippi's governor picked a panel of vaunted New Urbanists to submit plans. But is their nostalgia for small-town America appropriate, nevermind prepared for the task?
The New Confederacy
Whether or not the new head of FEMA knows what’s best for New Orleans is a matter of concern—at least for the one person who knows he knows what’s best for the city. Presenting a manifesto, a proposal, a parvum opus from one Mr. Ignatius J. Reilly.
From the Ground Up
Even in the face of disaster, life finds a way. But how long can we afford to flout forces beyond our control and live on unsteady ground? And what are we willing to pay? Our writer sends a dispatch from New Orleans.
Brothers From Another Mother
Did David Childs really steal his Freedom Tower design from a Yale student? And can you call that stealing, or just the way the business works? Our critic explains how plagiarism exists in architecture, and why there actually should be more of it.
Withering Heights
Great buildings deserve strong guardians and even stronger PR, and so do bad buildings apparently, as shown in the case of 2 Columbus Circle.
A Calm Uncharacteristic
In the fourth installment of her letters from Scotland, our writer, who is living in Edinburgh for a year, visits Italy, where she marvels at people and architecture, and can never seem to elude those church bells.
Too Little, Too Soon
The plan for the Sept. 11 memorial at the World Trade Center site is nearly finished, but what good is a design competition when we're still trying to decipher the meaning of the event?
Downtown Dealing
In recent years public architecture has a bad record in New York, especially after the uglification of modernism. Why then are people not paying more attention to Ground Zero?
Washington Gothic
Within the halls of Washington, D.C., lurks a stench of unsolved crimes, muttering highwaymen, and altogether strange behavior. Our writer peers into the capital’s dark corners.
Hart Island
New York City is a collection of islands, and one, Hart Island, is completely inaccessible, possibly because it's reserved for the dead. A report on the home of potter's field and an abandoned missile base.
Crooks and Longarms
Barring Times Square, nighttime New York is awash in a warm glow. Who do we thank for this? Why, our streetlamps! Investigating the rich history of light in the city.
Joseph Zoettl's Grotto
The American South has many strange places to visit, though most towns don't have their own Hanging Gardens of Babylon, complete with plastic elephants.
New York's Real Skyscrapers
The proposed designs for downtown Manhattan are roundly disappointing, particularly for their lack of imagination. How about some tulip poplars?