StructureHub

Although the jury citation for this year’s Pritzker Prize was written to praise SANAA’s Kazuo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, a couple phrases bubble over with unmistakable disdain for unnamed (but very identifiable) architects who stand little chance of winning a Pritzker from the current jury.     
This year’s 8-member jury (the roster changes over time and varies between [...]

The 2010 Pritzker Prize has just been awarded to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the Japanese architects who helm the increasingly ubiquitous firm SANAA (see a slide show of their work here).  Because the prize was just announced, I have yet to really form a reaction to their selection.  But I can say that while I did not expect [...]

Even though Minneapolis constantly shows up on “best _____ city” lists, a swath of neighborhoods in North Minneapolis tend to (unwillingly) manifest traits that would undercut any city’s claim to be the best of anything.  High crime; rampant poverty; empty houses; abandoned blocks; few businesses with well-paying jobs.  Even positive signs of progress have ended [...]

So it turns out that after all, Santa Monica got played by Eli Broad.  And ironically enough, the heated competition to host his foundation’s significant collection of contemporary art was not won by any of the competitor cities (Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, or reputedly, Culver City), but by Los Angeles.  When the dust settles, Broad’s modern art collection [...]

The Architecture of Secularism
Ross Douthat’s admission that he has a “reactionary taste in architecture” mostly explains his recent blog post on religious architecture - the flimsy rhetorical framework of which is doubtless a result of Douthat’s typical focus on political commentary.  Although I normally enjoy reading commentary on architecture, regardless of the author’s profession, Douthat’s blog [...]

“Villa Libeskind” takes prefab to the extreme.
Extreme?  Well yes, if “extreme” does not mean “future” or imply that Daniel Libeskind is really making a substantive contribution to the prefab architecture movement.
A few months ago, I sensed the palpable irony of Daniel Libeskind’s dabble in prefab, even before any villa was built.  Now that the first [...]

Out of 430 entries, eVolo magazine selected 3 winners and 27 “special mentions” for its 2010 Skyscraper Competition.  By and large, every honorable mention is original and in sync with the competition’s goal to “redefine skyscraper design.”  Perhaps this is because many entries were from students or because competitions like this tend to take full advantage [...]

Los Angeles‘ Architecture and Design Museum - A+D - has been around since 2001, but its upcoming move into new (for them), permanent digs makes now a good time to wish that more cities had exhibition spaces solely devoted to architecture and design.
Like New York City’s near-legendary Storefront for Art and Architecture, A+D is a [...]

Notwithstanding Roger K. Lewis’ qualms about density bonuses, they are not as ineffectual or inequitable as he or developers portray them.
Density bonuses are essentially low-cost devices used by local governments to encourage developers to build more affordable housing units in a market-rate development project than they otherwise would.  In exchange for allowing developers to build more [...]

Probably not, but not for lack of trying.  In a commentary posted on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), Lee McGrath expresses caution about the fourth attempt being made by the Minnesota chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) to make “interior design” a regulated profession.  (Currently, interior design is regulated as a distinct practice [...]