Spotlight on Kim Nielsen, 3XN

I was delighted to talk with Kim Nielsen, principal architect at 3xn, an international firm with offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Sydney, Toronto, and Brooklyn about key aspects of his intercontinental architecture. Nielsen’s projects personify 3xn’s design philosophy, which focuses on...

Women in Architecture: An Interview with Gisela Buzzelli and Susan...

“The boys won’t let us play in the block corner,” I remember my daughter telling me on her way home from nursery school years ago. Today it is exciting to see girls and boys alike playing with first sets of...

Spotted Around New York: The New Orleans Row

Visiting my daughter in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, a neighborhood once known for its Italian-American churches, bakeries, and restaurants, I noticed an unusual row of New Orleans style town houses midway down the block on Sackett Street. I also glimpsed a...

Spotted Around New York: The Gage & Tollner Building

There is a hidden Renaissance happening at 372 Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn. For over one hundred years the building’s ground floor was home to a legendary steakhouse and oyster bar, Gage & Tollner.  Over the years, the menu of...

Architecture of the World: Het Schip

It is no wonder that during their travels, a number of friends and colleagues have been fascinated by Het Schip, a unique building in Amsterdam. I first learned about Het Schip while taking Vincent Scully’s course at Yale on modern...

Architecture and Math: A Perfect Ratio

When I went on a family trip to the Math Museum in Manhattan, I was delighted to see children creating artful buildings with blocks, using computers to make their own fractals, and—the real highlight—riding bicycles on square wheels along a...

A Visit to Mexico City: Color and Design

On a recent trip to Mexico City, I was struck by the vibrant colors of the buildings, fabrics, pottery, and murals throughout the city. I visited Freda Kahlo’s Blue House, where I saw how the artist wove color and nature...

Spotted Around New York: The Beresford

Growing up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, my trips to Central Park for baseball, biking, and building snow forts in winter were anchored by views of the four double-towered apartment buildings beyond the trees. I have often said...

Revisiting My Yale School of Architecture First-Year Building Project

I attended the Yale School of Architecture in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the student protests of the 1960s. What drew me to Yale was its commitment to using architecture to change the world,...

Spotted Around New York: Via 57 West

Replacing slide-rules, drawing boards, and pencils and ink, contemporary computer assisted design inspires new creative possibilities in architectural conception. Geometry is eternal; however new tools allow more complexity in design and construction. Now if you can think it, you can...