Agrest and Gandelsonas: Fabric Object II Diana Agrest & Mario Gandelsonas Curated by Steven Hillyer The Cooper Union New York Through May 2 “Life didn’t end in 1989, we kept doing stuff,” Diana Agrest told me one morning a few days after Fabric Object II debuted in New York City, a retrospective about her and Mario Gandelsonas curated by Steven Hillyer. That remarkable stuff is now on view at The Cooper Union, where Agrest has taught for the past 50 years.  Michael Meredith originally staged a retrospective in 2024 about Agrest and Gandelsonas, Fabric Object I, at Princeton University. The Cooper Union exhibition, Fabric Object II, is that show’s successor and features many of the same works, albeit in a larger space with a widened purview. It celebrates Agrest’s five decades of teaching at The Cooper Union right before her and Gandelsonas’s archive is shipped to the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) for perpetuity. The exhibition speaks to how the work of Agrest+Gandelsonas Architects changed over the course of five decades. (Zhiye Feng/Courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union) CCA’s acquisition was facilitated by Phyllis Lambert, Sylvia Lavin, and Jean-Louis Cohen, prior to his untimely passing. “We’ve had a relationship with the CCA for ages,” Gandelsonas said. “In 2018, Sylvia organized a show at CCA. There was a room with architectural follies by Leo Castelli, which we were also a part of. We learned Phyllis loved our works. CCA eventually called and asked if we could donate our archives, which is what we did.” Fabric Object II features drawings, models, and sketches by Agrest+Gandelsonas Architects, but also dialogues between the subjects and John Hejduk inside a display table designed by MOS. On view are canonical projects like their competition entry for Roosevelt Island (1975); Park Square (1978), a study for a public space in Boston; Urban Fragments (1978) in Buenos Aires; Les Halles (1980) in Paris; and Urban Ready-Mades (1989), a proposal for Goose Island, Chicago, to name but a few. There’s also representation of Agrest’s unbuilt Museum of the Twentieth Century (1989), and their later works in New York City and China.  Urban Ready-Made 2, Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois,1989 (Courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union) Short essays by faculty at Cooper Union and Princeton University, where Gandelsonas teaches, shed new interpretations of the duo. Texts by Monica Ponce de Leon, Nader Tehrani, Marshall Brown, Michael Meredith, Sylvia Lavin, Stan Allen, Beatriz Colomina, Mark Wigley, and others complement ephemera from Gandelsonas and Agrest’s records. Tehrani’s short essay about Goose Island and the House on Sag Pond (1989–90), for instance, drew connections between the projects the architects hadn’t considered.  “For me personally, what I love about the projects, especially the earlier ones, is that they challenge methods of representation; they upend how we represent architecture and space,” Hillyer told AN. “I think, at a time when our students are so focused on digital technology and digital tools, it’s really important for them to be reminded of hand drawing’s great importance.” “Oppositional Binaries” Fabric Object II derives its title from Agrest and Gandelsonas’s philosophy of the city, which is part Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Donna Haraway, El Lissitzky, Konstantin Melnikov, Jacques Lacan, Jorge Luis Borges, and other influences. This philosophy is constructed of “oppositional binaries,” as Meredith points out in his essay. “Architecture is the consciousness of the city,” Agrest said to me while walking through the show.  Agrest and Gandelsonas were fellows at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS), the legendary New York City think tank Peter Eisenman founded. Building Institution. The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York 1967–1985 by Kim Förster is a recent, exhaustive history of the IAUS, which told the Institute’s multivalent history in impressive detail. “We were some of the earliest fellows at the Institute,” Agrest said. “We were there until the end.” Architecture Between Memory and Amnesia, Suburban Center on the Mississippi, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union) Flash forward 50 years, the evening of April 10, Eisenman and former IAUS students like Stan Allen gathered at The Cooper Union to welcome Fabric Object II, not long after the deaths of Anthony Vidler and Kurt Forster, two IAUS figureheads. “Stanley had been a student of mine in design at the Institute,” Agrest added. “He was Mario’s student in theory class there. As an intern, he drew so many drawings for us.”  Traversing Fabric Object II, my own experiences reading post-structuralist texts by Agrest and Gandelsonas in architecture school flashed before my eyes. (It admittedly took a few years to let Semiotics and Architecture: Ideological Consumption or Theoretical Work sink in.) The exhibition deepened my love of Constructivism, and helped me draw connections between their theoretical writings and built work. “This is an exhibition about hand drawing,” Gandelsonas said, “which is something Michael [Meredith] felt is missing today in architecture schools.” Both Agrest and Gandelsonas agree that, in regard to the synergy between writing and drawing, the act of making meaning is always done retroactively. “We write about the projects after we’ve done them, which is interesting,” Agrest added. “We never go into something and say, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’ Mario’s theoretical works are very different from mine, or at least they used to be. Oftentimes, people will ask me questions about my work, like ‘Why don’t you talk about theory more?’ It’s of course embedded in the work.” Display cases were designed by MOS. (Zhiye Feng/Courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union) Public programming and pedagogy intertwine at The Cooper Union, where Steven Hillyer and Chris Dierks stage shows in response to what’s happening in studio. For Hillyer, Fabric Object II was timely, like what Gandelsonas said in relation to drawing, but also a celebration. “This was an opportunity for us to have an exhibition of Diana and Mario’s work in New York just before it heads up north,” Hillyer told AN. “That’s a pretty momentous moment, and it was, in my view, deserving of a really important exhibition. It should be seen.” “Diana has been teaching here for 50 years,” Hillyer elaborated. “To be able to mount an exhibition about her and Mario’s work is special. There are projects here that Diana worked on her own, and projects that Mario did on his own. I love the fact that they are commingled here within that chronology.”

At the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island, in the heart of New York City’s East River, stands a monumental bronze bust of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. The island was renamed in his honor in 1973, the same year modernist architect Louis Kahn was commissioned to design a memorial to Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms”: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Decades later, Kahn’s vision was realized in Four Freedoms State Park, where trees form a triangular approach to the powerful centerpiece—FDR’s likeness framed in granite and sky. In that same spirit of visionary leadership and public purpose, the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy is launching Art X Freedom, a new public art initiative inspired by Roosevelt’s ideals and Kahn’s architectural legacy. The program transforms the park into a platform for artistic expression, civic engagement, and dialogue around freedom and social justice.  Debuting September 10, coinciding with the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly and the anniversary of the end of World War II, Art X Freedom opens with Camouflage, a major site-specific installation by Ai Weiwei. Wrapped in camouflage netting, the 3.5-acre memorial becomes an immersive sanctuary prompting reflection on truth, visibility, protection, and the enduring effects of conflict. Visitors will be invited to add their own messages about freedom, weaving personal voices into the collective artwork. Camouflage is debuting September 10. The date coincides with the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly and the anniversary of the end of World War II. (Iwan Baan) Born in Beijing and now living in Portugal, Weiwei is a contemporary artist and activist. Weiwei left China in 2015 after facing years of government pressure for criticizing its human rights record, and has since established studios in cities around the world. Weiwei’s work blends traditional craftsmanship with bold ideas, driven by a strong stance on authority and history—and freedom. Following Weiwei’s installation, Art X Freedom will commission future artists to design for the site. They will be selected through a juried RFP process.  “This is the first initiative of its kind to transform a presidential memorial into a space for living artistic inquiry,” said Howard Axel, CEO of the Conservancy. Co-chaired by Agnes Gund and Allison Binns, Art X Freedom affirms the enduring power of art to reflect the present—and to help shape a freer, more just future. Roosevelt deeply understood the importance of arts and culture. When he assumed the presidency in 1933, the nation was grappling with the Great Depression. In the years leading up to World War II, Roosevelt introduced the New Deal to revive the economy and create employment. One key initiative was the establishment of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935, which provided jobs for 8.5 million Americans, including many artists. Across the nation, musicians, actors, dancers, writers, photographers, painters, and sculptors were commissioned to produce public works. Beyond offering economic relief, the WPA made art and culture accessible to everyday Americans. Art X Freedom carries forward a similar vision—investing in creativity and expanding access to the arts.

After recovering from the jet lag, lack of sleep, and spritz regimen that typifies the occasion, I’m happy to report I survived Milan Design Week (MDW). At its core is Salone del Mobile, the world’s largest furniture show, which did not disappoint this year. The fair itself was strong as ever, attracting around 300,000 attendees, over 2,100 exhibitors, and a visitor satisfaction index of 88 percent. Across Rho’s pavilions, the latest releases and tests were on display, and Euroluce, the biannual lighting show, was fun to explore. Salone del Mobile remains a place for the global furniture and lighting industry to meet, catch up, and do business. An attendee at the Artemide booth during Euroluce at Salone del Mobile (Diego Ravier/Courtesy Salone del Mobile) But in the city, the Fuorisalone/MDW hype machine continued to amp up central Milan into a frenzy of talks, open studios, openings, aperitivo hours, dinners, and afters. It reminded of the trajectory of SXSW, which began as an industry-focused convention in Austin that has since exploded into marketing mania. (Who remembers the 60-foot-tall vending machine sponsored by Doritos?) This year’s MDW had a healthy helping of this, with perhaps the pinnacle being Vans’s first appearance, capped by a (semisecret) DJ set by Björk. What? MDW is much more popular than Milan Fashion Week in September, which is great: Design ought to be for everyone. Still, the tension between a citywide festival and a trade show (staged miles from downtown) endures and will likely only increase. Es Devlin’s Library of Light was a popular installation (Monica Spezia/Courtesy Salone del Mobile) Salone’s success means it will continue to span this gap to hold attention spans among MDW’s feeding frenzy. It did so with aplomb this year, as Es Devlin’s Library of Light in Brera was well attended; the Design Kiosk marked a node for orientation, publications, and talks; and, in the Castello Sforzesco, Robert Wilson’s Mother was moving, as it extracted viewers from the fervor of consumerism and dunked them into a cold plunge of mortality, grief, and spiritual angst. Robert Wilson’s Mother (Lucie Jansch/Courtesy Salone del Mobile) After a week of roving across Milan, I came away overwhelmed but inspired. Here are some of the themes I found relevant. Take Me to the Fair Salone del Mobile bustled with activity, as its pavilions were populated with the world’s best furniture brands. Some personal highlights: Knoll’s reusable pavilion, a Miesian arrangement of metal extrusions with palm-laden courtyards and designed by OFFICE KGDVS, supported new furniture releases like the Biboni Sofa designed by Johnston Marklee; Humanscale debuted its Humanscale Living collection, including a preview of its Diffrient Lounge Chair for all-day work and relaxation; and Marset presented a set of new releases and reissues in a plywood-lined booth designed by Barcelona darlings Mesura. Marset presented new designs and reissues in a plywood-lined booth designed by Mesura. (Courtesy Marset) Other brands use the fair as time to share prototypes and gather feedback: Poliform debuted the enticing boomerang-shaped Adrien Home Desk designed by Jean-Marie Massaud. And at Euroluce, Ingo Mauer tested out some experimental lamps, like an adjustable wall light dubbed Bruce Springsteel. Fashion Forward A heightened presence of companies spending the euros to activate immersive brand experiences was the part that felt the most like SXSW, albeit with a stylish Milanese flair. There were long lines to get into Loewe’s teapot show, set within James Stirling’s bunkerlike addition to Palazzo Citterio; Loro Piana tapped Dimorestudio to stage a cinematic 1970s interior; Gucci delivered Bamboo Encounters, curated and designed by former OMA partner Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli. Talks and performances lent an air of intellectual stimulation: Miu Miu again hosted its Literary Club with the theme of “A Women’s Education,” and at the Centrale, Formafantasma set up a Wes Anderson–like world within a train car for another edition of its Prada Frames salon series. And, of course, that surprise DJ set by Björk staged atop a checkered run of scaffolding for a Vans activation designed by Willo Perron. (Did anyone notice it was actually a launch for a new shoe?) It was the brand’s first appearance at MDW, as it was for Range Rover, which landed in a downtown piazza with a three-scene installation created by L.A.’s Nuova Group. These showy, marketing declarations amp up the week for a wider audience of design-interested folks, if not themselves designers. As Amy Kasper from Alpha Kilo summarized on Substack: “Fashion brands ruined it for the true design folks.” Performance! As other observers have noticed, theatricality was a major theme. To mark 60 years of producing classic midcentury pieces designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand, Cassina tapped Formafantasma to create Staging Modernity, a show that saw the chairs—in new, millennial-friendly colors—as part of the set for a happening that collided modernity’s structural shortcomings “with a broader ecology.” Texts by Emanuele Coccia, Andrés Jaque, and Feifei Zhou were source material for the piece. Formafantasma created Staging Modernity as a performance piece for Cassina. (Omar Sartor) A Sunday evening celebration at Bocci’s apartment to mark 20 years of the brand saw a set of pieces curated by The Future Perfect’s David Alhadeff, but also models wearing headpieces inspired by the company’s logo. Most literally, Delvis (Un)limited mounted The Theatre of Things, curated by Alcova’s Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, for which seven designers each occupied the Brera storefront to live among the original pieces for the day. Bocci marked 20 years of its brand with pieces curated by The Future Perfect. (Courtesy Bocci) Marimekko, ahead of a capsule collection with Laila Gohar, created a bedscape of striped sheets. It was perfect for pillow talk and selfies. They even arranged to have a library ladder set to one side, which allowed dutiful boyfriends to ascend and get the shot for their girlfriends. Marimekko, in collaboration with Laila Gohar, created a bedscape of striped sheets. (Sean Davidson) And there was another installation of North America Night. This time, the event took over Teatro Litta for an experience created by Rodolfo Agrella. (AN was again a supporter.) In solidarity, there was singing in English, Spanish, and Italian; a chef prepared a medley of corn-based snacks; and bartenders slung a trio of corn-derived libations. North America Night (Mattia Acito) Deepened Role of Collaboration The designers are the main draw for professional attendees, as it allows a global community to see friends and witness new talents. Formafantasma was again a prominent duo, as mentioned. Philippe Malouin had a strong showing via his new Great sofa for Hem and a line of tables for Lehni. Yabu Pushelberg won the prize for most releases, with a dozen, for these brands: Molteni&C, Leolux, MDF Italia, Zucchetti, Salvatori, Henge, DePadova, Linteloo, CEA Design, Glas Italia, Lasvit, and Noritake. George Yabu (left) and Glenn Pushelberg (center) of Yabu Pushelberg with Gabriele Salvatori (right), CEO of Salvatori, in front of Nagi, a new stone tile (Courtesy Yabu Pushelberg) A Bounty of Unofficial Showcases Beyond Salone del Mobile and the now-expansive Alcova, which sprawled across four sites in Varedo, many “unofficial” shows were worth checking out to see a wider range of design talent. Convey mounted a group show of younger furniture makers, with pieces from Marimar, Campeggi, Woak, and DANTE – Goods and Bads. Capsule Plaza, now in its third year, expanded to two additional locations. Beyond hosting Hem and Lehni, it was the site for Hydro’s R100 show, art directed by Lars Beller Fjetland, who commissioned Sabine Marcelis, Keiji Takeuchi, Cecilie Manz, Daniel Rybakken, and Stefan Diez to design objects using recycled aluminum made from scrap sourced from within 100 kilometers of the foundries. (Pleasingly, the extrusion molds for each piece were also present.) BOON_EDITIONS and A-N-D popped up in a 1980s bank, whose darkness and exposed concrete were a great foil to the furniture, including pieces by Jialun Xiong. Hydro’s R100 showcase at Spazio Maiocchi (Einar Aslaksen) Even smaller events were fun discoveries. At DISPLAY Spazio in Isola, Piovenefabi, Sam Chermayeff Office, DISPLAY., and Giovanna Silva paid homage to the Milan metro with a yellow chair, screen, and light designed using motifs from classic stations. (There was even a gift shop.) Nearby, within the spazioSERRA kiosk in the Lancetti train station, Argentina’s 322A’s first appearance at MDW was Drop Shadow, which presented “objects typically used to display other things—structures that support vertical surfaces, shelves, graphic panels, space dividers, and lamps.” The staging included contributions from Jules Cairon, MOS, Lütjens Padmanabhan, Constanza Castagnet, and Amparo Molar. 322A’s exhibition at spazioSERRA within the Milano Lancetti train station (Jeroen Verrecht) Our Green Dream The climate crisis wasn’t front and center for most things, but material sourcing and carbon footprints were still consistent parts of brand messages and designer ambitions. The most stirring effort was Casa Cork, where cork products were assembled by Rockwell Group into a menagerie of feel-good items. Casa Cork by Rockwell Group (Ed Reeve for RockwellGroup) As Diana Budds noted in her coverage for Fast Company, Muji showed its Manifesto House, and Ikea “launched a new foam-free sofa as part of its Stockholm collection, using natural latex and coconut fibers as cushioning within the wood-framed piece.” Out at Salone, brands promoted their bona fides: Arper again showcased its Catifa line made with recycled plastic, and Gloster described the management of its own teak forests in Indonesia that is uses to make outdoor furniture. A Heightened Sense of History I was also struck by the collective attention to history. Anniversaries abounded, and shows included responses, reissues, and inspirations; there was a referential sense of deep time. On the top floor of Torre Velasca, Dedar showed a new line of textiles that draw from the weavings of Anni Albers, the first commercial editions of her work. Out at Alcova, Office of Tangible Space showed Osvaldo, which was inspired by the immediate interiors of the Villa Borsani. Upstairs at 10 Corso Como, now sleekly renovated by ex-OMA Laparelli, I appreciated the ten-year anniversary show from Benjamin Hubert’s Layer, which included a lot of sketches and process material. Jil Sander’s rework of Thonet chairs, her first foray into furniture, was a welcome treat. Office of Tangible Space staged work in Villa Borsani along with Murano glass pieces by Kiki Goti. (Matthew Gordon Photography) Beyond the launch of Linked for Flos, Michael Anastassiades presented new fixtures within the interior of the Jacqueline Vodoz and Bruno Danese Foundation. Danese was an important figure for Anastassiades early in his career; according to an interview with Designboom, he “wanted to be non-invasive, and to gently occupy the space, respect it, and let it speak for itself.” A custom Floor Mobile Chandelier by Michael Anastassiades as installed at the Jacqueline Vodoz and Bruno Danese Foundation (Nicolò Panzera) Fancy Digs The hyped-up atmosphere continued last year’s theme of elaborate venues that elevated otherwise lackluster shapey/vibey objects. The distance—or closeness—between item and environment makes or breaks the success of a pop-up showing. In some cases, the lure of seeing a palazzo or penthouse apartment that is never open to the public was a stronger pull than the work itself. The week can feel like an Open House Milan, with architectural curiosity motivating attendees to shake off the tiredness and pound the pavement to see lived-in presentations of the latest furniture, lights, or objects. Remarkably Apolitical Commentary on the ongoing slide to the right—in Italy, U.S., and elsewhere—was largely absent from the week, which made it a semi-reprieve from domestic meltdowns (aside for a late-night writing session about Trump and showerheads). Beyond skillfully handling questions about AI, Salone del Mobile president Maria Porro, in remarks to the press, urged attendees to see design as a global language that unites people from all walks of life. Salone is a place where everyone can meet and be together thanks to design, she said. There were some stirrings. In the city, Rooms Studio presented “an exhibition of new furniture, lighting, and ceramic works that reflect the shifting political and social landscape in Georgia.” And at Dropcity, Milan’s exciting venue for architecture exhibitions and fabrication largely self-funded by its creator, architect Andrea Caputo, Prison Times explored the “spatial dynamics of penal environments.” Within the tunnels, furniture, objects, and doorways used in carceral spaces, each shown in available colorways, were organized into arrays. The show was powerful to the point of parody—there was only the slightest aesthetic difference between the metallic toilets and some of the aluminum and stainless steel offerings elsewhere during MDW. And, to these American eyes, the exhibition didn’t take a strong ethical position: It was more about typology than abolition. Prison Times, as installed at Dropcity (Piercarlo Quecchia, DSL Studio/Courtesy Dropcity) A Diversity Problem? Where were the people of color? Despite a highly global and cosmopolitan affair, there were few collaborating designers or prominent voices/figures who are Black. One exception—and highlight—was the conversation between Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello, design critic Alice Rawsthorn, and Eames Demetrios for the launch of the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation. Elsewhere, Calico launched Particulaire, a wallpaper collection designed by Stephen Burks Man Made, which was inspired by objects collected during worldwide travels as a way to connect “different places, cultures, and experiences.” Stephen Burks Man Made launched Particulaire, a new wallpaper line for Calico. (Bonetti Margherita) One of the prominent visuals of the week was guest editor Asad Syrkett’s cover of the Salone issue of AD Italia, which ran blue type over a painting of a Black figure by Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo that hangs in Natalia Bianchi’s apartment within the famed Milanese building Ca’ Brutta. I Want It Still, I came away from MDW with a sense of jealousy. It is a rare thing to see a large city come alive in celebration of design. Only in Italy, perhaps. It was encouraging to see the exploration of design showrooms and events by a range of folks, young to old. Design Kiosk (Andrea Mariani/Courtesy Salone del Mobile) I wonder how to match this groundswell of interest in design with the necessity of degrowth: We ought to be making fewer objects, wasting less material, and consuming less energy. (For me, the week unfurled largely without major discussions of how much things cost.) Design is so tightly aligned with the industrial production of consumer goods that to question this relationship is do battle with the hard truths of material culture. How can we reduce consumption? How can we slow down? How can we create things that won’t spend centuries as landfill garbage or clumped in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? How can manufacturers eliminate labor abuses in their supply chains? And on. Lately, design is less about form and more about process, materials, sourcing, feelings, and attitude. This is not the uptight doctrine of total design but the loose fit of youthful collectivity, which is a welcome change. This shift was quite evident among the plethora of design talent showcased at SaloneSatellite this year. An elevated view of SaloneSatellite (Ludovica Mangini/Courtesy Salone del Mobile) Amid the chaos of MDW, I saw so much that showed me where we’re headed. The future is unevenly distributed, but it was certainly on view in Milan.

Brought to you by: Architect: 5468796 ArchitectureLocation: Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaCompletion Date: 2024In the Exchange District, the post-industrial core of Downtown Winnipeg, local practice 5468796 Architecture has revived the James Avenue Pumping Station, a facility that once moved water across the city. Maintaining the station’s now dormant machinery, the firm suspended office space and a restaurant from a platform within the historic structure, while also adding two new apartment buildings to the east and west end of the exterior. These additions are sheathed in a black metallic cladding that complements the site’s industrial character. Decommissioned in 1986, the pumping station underwent a series of demolition threats and failed renovation efforts until 546 Architecture came along with a plan to save the building. Working with a developer, the firm devised a renovation scheme and accompanying financial pro forma that was presented, unprompted, to the city of Winnipeg, who owns the site. A zoning amendment was ultimately passed to allow for the construction of residential units on the site, an addition that made the project financially viable. The building’s mechanical equipment was kept in place as an aesthetic feature that enhances the uniqueness of the space. (James Brittain) Inside, a network of platforms span between large steel beams that once supported overhead cranes used to lift machinery, allowing new programs to float above the station’s derelict pumping equipment. This floor now contains office space and a restaurant. Newly punched skylights bring ample illumination to both. 546 Architecture encased the upper level in glass, using black steel studs and stiffening bars to reduce the glazing thickness, decreasing both the material waste and cost. The suspended architecture of the interior is mirrored outdoors, where the two residential additions are raised off the ground by steel columns. This is particularly true for Pumphouse’s eastern apartment block, which is nearly freestanding along Winnipeg’s waterfront, save for a small retail storefront. The western building contains a below-grade parking garage, with a discrete entrance located on the ground floor. An office occupies half of the pumping station’s new floor. (James Brittain) “Nothing on this project was driven by an intention to make it look like X or Y,” Sasa Radulovic, founding partner of 546 Architecture, told AN. “It was all driven by the bottom line and the realities of the site that we encountered. One of the first challenges was maintaining visibility of the historic pumphouse and creating a public realm that’s unified with spaces between the new and old buildings. With these two design drivers, we’ve elevated both buildings, relieving some of the pressures that building up to the property line inflicts on the pedestrian,” he added. In profile, the elevated building conveys a top-heavy appearance. (James Brittain) The north and south elevations of the apartment buildings are occupied by criss-crossing outdoor staircases that connect to open-air corridors between the individual units—a bold choice for Winnipeg, which is known for its cold winters. To provide some protection from the elements, the staircases are enclosed by corrugated metal screens. A similar corrugated cladding was applied to the opaque wall segments as well. “If the old building—which is essentially a shed that covers the pump—were built today, it would be a pre-engineered steel building with a corrugated metal facade, like those that are built in the suburbs,” added Radulovic. “[Corrugated metal] is an extremely sophisticated material because of its ability to span and to act as a perforated screen to create a ventilated facade without clips or any of the other extraneous elements that we use nowadays.” Each unit features an exposed nail-laminated timber ceiling. (James Brittain) This rational approach to architecture governed the entirety of the project. For the building’s circulation, 546 Architecture experimented with a “skip-stop” scheme, where corridors occur every second floor, necessitating that each unit span two floors and contain a staircase. This arrangement reduces embodied carbon and cost, while also enabling dual exposures in each unit. On the interior of the dwellings, the firm revived nail-laminated timber technology for the unit’s floors, a structural solution that was common in 20th-century industrial warehouses. 5468796 Architecture’s multi-family portfolio is united by little else than a reverence for the color black. The firm achieves variety through a creative problem-solving approach that is tailored to the unique conditions of each site. One of the more outlandish examples is a radial apartment building elevated on stilts. For its work, the firm was awarded this year’s Architectural Practice Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Project Specifications Architect: 5468796 Architecture Client: Alston Properties Landscape Architect: Scatliff + Miller + Murray Structural Engineer: Lavergne Draward & Associates Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineer: MCW Consultants Surveyor: Barnes & Duncan General Contractor: Brenton Construction Building Code Consultant: GHL Consultants Energy Consultant: Footprint Corrugated Steel: Vicwest Curtain Wall: U.S. Aluminum

The tourism industry is among the world’s worst polluters, accounting for 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. To help buck that trend, a new hub for environmental education and sustainable tourism designed by ArchitectureWorks and WATERSHED has opened in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Alabama-based firms designed the new Gulf Coast Ecocenter with the City of Gulf Shores and the Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism and Sustainability. “This project is an example of what happens when architecture serves a broader environmental and educational mission,” Roger Mainor of ArchitectureWorks said in a statement. “From day one, the client’s vision shaped the design team’s approach—this is a place for hands-on learning, ecological awareness, and joyful connection with the outdoors.” The campus has open-air classrooms, teaching gardens, an adventure challenge course, and maker spaces spread across multiple buildings. (Cary Norton) The new 12-acre campus contains more than 17,000 square feet of space that supports long-term ecological and community resilience on the Gulf Coast, one of the areas most impacted by rising sea levels and temperatures. It has open-air classrooms, teaching gardens, an adventure challenge course, and maker spaces. Like agritourism sites, also growing in popularity, the campus cultivates a connection to land with a suite of activities and programs for visitors to partake in. There are three structures in total. The main building is where a large classroom space is sited. (Cary Norton) Large windows flood the main classroom with natural light. (Cary Norton) A mobility hub offers bicycles for guided excursions along nearby state parks and trails. All of these spaces are meant to encourage students and faculty alike to reconsider their relationship to the land, and envision sustainable futures. The mobility hub has bicycles for guided tours in state parks. (Cary Norton) Economical and attractive wood construction comprises much of the campus. Timber framing topped by pitched roofs, and generous fenestration affords sweeping views of a verdant landscape ripe for plotting greener futures. “The buildings and campus were designed in close collaboration with both educational and maintenance staff, so that they serve as a living laboratory for sustainable living and ecological restoration,” added Rebecca Dunn Bryant, WATERSHED founder and principal. The campus has gardens for students to learn about sustainable agriculture. (Cary Norton) Thermal chimneys and deep porches cool the buildings without the need for mechanical intervention. (Cary Norton) “We used historical climate responsive elements like deep porches, dog trots, and thermal chimneys so that visitors don’t have to retreat to the air-conditioned interiors to be comfortable,” Dunn Bryant continued. “It was important to owners and operators that the campus invite visitors to explore and appreciate the unique ecology of the gulf coast.” The project team is pursuing LEED Gold; and FORTIFIED Commercial Silver certifications, a design standard for resiliency against severe weather events.

There were 990 applicants, but only 35 came out on top. The American Academy in Rome (AAR) has announced the 2025–26 Rome Prize winners. Starting in September, these architects, designers, preservationists, artists, and scholars will reside at AAR’s historic Roman compound designed by McKim, Meade, and White for several months. Rome Prize architecture winners are: Akima Brackeen of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and Cory Henry, founder of Los Angeles–based Atelier Cory Henry. Separate but related, Brackeen is also a research fellow in the 2024–25 Exhibit Columbus. Her project, Pool/Side, will take place outside I. M. Pei’s Bartholomew County Public Library. Brackeen also contributed to the second annual Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, curated by Could Be Design’s Joseph Altshuler. Tameka Baba, Sean Burkholder, and Karen Lutsky are winners in the landscape architecture category. In the design category, Heather Scott Peterson, an architecture professor at Woodbury University; and Minnesota-based ceramicist Ginny Sims-Burchard also took home Rome Prizes. Claudia Chemello and Paul Mardikian are winners in the historic preservation category. (Claudia Gori) American Academy in Rome also awarded residencies. Susan Chin, 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale U.S. Pavilion co-commissioner; and Lesley Lokko are architecture residents AAR listed. The jury included several architects, designers, preservationists, and landscape architects: Deborah Berke, Dorothée Imbert, Carlos Jiménez, Beka Sturges, Gregory Wessner, Nicholas de Monchaux, Francesca Casadio, among them. In a statement, Peter N. Miller, American Academy in Rome president, said the Rome Prize winners will have an opportunity to “return home with perspectives profoundly enriched by their immersion in an interdisciplinary community set in Rome.” “Fellows credit their time at the Academy with reshaping their understanding of their disciplines, inspiring them to think more broadly and act more boldly in their creative and scholarly endeavors,” added Calvin Tsao, chair of AAR’s board of trustees. “For decades,” he continued, “the most promising American scholars and artists have honed their craft at the Academy and have been transformed into luminaries for their disciplines. We are committed to supporting this evolution for years to come.” On April 24, an exhibition at New York’s a83 gallery, Roman Thresholds, will tell the AAR’s multifaceted history, dating back to its creation in 1894. That show will stay open through May 24.

Amid global turmoil and tariff wars, the world gathers in Osaka, Japan, at Expo 2025 to see the latest innovations in technology, agriculture, and more. More than 160 countries are represented in the event which invites architects to design temporary structures. Hirofumi Yoshimura, Governor of Osaka Prefecture, called Expo 2025 a hopeful “testing ground for future society.” Kengo Kuma, Manuel Herz, Lina Ghotmeh, Sou Fujimoto, Foster + Partners, Shigeru Ban, OMA*AMO, and others are among the architects participating in Expo 2025. AN rounded up 20 must see pavilions at the event. Among the designs are structures with sweeping roof canopies, massive digital screens, and showcases of traditional crafting practices. The Grand Ring | Sou Fujimoto Sou Fujimoto’s contribution to Expo 2025 has stolen the show. The Grand Ring was recently recognized by Guinness World Records as planet earth’s “largest wooden architectural structure,” made with traditional joinery methods. The Japan Pavilion (Courtesy Japan Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Trade) Japan Pavilion | Nikken Sekkei Miwa Negoro had the honor of curating the Japan Pavilion, designed by Nikken Sekkai. The design uses staggered cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, creating an accordion-like affect. The USA Pavilion (© Hufton + Crow) Looking, After the Fires is an artwork completed by Spiegel Aihara Workshop and Tamotsu Teshima Architect. (Tomoyuki Kusunose) USA Pavilion | Trahan Architects Trahan Architects described its design for the USA Pavilion as “a beacon for the country, celebrating the best of American ideas on the world stage.” It consists of a large, seemingly floating cube inspired by Japanese torii gates. One courtyard contains Looking, After the Fires, an artwork completed by Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW) and Tamotsu Teshima Architect. The project is the culmination of SAW’s US-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship with the Japan-US Friendship Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Qatar Pavilion exterior (Iwan Baan/Courtesy Qatar Museums) Qatar Pavilion interior view (Iwan Baan/Courtesy Qatar Museums Qatar Pavilion | Kengo Kuma | OMA*AMO Kengo Kuma Associates designed the Qatar Pavilion’s exterior, and OMA*AMO was responsible for exhibition design. It tells a story about Qatari commerce and industry. The pavilion’s form is inspired by dhow, the traditional sailing vessel of Qatar and its region. The Ireland Pavilion (GNet 3D) Ireland Pavilion | Government of Ireland Office of Public Works | Joseph Walsh A rich Ireland-Japan dialogue on arts and crafts informs the Irish Pavilion at Expo 2025 by Government of Ireland architects from the Office of Public Works, together with Joseph Walsh Studio. Walsh created an abstracted Celtic spiral that sits out front of the Pavilion. It’s presented in collaboration with Kanata Gallery. The Uzbekistan Pavilion (Atelier Brückner/Courtesy ACDF) Uzbekistan Pavilion | Atelier Brückner Stuttgart-based Atelier Brückner was awarded the German Design GOLD Award for the Uzbekistan Pavilion, commissioned by the Uzbekistan Arts and Culture Foundation. AN met with Atelier Brückner this past March in Tashkent to learn about the project, and also the important preservation work underway in the Central Asian capital city. The Czech Pavilion (BoysPlayNice) Czech Pavilion | Apropos Architects The Czech Pavilion’s design is meant to reflect the idea of life energy and continuous development, Apropos Architects said. Its translucent form, namely the glass spiral, hearkens back to the Czech Pavilion design in Japan for Expo 1970. The Saudi Arabia Pavilion (Nigel Young/Courtesy Foster + Partners) Saudi Arabia Pavilion | Foster + Partners A series of separate, irregular volumes make up the Saudi Arabia Pavilion by Foster + Partners. The geometries and massings, the architects said, recall the organic shapes of traditional Saudi villages. The Austria Pavilion (Peter Schilling/Courtesy Expo Austria) Austrian Pavilion | BWM Designers & Architects The Austrian Pavilion and its helical form has echoes of Tatlin’s Tower. The project by BWM Designers & Architects neighbors the Colombia Pavilion. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Colombia Expo 2025 Osaka (@colombiaexpo) Colombia Pavilion | Marivel Villa Arquitectos and Studio Cardenas Conscious Design The project by Marivel Villa Arquitectos and Studio Cardenas Conscious Design takes cues from Colombia’s terrain, namely its snow- capped peaks to rivers and seas, water weaves through Colombia’s regions, the architects said. The France Pavilion (Julien Lanoo) France Pavilion | Coldefy & Associés and Carlo Ratti Associati Carlo Ratti, 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale chief curator, teamed up with Coldefy & Associés to deliver the French Pavilion. Titled Theatre of Life, the Pavilion is defined by its central circular stair, left open to the elements. The Bahrain Pavilion (Iwan Baan) Bahrain Pavilion | Lina Ghotmeh Lina Ghotmeh, fresh off her landmark competition win to design a new wing at the British Museum, told a story about Bahrain’s ports in her contribution. The design, in plan, is shaped like a vessel, and uses impressive wood joinery on the exterior. The Swiss Pavilion (FDFA/Presence Switzerland) Swiss Pavilion | Manuel Herz Manuel Herz’s design for the Swiss Pavilion would make Buckminster Fuller blush. It features multiple geodesic domes that overlap with one another to deliver a funk retro exterior. Egypt Pavilion | Ahmad Hilal and Mohamed Elsarif Ahmad Hilal and Mohamed Elsarif teamed up to design the Egypt Pavilion. The duo cooked up a truncated white pyramid that hovers over a smaller masonry structure. The Netherlands Pavilion (AND BV & Plomp) The Netherlands Pavilion | RAU Architects The Netherlands Pavilion by RAU Architects is another exploration of platonic forms, much like the Egypt Pavilion. There, a large glowing orb dominates a rectangular volume overlooking a generous plaza. The Germany Pavilion (Hotaka Matsumara/Courtesy German Expo Pavilion) Germany Pavilion | LAVA Akin to the Saudi Arabia Pavilion by Foster + Partners, LAVA broke up the Germany Pavilion into multiple volumes, albeit curving ones topped with green roofs. The Indonesia Pavilion (Courtesy Fujiya) Indonesia Pavilion | Fujiya Artworks by Mang Moel, Nasirun, Naufal Abshar, and Nyoman Nuarta adorn the Indonesia Pavilion’s interior designed by Fujiya. The architecture’s goal was to tell a story about Indonesia’s biodiversity. Malta Pavilion | Wevr Wevr’s mission driving its contribution to Expo 2025 was bringing Malta’s story to life using AI. The architects were tasked with distilling 8,000 years of resilience, culture, and ambition into an unforgettable moment, they said. The Luxembourg Pavilion (Ondrej Piry) Luxembourg Pavilion | STDM architectes urbanistes STDM architectes urbanistes designed an elaborate roof canopy that shades the Luxembourg Pavilion and the series of rectangular volumes comprising it. The Kuwait Pavilion (AETOSWire) Kuwait Pavilion | LAVA Not only did LAVA design the Germany Pavilion, it also created the Kuwait Pavilion. Architects call their scheme Visionary Lighthouse. The interior exhibition speaks to a major national development project underway today, New Kuwait 2035. The Philippines Pavilion (Ed Simon) Philippines Pavilion detail (Ed Simon) Philippines Pavilion | Carlo Calma Carlo Calma told a story about Filipino weaving methods in his design for the pavilion. Expo 2025 is open through October 13.

The jury is in: Weiss/Manfredi will design the new addition at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The New York office beat out Kengo Kuma & Associates, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Selldorf Architects, Studio Gang, and WHY Architecture in the international competition. SCAPE; Atelier Ten; WeShouldDoItAll; Taliaferro & Browne; Jaros, Baum & Bolles; and Severud Associates are also on the winning project team, together with Weiss/Manfredi. The choice to go with Weiss/Manfredi was unanimous, a spokesperson for Nelson-Atkins said in a statement. “Weiss/Manfredi’s concept absolutely blew us away as it captured the spirit of the museum while offering a bold vision for our future,” Nelson-Atkins CEO Julián Zugazagoitia said. The design is meant to evoke signal transparency, both literal and philosophical, the architects said. (Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) “We are deeply honored to work with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on this transformative project,” Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi said in a joint statement. “It is a rare and meaningful opportunity to reimagine the museum as a place where art, architecture and landscape converge to reveal a place of discovery and delight,” they added, “and we look forward to collaborating with the museum and community to create a more transparent and welcoming cultural campus.” The Weiss/Manfredi addition will face the Bloch Building by Steven Holl. (Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) Weiss/Manfredi called its winning design a “connected tapestry.” It reestablishes a front door for the museum to the north side, opening up the west side to events and a learning lobby on Oak Street. This lobby will spill out to the “Commons” and a new photography center. The galleries will overlook the main quad. (Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) The proposal responds to the 2007 addition by Steven Holl: Three repetitive volumes branch out, creating a harmonious rhythm. A horseshoe archway underneath the existing 1933 building’s grand stair connotes a grand gesture. “Central to our competition was the need to respect the Nelson-Atkins’ original, neoclassical building, as well as our beautiful Bloch building, while also bringing something new to our campus,” Zugazagoitia said. “This concept delivers all of that, and we look forward to working with Marion, Michael, and their team to collaborate on an expansion design that keeps our commitment to great experiences with art and forges a deep sense of belonging and connection within our community.” The competition, organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, was first shared in May 2024, as reported by AN. The open call went out in October 2024, gathering 182 submissions—but only six came out on top. A timeline for construction was not issued.

It’s easy to be a Coachella hater if you’ve never been. In casual conversation and social media channels, the music and arts festival, which took place over the past two weekends, is depicted as little more than a hot, sweaty arena of celebrity drama and photogenic backgrounds in exchange for exorbitantly high ticket prices (many of which are now financed through payment plans). Yet after justifying the ticket price (starting at $599 for daily general admission) and finding their way to the remote desert city of Indio, California, attendees can attest that Coachella is no longer the lawless, rough-and-tumble festival with questionable facilities, safety standards, and disability access it once was. Having found its footing in recent years, the cost of entry goes toward many experiences that are increasingly rare in America. For Le Grande Bouquet Uchronia designed a field of seven 30-foot-tall flower bunches. (Lance Gerber/Courtesy Coachella) With the weight of deadlines, inhibitions, and expectations lifted from their shoulders, attendees can experience a dual sensation of lightness and immersion within a crowd of phenomenal energy and scale. The grounds buzz with the calm yet vibrant energy of 150,000 people of all ages and persuasions moving about in every direction. To walk through the crowd is to weave through groups linking arms to stick together, couples rushing to shows, audiences both booing and applauding political messages in between songs, dancers setting small yet permeable boundaries with their bodies, and, yes, teenagers posing for selfies. Wherever people are not moving about, they are staying put. Finding a good spot to vibe is serious business at Coachella, and Public Art Company (PAC) has turned it into something of a science in collaboration with the festival’s art director, Paul Clemente. Raffi Lehrer, founder of PAC and curatorial advisor for Coachella’s art program, commissions three designers to produce large-scale installations each year that bring the vast, grassy expanse between the largest music venues down to a human scale. At night the installations were illuminated. (Lance Gerber/Courtesy Coachella) Importantly, the designers selected by PAC are hardly at comparable levels of fame to those performing on stage; rather, they are typically young, resourceful, and proficient at small-scale proofs of concept. Clemente’s core team of 28 people works with the designers to plan, fabricate, and install them, while the larger effort brings in numerous vendors, including lighting designers, structural engineers, and crane operators. “These are not artworks that exist in a contained white cube,” Lehrer told AN. “They exist outside around huge crowds, so safety is always our top priority. Every installation undergoes review during the proposal development process to ensure it can be built and maintained safely.” Each in their own way, the work of this year’s designers offered the senses of lightness and immersion guests work so hard to achieve in themselves through attendance. In turn, the designers drew clear inspiration from the ephemeral, transitory nature of festival installations by avant-garde midcentury designers with few signs of having watered down their concepts. In Le Grande Bouquet, Uchronia applied its sumptuous interior design sensibilities to one of its first outdoor installations: a field of seven 30-foot-tall flower bunches scattered across the center of the site. The firm, which takes its own name from the literary term for a fictional time period, drew inspiration from both the fleeting beauty of Southern California wildflower super blooms and the inflatable installations of avant-garde midcentury designers, including Haus Rucker Co. and Ant Farm. Bean bag chairs cleverly covered up the bases, from which attendees could leisurely check out Travis Scott’s set on their left and the Original Misfits on their right. Taffy comprised seven mesh towers that proved respite from the blazing sun. (Lance Gerber/Courtesy Coachella) Stephanie Lin of Present Forms designed Taffy as a similarly field-like array of seven scalloped mesh towers ranging between 25 and 50 feet tall. From a distance, they appeared as opaque as the mountain range far in the distance. Up close, Lin sought to immerse festivalgoers within structures that dissolved in the sunlight while providing ample seating for visitors to flock to its long fields of shade. From certain angles, it magically appeared as lightweight as the 1,500-foot-long Balloon Chain that has hung in the festival sky every year since 2009; it virtually melted into the crowd when it was cast in Brat green during Charli XCX’s set. On Take Flight, some of the turbines are motor-powered, while others rely on wind. (Lance Gerber/Courtesy Coachella) And though Isabel+Helen’s Take Flight, a kinetic sculpture towering 60 feet over the site, appeared virtually untethered to the earth, attendees unhurriedly basked in the shifting shadows produced by its wide turbines. The sculpture was ten times the size of its referent, Power Suits, a collection of wearable energy generators the London-based firm designed to imbue their wearers with a personal sense of lightness. Some of its turbines are motor-powered, while others authentically reflect the intensity of desert winds. “These installations are in dialogue with the desert itself, amplifying its rhythms, its mirages, and its fleeting moments,” said Lehrer, who worked with the designers for nearly a year to ensure their installations were as well-engineered as everything else on-site. “Each work offers a different proposition: a machine that never quite flies, a flower that never quite wilts, a building that never quite stands still.” Where else, in America’s overly risk-managed building culture, can young designers scale up their visions without staggering compromise? Shane Reiner-Roth is a writer and lecturer on architecture and urbanism. 

Brutalist Beats FREECELL ARCHITECTURE and Gia Wolff design Diplo’s lush, concrete hideaway in Jamaica By Kelly Pau • April 24, 2025 • (Courtesy Noshe) SHARE Jamaica’s Portland Parish ranges from tropical jungles, lagoons, and mountains, all teeming with endemic fauna, endangered species, a bird sanctuary, and untouched land. It’s only natural then that the town is home to…a concrete monolith for American DJ and producer Diplo. The artist conceived of his 50-acre space, dubbed Pompey Jamaica, as a place that offers respite from the hustle and bustle but also productive inspiration for it. The sanctuary had to be as grandiose as its surroundings. Brooklyn-based firm FREECELL ARCHITECTURE and Gia Wolff met the drama  required of the brief using cast concrete to cut a striking figure against the tropical foliage—while communing with it. Composed as a series of concrete boxes stacked atop and intertwined with one another, Pompey is a symphony of different architectural inspirations: Le Corbusier’s pilotis can be seen in the structure’s many open floors balanced upon columns; dramatic and grand forms draw from elements of Brazilian modernism; while the composition, a plethora of cutouts to strategically frame an outward look upon the land, references the biophilic work of Geoffrey Bawa. Indeed, this deference to the land is further applied to the estate’s efficiency. It uses solar power for heating and electricity, and rainwater catchment systems and organic farming practices make the property more self-sufficient. Read more about the house on aninteriormag.com. ConcreteJamaica

Pratt Institute will celebrate its 136th commencement on Tuesday, May 20, with graduating students gathering at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan to receive their degrees. The Institute will celebrate the accomplishments of approximately 1,400 graduating students, conferring degrees during a ceremony starting at 10 a.m. This year, acclaimed poet and cultural critic Claudia Rankine will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree, while esteemed alumni Annabelle Selldorf (Bachelor of Architecture, 1985), renowned architect; and Stefan Sagmeister, (Master of Fine Arts, Communications Design, 1998), visionary designer and typographer, will also receive honorary degrees. Claudia Rankine’s honorary degree will be conferred in recognition of her extraordinary achievements as a poet, playwright, essayist, and educator. Her fearless body of work—spanning poetry, plays, essays, and video collaborations—explores themes of race, power, and class with clarity and urgency. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Rankine is the author of Citizen: An American Lyric, cofounder of The Racial Imaginary Institute, and a professor at NYU’s Creative Writing Program. Annabelle Selldorf (Stephen Kent Johnson/Courtesy Selldorf Architects) Annabelle Selldorf’s honorary degree will be conferred in recognition of her distinguished career as an architect. A graduate of Pratt’s undergraduate architecture program, Selldorf is the principal of Selldorf Architects, the internationally acclaimed New York–based firm known for its humanist approach to design. With a portfolio that includes museums, galleries, and public buildings around the world, Selldorf is a Fellow of the AIA, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the recipient of the AIA New York Medal of Honor. Stefan Sagmeister (James Braund) Stefan Sagmeister’s honorary degree will be conferred in recognition of his groundbreaking achievements as a designer and typographer. A graduate of Pratt’s School of Design, Sagmeister is a two-time Grammy winner whose clients have included The Rolling Stones, HBO, and the Guggenheim Museum. He is known for exploring themes like happiness and beauty through design. His exhibition The Happy Show became the most visited graphic design exhibition in history, and his TED Talks have made him one of the most invited speakers in TED history.

At Spelman College, just over one third of enrolled students are pursing degrees in science and technology. The all-women HBCU in Atlanta also prides itself on its arts program. As advances in technology continue to blur distinctions between these disciplines, Spelman saw a need for a new facility where students pursuing coursework centering electronics or studying computer science could collaborate and comingle with those obtaining degrees in the performing or visual arts. Studio Gang designed the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts not to just foster connection and collaboration among disciplines, but also to invite the public in. “The students wanted this connection to the immediate community,” Jeanne Gang told AN. “Spelman wanted to put students’ work on a bigger stage but also embrace the community around them. The building helps facilitate that.” The Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts designed by Studio Gang is located at the edge of the Spelman College campus, to allow for public engagement. (Tom Harris) Located on the campus periphery, the site for the multidisciplinary building was selected to cultivate connection with nearby neighborhoods, where a burgeoning art scene with galleries and art studios has already taken hold. Studio Gang’s design reflects a need for openness and connection with double-height spaces and a facade fabricated to let light in. Programmatically, the public-facing spaces occupy the ground floor—the black box theater, other performance stages, dance studios, and an art gallery were all located there. A central atrium on the second floor, dubbed the Forum, anchors the space. Classrooms, rehearsal studios, and technology labs occupy the second and third floors. An elevated walkway, designed for student and faculty access, connects to the second level. (Courtesy Studio Gang) Outside, on the campus-facing elevation, a bridge connects to the second story. This elevated walkway can be used by faculty and students when the first floor is in use for a public event. The portion of the building facing the city is marked by a “porch,” as Gang referred to it: a hardscaped patio that spills out from the building and into the city streets. An unapologetic use of glass on the building promotes openness, but beckons a need for a strong shading scheme, one that can control light where needed and achieve sustainability standards. The powder-coated steel shading structure applied to the facades was largely dictated by the building’s southwest orientation. It was paired with brick on the ground level, corrugated siding, and glass. Gang described the facade’s shading implementation as “a rhythm based on the fenestration and the orientation,” adding, “the pattern comes from what is needed, but is artfully deployed.” The building’s color palette pulls from Georgia’s red clay soil and masonry buildings on campus. (Tom Harris) The deployment of the exterior shades and window placement curates a balance between unwanted glare and desired natural light, while reducing the building’s energy use—a carbon win. It’s well implemented above the Forum, where a skylight, oriented north, filters in light that is shaded by the walls. Similarly, in double-height spaces, like the Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab, the external shading is complemented by blinds inside to deliver a well-lit work and studying environment. A skylight above the Forum is one inventive way natural light enters the interiors. (Tom Harris) While many spaces were designed with specific programmatic requirements, communal spaces were conceived for flexible use. (Courtesy Studio Gang) The color palette, achieved through a mix of metals, pulls from Georgia’s red clay soil and the masonry prominent on other campus buildings. Patterns, textures, and the angular shapes deployed on the facade permeate inside. Mullions on the skylight and the railings lining the Forum recall the functional yet decorative elements outside. White walls inside are ripe for pinups and displaying student work. Color was introduced sparingly via flexible, movable furnishings. Double-height spaces like the Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab required additional shading measures. (Tom Harris) A black box theater is among the several performance and art-centered spaces inside the new building. (Tom Harris) While many spaces were designed for flexibility and informality, the sheer number of divergent activities and programs packed within the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts makes the opportunities for creativity and innovation limitless. From recording studios and rehearsal rooms, to photography studios and workshops, students, faculty, and the public will have a hard time not learning something new.

A Moratorium on New Construction, the forthcoming book by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, poses an unsettling question for many architects: What if we stopped building? And, in turn, what ecological and social benefit would such a moratorium deliver? How would it change practice? Malterre-Barthes is a professor at the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL). She was previously at Harvard GSD, where she taught seminars and studios about building moratoria. Her years of research on the topic culminate in the new book published by Sternberg Press as part of its Critical Practice Series, edited by Nikolaus Hirsch and Markus Miessen, and illustrated by Lara Almarcegui. AN spoke to Malterre-Barthes on Earth Day, ahead of her book’s June release. AN: What would a moratorium on new construction look like? CMB: It wouldn’t look too different from architecture practices that focus on renovation. In terms of how this would impact the everyday, it would mean a shift in the type of work offices take. Instead of doing new construction, most work would be adaptive reuse and renovations, and also potentially undoing the built environment. Part of the work would also be to join the public discussion about what shouldn’t be built. But in terms of immediate shifts in how practice works, I don’t see it as a radical change. In Europe, about 50 percent of the business in architectural practices is already renovations. AN: If architects aren’t making new buildings, what other things can they do? CMB: We will take care of our existing building stock. If we don’t build new, we have to take care of the stuff we already have, right? Our existing stock is immense if you consider it globally. Apart from renovation and adaptive reuse, architects would include maintenance as an architect’s primary task, something Menna Agha already articulated. In many countries, architects have a 10-year responsibility regarding a building they have designed. There are architects who come back every year to check if the building is in its best possible shape, and whether things need to be adjusted, from interior layout to insulation. So maintaining buildings is something we already know how to do. But, in many cases, we cannot charge for anything related to the building’s aftercare or afterlife, and these aspects have yet to be centered, as Daniel Abrahamson wrote. Another thing we’re equipped to do is create images and narratives, which I find really important. Architects can design futures. I would say this is the most interesting part of our work. We’re able to envision futures other than the ones we’re being force-fed that accentuate our current problems. This is why resisting by creating new narratives and different futures is essential. Future- and world-making are skill sets that could be pushed further with a moratorium on new construction. AN: Learning from Indigenous knowledge systems is an important part of this line of thinking. You cite Sufi cosmologies, for instance. CMB: Of course. I learned very late that, in architecture school, I was stripped of entire canons. Architectural education is very Western-centric. This means students are deprived of entire skill sets, of other ways of creating climatic and material solutions. In Europe, I was taught to design with concrete, and in the U.S., everything is balloon framing—material at the service of design and cost-cutting. There’s a real need to learn from other cultures instead of destroying them. AN: How do you reconcile the need to stop building with the pressing need for new housing? CMB: I’ve already had a taste of what opposing new construction as a solution entails on X. I think YIMBY and NIMBY approaches need to be interrogated. Assuming that we can solve the housing crisis simply with new construction is the wrong way to go about this. Research shows that what’s being constructed isn’t benefiting the people who need housing the most. I’m very critical of the assumption that new construction is the only way to house a growing population. I think reassessing what we already have, and property reforms and housing allocation systems, is the way ahead. I’m aware this is not a popular opinion at the moment, but it’s my job to articulate alternatives. Most mortgaged housing in the U.S. is actually somehow publicly owned through debt guarantees, if you think about it. So we would not be that far away from redistributing housing and built space in that sense, if there were a political will to do so. AN: Some architects have called the building moratorium “professional suicide.” Why shouldn’t architects be afraid of the moratorium? CMB: This is a question between short-term and long-term. What should we prioritize? Some say we need to give precedence to our economic survival. I understand that. But there’s a need to shift the design office’s business model as well. This means rethinking how we work, the structure of the office, and what kind of work we want to do.  An example is my current dean at EPFL, Sophie Delhay. Her office only does public housing, which is acquired through competitions. So, of course, she’s doing new construction, but she has positioned her office to do that particular kind of work, at the service of the public. I guess it is also about deciding what you or the office you work for will and won’t do. Prisons, for instance. Many architects have signed pledges not to build these.  This is to say, I think the building moratorium forces architects to ask what position they should take instead of going with the flow. People will say: “If I don’t build, my office will collapse,” and so forth. I believe that if an office survives only thanks to exploitative practices, then maybe it shouldn’t exist in the first place, right? Again, this is an unpopular position. But I think there needs to be a more conscious discussion on how to fix the office. Originally, my chapter “Fix the Office” was called “Kill the Office.” But I am an optimist at heart, and I do believe the office can and should be fixed.  AN: How does your proposal for a building moratorium differ from other proposals today by, say, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other entities which call for decarbonization? CMB: At the core of this thinking is “carbon myopia” which I am trying to deconstruct. I think at times the decarbonization discourse is repackaged greenwashing. Life cycle assessments and carbon calculations are just tools. They can be used to serve problematic narratives that suggest, for instance, demolishing and building new is better than upgrading a structure. This is one limit of these calculations.  This carbon myopia is blind to all the things that come with the harm we generate by building new—from demolition to new construction activity. Tools like LCA can’t quantify how community networks are destroyed by demolition and displacement. They can’t quantify use value, or calculate the externalized harm that material extraction generates. Carbon calculation metrics place no value on these externalities. That’s why I’m cautious of these decarbonization narratives, because I doubt that they really can capture the reality and the extent of the damage. A building moratorium goes beyond these sorts of technocratic fixes made with Excel sheets. AN: What do you hope people take away from your book? CMB: First, I hope people don’t fall asleep because there are no images. Jokes aside, I hope it brings to the table these topics that need urgent discussion within architecture and beyond—to stop the damage. I hope it can go beyond the discipline, into the industry, and reach a wider audience. I hope it helps articulate a path forward. Perhaps it is true that we cannot design our way out of this crisis, but we may articulate an emancipated path forward. I also hope it can be a good conversation tool, a shocker to start conversations like, “If we can’t build, what are we going to do?” I believe it can trigger uncomfortable conversations to move forward and act.

Given Trump’s tariffs in combination with the already slowing economy, it’s no surprise the AIA’s Architecture Billing Index reported a drop in the month of March. February’s score of 45.5 decreased to 44.1 in March—any score below 50 indicates a decline in billings from the previous month. In its report, the AIA shared that, of the last 30 months, 27 have reported declining billings. During this time, architects have relied on project backlogs. For awhile, new project inquiries were on the rise. However, March marks the second month in a row in which project inquiries have dropped. Firms have reported a decrease in newly signed design contracts for 13 consecutive months. Recognizing this, AIA chief economist Kermit Baker was rather upfront about how the turbulent economic situation is affecting architecture practices. “Clients are increasingly cautious about starting projects due to uncertainty over future trends in interest rates and building materials costs, as well as the potential for an economic slowdown,” he said. “Unfortunately, this softness in firm billings is likely to continue as indicators of future work remain weak, however, the average project backlog at firms stands at a reasonably healthy 6.5 months, offering a bit of a buffer if future project work continues to remain soft.” In addition to a national average, the AIA shared regional averages. Continuing a trend, the Northeast reported the lowest, with a bleak score of 40.5. All regions showed a decline in billings, and while the South’s 48.3 was the highest reported, it indicates billings are happening at a slowing rate. Firms specializing in institutional projects saw less of a decline than other building sectors. As is typical, multifamily residential reported a low score of 40.3. Looking ahead, the industry will likely tread lightly, wading through strained developers and rising material costs as it continues on.

The Architectural League of New York announced today this year’s winners of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers, now in its 44th iteration. Plot was the theme to guide this year’s competition, which asked entrants to interrogate how architecture engages with “plot,” whether as “land, drawing, or scheme,” the League said in a statement. The 2025 winners were: Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi of BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI; Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez of Otros Entregables; David Costanza; Deborah Garcia of DEBORA.STUDIO; Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li of 11 x 17; Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina of salazarsequeromedina. “Every building has its lore, and plots are known to thicken,” the League said. “Which dramas are shaping architecture’s arc today? The truth may be stranger than fiction. Despite the best-laid plans, design so often deals in circumstance. That is, while architects may endeavor to write their own stories, projects always present twists. […] We invite young designers to chronicle that which bookends their practices and to demonstrate plot’s persistent role as main character.” The jury included Rayshad Dorsey, Liz Gálvez, Miles Gertler, Behnaz Assadi, Mario Gooden, Jia Yi Gu, and William O’Brien Jr. together with the League’s programs and membership director Anne Rieselbach and program manager Zoe Fruchter. Beginning June 10, winners will showcase their work through an online lecture series and exhibition. Below are images of projects by 2025 League Prize winners, accompanied by short practice profiles as provided by the League, and further information about the 2025 League Prize Lecture series. Quincho & House, Bialet Masse, Córdoba, Argentina, 2024, by BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI, and Diego Avendaño (Marcos Guiponi) Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi | BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI (Boston and Troy, New York) BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI is an architecture firm based in the United States and Argentina. Founded in 2014, the practice is led by Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi. Grounded in thoughtful attention to materiality and building methods, BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI describes their design approach as inclusive of “the networks and cycles of materials, people, ecologies, knowledge, and resources that are part of the construction of architecture,” in their own words. The firm works across multiple scales in both urban and rural contexts, from public installations to houses, gathering spaces, and other commissions. Consecuencias event in Zyanya, Mexico City, 2024, by Otros Entregables, and Adriana Rodríguez (Laura Méndez) Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez | Otros Entregables (Mexico City) Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez founded Mexico City–based platform Otros Entregables (Other Deliverables) in 2023. Through their podcast, live events, and curatorial initiatives, Otros Entregables aims to challenge the boundaries of traditional architectural deliverables and expand architectural discourse to include a variety of artistic-spatial practices. The platform’s work is generated from exchanges with collaborators including academic institutions and students, designers and design organizations, and “like-minded unconventional makers,” in their own words. Rocker, Houston, Texas, 2017 (Courtesy David Costanza) David Costanza (Ithaca, New York) David Costanza is the principal of David Costanza Studio, a design-build practice based in Ithaca, New York, and director of the Building Construction Lab at Cornell University AAP, which he founded in 2020. Through his practice, research, and teaching, Costanza aims to “question how architects can operate as engaged participants in the act of making,” in his own words. Costanza’s portfolio engages with a broad spectrum of design processes, from computational design tools, to tectonically experimental public installations, to sustainability-oriented residential work. SUPA Soundsystem, Harvard ArtLab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2024, by DEBORA.STUDIO, and Joseph Zeal-Henry (Malakhai Pearson) Deborah Garcia | DEBORA.STUDIO (New York City) Deborah Garcia is an architectural designer and researcher whose work focuses on reimagining everyday structures through multisensory activation. Throughout her often site-specific installations, curatorial work, and research projects, Garcia aims to “investigate the crossed wires of what we hear, the stories we are a part of, and the things we feed back into the system,” in her own words. Her recent research developed strategies for using sound as an architectural medium and historical record. 3/8” (Three Eighths of an Inch), Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Texas, United States, 2023-34 (Courtesy 11 x 17 & Nero He) Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li | 11 x 17 (Toronto and Denver) 11 x 17 is a research-driven design practice with offices in Denver and Toronto. Founded in 2022 by Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li, the firm creates built and speculative works across multiple scales, including exhibitions, furniture, interiors, books, and buildings, united by a critical examination of materiality. 11 x 17 approaches building construction as “a conceptual device to engage larger issues around resources, labor, and form,” in the firm’s own words, resulting in a portfolio of lean yet multifaceted projects that challenge divisions between architectural products and processes. Sobremesas, 13th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, Lima, Peru, 2024, by salazarsequeromedina, Leggett & Cahuas (Ivan Salinero) Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina | salazarsequeromedina (New York City and New Orleans) Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina founded design studio salazarsequeromedina in 2020. The collaborative practice focuses on civic work that engages creatively with both building processes and the contemporary built environment. Often constructed with repurposed materials, salazarsequeromedina’s “open-ended structures,” as the firm describes their projects, are realized through dialogue with environmental context in concert with community programming and use. The firm has produced architectural installations, speculative interventions, and built work for sites and platforms in Peru, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. The 2025 League Prize Virtual Lecture Series June 11: Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li of 11 x 17 Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina of salazarsequeromedina Moderated by Miles GertlerJune 18: Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez of Otros Entregables Deborah Garcia of DEBORA.STUDIO Moderated by Rayshad DorseyJune 25: Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi of BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI David Costanza Moderated by Liz Gálvez

On the whole, U.S. national forests have comprehensive sustainable management practices, thanks in part to strong laws passed through the legislative process, such as the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and the Endangered Species Act in 1973. The U.S. is the largest producer of forestry products in the world. It is also the largest consumer in the world, and since it doesn’t produce enough, it is also the largest importer of wood products in the world. Wood is a global commodity, and different tree species are preferred for different products, so the U.S. is also one of the top wood exporters in the world, recent tariffs notwithstanding. But U.S. forests are not just valued as a resource, they are valued by people for the joy they give us and the recreation opportunities they provide. Some people value the integral role they play in our living planet—supporting biodiversity, building soil, filtering water, sequestering carbon dioxide, and releasing oxygen. U.S. regulations have recognized the important role of national forests in balancing timber harvesting, recreation, watershed protection, and wildlife conservation since the mid-20th century. The recent White House Executive Order requiring the Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production criticizes the policies that balance the use of our national forests and our purported inability to “fully exploit our domestic timber.” This order diminishes the value of our forests to that of just a commodity resource. This order runs the risk of us repeating mistakes our country has already learned. Increasing domestic timber production could be positive—for rural economies, fire thinning, and storing carbon—and if we are going to consume wood, shouldn’t we do it with our own forests? Long-term wood production can be increased through ecological forestry management, and a short-sighted approach to rapidly increase wood production by ignoring good forestry practices will have a detrimental impact on the long-term economic viability of our forests. Since the 1980s conservation groups and logging companies have worked more closely together, recognizing each other’s perspectives and shared values. Expediting the review of timber projects risks the insufficient evaluation of impacts to the vitality and productivity of the forests, as well as, to the habitats of endangered species, which is likely to see conservation groups and logging companies become confrontational once again. The Haven Domestic Violence Shelter in Bozeman, Montana, uses lightweight and glue-laminated timber in its framing and is clad with locally sourced Douglas fir timber from Montana. (MASS Design Group) As practitioners in the built environment, we encourage the use of domestic wood products as an opportunity to store carbon and support rural economies, but increased use of wood needs to be planned to balance the roles our forests have. If the intention of the order is for the U.S. to be more self-reliant regarding wood products and reduce the need to import wood, we propose ways in which this can be achieved without ravaging our national forests. 1. Reduce Overall Consumption of Building Materials: Reusing buildings and the materials that already exist in our cities is the greatest opportunity to reduce material consumption and the climate and ecological impacts associated with consumption. Adaptive reuse of existing buildings must be the preferred strategy for developers and designers. We will still need new buildings and existing buildings will need new material added to them. If we built fewer new buildings, more buildings could be made from wood without needing to increase overall wood consumption. 2. Broaden and Diversify Our Building Materials: Wood is not our only option to create carbon-storing buildings that support rural economies. Building materials can be made from agricultural fibers such as straw, hemp, and perennial grasses. These materials can be grown and harvested annually as by-products from higher value crops. They can be farmed in a way that regenerates soil health, while increasing yields and profits from our farms. These products can replace extractive mineral, metal, and petrochemical products ubiquitous in buildings now, and offer alternatives to wood-based products. Plenty of these products are available already: New Frameworks builds a straw-structural insulated panel from materials sourced within Vermont; Americhanvre use a spray applied hempcrete to insulate buildings internally and externally; and Bamcore produce a bamboo and eucalyptus nearly hollow structural wall panel. We’re working to scale these alternative products through the Bio-Based Materials Collective. 3. Utilize different tree species: Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest traditionally and regularly used about 300 plant species for myriad purposes, but wood in modern buildings is dominated by a handful of species like Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir. We need a greater understanding and appreciation of the species we have in our various bio-regions, and as designers we need to specify for performance. We can also look outside of timberlands for wood. Each year in the U.S., 36 million trees are cut down in urban areas to make way for development. While urban trees have a lot of benefits, when they are cut down they could be utilized instead of disposed of. Organizations such as Cambium Carbon are identifying felled urban trees and feeding them into existing supply chains. Based in Halethorpe, Maryland, the organization works with municipalities, companies, and nonprofits to revolutionize tree management and reduce waste by salvaging lumber and creating “Carbon Smart Wood.” 4. Reduce Waste: Wood accounts for between 20–30 percent of all construction and demolition waste in the U.S. In the construction of a single-family home there is often between 2,500–5,500 pounds of wood waste. This is between two and four times the municipal waste generated by an average American per year. Reducing waste would decrease the need for new products, bring more value from our existing products, and potentially even reduce construction costs. Technology for reducing waste is already in practice. Urban Machine uses robotics solutions to reclaim wood, reducing the labour required to reuse wood members; and Dave Bennink’s Building Deconstruction Institute offers deconstruction services where they salvage wood framed buildings in panels, rather than individual pieces, preserving value that has already been added to the timber. The institute has trained hundreds in these practices and consulted on projects across the U.S. 5. Optimise Use: Reducing wood waste also means we have to optimize the designs for the products we have. The 69 buildings of the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture in Bugesera, Rwanda, were designed around a four-meter structural grid because this was the width of the kiln available. In the U.S., we are accustomed to conventional wood framing—2 inches by 6 inches spaced at 16 inches on-center, double top plates, triple headers, etc., but with advanced framing techniques we can easily reduce material use, and costs by as much as 30 percent. Offsite manufacturing methods also optimize material use, such as Luxembourg-based Leko Labs, and advanced manufacturing techniques, such as those by Chile-based Strong by Form, can produce stress-tailored material efficient components. A considered federal policy could scale the use of these technologies in the U.S. We can build sustainably while safeguarding forests. We ask anyone within the built environment ecosystem to engage with these strategies to protect the forests that so many others have protected till now. We implore the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to create guidelines in addition to the order, acknowledging learnings from our past mistakes. We urge our colleagues to prioritize these ideas, regardless of what might be the outcome of federal action. James Kitchin is MASS Design Group’s Director of the Abundant Futures Design Lab. Chris Hardy is a design director at MASS Design Group.

Madison Square Park is constantly buzzing with people. Tourists mill downtown to find the Flatiron shrouded behind scaffolding as New Yorkers on their lunch break sit on benches beneath the shade of trees. Parents push packed strollers as the children inside them marvel at hyperactive squirrels. Surrounded by some of New York City’s most important buildings, the park is more than a resting place, the park acts as a pathway—a route from one place to another. Gardens of Renewal, a new installation from landscape artist Lily Kwong, taps into this activity, encouraging reflection and reconnection, while imparting the urgent need to recognize our place within a larger ecological story. Gardens of Renewal occupies the Redbud and Sparrow Lawns on the east side of the park. The timely installation was designed by Kwong in collaboration with the Madison Square Park Conservancy. Landscape artist Lily Kwong’s work hopes to reconnect people with nature, providing a space of reflection. (Don Brodie/Courtesy Madison Square Park Conservancy) “I wanted to create a project that embodied peace, harmony, and interconnection to remind us that we’re connected to the natural world as part of an ecological community. And, that we’re all part of a human family,” Kwong said in Vogue. On Redbud Lawn, the Meditation Garden unfolds in a spiral pathway inspired by ancient labyrinths. Co-designed with the park’s horticulture team, the garden features pollinators, herbs, and 50 rare and endangered native plant species, highlighting the urgent threat of climate change. Beneath the shadow of the Metlife Tower’s ticking clock, the garden’s layout invites quiet reflection while fostering community connection and environmental awareness. For the more curious visitors, QR codes placed throughout the site offer supplemental material, including an illustrated plant field guide, a meditation soundtrack from Sandra Sears, and a curated playlist by DJ Fly Hendrix. For the wandering kids, the Children’s Garden on the Sparrow Lawn, offers an imaginative space for exploration with a library, stage, and interactive play structures. In coordination with the Kwong’s installation, throughout the summer, Sparrow Lawn will host a series of conversations, performances, and educational programming centered on valuing the natural world. In a world marked by climate anxiety, disconnection from nature, and a divisive political landscape, Gardens of Renewal provokes visitors to consider the politics surrounding the climate crisis, mass extinctions, and the erosion of environmental protections. Opening on Earth Day, Kwong’s Gardens of Renewal highlights the current political landscape and the imminent threat of climate change. (Rashmi Gill/Courtesy Madison Square Park Conservancy) “I see this garden—two small lawns in a big city on a big planet—as an act of resistance,” said Kwong, “Maybe it won’t stop the drilling of a new oil field, but it will protect and nurture your spirit. It will build community. It will provide vital habitat. It will provide space to explore and learn and grieve.” It’s apt that Gardens of Renewal opened for its four-month stay on Earth Day. Now, as the days grow longer and warmer, plants will flourish, bees and butterflies will flit among the blossoms, and passersby, many simply moving between 26th and 23rd Street, may find themselves drawn in by the quiet pull of this rare urban oasis. Committed to sustainability and the long-lasting impact of her projects, Kwong ensured that the plants used in Gardens of Renewal have a second life. After the installation’s conclusion, the Madison Square Park Conservancy will work with the Flatiron Nomad Alliance to replant the flora from Gardens of Renewal throughout the park and in nearby pits and planters. Just as the gardens will shift and transform throughout the summer, the diverse plant species will continue to thrive for seasons to come, offering food and shelter to the city’s non-human residents, highlighting nature’s resilience and regenerative power, even among a sea of skyscrapers. Lily Kwong’s Garden of Renewal is on view until September 1.

One-stop shops where people can go to find salvaged building materials in the name of circularity are popping up around the U.S. In San Antonio, the Material Innovation Center (MIC) works with contractors, reuse stores, and corporate donors to take in excess woodwork, windows, lumber, siding and other materials after buildings get demolished. This debris gets channeled toward affordable housing, all thanks to MIC. Another outfit, Reuse Innovation Center, is based in Bellingham, Washington, and services the Pacific Northwest. To boost its own circular economy, New York City is following suit. Dave Bennink of the Circular Construction Network and Building Deconstruction Institute shared plans this week to build the New York City Reuse Innovation Center (NYC-RIC), what Bennink says will become a “center of circular construction.” NYC-RIC will be located in Brooklyn, Bennink said, but the group is still looking for space. It will contain a “reusable building material store, a showroom, classroom, and a collaborative maker/remanufacturing space called the CoLab,” he said. Bennink is actively looking for businesses who’d like to move into the space and synergistically work “towards circularity in the built environment.” Growing New York’s Circular Economy The idea came a few years ago when Bennink was recruited by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to help incorporate circular principles at the forthcoming Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC), a new education and healthcare hub in Kips Bay, Manhattan, for CUNY—with a masterplan by SOM. After partnering with NYCEDC at SPARC, Bennink saw an opportunity to apply circular principles at myriad other projects all over town, including Stony Brook’s Center of Climate Solutions on Governors Island, also designed by SOM. He now has 16 projects here in New York City. “After I got involved at SPARC, and saw how the city was valuing circular construction, I realized I needed to create a reuse innovation center in the New York City area to help make that possible,” Bennink told AN. “The Reuse Innovation Center will be a circular business cooperative with, say, around 15 and 20 businesses all working together in a synergistic way toward building a circular economy in the built environment,” Bennink added. “So we’ll have businesses that take buildings apartment, and we’ll have businesses that put buildings back together. We’ll have businesses that make products for buildings that are circular in nature, made of reclaimed and recycled content.” Bennink said that he’s now looking for space in Brooklyn to make it all happen. A large floor plate will provide the opportunity to charge affordable rents to businesses looking to get involved. This will save businesses the hassle of renting their own space, and their own equipment. In turn, NYC-RIC will pool together resources and tools, while also placing likeminded business owners in proximity to one another, creating knowledge spillovers. NYCEDC has already taken strides to build cleaner buildings, aside from its work with Bennink at SPARC and on Governors Island. In 2023, NYCEDC launched the “New York City Mass Timber Studio” to encourage wood construction. The program allocates grants to “selected teams to conduct design, technical, and economic feasibility assessments for mass timber.” Moving forward, NYC-RIC is now soliciting businesses to work with. To apply for space in the incubator, applicants can use this Google Form.

As part of the Trump administration’s editorial revisionism, agencies like the Department of State are seeking to change how architects can publish and describe the work they complete for the federal government. AN recently learned of a communication aimed at revisiting previously approved content for release and altering language about sustainability for projects completed by the Overseas Building Operations, which is “the single real property manager for the planning, acquisition, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and disposal of U.S. governmental diplomatic and consular property overseas.” Dated February 19, 2025, and directed to “all prime and subcontractors supporting projects for the Overseas Building Operations (OBO),” the memo subjects new releases to “re-review”: “Any content cleared prior to January 20, 2025, that is included in new public-facing materials must be submitted for re-review and clearance to ensure alignment with current executive orders aimed at making the United States stronger, safer, and more prosperous.” Additionally, the memo stated that before resubmission, “all references to sustainability or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) shall be removed.” The memo also directed the removal of sustainability language: Sustainability features should be framed through the lens of the new administration’s priorities by: Focusing on building performance Using language like “adaptation” rather than “resilience” Removing the terms “LEED,” “climate,” and “sustainability” AN has reached out to architecture firms with projects under construction with the OBO for comment to learn more about how this change to sustainability language affects their work. Words like “climate crisis,” “climate science,” and “diversity,” among others, appear on an incomplete list of words that have been flagged to “limit or avoid,” according to reporting in The New York Times. Already, one consulate project was submitted to AN for coverage but was then placed on hold as press material was required to be resubmitted for review. “Due to NDAs and client confidentiality,” the architect was not able to speak with AN about this process, according to a spokesperson. When asked for comment last month, a representative from the USGBC was not aware of the memo. The OBO is the client for major U.S. embassy and consulate projects around the world designed by the country’s leading architects. Projects with budgets totaling billions of dollars are currently under construction: Richärd Kennedy Architects is designing a new consulate in Rio de Janeiro, as well as an embassy in Qatar (with a budget of $336 million) and one in Mauritius ($301 million). Ennead is designing a new consulate in Nogales, Mexico ($203 million), and another one in Thailand ($273 million); both include Page as the architect of record. SHoP is designing a new embassy in Milan ($351.2 million). In Montenegro, the second phase of a new embassy designed by Beyer Blinder Belle with Integrus is under construction ($264.4 million). Since FY2008, OBO required LEED certification as a “contractual requirement for all capital projects,” and as of FY2010, LEED Silver was the minimum level of achievement. There has been no news as to if this standard has been updated or abandoned during the Trump administration. As mentioned in a 2021 article in AN by A. J. Artemel, sustainability plays a “double role” in embassy projects: It is both meant to respond to climate change (largely by reducing operational energy) while mitigating practical concerns, like electrical grids that might become unreliable due to outages or unrest. The edits to sustainability language made under the Trump administration largely shift the description to the latter category, instead of the former: Sustainability is now described as optimization or performance. Many of the projects were designed in an eco-technical manner with sustainability as a major design driver, so it remains to be seen how the projects’ key aspects will be promoted. A quick review of website edits reveals how OBO project descriptions have been updated. In Brasília, Brazil, Studio Gang is completing an embassy with Page ($556 million). A description from December 2024 mentioned the project’s “safe, secure, functional, and resilient architecture” that will provide “a sustainable and engaging space for the future of U.S.-Brazilian relations.” Now, the text substitutes “efficient” for “resilient” and removes “sustainable”—but adds the goal of making the U.S. “safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” Mention of LEED Silver has been removed, as has PROCEL, “an energy-savings certification mandated for all new Brazilian federal buildings.” A mention of the region’s “biodiversity” was also edited out of the text. Miller Hull is designing a new embassy in Malawi. A prior description from last year had a section titled “Resilience & Stewardship” that promoted the target for LEED Gold certification; now the section omits mention of LEED and is titled “Building Performace.” (Sticklers will note that “performance” is spelled wrong.) Additionally, the mention of “diversity”—as in, “the diversity and richness of U.S. and Malawian cultural heritage”—was removed; now the embassy “embodies U.S. creativity and heritage.” In Mexico City, a new embassy designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects with Davis Brody Bond is under construction ($943 million). In a previous version of the website, one section was dedicated to sustainability: “The new complex incorporates rigorous sustainability and energy-saving goals to reduce environmental impact, optimize building performance, and enhance resiliency.” Now the section is titled “Building Optimization” and begins: “This project reduces risk and cost associated with security and maintenance while enhancing resilience to natural hazards.” Water efficiency and low-maintenance plants are mentioned, but the prior description’s target of LEED Gold for the complex has been removed. As recently as last September, the Department of State was praising OBO’s sustainability efforts: An article for State Magazine about a range of projects in Mexico praised the widespread use of passive shading to reduce solar heat gain. The OBO projects mentioned above are already so far along in budget allocations and construction timelines that the physical removal of any significant sustainability components seems unlikely. What remains to be seen is if any sustainability features that aid in lowering the operating costs of buildings over their lifespans—and thus saving taxpayer dollars—will actively be removed from efforts that are earlier in the design process: The OBO portfolio portal provides links for Acquired Sites and In Planning & Design, but both web pages are listed as “currently under construction.” AN has reached out to OBO for comment. Are you working on a relevant project and would like to share your experience with AN? 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Outdoor furnishings create places for community and offer a sense of welcome. These selections focus on designs for more friendly and inclusive outdoor spaces. (Courtesy Vestre) Tellus Vestre The first furniture to be made with “fossil-free” steel, Tellus was designed by Emma Olbers. It takes on a familiar park bench form but in a sleeker, more sustainable fashion. (Courtesy Tuuci) Meritage Collection Tuuci The Meritage Collection offers sofas, sectionals, lounge chairs, ottomans, sun loungers, and tables. The design merges clean lines, nautical influences, and modular flexibility. (Courtesy Fermob) Bistro 2-Seater Bench Fermob Manufacturers of the classic New York Bryant Park chairs, Fermob’s latest 2-seater comes in vibrant hues and folds up for easy functionality. The bench brings charm to public spaces with its endearingly conjoined and romantic design. (Courtesy Tournesol) Camino Tournesol Camino is a modular bench collection designed to create engaging outdoor gathering spaces. Benches can be connected for scalability and customization, and optional integrated lighting helps illuminate outdoor evening activities. (Courtesy mmcité) Morse Dot mmcité The Morse Collection expands with its newest member, Morse Dot, a single steel leg with a wood seat that acts as a backrest and table all in one. The Morse Dot adapts to the versatility of outdoor spaces, serving as an impromptu work meeting spot or a place to rest and people-watch. (Courtesy Nola) Svall Bench Nola Designed from a child’s perspective by Matilda Lindstam, Svall is a whimsically contoured bench that offers different seating heights, a form inspired by the swirls and pastries. (Courtesy Maglin) Urban Canopee Corolle Maglin Corolle is an innovative solution designed to cool down cities and combat the urban heat island effect. The design incorporates vines and plants for biophilic properties and a biodiverse area. (Courtesy Miramondo) Roofus Miramondo Roofus is a sturdy table and bench combination that features a large, bright roof—a necessity as cities get hotter and hotter. The piece encourages chatting, eating, and working with constellations that vary in table height and type of seating.

Cannady Hall, Karamuk Kuo’s recently completed, largely freestanding 2-story building at Rice University in Houston, complements and extends Rice School of Architecture’s Anderson Hall. Anderson was designed by Staub and Rather in 1947 as a simple bar building to anchor the northwest corner of the university’s central academic quadrangle, planned by Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson in 1910. In 1981 Anderson was quietly expanded by James Stirling and Michael Wilford, who added a second, parallel bar of offices and studios linked to the original with a central jury and exhibition space. This addition suggested a courtyard that Cannady Hall finalized, giving the school a legible precinct with a clear center. The new building mostly houses maker spaces: a large, traditional fabrication shop (for creating models, prototypes, and furniture) and mechanical support space downstairs, and a digital model shop and extensive, unassigned, open work area for students and faculty upstairs, from which you can look down through two double-height voids into the fabrication shop below. Cannady Hall also contains spaces to consider the results of making, in a long 2-story, street-facing public gallery, which can be isolated but has an obvious door to the upstairs work area—and a pinup hallway built over an existing covered loggia that originally linked Anderson to Fondren Library at the ground level and now also links Anderson to Cannady above. Finally, the new building displays the work of making to the campus community. Because Cannady is raised three feet above grade for flooding, the mostly glazed fabrication shop, with workspaces extending onto exterior porches, is easily visible from the surrounding public walkways—even from the reading room of the adjacent library. Cannady Hall, seen in the foreground, has become part of Rice’s central Academic Quad. (Iwan Baan) As an entity, Cannady Hall is a marvelous enigma. You can experience it as temporary or permanent, insertion or fabric, workmanlike or exquisite, freestanding or linked, transparent or opaque, object or field, forward-looking or traditional. Each reading is carefully balanced against the other to achieve what Jeannette Kuo, the supervising partner for this project, describes as “oscillation,” a quality that enlivens the deep pragmatism of the young Swiss architecture firm’s impressive and consistent built work. Seen from a distance, Cannady Hall seems temporary, like one of those straightforward, contextually oblivious, repetitive bay lab buildings that universities occasionally—but urgently—need. Inserted against the dense, dark-green live oak canopy and limestone-and-brick building fabric of the campus, it appears as a simple, mostly enclosed, metal-panel-clad object. Karamuk Kuo designed the building in a way that makes the brick-red upper mass appear to float (Iwan Baan) As you get closer, though, your understanding of the building changes. Stainless steel cladding panels and window wall on the ground floor make the brick-red upper mass appear to float. The prominent gallery bay, visible from the university’s inner loop road, cleverly extends beyond the simple footprint, further upsetting the reading of the whole as a simple box. As you turn the gallery corner into the courtyard, two bays float above, forming a deep porch below and dropping a partly veiled open stair from a bright upstairs entry. Still, these unconventional shifts—there is one more to the bay closest to the library—balance against convention. In conspiracy with Anderson Hall and the Fondren Library, the moves clarify and concentrate public movement. The courtyard now forms a logically shaped, layered threshold to Rice’s central Beaux Arts heart. Close in, what had seemed from afar to be enameled metal panels turn out to be glazed terra-cotta battens, carefully detailed. As you move into the courtyard, the weight and opacity that material brings to the building volume is undercut by the full-height window wall at the ground floor that invites you to see in and through the big fabrication shop. The gallery and the enclosed upper loggia use the same window wall, so you assume the upper floor is also largely transparent. While you can’t see inside because of the angle, the reflection of trees and sky in the ample glass nicely activates the courtyard. The glazed terra-cotta battens were carefully detailed(Iwan Baan) When you eventually arrive inside to the second floor, which is more busily and casually used than the shop below, you realize that the sense of transparency is illusionary. The gallery is isolated from that larger workspace with a wall, and the upper exterior window wall in the courtyard is spandrel, necessary to allow for interior wall space to hang work. But the illusion of transparency is cleverly and surprisingly sustained, as diffuse north light from the repetitive monitors floods in. The interior of the upper floor is organized under the repeating sawtooth skylit bays as an insistent field of steel I-beams painted white. This column grid does not differentiate the floor area into served and service spaces; it is all usable, flowing field space, entirely without hallway. While the repeating bay width is set by the existing loggia, it turns out this dimension is perfect for worktables for individuals or small groups, while providing enough room for passersby to circulate and observe without self-consciousness. Though the column field feels open, every other bay is enclosed with floor-to-ceiling glass layers—two sheets set several inches apart, flush with the beam and columns edges—that either surround the double-height voids over the fabrication shop or isolate areas that serve as project rooms or classrooms. (The layered glass provides acoustic isolation.) These enclosure areas form transparent objects that disrupt free circulation in the field, but the net effect is that you still feel you have a panoptic sense of everything going on both upstairs and down. It’s a compelling and generous space. Interior of the upper floor is organized under the repeating sawtooth skylit bays. (Iwan Baan) So, here are two interestingly related facts: Cannady Hall adds about 22,000 square feet to the school, almost all of it usable by students. But Rice does not intend to admit a greater number of new architecture students. Initiated, developed, and constructed under the watch of three successive deans—Sarah Whiting, John Casbarian, and Igor Marjanović—Cannady Hall stands as concrete recognition by a leading architecture program that its young charges, who are fluent in virtual means, also pressingly need to study, test, and represent in real space, to think by means of material engagement, and to operate in an open, collaborative environment beyond the hermetic screen in an isolated studio. Large, detailed models, built mostly using combinations of digital and hand processes, seem to be everywhere around the school. The faculty I spoke with now expect those. If the programmatic and pedagogic agenda of the new building can be understood as a corrective measure to the consequences of the purely digital processes and representation that architectural design education has come to rely upon, what makes Karamuk Kuo’s building so interesting is its refusal to see this correction as backsliding. On the second floor of Cannady, when school is in session, you will find the motley order of work: an ever-changing scatter of desk stools, layout stands, model bases, worktables, and computer desks surrounded by stacks of model materials, backpacks, empty coffee cups, and lunch containers, all given meter by the casual temporary geometry of power cables and local foci by the temporary placement of laptops and monitors. Given this mess, the effect of the grid of white columns in even light—which, in photos of the cleaned-up space, seems overstated—is remarkable. An overarching sense of order happily prevails over the chaos. Bays were enclosed with floor-to-ceiling glass layers. (Iwan Baan) There are a few areas where the building is less successful. Most are circumstantial and outside the architect’s control. The site dictates that the building is a pavilion, with high visibility for all four elevations. Site hydrology did not allow for a basement, so mechanical spaces, masked with stainless panels, result in a relatively mute west facade facing a prominent public circulation axis across an open field. To help, a public artwork, yet to be commissioned, will be sited there. The second-floor hallway connecting Cannady and Anderson, built over the existing loggia to Fondren, is brilliant inside, but from the main quadrangle side it poses some detailing dilemmas. (The upper link is a necessity for the school to function, but elsewhere in the large quadrangle those corners are left open.) The new link seeks to appear as a preexisting extension of Anderson Hall over the loggia, but the latter cannot bear weight, posing difficult isolation-joint details. In this and a few other moments you sense perhaps the gap between the tolerance expectations of a Swiss firm detailing its first American building and the ability of even a solid American contractor like Linbeck to deliver. While the architecture of Cannady Hall goes out of its way to make clear its primary structure and assembly—and the architects and school to explain the recyclability of its major materials—my one larger complaint is that I wish the building would as clearly communicate its active environmental performance, which was a concern for Karamuk Kuo: Its target for this building was a 50 percent reduction in energy usage over standard practices. This seems low, but the achievable efficiency is skewed by the programmatic need to leave large window wall areas of the fabrication shop open to Houston’s hot and humid air and because the gallery has to work with its window wall blackout curtains drawn or fully raised. Karamuk Kuo typically integrates active and insulative systems to the point that they disappear. Here, given that it’s an educational facility for young architects, I wish they had been more didactic. Inside, the workspaces flood with light from repetitive monitors. (Iwan Baan) But that’s a minor complaint. Congratulations, Rice, and congratulations, Karamuk Kuo. As a professor up the road at the University of Texas at Austin, I’m jealous as hell. Anderson Hall, meanwhile, has been simultaneously and smartly renovated by Kwong Von Glinow to coordinate with its new addition. (The interiors commission is the firm’s first project outside its home state of Illinois.) The intervention does a remarkable job of clarifying that building’s primary entry—in part by cutting large new windows to create views of the quad—and of integrating its public spaces into the courtyard, which, though intended, had never worked as Stirling and Wilford had hoped. Anderson Hall’s new upper-floor connection to the loggia hallway provides a centralized group meeting area to balance the general work areas of Cannady and uses the exterior curve of one of Stirling’s round skylight coves for the geometry of a ramp to reach Cannady’s upper level. It all feels smart, and it works effortlessly with the new addition. A plan of the building’s second floor shows the continuity between the existing and new structures. (Courtesy Karamuk Kuo) I would be remiss to not mention that the new building is named for its lead donor, the irascible, driven, and superbly pragmatic architect William T. “Bill” Cannady, who was already a Rice professor when I was an architecture student there in the late 1970s. Bill’s career has been marked by several fundamental changes of direction, so the pedagogical shift this legacy ensures feels appropriate. With that support, Rice may be one of the few U.S. architecture schools that can afford to make more, better space these days. But the university, as a leading academic institution, seems to have committed itself, in this building and several others both finished and underway, to the critical role that design, generously and thoughtfully housed, plays in a leading university. Fingers crossed that this message makes it out beyond the hedges. David Heymann is an architect, writer, and the Harwell Hamilton Harris Regents Professor in the School of Architecture at UT Austin.

Those shopping for the design-inclined know the MoMA Design Store Soho is the place to go. The more-than-just-a-museum-gift-shop, opened in 2001 at 81 Spring Street in a 19th-century building with cast iron columns and masonry walls concealed by past renovations. Peterson Rich Office (PRO) has been selected to redesign the 6,600-square-foot, 2-story space in New York’s preeminent shopping district, and reveal its historic innards. The renovation by PRO will reimagine the ground floor space, MoMA said in a statement, to “better reflect how visitors engage with retail and design today.” It aims to create balance between the historic architecture, and reveal its 19th century elements that have long been kept from sight. “MoMA Design Store has consistently served as a vital platform for bringing museum-quality design into everyday life,” PRO cofounder Nathan Rich told AN. “For PRO,” Rich added, “this renovation represents more than a project—it’s an opportunity to honor both MoMA’s legacy of design excellence and Soho’s storied architectural heritage. We’re crafting a space where innovation meets history, ensuring the Design Store continues to inspire New Yorkers and visitors alike for generations to come.” One of the most noticeable changes to MoMA Design Store Soho will be a new entrance for improved sight lines between the shop and the surrounding neighborhood. Today’s Spring Street entrance will be swapped out with storefront windows; the north wall will feature a large, commissioned artwork that catches eyeballs and draws people in. Aside from exposing these features and new exterior arrangements, PRO imagines modern lighting systems, thoughtful display structures, and “intentional negative space” “MoMA Design Store plays a vital role in extending the Museum’s mission beyond its walls—connecting our audiences to the values of good design through everyday experiences,” MoMA COO James Gara said in a statement. “This renovation strengthens that connection, creating a renewed cultural and retail destination rooted in both MoMA’s legacy and Soho’s creative energy.” Toward that end, the redesigned Soho store will have new displays that highlight current exhibitions and programming at the flagship. “The new Soho store will be a more flexible, immersive, and intuitive environment,” added Jesse Goldstine, MoMA Retail general manager. “We’re not only better showcasing the products we believe in, we’re strengthening the store’s relationship to the Museum while offering moments of joy and discovery to everyone who walks through our doors.” MoMA Design Store Soho will close to the public on May 16 for renovations to begin, and reopen later this fall.

Farm to Shelter BLDUS uses natural materials to foster healthy living in a Washington, D.C. alley house By Kelly Pau • April 21, 2025 • East, Interiors (Ty Cole) SHARE Alleyways hold historical significance for housing in Washington, D.C. After the Civil War, alleys provided safe houses for freed enslaved people as well as housing for those with lower income. By the 1890s, Black communities turned the alleys into their own tightknit support system. However, the introduction of cars (which converted alleys to parking lots) and increasing activism against what was perceived as poor, slum neighborhoods led to many of these residences being demolished by the Alley Dwelling Authority in the 1930s and ‘40s. Now, with rising housing shortages in the capital, alleys are an opportunity to add much-needed residential relief. In an alley in Capital Hill, local firm BLDUS contributes to this mission with a natural, meaningful home, Brown House. Led by Jack Becker and Andrew Linn, BLDUS is practice grounded in what the firm calls a “farm-to-shelter” ethos. In other words, local natural materials are united with vernacular, contextual buildings to foster connectedness. The same principles guide Brown House. The 2-story, 1,600-square-foot residence is clad in black locust wood slats, cork, and bamboo structural walls insulated with hemp. The material palette, aptly all brown and beige colors, creates an array of grids and rectilinear lines of slats when viewed from one side. Read more on aninteriormag.com. Washington D.C.

Almost Nothing Nora Wendl University of Illinois Press $19.95 The Edith Farnsworth House’s story has ad nauseum gone something like this: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe meets Dr. Edith Farnsworth at Georgia Lingafelt and Ruth Lee’s 1945 dinner party in Chicago, and they hit it off. Edith hires Mies to make her a house, Mies employs a young Myron Goldsmith to work out the details, costs skyrocket, Mies sues Edith (at Philip Johnson’s behest), then Edith wins, retires, and moves to Italy. Mies is the misunderstood, tortured protagonist from wartorn Europe and Edith the ungrateful, persnickety American antagonist with family money, an inconvenience to this seemingly perfect crystalline temple. Nora Wendl’s Almost Nothing: Reclaiming Edith Farnsworth throws a wrench in this easy, sexist narrative we’ve become so accustomed to.  It’s always been assumed Mies and Edith were lovers. But were they, actually? Edith has been punished for this phantom affair and the infamous court case between her and a “genius” architect 17 years her senior. Under oath, Mies dismissed her as his clout chasing, sycophantic client: “I was already famous, and now she is famous throughout the world!” he said. Aside from this new book by Wendl, and earlier works by Alice T. Friedman, Edith hasn’t been given her due as an intellectual aesthete and renowned physician who cured a once-fatal form of kidney disease (nephritis), among other feats, including 100 poems that pose questions about her own sexual orientation few historians have bothered to look at, until now.  Edith Farnsworth and Beth Dunlap circa 1951 (William Dunlap/Courtesy Nora Wendl) “And I became curious about what that might mean,” Wendl wrote in her introduction, “what difference it might make to a building, how we cannot imagine a history of architecture in which men and their erections are not central; how to write a history of architecture in which men and their erections are peripheral, or rather, to see if I can imagine one.” So begins Wendl’s book that is nonfiction and memoir all at once. Reclaiming Edith We just can’t seem to shake Mies, can we? The man has been dead and buried in Graceland Cemetery since 1969. Still, he’s the subject of at least four new titles. In 2019, Ralph Fiennes and Maggie Gyllenhaal were to dramatize Mies and Edith respectively in Farnsworth House, directed by Richard Press. (Elizabeth Debicki subsequently replaced Gyllenhaal, the film still hasn’t come out.) Mies van der Rohe: An Architect in his Time by Dietrich Neumman; The Edith Farnsworth House: Architecture, Preservation, Culture, an anthology by Michelangelo Sabatino with contributions from Hilary Sample, Scott Mehaffey, and Neumann; and Mies in His Own Words, edited by Sabatino and Vittorio Pizzigoni, were all released last year.  In Neumann’s oeuvre, he dedicates 18 pages to the Edith Farnsworth House, which mostly focus on its assembly methods and construction novelty (the plug welds, I-beams, etc). Sabatino’s text interprets the house’s early photography, and explores how Edith was largely omitted from its media representation. Wendl’s Almost Nothing arrives not long after these books, and differs in myriad ways. The University of New Mexico architecture professor offers a captivating, critical “history of architecture, of women, and of glass.” In 2020, Wendl co-curated an exhibition, Edith Farnsworth Reconsidered, with Mehaffey and Robert Kleinschmidt, that showed how Edith originally occupied the house, before it was renovated by its second owner Lord Peter Palumbo. In 2021, the National Register of Historic Places renamed the Farnsworth House the Edith Farnsworth House—many tourists thought Edith was a man or had no idea who she was, Wendl writes. Almost Nothing comes three years after the house’s renaming, nevertheless a project Wendl has dedicated the past decade to. Nora Wendl, Equine in features, circa 2021, C-print on fibre rag paper. (Courtesy Nora Wendl) Installation view of Edith Farnsworth, Reconsidered, by Nora Wendl at Farnsworth House circa 2020 (Courtesy Nora Wendl) Wendl calls Almost Nothing a “love story,” placing it arguably in the same vein as Eva Hagberg’s When Eero Met His Match: Aline Louchheim Saarinen and the Making of an Architect, as both writers insert themselves into the story. Hagberg, whose endorsement appears on Almost Nothing’s back cover, and Wendl foreground two women that, for decades, were backgrounded. Their work recontextualizes two men that, for so many readers, warrant no introduction, but whose personal histories of gender politics are lesser-known. Almost Nothing also bears resemblance to Justin Beal’s Sandfuture in that it too is a work of architectural autofiction. That is to say, Almost Nothing is about Edith and Mies, but it’s also about writing a book about Edith and Mies—it chronicles Wendl’s own experiences as an underpaid, overworked scholar living in cheap Chicago apartments without much institutional support. We read about her trying to get tenure, taking anxiety medication, hanging up on cajoling men who pry into her research, navigating annoying Ivy Leaguers, having panic attacks at stuffy academic conferences, and other pursuits. Wendl paints a picture of her own material conditions in taut sentences: “I am so tired my skin hurts”; “while the bartender backs away, I put my head on the bar, mortified”; and “a man that I slept with years ago emails me to tell me that he’s building a building,” are some of my favorites, which speak to the book’s experimental, first–person form. “I write the check for rent and slide it through the door downstairs,” Wendl announces, “I eat sardines over rice.”  Edith Farnsworth, fourth to the right, with friends in Maine circa 1926 (Mary W. “Molly” Dewson/Courtesy Castine Historical Society) Wendl splices historical and archival research about Edith with snippets of her own life story, mentioned above. Her narrative delves into Edith’s childhood, and her college friends she liked to visit in the Bronx—women who lived alone in housing cooperatives near Van Cortlandt Park and had radical politics. Edith was one of four women accepted into Northwestern University’s medical school in 1934, when there were quotas that determined how many women could enroll. She translated Italian poetry by Albino Pierro and Eugenio Montale into English. Edith kept a rifle in her weekend house after coming across a field of horses “shot dead,” a rather Truman Capote–esque discovery in the country.  The book gives kudos to Friedman, who started the work decades ago to do Edith justice in Women and the Making of the Modern House, a critical feminist genealogy published in 1998. Upon completion, Almost Nothing reminds us that the glass house she commissioned was not Edith’s defining moment, but rather a footnote to a remarkable life. Nevertheless, it was something she paid a hefty price for, financially and psychologically.  A Right to Opacity Almost Nothing is stocked with examples of psychological and physical violence men enact on women, like when Mies told artist Mary Callery, with whom he was having an affair, that she “should stay in the kitchen,” instead of her studio, because “that’s where women should be.” The text goes into how Edith was “tethered to historical record by a man,” much like Denise Scott Brown, as described in the recent anthology about her edited by Frida Grahn. It renders the patronizing ways Edith has been described during tours of her own house: “Everything that woman wrote is a lie,” a tour guide once personally told Wendl in Plano, Illinois. Likewise, Wendl documents her own experiences dealing with chauvinist Mies historians, condescending film directors who think they know best, and predatory male students. The vignettes where men grabbed Wendl’s arms and hands and called her dear made me recoil with disgust. “When asked why I was trying to leave my current teaching position, I said I loved the desert, because I could not say, a former student of mine might want to kill me,” Wendl wrote, using italics to describe her move to the University of New Mexico. Gerard & Kelly, Modern Living, circa 2017. Performance view: Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, presented by the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, Julia Eichten (Bradley Glanzrock/Courtesy of The Artists, Marian Goodman Gallery, and Ryan Kelly) Almost Nothing’s structure mirrors Edith’s own memoirs, and how, after the notorious lawsuit between her and Mies ended, her journal entries were “no longer chronological, no longer sentences, but begin to occur scattershot across her journals and notebooks.” Edith’s poetry and journaling speaks to her own distress over the home and lawsuit. “If there is a proper way to write this history of a glass house, I don’t want to know,” Wendl said. Compared to other Mies historians like Franz Schulze—who once said Edith was “no beauty” and “equine in feature”—and Edward Windhorst, Wendl’s Almost Nothing offers a captivating, harrowing, and chilling account of patriarchy. Until recently, Edith’s trials and tribulations weren’t taken seriously, reminiscent of how women’s pain is dismissed by doctors at higher rates than men. Almost Nothing shows how gender bias and our own material conditions affect the way architectural history is written. It affirms that glass isn’t just glass, like what Walter Benjamin said (“Glass has no history”), and that a work of architecture cannot be reduced to its methods of assembly.  Most importantly, Almost Nothing affirms Edith’s right to privacy, despite having lived in the country’s most famous glass house: “What I would like to tell her is that she has a right to her opacity,” Wendl wrote. “She has a right to be impossible to decipher.” Almost Nothing is now available for pre-sale purchase and will be released May 20.

After the embers settled in Southern California, photographers like Tag Christof traversed ruined, macabre Los Angeles neighborhoods in search of what was left. Much of the imagery we saw after the fires were empty lots where a house used to be, charred trees, orange dystopian skies, and freestanding chimneys. How should the lives and places lost during the fires which recently swept Southern California be memorialized? Palisades Fire Memorial, Concept Rendering (© Milton Lau, Evan Hall/CourtesyHouse Museum) Project Chimney, a new initiative by House Museum, as the name suggests, seeks to relocate several historically significant chimneys designed by Richard Neutra, Paul R. Williams, and Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr., and others in the Pacific Palisades burn zone. It marks one of many reconstruction developments underway today meant to help heal a broken city. Los Angeles Conservancy, the Pacific Palisades Preservation Coalition, and Studio 1323 are all institutional supporters. More than 55 historically significant chimneys have been tagged for relocation, some of which date back to 1922, when the Palisades was founded as a community. These chimneys range from midcentury modern, to Spanish colonial revival to coastal New England styles. Some chimneys come from houses where notable figures resided, like that of Reverend Dr. Charles Scott, an important pastor; and actor Anthony Hopkins. House Museum envisions these chimneys coming together in a new location to create what it calls the Palisades Fire Memorial. The chimneys will be arranged in a circle, like Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, and also recall also Chris Burden’s Urban Light at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Richard Neutra, Kesler House, 2025. (© Evan Curtis Charles Hall/CourtesyHouse Museum) Already, four chimneys have been committed by owners to the memorial, including one by Eric Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright’s son who died in 2023. “Like elders in the community, the monolithic structures will gather people together and tell the tales of bygone residences and family histories,” House Museum said in a statement. Evan Curtis Charles Hall, House Museum director, added the memorial is “crucial for resisting cultural erasure and honoring over 100 years of design and cultural development.” Palisades residents can submit chimney candidates directly to House Museum for consideration to be included.

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) secretary Sean Duffy declared yesterday the federal government is taking over New York Penn Station’s renovation and “withdrawing” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) from the project. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has placed Amtrak, under USDOT’s tutelage, in charge of the critical infrastructure project. MTA CEO Janno Lieber, said in a statement the MTA expects to “participate in the administration’s and Amtrak’s efforts to ensure future plans meet the needs of everyone who uses it.” The MTA’s plan from 2023, and is now seemingly moot. Duffy said the takeover is meant to curb excessive government spending and save taxpayer dollars. “New York City deserves a Penn Station that reflects America’s greatness and is safe and clean,” he said. “The MTA’s history of inefficiency, waste, and mismanagement also meant that a new approach is needed. By putting taxpayers first, we’re ensuring every dollar is spent wisely to create a transit hub all Americans can take pride in.” The National Civic Art Society (NCAS) was quick to react, and take advantage. After Duffy’s announcement, NCAS president Justin Shubow issued a statement on behalf of NCAS. “The National Civic Art Society is delighted that the administration is taking charge,” Shubow said. “Only President Trump can get a new Penn Station built after generations of politicians have failed. It is also heartening news since as president Trump has proven he understands the beauty and popularity of classical civic buildings. We hope he will make Penn Station classical again.” Alexandros Washburn, of the Grand Penn Community Alliance, has support from the National Civic Art Society for his vision for Penn Station. Shubow and the NCAS have, for years, been advocating for the demolition of Charles Luckman’s New York Penn Station and Madison Square Garden complex, and the replacement of this ensemble with a “new Penn Station evocative of the original Beaux-Arts design completed in 1910” by McKim, Mead & White, destroyed in the 1960s. The Grand Penn Community Alliance issued the following statement after it was announced the government would take over the project: “The Grand Penn Community Alliance has had very positive and productive meetings with officials in Washington following our public unveiling last month.  It is clear that our plan is the best plan worthy of the President’s bold vision for a reimagining of Penn Station while building a classical, world class transit hub and creating a vibrant neighborhood around it. This is the beginning of a new process and an opportunity for the kind of transformative development that our plan will allow with a soaring new train hall, public park and a new arena across the street.” The takeover arrives not long after Gateway Phase One started construction, which will deliver a new, rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and Midtown. It also arrives after Assemblyman Tony Simone proposed an alternative masterplan to Vornado’s ten commercial towers the real estate powerhouse ideated for the blocks around Penn Station, as reported by Bill Millard for AN. Instead of hulking commercial towers, Simone proposed a mixed-use complex that’s one-third housing, and two-thirds offices. Two other proposals circulating for Penn Station and its surroundings are by ASTM-Halmar, HOK, and PAU; and ReThinkNYC and Richard Cameron. Moving forward, ReThinkNYC’s Sam Turvey hopes FRA continues to support implementing through-running service at Penn Station. “The best way to cost effectively leverage the multibillion dollar investment in the Gateway Tunnels and Penn Station is to convert commuter rail at Penn Station to the internationally acclaimed through-running operating model which is also expressly favored in our FRA guidelines,” Turvey told AN. “This is likely the most important land use decision in this region in this century,” Turvey added.  “We are hopeful that the FRA and DOT will dispense with this nonsensical  and prohibitively expensive approach and see the way towards a through-running conversion at Penn Station as the best way to ‘transformatively revitalize Penn Station’ and confer quite material benefits to all 20 million plus regional residents. We choose to be cautiously optimistic that this path will be chosen.” Disclaimer: The author previously worked for ReThinkNYC.

It was the muckraker Jacob Riis who famously wrote about how the Lower East Side’s other half lived. Riis was given his due when, in 1949, a public housing complex by Walker & Gillette was named after him in the same neighborhood he opined about. A canonical park at Riis Houses followed in 1966 by M. Paul Friedberg. Following the conclusion to a landmark vote this week, Jacob Riis Houses will stay public. NYCHA residents there have voted to remain in Section 9, instead of converting their public housing campus into a privately managed community under PACT, the same mechanism NYCHA and Related are using to flip Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses. Jacob Riis Houses tenant association (TA) president Daphne Williams supported PACT, but the majority of Riis Houses residents did not. Riis Houses has 1,191 units spread across 13 buildings. In total, 1,034 votes were cast. Of that number, there were 667 votes to remain in Section 9 (the public option), and 367 votes for PACT (privatization). The vote comes after a lengthy, intense fight against PACT by activist groups Cuala Foundation, Rogue Residents, and Concerned Tenants at Jacob Riis against PACT. “The people spoke in a powerful collective voice: public housing needs to remain public,” Cuala Foundation said in a statement shared with AN. Eddie Rodriguez is a member of both Cuala Foundation and Rogue Residents; and Zulay Velazquez is the founder of Concerned Tenants at Jacob Riis, and also Riis Houses’ new president elect. “Our work on the ground showed time and again that not only do residents care about keeping public housing public,” Rodriguez said, “but they want to be part of helping to find solutions for the problems, which are complex.” “I’m still processing the outcome of the vote and everything that’s happened this past year,” Velazquez added. “The vote count surprised me, yet in many ways it aligns closely with the petition count I shared with HUD, NYCHA, and our elected officials before this vote even began. The residents of Jacob A. Riis worked hard this past year—and that hard work paid off.” Across Town NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan, after the vote, told AN about concerns moving forward related to maintenance and financing. “Based on the election administrator’s final tally,” Horgan said, “residents from Jacob Riis Houses have elected to keep their development under the traditional Section 9 model. NYCHA does not currently have the ability to address the extensive physical needs at Riis, estimated at over $940 million, with the financial resources available in the Section 9 program.” The voting results at Riis Houses came just days after NYCHA and HPD released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea (FEC) Houses. The outcome at Riis Houses was met with praise by FEC residents who oppose the demolition plan by PAU, COOKFOX, and ILA. Save Section 9, a public housing advocacy group, also supported the outcome at Riis Houses, and so did Equality for Flatbush, a tenants rights group. Elliott-Chelsea resident Renee Keitt, who opposes demolition, was elected Elliott-Chelsea Houses TA president last January, replacing Darlene Waters, who supported demolition. Jackie Lara, resident of Fulton Houses, told AN “it’s awesome what happened at Riis. I hope we can turn things around here, too.” Today, Lara is running for New York City Council against Erik Bottcher, who supports the FEC Plan. “We have a lot of new allies in the neighborhood that didn’t know what was going on,” Lara added. “We’ve reached out to many of the schools about the shadows the new buildings will create, how long the construction will be, the rats. With Renee, we’re still gathering people to fight this.” “Although the DEIS is over 1,000 pages, it says nothing about the loss of Section 9 public housing and the impact it would have on generations of public housing residents,” Elliott-Chelsea resident Celines Miranda told AN. “2,056 units of precious public housing units will be lost if this demolition goes through.”  “Aside from that,” Miranda continued, “the proposal will create massive problems for the community. FEC Tenants Against Demolition advocates for the first alternative in the DEIS, which is the No-Action Alternative. That would keep us in public housing.”

Architect: RAMSALocation: Seoul Completion Date: 2024Brought to you by: A new facility for retail giant Shinsegae marks the first completed project in South Korea for Robert A. M. Stern Architects (RAMSA). Located in the heart of Seoul, the new building serves as a training center for the corporations employees and also features office space, ground floor retail, and a large auditorium. The structure’s exterior is wrapped in complex brick bond patterns and complementary limestone details—materials that appeased the client’s fondness for masonry. Named Shinsegae Namsan for its unobstructed views of Namsan Mountain—a major landmark in Seoul—the building is perched atop a hilly site along the Jangchungdan-ro, a major urban thoroughfare. From the street-level, the site rises almost 60 feet before abruptly curving to the south. For this reason, Shinsegae Namsan possesses a unique L-shaped plan. Perched on a hillside, Shinsegae Namsan towers over neighboring buildings. (Namsun Lee) “The geometry of the site is very irregular,” said Daniel Lobitz, partner at RAMSA. “And in Korea, exposures are extremely important considerations. We were managing a really prime view to the Southwest of the Namsan Mountain, and so there’s a major orientation of some of the spaces in that direction. We devised this composition of interlocking curvilinear forms that are oriented in different directions,” he added. Shinsegae Namsan’s ground floor was envisioned as a place for social gathering and cultural events. Upon entering, visitors pass through a half-circular lobby atrium and pre-function space before entering a multi-purpose auditorium. Designed for flexible programming, the rake of the venue’s seating can be adjusted to accommodate lectures, concerts, weddings, and more. Office and conference space was placed on the floors above, which benefit from views of the surrounding city and a network of rooftop gardens carved into the building mass. The rake of the venue’s seating can be adjusted to accommodate different types of events. (Namsun Lee) Shinsegae Group was initially drawn to RAMSA’s luxury residential work in New York City, particularly the firm’s use of masonry. After winning a competition for the commission, RAMSA designed studies of the building using both brick and limestone exteriors. Ultimately, the client settled on a primarily brick envelope with subtle limestone accents. Though many different bond patterns occur across the facade, the building is dominated by an arrangement featuring recessed bricks that add shadow and depth to the exterior. “We studied a lot of traditional bond types, and took inspiration from the Flemish bond, which is just a standard brick with the header next to it,” shared Gemma Kim, partner at RAMSA. “But we doubled the pattern and recessed the headers to increase the scale and make the pattern legible.” This pattern is also expressed as a screen around Shinsegae Namsan’s windows, which are set in 18 inches from the facade. RAMSA carefully studied the depth of the recessed brick header to create the appropriate amount of shadow. (Namsun Lee) On the roof, RAMSA designed a porous brick screen to conceal the building’s mechanical systems. Required to keep the screen more than 50 percent open, the bricks are structurally supported by stainless steel rods that are threaded through each module. Another unique pattern occurs along the fourth floor. To fit the curvature of the floorplate, which was more extreme at the lower levels, a fluted pattern of soldier course modules was implemented. Though a hand-molded pink and gray brick from the United States was ultimately specified for Shinsegae Namsan, RAMSA considered a truly global list of brick suppliers, working closely with the client to choose the proper mix and color. A fluted solider course pattern was applied to the fourth floor elevations. (Namsun Lee) In the United States, such enormous expenditure on a largely non-commercial building might seem out of reach for most retailers, who have struggled since the pandemic. However, according to Lobitz, this is not the case in South Korea. “Shinsegae has some of the largest department stores in the world,” he said. “This kind of brick and mortar retail is still very vibrant in Seoul, much more so than in the United States.” What is rare in South Korea is the presence of a robust masonry industry, which has been in decline since the 20th century. This lack of local expertise and support makes RAMSA’s hand-laid brick facade for Shinsegae Namsan all the more impressive. Project Specifications Design Architect: RAMSA Architect of Record: Haeahn Architecture Landscape Architect: RAMSA Interior Design: Pierre-Yves Rochon Structural Engineering: Thornton Tomasetti Lighting Design: Buro Happold AV/Acoustics: Nagata Acoustics Theater Consultant: Fisher Dachs Associates Exterior Envelope Consultant: Simpson Gumpertz & Herger General Contractor: Shinsegae E&C Glazing Contractor: LX Glas, Panoramah! Mason: Hapduck Brick: Belden Tri-State Limestone: SN Sogepierre Glazing: LXGlas, Panoramah!

It’s a church. It’s a pool. It’s a church and a pool! MVRDV and Zecc Architecten won a competition to transform St. Francis of Assisi Church in Heerlen, the Netherlands, into a public swimming pool. Architects aptly call their vision “Holy Water.” St. Francis of Assisi Church has been vacant since 2023. The competition was meant to give it a new social function and help preserve the historical features of a national monument. MVRDV cofounder Winy Maas sees Holy Water as a scalable model for other empty churches. Existing church pews will be recycled and placed off to the side, while historic artworks are concealed behind glass walls for safekeeping. (Courtesy MVRDV) “The vacancy rate of churches is increasing, so we need to come up with new, creative ideas for what we can do with these buildings, MVRDV’s Winy Maas said in a statement. “Why not give these churches a social function again, as they used to have?” “A public swimming pool is ideally suited for this,” Maas added. “Imagine: swimming the backstroke with a view of a church vault and stained-glass windows. By covering the entire pool area with a small layer of water, you can also create a beautiful visual effect, allowing the church to return to its original form and appear even larger and more impressive through the reflection.” The pool can be covered over to host formal gatherings, like galas. (Courtesy MVRDV) To make way for the swimming pool, the church’s existing floor will be removed. The pews will be repurposed as seating beneath the glass wools surrounding the pool, offering swimmers a place to rest or put down objects. The existing pulpit is where the lifeguard will sit. The swimming pool MVRDV and Zecc Architecten dreamt up for the church’s nave is adjustable—its floor can be lowered and raised to change the pool depth. In one iteration, a thin layer of water on the ground gives visitors the impression of walking on water, like Jesus! The pool’s floor can be lowered, to give the “feeling” of walking on water. (Courtesy MVRDV) A new mosaic floor will likewise border the pool and adjustable pool floor. The mosaic designed by the architects and local artists will echo the church’s existing colors, materials, and stained glass, but also Heerlen’s many public murals. Lighting above the pool will pay homage to the church’s original fixtures, based on historic photographs. Outside, architects envision an illuminated circular canopy marking the main entrance (a halo perhaps?) From there, visitors will enter through the church’s aisles to find changing rooms, or the catering facility, both tucked away in the rear. These spaces will be separated from the climatized pool space by glass walls. Architects imagine an illuminated halo outside the building. (Courtesy MVRDV) Bar seating and dining booths overlook the pool. (Courtesy MVRDV) Architects had to think creatively in regard to constructibility, and making a great concept real life. To heat the pool without damaging the church’s historic materials from humidity, glass walls will enclose the existing artworks. The wooden roof will need to be insulated from the outside, so sound-absorbing panels and new acoustic systems will be installed. The pool will be open for swimming in late 2027.

Since the Trump administration rolled out its first rounds of tariffs in March, sudden announcements and equally quick rollbacks have created an unpredictable market for manufacturers and vendors of sustainable building products like lumber and aluminum. “For supply chain logistics, the quick announcements and quick rollouts are a stress factor for anyone involved in the chain,” said Rick Arrington, production planner at Texas-based custom lumber mill Delta Millworks. “The loggers don’t know, the sawmills don’t know, the distributors don’t know. It’s uncertainty across the board.” So far, lumber imports from Canada have generally been exempted from tariffs, but later this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to raise countervailing and anti-subsidy duties on Canadian softwood from 14.5 percent to 34.5 percent. New tariffs are disrupting supply chain logistics in the building industry, including at manufacturers such as Delta Millworks. (Sarah Mellet) Manufacturers across industries are now in wait-and-see mode. As things may change from one day to the next, both short- and long-term consequences are difficult to predict, they say. But some have already had to adjust. Price Hikes Delta Millworks, which creates made-to-order products, has already hiked its prices on western red cedar and western hemlock, even though the increased tariffs aren’t in effect yet. The risk for potential additional levies is behind it, Robbie Davis, the lumber mill’s CEO, told AN. “With uncertainty like this, we have to assume the tariffs are already in place based on the supply of these specialty products,” he said. 3form, a materials company out of Salt Lake City, sources its resin from the U.S. but imports some of its other materials. Marketing director Chris Pales said that the company has seen increased prices on some of the materials it sources. Now, he noted, the tariffs have required 3form to consider where to source materials from. The key question here, Pales said, is: “Are there alternative suppliers, whether domestic or international, that can help us maintain the same quality materials and products while also offering a price point that makes sense for everyone?” The cost of aluminum on the global market has gone up in the wake of the 25 percent tariffs on aluminum and steel that went into effect in March. However, Ray Shelton, chief sustainability and communications officer at low-carbon aluminum product manufacturer YKK AP, said he does not believe that price increases will impact supply sources. Most of the aluminum imported to the U.S. comes from Canada, and for nearly a century, there has been an integrated supply chain of the material, explained Duncan Pitchford, president of Hydro Aluminum Metals USA and head of commercial Americas. He added that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which went into effect in 2020, stabilized the North American aluminum supply chain. “We would like to see that stability maintained going forward. The current situation, of course, disrupts that,” Pitchford said. Canadian mass timber construction company StructureCraft remains optimistic about the future of the country’s wood industry despite current fluctuations and uncertainty in the market. “We are feeling very confident about the future of our industry. We’re seeing growth in adoption of mass timber across many project types,” said the company’s manager of business development and preconstruction, Gerald Epp. The White House has argued tariffs will bring back manufacturing to the U.S. Whether domestic production of lumber and aluminum goods will increase remains to be seen, however. “I don’t think you could just switch gears and say, ‘Let’s procure low-carbon aluminum in the U.S.’ Whether it’s low-carbon aluminum or normal aluminum, America currently doesn’t have the capacity to supply the demand that America has,” Shelton noted. Mass timber plants keep popping up across the U.S., creating affordable timber products.(Courtesy TimberLab) The European Connection Today’s premier lumber manufacturers also depend on European technology, said Chris Evans, president of Timberlab, an Oregon-based construction company and manufacturer of engineered wood products. Tariffs on things like steel, machinery, and other equipment from Europe could slow the growth of the American lumber industry. Still, mass timber plants keep popping up across the nation, creating affordable timber products, he argued. “That’s translating into better price stability, and then more of these mass timber buildings coming into the market and replacing concrete and steel buildings on commercial projects,” he said. The tariffs, Evans added, could be a good motivator to build up lumber manufacturing in the U.S. at a time when forests are growing crowded; using small-diameter trees to make cross-laminated timber, for example, would thin out forests and reduce wildfire risks. Specialty wood products, like those made by Delta Millworks, can often only be sourced from certain locations in the world, but European thermal and chemical modification technologies required for such products are being introduced in the U.S. to be used on native trees. Delta Millworks currently partners with Finnish manufacturer Lunawood to bring its thermal technology to the U.S. to be used on domestic wood. But this also highlights a benefit domestic manufacturing can reap from open intercontinental trade, said Arrington. “This is a product of the import relationship we have with this European country. I think it’s important to see how it all connects.” Oscar Fock is an award-winning freelance journalist based in New York City, where he reports on climate change, its effects on humans, and how we are responding.