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The Design Evolution of the National Museum of African American History and Culture Washington City Paper, Sept. 15, 2016 Layers of bureaucracy can frustrate even the most politically savvy architects. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who’s renovating the Smithsonian’s south campus, has called the Mall “the most heavily regulated piece of real estate on Earth.” He’s…

Concrete Details: The Other 9/11 Memorial The elegant and understated memorial near the Pentagon opened eight years ago. Washington City Paper, Sept. 9, 2016 Those new to the D.C. area—or even long-timers—may not know that we have our own 9/11 memorial, smaller and less dramatic in gesture than the black hole in Lower Manhattan, but…

What Donald Trump Can Learn From Emperor Hadrian Extra Newsfeed, Sept. 8, 2016 If any Americans thought Donald Trump wasn’t serious about building The Wall, he made it crystal-clear in the speech he gave in Phoenix on August 31. “We will build a great wall along the southern border,” Trump promised supporters after returning from…

The Art of Sitting Pretty Witold Rybczynski’s “Now I Sit Me Down” explores the history (and cultural underpinnings) of chair design. Architect, Aug. 25, 2016 “The best chair,” wrote the industrial designer Niels Diffrient, “is a bed.” Diffrient was referring to the awkwardness of the seated position. Our bodies have evolved to walk upright and…

A Rust Belt Education How design students in legacy cities like Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland are helping to revive their local communities. Architect, August 2016 In a seminar room overlooking Cleveland’s Playhouse Square one day last winter, a dozen graduate students of architecture and urban design trained their attention on a screen. A guest lecturer,…