The 14 most important books for designers to read right now

Experts from IDEO, Adobe, SVA, HOK, Designer Fund, and more share book recommendations for designers who want to expand their horizons in 2021 and beyond.

Studio O+A’s Toolkit Says Returning to the Office Can Be Joyful

The interior design firm takes a comprehensive look at workplace re-entry, considering the perspectives of both tenants and landlords.

An Exhaustive, Idiosyncratic Inventory of France, Documented, Classified + Filtered

Eric Tabuchi and Nelly Monnier drive across the country to photograph vernacular architecture, anonymous landscapes, and pastoral graffiti.

Not Everything Is “Architecture”

Politics are currently polarized. This creates volatility and the potential for violence in the public realm. The form of political messages matters. Sometimes that form is violence, which is bad.

Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever?

Companies are figuring out how to balance what appears to be a lasting shift toward remote work with the value of the physical workplace.

In the Brilliant Work of Beatriz González, Reproduction is a Means of Protest

Posters, newspaper images, and inexpensive printing methods offered the artist a ready format for resistance in Turbay’s Colombia

A building as big as the world: the anarchist architects who foresaw endless expansion

Italy’s Superstudio collective warned against rampant development by imagining one continuous structure stretching around Earth. But did their warning actually inspire new Saudi plans for a 100-mile linear city?

January 20, 2021

I was so hopeful at the beginning of the year. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won the Senate seats in Georgia. A committed leader, Stacey Abrams, had led the charge

Blair Kamin Ends His Run as Architecture Critic of the Chicago Tribune

Last Friday, Blair Kamin ended his 28-year run as architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune.

Small but Mighty Acts of Urbanism at Birmingham’s Pepper Place

We all want to design spaces that benefit those who use them, and often we think that to make a big impact, we have to design a big project. But

How El Anatsui Broke the Seal on Contemporary Art

His runaway success began with castaway junk: a bag of bottle caps along the road. Now the Ghanaian sculptor is redefining Africa’s place in the global art scene.

How Designer, Activist + Historian David King Defined a Visual Style for the Left

Alongside a legendary design career, King also amassed one of the world’s largest collections of Soviet design

The AIA Moves Forward in Tumultuous Times

Last month, the American Institute of Architects made a series of significant announcements.

Renee Bott Painter

I met Renee Bott many years ago when I started preparing and editing interviews for Paulson Bott Press (now Paulson Fontaine Press). Renee retired from the press a few years

Assault on a Sacred Place

For most people, calling a place “sacred” designates it as an important location, one usually associated with spirituality. But it’s also possible to think of a secular place as sacred.

Op-ed: Reconsidering design equity in affordable housing

Our cities contain a diverse population and a multiplicity of family types, but our cities’ spaces don’t accommodate everyone.

Amazon Unveils $2B Affordable Housing Fund

The e-commerce giant joins Facebook, Google and Microsoft in pledging big dollars to apartments for moderate- and low-income renters.

Making Big Moves at Mason on Mariposa

If walking along the paseo greenway that runs through Mason on Mariposa feels like floating down a creek, that is no coincidence.

Paige Rense, Architectural Digest, and the End of 20th Century Architecture

The end of 2020 and the prospect of widespread vaccinations has turned the calendar page away from abject fear.

Facebook to Invest in San Francisco’s Affordable Housing

Facebook has announced plans to add 2,000 units of low-income to the San Francisco Bay Area, The Real Deal reports. The Mark Zuckerberg-founded tech giant reportedly will put $150 million

Voids to Frame the View

Last fall, Manuela King of RHAA Landscape Architects asked us to join her in entering an international design competition for a new visitor center at the Black Lava Fields in

Two-way street: how Barcelona is democratising public space

Citizens are finally getting the urban patios and parks promised when the cramped medieval city was extended in the 1900s.

In Perspective: Michelle Millar Fisher

Scottish design curator Michelle Millar Fisher has made waves in the United States’ museum scene for the past 15 years.

The AIA updates its code of ethics, prohibits members from designing torture or execution chambers

Calls for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to censure members for willing designing spaces of detention, execution, and torture are nothing new;