My Bookmarks
Notes Toward a History of Agrarian Urbanism
Places Journal
Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Hilberseimer, and Andrea Branzi anticipated today’s interest in urban farming.
City Ground
Places Journal
The making of geological strata — the very ground beneath feet — is an essential component of the mass shift of humankind to urban living.
101 Spring Street
Places Journal
An essay by Donald Judd on the Soho building where he lived and worked, and new images of its remarkable interiors.
A Cloud on a Lake
Places Journal
How does the building relate to its site? Considering the relation between humans and nature, from the Blur Building to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s seascapes to Mark Rothko’s late works.
Tracks: A Walk in the Arctic
Places Journal
A series of photographs — an ongoing experiment — that document walks taken in high summer in the Svalbard Archipelago, above the Arctic Circle.
The Evil, Evil Grain Elevator
Places Journal
An analysis of the very different ways in which works of sculpture and works of architecture occupy the landscape.
“Devoted forever to popular resort and recreation”
Places Journal
The Trump administration is working to undo one of the guiding principles of U.S. conservation: that the nation’s great national parks should be accessible to the broadest possible public.
The Big Data of Ice, Rocks, Soils, and Sediments
Places Journal
Inside the material archives of climate science, which get wilder and dirtier the deeper you go.
The View Through the Crack
Places Journal
An encounter with an arctic ground squirrel at Denali National Park provokes thoughts on science, storytelling, and the art of being ‘progressively less wrong.’
The Lay of the Land
Places Journal
Place and land and nature: how we tie these things together is critical to our sense of self-purpose and our fit in the world.
Hippie Modernism
Places Journal
In the late 1960s, Bay Area design activists sought to blend the aspirations of progressive architecture with new environmental imperatives — a goal that’s more relevant than ever.
The Land Up North
Places Journal
For Thanksgiving week, an essay about the cycles of life and land.
Everyday Spaces, Natural Places
Places Journal
Baroque still-lifes in the weeds and trash of New York City. Majesty in the ordinariness of urban life at a pedestrian scale.
Shaking Hands with a Sloth
Places Journal
The case for studying biomimicry in design education. The very act of looking to nature inspires creativity.
Landscape Is Our Sex
Places Journal
Should the relationship of a building to its landscape be a key element of its design? Unpacking the logics and illogics of this powerful cultural presumption.
The Place That Roger Built
Places Journal
Photographs of Walnut Tree Farm, the old Suffolk farmstead where late environmental writer Roger Deakin lived and worked.
The East Anglians
Places Journal
Photographs documenting a deep-rooted but fragile agrarian community, where identity is shaped by the landscape.
Soundscapes: Burning Man
Places Journal
A selection of soundscapes — ranging from dust storms to diesel generators — recorded by an architect at the Burning Man festival.
The Temptations of Survivalism
Places Journal
Is self-sufficiency an illusionary goal? How independent can any building — or city — really be?
Metaphor Remediation
Places Journal
As cities become the new frontiers of green living, let’s revise the old metaphors. Will the high-rise replace Half Dome as the new emblem of environmentalism?
The Village Against the World
Places Journal
Inside the Andalusian village that has been working — successfully — to create a communist utopia.
Far North
Places Journal
Semi-nomadic reindeer herders in northern Scandinavia move fluidly between tradition and modernity.
Mythologies of Placemaking
Places Journal
Designers and planners talk about “sense of place,” but this murky buzzword often serves to rally support for redevelopment projects that ignore deep patterns of local culture.
What You Don’t See
Places Journal
Follow the supply chains of architecture and you’ll find not just product manufacturers but also environmental polluters and secretive networks of political influence.
On Architecture and Authorship
Places Journal
Three influential practitioners consider the question: Is the architect the author of a building or the provider of a service?
The Lost Public Art of Gordon Matta-Clark
Places Journal
Gordon Matta-Clark infiltrated the worlds of art and architecture, revealing deep complacencies in each.