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Archive: June 2009
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
After viewing He's Just Not That Into You and Confessions of a Shopaholic, I need to effect my own romantic comedy ban.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Spoilsport
Though the BBC teen series Skins isn't boring, I find it icky. Too much sweat, too much drugs, too much barf, too much nudity.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Perfect Pairs
Our admiration for Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy led us to Netflix her first film, Old Joy.READ MORE | COMMENTS
People in New Houses...
Why is every episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey set at an overdecorated Italian restaurant with a large parking lot?READ MORE | COMMENTS
The Beauty of a Park
My review of the High Line can now be found on Design Observer.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Aloysius is Missed
I took my chances to see if the 2008 remake of Brideshead Revisited was as good as the multi-part original.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Home Front
Good Neighbors is a cautionary tale, reminding us to focus less on what’s coming in to your home and more on the individuals already inside.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Textile Psychology
In Brick Lane it is the fabric that does most of the talking, for while the novel is very interior, the film is not.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Why Plant Your Own?
In the constant quest for green space in Brooklyn, our neighborhood is relieved at the sight of the Urban Meadow.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Lost Loves
It's slowly dawned on me that the lead character of many shows — Sex in the City, Weeds, The West Wing — is actually grating.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Dickens is Funny
In the best BBC adaptation of the last five years, Bleak House, Gillian Anderson gives a performance that should wipe Agent Scully permanently from the public mind.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Auto Pilot
While watching Chop Shop, I was bored not by the plotlessness, or even the purposely inartistic direction, but by the lack of acting.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Romance Is Dead
There are some movies so bad I can’t bear to put them in my Netflix queue, but He's Just Not That Into You somehow made it in.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Dog Days
Wendy and Lucy may be the feel-bad movie of the year, but it is beautiful, terrifying and real.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Worst Case Scenario
Two of Danny Boyle's filme, Slumdog Millinaire and Millions suffer from a wavering of purpose from gritty realism to wish fulfilment.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Evil Ms
A fair number of journalists have mentioned the odd parallelism of the fall of the House of Merdle in Little Dorrit, and the real-life fall of the House of Bernard Madoff.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Doom
After watching all of the excellent contemporary TV shows, we are back to BBC with The Way We Live Now and The Mayor of Casterbridge.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Why This blog?
I am starting a blog, because some opinions are too hot for casual conversation.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, and author of Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). Her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Architectural Record, Dwell, Metropolis, Print, New York Magazine and The New York Times.Recent Book
Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities
Alexandra Lange
Princeton Architectural Press, 2012
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Design Matters Interview
Alexandra Lange and Jane Thompson
In this podcast interview with Debbie Millman, Alexandra Lange and Jane Thompson discuss their new book, the store Design Research, creating the power of imagination, Marimekko, Sir Lady Jane and Benjamin Thompson.Other Essays
Dreams Built and Broken: On Ada Louise Huxtable
The Nation, May 6, 2013
Questions for a Teenage Furniture Dealer
New York Times, April 18, 2013
How To Make A Great Kids' App
The New Yorker blog, April 4, 2013
Passive Voice
Dwell, April 2013
MetaMuseum Tumblr
Launched March 5, 2013
Plain or Fancy?
New Yorker blog, March 4, 2013
It's Toasted: Modernity and 'Downton Abbey'
New Yorker blog, January 21, 2013
Consider the Fork, Very Carefully
New Yorker blog, November 29, 2012
'Wreck-It Ralph' Is a Sweet, Animated Tale About ... Urban Planning?
The Atlantic blog, November 27, 2012
A Wide-Angle Lens on the Midcentury American Home
New York Times, November 15, 2012
The Woman Who Invented the Kitchen
Slate, October 25, 2012
Cornell's Silicon Island
New Yorker blog, October 15, 2012
Fear of Fun: A History of Modernist Design for Children
Los Angeles Review of Books, October 6, 2012
Home Sweet Architectural Masterpiece
New York Times, October 4, 2012
What Comes Second: The Lesson of the Barclays Center
The New Yorker blog, September 19, 2012
DIY Magazines
Domus, September 2012
AD Innovator: Johnston Marklee
Architectural Digest, September 2012
Don't Put A Bird On It: Saving "Craft" from Cuteness
The New Yorker blog, August 1, 2012
A Chair for All Seasons
Domus, July/August 2012
Serious Play | Century of the Child
T Magazine, July 2012
A Playground That Parents Won't Come to Despise
The New Yorker blog, July 6, 2012
Girl Talk: On Architect Barbie
Dwell, July/August 2012
Pinterest: Fear of the "Female Ghetto"
The New Yorker blog, June 13, 2012
The Dot-Com City: Silicon Valley Urbanism
Strelka Press, June 2012
Living In LEGO City
Print, June 2012
Edith Wharton's Houses
The New Yorker blog, May 23, 2012
An Interview with Murray Moss
Disegno No. 2, Spring/Summer 2012
Book Review: 'Piecing Together Los Angeles: An Esther McCoy Reader'
Architectural Record, May 2012
Pedro E. Guerrero on Being Inspired by the Masters
The New York Times, April 4, 2012
Designing 'The Hunger Games'
The Atlantic, April 2, 2012
An Anatomy of Uncriticism
Print, February 2012
I Hate My Coffemaker
GourmetLive, November 30, 2011
A Serving of Style
GourmetLive, November 16, 2011
Table Dressing
T Magazine, November 6, 2011
Paper Tiger
Architect's Newspaper, November 2, 2011
Commentary: The World of Online Interiors
Architectural Record, October 2011
Elegant Solution
Metropolis Magazine, September 2011
The Search for the Perfect Fork
GourmetLive, Augustt 31, 2011
“Why’s This So Good?” No. 9: Herbert Muschamp builds a metaphor
Nieman Storyboard, Augustt 23, 2011
Dieter Rams: Less But Better
Architect's Newspaper, July 6, 2011
Going Back Outside (Again)
Metropolis Magazine, June 2011
Why Are Car Seats So Poorly Designed?
GOOD, May 27, 2011
High Fiber
T: The New York Times Design Magazine, May 1, 2011
Lake Effect
Architectural Digest, April 2011
A House Grows in Brooklyn 2011
Dwell, March 2011
Whatever Happened to the Dinner Party?
GourmetLive, February 10, 2011
The Moms Aren't Wrong
GOOD, February 1, 2011
What Next?: Criticism
Architectural Record, January 2011
Sidewalk Sale
New City Reader, November 2010
The Opulent Modernism of Warren Platner
Dwell, November 2010
The Architecture of Food
GourmetLive, October 28, 2010
Harry Weese's Pieces
Architect's Newspaper, October 22, 2010
People in Glass Houses
Financial Times Weekend, October 15, 2010
Hands Off the Icons
Dwell, October 2010
The Zootopian
T Magazine, September 30, 2010
If These Walls Could Talk
New York Times Opinionator, September 13, 2010
What's Cooking in Kitchen Design
New York Times Opinionator, August 27, 2010
Easier Living, By Design
New York Times Opinionator, July 23, 2010
Blue Sky Thinking
Metropolis Magazine, June 16, 2010
The Visceralist
Metropolis Magazine, May 12, 2010
Hole Earth Catalog
NYT Op-Ed, March 21, 2010
As the Tide Turns
Architect's Newspaper, February 4, 2010
Hands-On: The Gropius Touch
The Moment, January 20, 2010
Original Gossip Girls
New York Magazine, November 1, 2009
Fantasy Island
New York Magazine, May 28, 2007
The Next White
New York Magazine, May 13, 2007
Extending the Legacy
Metropolis Magazine, November 8, 2006
Once a Teardown, a Modernist Gem Is Reborn
The New York Times, November 2, 2006
Family Comes First
Metropolis Magazine, July 17, 2006
Building the (New) New York
New York Magazine, May 28, 2006
No Laughing Matter
Metropolis, January 2006
Brand Central Station
Metropolis, November 2005
This New House
New York Magazine, May 21, 2005
The Manhattanization of Brooklyn
New York Magazine, May 23, 2004
DESIGN OBSERVER JOBS
BLOGROLL
A Weed is Just a Flower Out of Place
Architizer
Architect's Newspaper
Arch News Now
Brownstoner
Cathy of California
Curbed NY
D-Crit
Fresh Air
From Scandinavia With Love
Give Me Something to Read
Longform
Murketing
New York Review of Books
Project Rungay
Remodelista
Subtilitas
Urban Omnibus
V&A
Vulture
ALEXANDRA LANGE: RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Above the Pavement — the Farm! Amale Andraos & Dan Wood
America's KitchensNancy Carlisle & Melinda Talbot Nasardinov
Guide to Easier LivingMary & Russel Wright
A Pattern LanguageChristopher Alexander
Exquisite CorpseMichael Sorkin
The Spoils of PoyntonHenry James
