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Archive: October 2009
Tableaux Vivants
If someone asked me to write a profile of Wes Anderson, I would start with corduroy. His stovepipe corduroy suits, I think, are the key to his personal mythology, one that’s a little bit country earl, a little bit little kid and a whole lot self conscious.READ MORE | COMMENTS
D/R Love
There is much online excitement about the D/R exhibition, opening tomorrow.READ MORE | COMMENTS
More Hell (Beige Edition)
I thought the Kelly Wearstler fan-fest was over last month, when both Vogue and the New Yorker treated her to long profiles.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Small Wonder: 41 Cooper Square
41 Cooper Square might as well be set in the middle of a parking lot in Mayne’s native L.A.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Petting Zoo
On Thursday I took my class on a field trip to One Bryant Park, the sustainable skyscraper that is almost complete at the northwest corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Love & Architecture
When Aline met Eero in January 1953, she was the associate art editor and critic for the New York Times, recently divorced, and on a trip to Detroit to meet the young architect whose General Motors Technical Center had proved to be such a smashing success. She was to write a profile of Saarinen for the New York Times Magazine, eventually published on April 23 as “Now Saarinen the Son” with the byline Aline B. Louchheim. A little over a year later she would become Aline B. Saarinen.READ MORE | COMMENTS (8)
Houses of the Future
Excellent article on the various single-family housing initiatives going on now in New Orleans.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Buy It Now
I watched two episodes of the Sundance Channel’s new advertisement for Anthropologie, Man Shops Globe, and failed to be caught up in the drama.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Love Among the Figurines
I finally got my hands on Important Artifacts by Leanne Shapton.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Architecture in Transit
An SVA student of mine from last year, Frederico Duarte, alerted me to the New York NOW exhibition, which opened October 7 in the West 4th Street subway station. Designed by Rumors Studio, the exhibit replaces the usual slapped-up future-bomb movie posters with images of work being done by AIA member architects in New York City right now.READ MORE | COMMENTS
The Sound of Waves
There’s a lovely confluence of modern architecture and waterfalls on the east side of Manhattan, and we managed to hit three excellent examples of the type during Open House New York.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Small Wonder: 41 Cooper Square
I never thought I would say this about a work by Thom Mayne of Morphosis, but I think 41 Cooper Square is too small. Cooper Union’s new, sustainable academic building on Third Avenue is nine stories, 175,000 square feet, takes up an entire city block, and yet, with all the other wonderful and terrible architecture happening on the Bowery and its side streets (the Cooper Square Hotel’s tower version of Frank Gehry’s IAC Building, Herzog and de Meuron’s disco-visionary 40 Bond, Foster + Partners’ Sperone Westwater Gallery) it blends right in.READ MORE | COMMENTS (17)
Unhappy Homes
In Revolutionary Road and Away We Go, the characters lack believable emotion because they fail to convince us that they are in a house, rather than a set.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Home Range
I write about three contemporary houses by up-and-coming New York firms for The Architect’s Newspaper: one by Christoff:Finio, one by Morris Sato Studio, and another by OBRA Architects.READ MORE | COMMENTS
The Ladies' Paradise
In “Souvenir,” Mad Men welcomes back Joan, looking lovely.READ MORE | COMMENTS
(Women and) Children First
Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park is one more way New York City is attempting to be child-friendly.READ MORE | COMMENTS
White Knight
With the opening of Less and More, the new exhibition of Dieter Rams' work, I'm reminded of how frustrating it is that his past work is not in production.READ MORE | COMMENTS
Cutting Remarks
I'm not so sure that Lonny, the online-only magazine from the former editors of Domino, is such a good thing.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
