January 2025 Editor’s Letter
Architects on Architects
Among the staff at RECORD, there are plenty of degrees in architecture, urban studies, and conservation. And several of us have worked in architectural offices, big and small. Deputy editor Joann Gonchar is even a Fellow of the AIA—an esteemed distinction from that now-troubled association of architects. But it’s been a while since any of us has put pencil to paper to design anything, choosing instead to contribute to the written discourse about architecture.
With regard to that discourse, the magazine has published pieces written by practicing architects—book reviews, commentaries, tributes, practice stories—but rarely, if ever, have we asked an architect to write about the just-completed work of a contemporary, partly because of a generally held assumption that architects may be too competitive (and therefore biased) to fairly discuss the work of another firm. Nevertheless, we thought we’d give it a shot for this first issue of 2025. And the architects we asked to write have a lot to say!
The project section, what we’re calling “Architects on Architects,” features new buildings on three notable campuses—two academic and one a historic working studio lot for a media giant. The coprincipals of Los Angeles–based studio The LADG, Andrew Holder and Claus Benjamin Freyinger, have tackled the world of motion picture and television production, writing about a campus renovation at NBCUniversal by Lever Architecture and Field Operations in The LADG’s hometown. A longtime resident of Boston, NADAAA principal Nader Tehrani gives his perspective on SANAA’s new home for music at MIT, a place where he too has built. And in yet another example, contributing editor James Gauer, an architect who ran his own office for two decades, discusses the U.S. debut of Zurich-based Karamuk Kuo, designers of an addition to the architecture school at Rice University.
Outside of those projects, we offer a first look at a recently completed building in Berlin by Sauerbruch Hutton, featured on the cover. If it feels strangely familiar, that’s because it’s a contemporary architect’s take on an unbuilt project by none other than Mies van der Rohe. You may have seen the 4½-foot by 9½-foot charcoal and crayon drawing of his “Concrete Office Building” (1923) on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where the substantial work is part of the collection. In Sauerbruch Hutton’s version, concrete spandrels are replaced by individually hung panels in terra-cotta, a favorite material of the firm, which, here, in a move toward sustainability, can be easily disassembled.
Deconstructability is a key aspect of many of the projects in our special section on prefabrication—defabrication instead of demolition! We examine advances in modular and transportable construction in building types that include multifamily housing, accessory dwelling units, public facilities, infrastructure, airports, and retail.
As a magazine for the profession, we strive to bring our readers the latest projects and the latest innovations, as well as opinion pieces by architects and non-architects alike—in short, to be a trusted resource. As we were closing this issue, news broke that Lakisha Woods—scandal-plagued since early last year—would leave her position as EVP/CEO of the AIA. A statement released by the AIA “celebrates [the] accomplishments of Woods” during her tenure—just three short years by the time she steps down in February—without addressing the specifics of her departure. The insincerity and lack of transparency leave us skeptical of anything the AIA has to say, and highlights the importance of journalism when an organization, in this case one intended to serve architects, is not fulfilling its mission. As the organization for the profession, the AIA needs to do better for architects.
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