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July 2010 David Dillon exemplified why good criticism is local. David Dillon, architecture critic for The Dallas Morning News for 25 years and longtime contributing editor of this publication, died unexpectedly on June 3. His passing marked a sea change for many of us in architectural journalism, forcing us to reflect on the current state of the craft and how it has inalterably shifted with the rise of the blogosphere. Dillon — who graduated from Boston College and held a master’s in literature and a Ph.D. in art history from Harvard — forged a deep relationship with his adopted subject,

June 2010 The National Building Museum speaks for the building arts. As Jim Pate, the executive director of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, took center stage to accept an award, he articulated a serious dilemma his city had faced. New Orleans’s musical heritage, an ineffable, irreplaceable treasure he described as the city’s soul, resided in the hands of a few people — the long-time musicians who had lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In a city besieged with so many problems following the storm, a group of contemporary musicians and friends devised a plan: Providing safe, affordable

May 2010 Infrastructure propels development worldwide. Despite the news of a rising stock market, or the fact that the Dow Jones average has topped 11,000, your own architectural practice may be struggling. Where is the recovery, you might ask? Why hasn’t the stimulus package hit the marketplace yet, or affected your revenues? You must wonder if the whole world feels as you do, if the economy has gotten back to normal anywhere, and is it possible there are places that are actually prospering. Photo © André Souroujon McGraw-Hill Construction convened a gathering of construction leaders to address some of those

April 2010 Architecture goes back to nature BIOPHILIA, BIOMIMICRY, BIONIC ARCHITECTURE: In searching for a meaningful theory, a conceptual framework on which to construct our architecture, three little letters have sprouted like fresh spring grass — all hail, the prefix bio. Today, in the age of biodiversity, it seems that every other architect has clipped a portion of the Greek root word for life, bios, and attached it, like a philosophical lifeline, to projects. Call the current fascination biomania. Photo © André Souroujon Fashionable “isms,” in this case using nature as referent, sometimes suffer from the self-absorption and arrogance of

March 2010 Shattering the Myths of Sustainability It might be counterintuitive to most Americans, but cities offer the most viable models of sustainability. That assertion runs counter to our cultural history. Since the Romantic period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, we have vilified urban life and been enamored, like Henry David Thoreau, of living close to nature. The results of our hunger sprawl around us. Today, rather than finding ourselves freed to commune with the out-of-doors, we have become shackled to the automobile, a situation in which it takes an SUV to get from Walden Pond to

February 2010 What can we learn from Haiti? Tragedy has struck Haiti again. On Tuesday, January 12, at 4:53 p.m., a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck 10 miles from the heart of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, along the fault line that stretches from the Dominican Republic to Jamaica, rendering entire quadrants of the hilly, coastal city in ruins. As of this writing, approximately 3.5 million persons out of a total population of approximately 9 million have been affected in a country roughly the size of the state of Maryland. The dead number at least 50,000, with some estimates as high as 200,000.

January 2010 Government’s ambitious building plans In 2010, the tables have turned. In a challenged economy, government looks more attractive to architects than the private sector. With the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, government was tapped by the current administration to help stimulate the nation, with building and rebuilding as cornerstones of economic recovery. Architects took note. Photo © André Souroujon The recent infusion of capital may obscure the fact that federal agencies, and the General Services Administration (GSA) in particular, have been at the forefront of developing and promulgating contemporary design and building practices,

Dear friends: Although recent months have brought strong economic challenges, today we’re celebrating. Architectural Record has been publishing continuously for 120 years, and we’re toasting the next 120. In the face of tough economic times, strong media brands are evolving—just like the top architecture firms and product manufacturers—so we have reason to look forward with enthusiasm and confidence. We’re here to stay—while remaining true to our core principles. Photography ' Steffen Thalemann (left), Andrè Souroujon (right) Laura Viscusi, vice president, Integrated Media, McGraw-Hill Construction / Publisher, Architectural Record (left); Robert Ivy, FAIA, Vice President, Editorial Director, McGraw-Hill Construction / Editor-In-Chief,

November 2009 Whenever two or three architects gather — over the coffeepot, at a cocktail party, in the elevator —a single topic emerges: When will the recession end? Faced with frequent layoffs and calls from their bankers, and with a dynamic marketplace that seems to be constantly shrinking, principals have been relying on help wherever they might find it, whether through anecdotes, colleagues, advice from professional practice consultants, or Ouija boards. Then on Friday, October 16, 2009, the construction economists spoke. Photo © André Souroujon Interest in where the markets will trend always draws a crowd. We all want to

October 2009 The gaggle of intelligent-looking folk dressed in black under the marquee on Governors Island in mid-September could have come from any urban center — Manhattan’s SoHo, perhaps, except that they primarily spoke Dutch. They gathered to celebrate their ancestors’ prodigious contributions to contemporary design and commerce near the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s momentous arrival in New York harbor (an event that occurred in September 1609). Their presence on the silent, tree-shrouded parkland, with its magnificent, unfamiliar views of the harbor islands, offered an ironic commentary on New York’s origins and a living, chattering mnemonic on what might