Laura Raskin

Laura Raskin, a former RECORD editor, writes about architecture. She recently moved with her family from Brooklyn, New York, to the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Marysville Getchell High School Campus

Divide and Conquer: In a district plagued by years of bond failures and overcrowding, a high school initiates a fresh start with collegiate learning tracks and a complementary campus.

Laura Raskin

January 16, 2012

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In a district plagued by years of bond failures and overcrowding, a high school initiates a fresh start with collegiate learning tracks and a complementary campus.

Machias Elementary School

Grading on a Curve: A rural elementary school pays homage to its surroundings with a sinuous form nestled in the landscape.

Laura Raskin

January 16, 2012

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“Who are you?” asked a Machias Elementary School first grader as she ran out of her classroom on the way to recess and spotted out-of-place adults.

Laura Raskin

January 16, 2012

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The architect discusses winning this year's Driehaus Prize, which honors classical architecture and traditional urbanism, and how he plans to spend the $200k award. 2012 Driehaus Prize winner Michael Graves Photo courtesy University of Notre Dame School of Architecture Michael Graves is better known for appropriating traditional forms in his monumental Postmodern compositions than for being a strict classicist, so it may seem surprising that in December he was named the winner of the 2012 Driehaus Prize, which celebrates architects who advance classicism in their work. Graves, the founding principal of the New York- and New Jersey-based firm Michael Graves

Laura Raskin

December 30, 2011

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U.S. firm Moore Ruble Yudell is master planning a huge development for China's largest agriculture company. Click on the slide show button to view additional images. China's largest agriculture company has hired California-based Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners (MRY) to master plan a 1,215-hectare agricultural and residential development 30 miles southwest of Beijing. The project, called the Agricultural Eco Valley, will be carbon-neutral. With all of the recent tainted food scares in China, the client, COFCO, has a high stake in ensuring its brand is equated with food safety, says James Mary O'Connor, a MRY principal. "[COFCO sees] themselves

St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church by Marlon Blackwell Architects

Springdale, Arkansas

Laura Raskin

November 15, 2011

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An architect in northwest Arkansas converts a typical metal shed into a striking place of worship.

Microsoft Technology Center

Corporate branding gets an illuminating twist in two projects where light is as essential as environmental graphics to convey company philosophy in satellite offices—one urban, the other suburban.

Laura Raskin

November 15, 2011

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Smithgroup had completed four Microsoft Technology Centers (MTC) for the software giant by the time the multidisciplinary firm was asked to design a fifth, in Southfield, Michigan.

Laura Raskin

November 8, 2011

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World Building of the Year (and Office): Media-TIC, Barcelona, Cloud 9, Spain The fourth annual World Architecture Festival (WAF) wrapped up in Barcelona on November 4. More than 1,300 people attended this year’s awards ceremony, which capped the three-day event, and got a peek at the 700-plus international projects entered. Seminars and keynote speakers touched on issues of “disaster” and “difference,” including David van der Leer, assistant curator of Architecture and Urban Studies at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, who also led the museum’s team in executing the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a touring project that wrapped up its New York City

A Permanent Home for Peace

Moshe Safdie's United States Institute of Peace opens on the National Mall's last buildable lot.

Laura Raskin

October 25, 2011

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Moshe Safdie was nibbling crab cakes in the recently completed, 150,000-square-foot glass-and-concrete headquarters he designed for the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.

Your Rainbow Panorama by Olafur Eliasson

Aarhus, Denmark

Laura Raskin

October 16, 2011

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Rendering Denmark’s second-largest city in 52 colors, artist Olafur Eliasson has perched his permanent installation “Your Rainbow Panorama” on delicate columns 12 feet above the roof of the ARoS Art Museum, in Aarhus.

8 Spruce Street

Making waves in the skyline: Frank Gehry drapes his first skyscraper in rippling stainless steel, bringing luxury living to lower Manhattan

Laura Raskin

September 16, 2011

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Frank Gehry drapes his first skyscraper in rippling stainless steel, bringing luxury living to lower Manhattan.

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU

Upon course completion, participants will possess a deeper understanding of glass railings to help ensure that safety, aesthetic, and performance objectives are achieved.

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU

Explore how propane-powered systems and whole-home generators can improve energy resilience, reduce electrical loads, and lower long-term residential costs.