House model; Nayarit, Mexico, 100 B.C.–A.D. 200 Long before rendering two-dimensional designs into three-dimensional models became standard architectural procedure, the indigenous peoples of Latin America represented buildings in small-scale forms to much different ends. Andean and Mesoamerican cultures crafted replicas of temples and houses for funerary and burial rites, and to honor loved ones at shrines. This ritualistic use of the architectural model is the focus of Design for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas, a compact and enlightening exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that opened Monday and runs through Sept. 18, 2016. The first such show

A new exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art reconsiders urban renewal in Pittsburgh — and America. Aerial view of Pittsburgh, 1954. After years of combating its soot-covered-metropolis-on-the-skids image, Pittsburgh is on the march. It has remade itself from a smoky blue-collar steel town into a green white-collar information hub that lures tech companies like Google and Uber. The resurgent Pittsburgh was named America’s most livable city last year by the Economist, and, for the first time in decades, it’s a place people go to by choice rather than necessity. But this isn’t Pittsburgh’s first rebrand. From the early 1950s

A new PBS documentary explores Frank Lloyd Wright’s little-known architectural photographer. The best architecture photographers use light and perspective to elevate what could be static images into single-frame movies, documenting places as organisms full of verve, mystery, and life. Ezra Stoller might be the first name in the architectural photography conversation, but PBS’ American Masters series makes a strong case that it should be Pedro E. Guerrero. The inspiring, albeit limited, 60-minute documentary profile Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey, which aired Friday, September 18 and can be viewed online at PBS.org, introduces us to a photographer who deserves far

In recent years, Pittsburgh has become the envy of the Rust Belt. After years of hard work, the city shed its grimy, “Hell with the lid off” image and recast itself as one of America’s most livable (and attractive) cities. Today it’s a midwestern tech hub, a center of higher education, and a national health care leader. Drive 15 miles east of downtown and the story is grimmer. In the small town of Braddock, once a thriving community of laborers and immigrants manning some of the most important mills in the country, there’s no end in sight to the city’s

Contentious museum redesigns have become commonplace lately, from Diller Scofidio + Renfro's plans for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to Peter Zumthor's divisive proposal for a new LACMA superstructure. But as the documentary The New Rijksmuseum: Years of Metamorphosis shows, it's not a problem confined to the United States. The film, which opened in Los Angeles June 19, tracks the decade-long renovation of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum in almost excruciating detail. Begun in 2003, the project intended to bring Pierre Cuypers' 1885 building up to 21st century "museological" standards.Seville and Amsterdam-based architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz's original plan

Tomorrowland's futuristic set was based on Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. Disney’s big non-superhero movie this summer, Tomorrowland, which opened in theaters Memorial Day weekend, is all about a mysterious place full of wonder and whiz-bang.

A new film series at BAM offers a rare view of a country in transition. Cuba: Golden '60sThe First Charge of the Machete, 1969. A gentleman, nattily attired in a slim suit and sunglasses, saunters through his bustling urban environment with cosmopolitan ennui en route to his achingly modern apartment. It’s an image we’d expect to find in a 1960s Italian film, with actor Marcello Mastroianni gliding through scenes directed by Antonioni or Fellini. But when it appears in a post-Revolution Cuban film, like Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s 1968 masterpiece Memories of Underdevelopment? That’s unexpected. It’s a view of Havana and

Chris Hemsworth stars as Nicholas Hathaway in Blackhat, from director/producer Michael Mann. The movie is set within the world of global cybercrime, from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta. Beyond plot devices, Hollywood has never had much use for cities as real locations. They're loud, crowded, unpredictable—all of which is anathema to a micromanaged industry. A few filmmakers have embraced the urban cacophony with gusto, though. Jules Dassin shot The Naked City (1948) verite style on the streets of New York, as did William Friedkin 23 years later when making The French Connection. But they were only