Design and the Elastic Mind
The birth of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, revolutionized design in the 20th century. For the first time in human history, things could be created as if from nothing, rather than carved from wood or stone, or fashioned from metal.

Image courtesy MoMA

Two Cities, One Theme: Expiration and Regeneration
Can we envision a city with buildings that don’t last forever? Should buildings have expiration dates? Can we trust our judgment about the future? These are the issues being debated at the 2007 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

Photo courtesy 2007 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism

Marcel Breuer Celebrated in Retrospective
At a time when quite a few mid-century Modernist structures are threatened with demolition, a new retrospective exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., aims to remind people of the contribution that Modernist architects made through their bold experimentation with forms and materials.

Photo courtesy Constance L. Breuer

Five Variations on the Theme of Governors Island
Though barely 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, Governors Island, in New York harbor, suffers from obscurity and neglect.

Photo courtesy GIPEC