Alan G. Brake

The every diminishing ranks of architecture critics suffered another loss, as Bloomberg News cut James Russell's column, as a part of a larger reorganization/elimination of its cultural coverage. According to a post on Russell's personal blog, Bloomberg is focusing on luxury and lifestyle coverage over arts and culture…

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the appointment of Beatrice Galilee, 31, as associate curator of architecture and design. She will work within the department of Modern and Contemporary Art. According to a job posting in The Art Newspaper, the curator will develop collection and research strategies for the…

The New York Times is reporting that MoMA has decided to disassemble the white bronze facade of the American Folk Art Museum building, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. A controversial expansion plan, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, calls for the demolition of the…

Nearly 650 people crowded the auditorium at the Society for Ethical Culture on Manhattan's Upper West Side on Tuesday to debate MoMA's expansion plans, which include the demolition of the Tod Williams Billie Tsien–designed American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) building. Organized by the Architectural League of…

Add one more opening to the list of dean, director, and curator positions that need to be filled. Adele Naudé Santos is stepping down as dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT after 10 years at the helm. During her time as dean, Santos consolidated the…

Following a period of extended growth, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), which is compiled by the AIA, declined for the second straight month, down to 48.5 in December from 49.8 in November (any score below 50 indicates a decline). The news is not entirely bleak, however, as new…

The Italian classicist architect Pier Carlo Bontempi has been named the 2014 Driehaus Laureate.  A native of Parma, Bontempi's work in Italy and France re-imagines the traditional city with projects like a master-planned block in Parma and the Quartier du Lac outside Paris. "His buildings, seamlessly woven into their…

Yesterday, something remarkable happened. More than a decade after the destruction of the World Trade Center, the walls and fences surrounding a small corner of the site came down and the public was able to glimpse a new stretch of Greenwich Street—which will eventually bisect the site—as…

Yesterday, Houston voters killed a $200 million ballot initiative to renovate the unused Astrodome. Fifty-three percent opposed the measure and 47 percent supported it. The plan would have turned the stadium—the first domed and air-conditioned professional stadium—into a multi-use event and convention space. Houston's professional sports teams now play…

Calling all landscape architects and urban designers. Are you heading to Boston for the 2013 American Society of Landscape Architects Conference? I am. On Saturday, November 16, I'll be reviewing projects and portfolios during a "Meet the Editors" event, alongside colleagues from a variety of shelter, design, and garden…

Today MoMA announced the newest exhibition in its "Issues in Contemporary Architecture Series," Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities. Six teams will examine how tactical urbanism can be used to address challenges in six global megacities: New York, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Lagos, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. Like the previous…

Chicago-based architect Jimenez Lai, principal of Bureau Spectacular, has been awarded the first BPC Debut Award for architects under 35. Lai is known for his bold, formally-inventive work, which he describes as "cartoon narratives" that "swerve into the physical world through architectural installations models, and small buildings."…