Matt Shaw
What is happening in Downey, California? First, it was the original Taco Bell, and now its Norm̵ 7;s restaurant that is under threat of demolition, though the latter is being considered for historical protection by the Cultural Heritage Commission. Both buildings have hashtags dedicated to saving them, #SaveTacoBell and #SaveNorms, respectively, because they are icons of…
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly walks out into the 2015 Hill Valley, the camera panning t o show the city as he says incredulously, “the future.” He walks around, dumbfounded by the rapid changes his city has made. It is a world of flying cars, holographic media screens, and futuristic-looking architecture. Unfortunately…
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced another rate hike for commuters yesterday, with the cost of a single subway or bus ride increasing from $2.50 to $2.75 come March 22nd. So too will the cost of a monthly card rise from $112 to $116.50, and Metro North and LIRR fares will be going up as well.…
Jim Kazanjian has been making insanely realistic-looking but obviously fake photo-collages for a whi le. We first checked in with Kazanjian’s monsters when they were dystopian Victorian mash-ups set to post-apocalyptic landscapes. Now, the Portland, Ore.-based artist — he works in commercial CGI by day — has moved onto something a bit more sinister. Images courtesy…
Photographer Iwan Baan travels the world, living out of a suitcase and hotel rooms exclusively, in o rder to document architectural marvels in far-flung locales like the middle of Africa and China. For an advocate of aerial vantage points, drones are often the only way to get up in the air and show the surroundings and…
Images courtesy NL Architects. When Chinese president Xi Jinping called for the end of all of the &# 8220;weird architecture” in China, Dutch designers NL Architects must not have gotten the memo. Their design for a chain of hotels is one of the weirdest yet, in a very good way. Each one is shaped — in…
The success of the High Line in New York has spawned a new generation of reclaimed-urban-infrastruct ure-parks. São Paulo, Brazil might be the latest city to find a patch of elevated greenery in the dense metropolitan fabric. The question is, do they reeeally want one? The answer is looking like a “yes,” given the current status…
Steven Holl has firmly established himself as a go-to-guy for new museum projects. He got his start with the iconic façade for the Storefront for Art and Architecture back in 1993, a collaboration with the artist Vito Acconci. While that was a small project that is but a sliver of space compared to his buildings…
Mark Fisher was a student at the AA in 1960s London when he started experimenting with inflatable st ructures. This somewhat unassuming beginning took him on a journey that included making pneumatic structures for Pink Floyd and eventually designing sets for everyone from Madonna and Lady Gaga to Metallica and AC/DC. Images courtesy Stufish Fisher and…