Articles by Pat Finn

The American shopping mall has always been a symbol of excess. In at least one respect, this reputat ion is justified: There are far too many of them!

  Brooklyn is without a doubt the most culturally relevant place in the world … at least according t o the people who live here. Over the past decade, Brooklyn has become a flashpoint for a number of major trends, including craft beer, beards and most of all that elusive cultural archetype known as thehipster. Now…

The DNA double helix is an example of science at its most poetic. The image of symmetrical, twisting strands encasing the blueprints for life is so elegant one would think it came from one of da Vinci’s notebooks. Vienna and Beijing–based firm Penda — winner of the Emerging Firm of the Year Award at this…

High fashion is all about aspirational fantasy. Flicking through Vogue, one cannot help but imagine the fabulous lives implied by the photo-spreads. The clothing is just one dimension of the idea of glamour, which is the real product on display. And for the fantasy to be sustained, the idea needs to seem just a little…

For the most part, commuters don’t stop to notice the complexity of the systems they use to get arou nd each day. Like water and electricity, the smooth operation of the rail system is mostly taken for granted, commanding attention only when something goes awry. Counteracting our collective apathy, Tomoyuki Tanaka’s ballpoint drawings of Tokyo’s train…

By including rich examples of international architecture and design into his drawings, Wakelin depic ts an urban tapestry that has been greatly enriched by diversity.

The “House Vision” exhibition was launched in 2011 as an opportunity for the leading lights of Japan ese design to explore future possibilities for the house, a structure that — perhaps more than any other — intimately reflects the way people live. Indeed, archaeologists have been known to study the home designs of lost civilizations to…

People never tire of imagining the apocalypse. Whether in disaster films or speculative books, there is something darkly alluring about the idea of a world without people. Now, two artists have taken up the apocalyptic mantle in a new medium: the humble diorama. In a series titled “The City,” Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber modeled…

The parking garage is generally a utilitarian affair. Like the cars they house, parking garages are generally seen as necessary evils, blights on the urban landscape that are better left in the background. There is one city, however, where this isn’t the case: In Miami, parking garages, like all buildings, are designed to stand out.…