A weekly dispatch on architecture, design, and cities, from Christopher Hawthorne

Featured Posts

May 08, 2026

The new LACMA is a big deal for Los Angeles. The Wilshire subway is even bigger

A conversation with India Mandelkern about her new book on the D Line extension and the “chronic civic illness” of L.A. NIMBYism; plus: a Lamster Pulitzer and the latest architects to reimagine the Met

Christopher Hawthorne

May 01, 2026

The polymath’s revenge

What a brilliant exhibition on Viollet-le-Duc says about our own architectural and cultural moment

Christopher Hawthorne

Feb 13, 2026

Review: Reinier de Graaf’s radical chic

Or, How to have your taart and eat it too. Plus: Rem weighs in by email on de Graaf’s call for a mandatory retirement age in architecture

Christopher Hawthorne

The new LACMA is a big deal for Los Angeles. The Wilshire subway is even bigger

Christopher Hawthorne

May 01, 2026

The polymath’s revenge

What a brilliant exhibition on Viollet-le-Duc says about our own architectural and cultural moment

Christopher Hawthorne

Apr 24, 2026

“The blemishes stand up and shout”

How much should we care about construction errors at LACMA and the New Museum?

Christopher Hawthorne

Apr 20, 2026

Premium

Peter Zumthor’s ten working rules

Sharing a much-requested list

Christopher Hawthorne

Apr 17, 2026

Zumthor earns his L.A. stripes

And other impressions of the new LACMA, now that the art is installed. Plus: the architect’s sloppy attempt at revisionist history

Christopher Hawthorne

Apr 10, 2026

Was Michael Sorkin “the last real critic”?

A conversation with Bart-Jan Polman, curator of a new exhibition at Columbia on Sorkin’s work as writer, architect, and urban designer; plus, best and worst takes on LACMA, the New Museum, and the Trump library

Christopher Hawthorne

Apr 03, 2026

What does Apple have against architecture critics?

As the pioneering tech company turns fifty, remembering a review that never was

Christopher Hawthorne

Mar 31, 2026

Trump’s Presidential Library is AI slop

It’s also clearly an attempt to one-up Barack Obama, whose Presidential Center will open June 19 in Chicago

Christopher Hawthorne

Mar 27, 2026

Site visit: The Kennedy Center in purgatory

Ahead of its planned closure this summer, Donald Trump has been busy un-gilding Edward Durell Stone’s monumental building, which has never been popular with architecture critics; “a marble sarcophagus in which the art of architecture lies buried”

Christopher Hawthorne

Mar 20, 2026

Review: The New Museum’s midlife crisis

Instead of a Porsche, the once-scrappy institution has treated itself, as it nears its 50th birthday, to a sleek and pricey (if shoddy!) Koolhaas; in lieu of collecting artworks, it seems to be collecting buildings

Christopher Hawthorne

Mar 13, 2026

What burns in “Sinners,” and what survives

Ryan Coogler’s film, up for 16 Oscars this weekend, holds some surprising lessons for architects working at the intersection of race and memory

Ekemini Ekpo

Mar 06, 2026

A hearing on Trump’s ballroom gets heated

Speakers weighing in during a marathon session yesterday included architects, preservationists, and a Labrador retriever from New Orleans named Willie; “If you want to sue me, I’ll see you in court”

Christopher Hawthorne

First Back

1 2 3 4 5

Next Last