Punch List Architecture Newsletter

What to know about Nithya Raman

L.A.’s mayor-elect, set to take office in just 38 days, is an urban planner with a degree from MIT. Boosted by charter reform, she’ll join Zohran Mamdani in testing the limits of a left-YIMBY alliance. “I’m a planner first and foremost, and a politician as a means to an end”

Christopher Hawthorne

Oct 30, 2026

How the sausage is made, Eames Institute edition

“I’ve carried water twice for them now.” Plus, a range of perspectives on Yale’s Bob Stern symposium: “When cocktail hour arrived, Stern was strictly a modernist”

Christopher Hawthorne

Oct 23, 2026

Can anybody stop the Arc de Trump?

The president and his architects want to break ground two days after the midterms. Plus: Joe Gebbia speaks; a welcome John Berger revival; and a death at Taliesin West

Christopher Hawthorne

Oct 16, 2026

Joe Gebbia and the Eames Institute, part two

“A firehose of money does wonders to make people look the other way”; plus, SCI-Arc held its gala where?!

Christopher Hawthorne

Oct 09, 2026

The Eames Institute has a Joe Gebbia problem

What would Charles and Ray make of his praise for Alex Jones and the John Birch Society?

Christopher Hawthorne

Oct 02, 2026

Texts with Mark Lamster

The Dallas Morning News architecture critic on his new book, the future of I.M. Pei’s City Hall, and why watching the Knicks capture the NBA title was more thrilling than winning a Pulitzer Prize

Christopher Hawthorne

Sep 25, 2026

Review: John Wilson pours it in place

“The History of Concrete” is wonderfully self-aware, if not always wonderful to look at. Plus: L.A. architecture loses two major figures; Bjarke spouts empty phrases about Sea Ranch; and Kennicott on the Lucas Museum

Christopher Hawthorne

Sep 18, 2026

“We don’t talk about money in architecture school”

A conversation with Sekou Cooke about “Black Architect,” his new book of interviews. Plus, Google’s remake of the Thompson Center; thoughts from readers (who also happen to be writers) on Sea Ranch and Ground Zero; NYT fall preview; and more

Christopher Hawthorne

Sep 11, 2026

Ground Zero at 25

Reflections from Rose Salane, Sharon Zukin, Samuel Medina, Audrey Wollen, Justin Beal, Mark Krotov, et al.

Christopher Hawthorne

Sep 04, 2026

Exit interview: Olly Wainwright

A conversation with the Guardian architecture critic on his year in America; plus, Sea Ranch residents respond to a BIG proposal and the first Lucas Museum reviews roll in

Christopher Hawthorne