Opting out at the Intuit Dome

Welcome, new subscribers! My review of Reinier de Graaf’s latest book brought in a whole new flock of you, and I’m grateful to have you here. That post also sparked a fresh round of flacking from Verso’s publicists, who within 24 hours of my review going up sent an email to a number of architecture writers I know making sure they were aware of “some early praise” for the book, including Jack Self’s suggestion that it is “obligatory reading for anyone interested in the present and future of architectural discourse.” If you are finding Punch List not obligatory reading but, instead, something you look forward to every Friday, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription here. Thank you in advance! And now on to this week’s dispatch:

One afternoon in the summer of 2018, I found myself chatting with Steve Ballmer not about sweat stains or dance moves but about architecture. We were sitting courtside for an NBA Summer League matchup, inside the crisply air-conditioned confines of the Thomas & Mack Center on the outskirts of Las Vegas, watching two teams whose names I forget; in any case the quality of play was not exceptionally high, which may explain why I was able to hold the former Microsoft CEO’s attention for a few minutes.