Category Archives: Culture

Why Condo-ization Is One Of The Two Or Three Biggest Factors In The Increasing Unaffordability Of New York City

by John Massengale Posted on February 8, 2015

THIS IS COMMON SENSE: Eliminate one way or another many inexpensive rental apartments and then build super-luxury condominiums targeted at non-resident foreigners who own half of all the wealth in the world and you will soon find that the laws of … Continue reading →

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The Good Kind, and the Other Kind

by John Massengale Posted on February 6, 2015

The top photo shows, from left to right, the Pierre Hotel, the Sherry-Netherlands Hotel, the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, the Squibb Building, and the Plaza Hotel. In between the Pierre and the Sherry-Netherlands Hotel are the Metropolitan Club and two long-gone buildings. … Continue reading →

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“Ninety-eight percent of the people who hang out in our restaurants hate glass towers”

by John Massengale Posted on January 30, 2015

STEPHEN ALESCH, a partner at Roman and Williams and the designer of the Ace Hotel, Lafayette, the Breslin, the Boom Boom Room, the Dutch, and many more said that last night during a talk at the ICAA. I don’t hate … Continue reading →

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“We are an evil people, and we deserve to be punished”

by John Massengale Posted on January 9, 2015

It was meant to trumpet an aspirational lifestyle and showcase the very pinnacle of luxury living in one of London’s most exclusive new residential towers, where penthouses are currently on the market for over £4m. But property developer Redrow’s latest … Continue reading →

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The Problem Is Not The Starchitecture. The Problem Is What Gets Left Out Of The Discussion.

by John Massengale Posted on January 7, 2015

ALMOST AS SOON AS THE ACE HOTEL OPENED in New York City, the word spread among the cool tech kids and the young beautiful people that the Ace lobby was the place to meet and work. Blogs like This Is Going To Be BIG wrote … Continue reading →

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What do we want? Change! When do we want it? Now!

by John Massengale Posted on December 29, 2014

Funny that this is the first image that came up when I Googled “What do we want? Change! When do we want it? Now!” “Funny,” because I’m writing about the AIA’s response to the common-sense proposal by Steve Bingler and … Continue reading →

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VV Redux: Carl Jung Talks About Traffic Engineers

by John Massengale Posted on December 11, 2014

The psychotherapist Carl Jung wrote about everything, including traffic engineers: All time-saving methods, to which alleviaton of traffic congestion and other conveniences belong, do not, paradoxically, save any time, but simply fill the time available in such a manner that … Continue reading →

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The NJIT Architecture School said, “Kean University’s proposal of a curriculum of ‘drawing by hand’ does not recognize the demands of today’s job market.”

by John Massengale Posted on October 31, 2014

Kean University, a state school six miles away from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, another public university, has announced that they will open the Michael Graves School of Architecture. According to articles in the New Jersey Record, NJIT is … Continue reading →

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