Magazine

In 2018 artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik bought a 19th-century church in Sag Harbor, New York, hiring the firm of Lee Skolnick to help them transform it into a new arts center serving the East End of Long Island. The architects answered a few questions about the recently completed adaptive... SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership

For decades, St. Thomas’ Parish in Washington, DC, sat as a remnant of its former self, after a fire in 1970 destroyed much of the late-19th-century church. The church gave the community a small park where the sanctuary once stood, but now it has a new home: a contemporary building designed by... Hickok Cole

In summer 2019, debartolo architects moved into a 1930s warehouse located "on one of the grittiest streets east of downtown Phoenix." Their conversion of the building responds to the context with dark steel walls facing the street, while inside it maintains the openness of the space capped by... debartolo architects

The renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, originally designed by Mies van der Rohe, had a virtual opening ceremony in September 2020. Open since with limited services, the library, rejuvenated by Mecanoo and OTJ Architects, is sure to get lots of fanfare once the... Mecanoo

Atelier Zhang Lei (AZL Architects) in Nanjing recently completed a new hotel project, just 300 meters north of the Eduard Kögel

The ICA Watershed opened in a formerly condemned industrial space in East Boston, a short ferry ride from ICA Boston's main building across the harbor. Like other museums, the Watershed temporarily closed during the pandemic, but it tapped into its industrial roots by transitioning to a food... Anmahian Winton Architects

This single-family house in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood was initiated by architects Lap Chi Kwong and Alison Von Glinow, who answered a few questions about the project. Being client and architect enabled them to invert the typical stacking of a house's program: bedrooms are on the first... Kwong Von Glinow

Although the striking five-story ARRIVE Hotel reflects the increasing density along Sixth Street in popular East Austin, the project retains an unassuming century-old, one-story brick building. It houses Lefty's Brick Bar, one of six dining venues in a hotel that clearly prioritizes pedestrian... baldridgeARCHITECTS

As part of its "Branching Out: Building Libraries, Building Communities" initiative, the Chicago Public Library has built and renovated dozens of libraries, including a modernization and expansion of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Branch Library. The design by bKL Architecture builds upon the "good... bKL Architecture

The New St. Pete Pier opened to the public in July, five years after Rogers Partners won a competition to design a replacement for St. Petersburg, Florida's old pier jutting into Tampa Bay. The multifaceted designed provides plenty of outdoor activities that cater to residents and visitors,... ROGERS PARTNERS Architects+Urban Designers

The city of Yangshuo in Guangxi Province lays about 65 kilometres south of Guilin and is surrounded by a dramatic landscape of towering karst mountains, which as a tourist attraction have been a highlight of domestic and foreign visitor programs for decades. The karst landscape has been on the... Eduard Kögel

The National Museum of the United States Army opened last month, on November 11, better known as Veterans Day. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the building is wrapped in a... Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Completed earlier this year, the Miller Creative Quad mixes a panoply of academic and cultural functions in a C-shaped building that is carved by pathways at ground level. Traditional in form, it is forward-thinking in program and execution. The architects at Polk Stanley Wilcox answered a few... Polk Stanley Wilcox

A prominent gable roof and small footprint help this new building for Little Tiger blend into its residential Austin, Texas neighborhood. A trio of openings – a ribbon window, a tall dormer, and a ridge skylight – bring plenty of light into the classroom building but also signal it is anything... Murray Legge Architecture

Two artists with a house and guest house hired The LADG to add two buildings with studio space for ceramics, sculpture, painting, and photography. The additions in concrete, wood, and metal are striking, but it's the outdoor space between the buildings that is the heart of the project. The... The LADG

This joint city hall and police station serves the residents of Green Forest, a small town in Northwest Arkansas. The building is easy to find, since it sits directly next to the town's historic water tower that was built in the 1930s. Modus studio answered a few questions about their design... modus studio

Studio Zhu-Pei designed the new Imperial Kiln Museum that unpretentiously tells the stories from the porcelain-manufacturing town of Jingdezhen in terms of shape and material, and in so doing comments on the future-potentials of the past far beyond this one town. Eduard Kögel

Chinese landscaping and landscape painting inspired the design of the Yu-Jo Courtyard House, which uses outdoor spaces to ensure privacy and to connect the family inside to nature outside. The architects at Wittman Estes answered a few questions about the house located in Clyde Hill,... Wittman Estes

Three functions intertwine in this adaptive reuse of an old industrial building in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) area, placing an art gallery and artist studio on the ground floor, and a residence upstairs. Dumican Mosey Architects answered a few questions about the project. Dumican Mosey Architects

The Hollyhock sits in the midst of an urban landscape that is typical of Phoenix and Scottsdale: streets lined with single-family houses and the occasional gated community. But with its townhouses oriented about a community commons. The Hollyhock is a departure from the norm. Studio Ma... Studio Ma

Two years after the firm's McDonald’s Chicago Flagship signaled a new green direction for the fast-food giant, Ross Barney Architects has completed a flagship McDonald's at Walt Disney World... Ross Barney Architects

This house on Hillside Avenue in Los Angeles is so large it comes with a 12-car garage on its lowest level. Designed by Cape Town's SAOTA, the house was inspired by a nearby mid-century modern icon that makes it all about the views, not the cars. SAOTA sent us some images and text on the... SAOTA

Fighting rural poverty is one of the major goals of the Beijing government. Investments should increase the attractiveness and the economic prosperity of rural areas so as to generate viable alternative perspectives for local people to leaving their home village. CU Office has been working on... Eduard Kögel

The aptly named Lantern Studio, which houses a scooter workshop and other spaces for a creative couple, glows at night through a wall of slatted wood. Flavin Architects answered a few questions about the backyard retreat in suburban Wellesley, near Boston. Flavin Architects

Taking its name from the two rivers that abut the property, the Confluence House is a relaxed composition of three structures that prioritizes outdoor spaces as much as those inside. The architects at Cushing Terrell answered a few questions about the house in northwest Montana. Cushing Terrell

This house, located in a part of a Japan with a lot snowfall, was designed to be resilient outside and amenable to daily life inside. The architects at Eureka answered a few questions about the recently completed Silver Water Cabin. Eureka

A great room sits at the heart of this house on a steep slope in the Hollywood Hills. Even though it has views of Los Angeles, the space feels like a Manhattan industrial loft, with large windows and steel framing. That was intentional, as explained by Kristen Becker, who started the house's... Mutuus Studio

Originally scheduled to open next month, the Art Preserve will open in June 2021, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The museum is using the time to finalize interior construction and installation of the artworks, all of them artist-built environments. Denver's Tres Birds answered a few... Tres Birds

Beneath the colorful siding and translucent panels of Argyle Gardens are prefabricated modules that helped reduce costs for the affordable housing project in Portland, Oregon's Kenton neighborhood. Designed by Holst Architecture, the co-housing project was built as a prototype, and based on... Holst Architecture

World-Architects first learned about the greenhouse designed by Kennedy & Violich Architecture for Wellesley College in 2017, when it won a LafargeHolcim Award. The... Kennedy & Violich Architecture

Metal panels with prismatic paint cover the long sides of the new building for Esperanza Health Centers in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. The finish means the color changes with the sunlight, turning it into a dynamic building. Juan Moreno answered a few questions about the project. JGMA

Although Detroit is known for the manufacturing of automobiles, the city also has a strong tradition of crafts. Pewabic Pottery, established 1903, is an important part of the latter, its glazed tiles adorning many buildings in and beyond Detroit. INFORM studio answered a few questions about... INFORM studio

In addition to serving as a residence, the aptly named Art Barn in Aspen, Colorado, contains gallery spaces inside a gabled, wood-sided structure reminiscent of an old barn. The architects at Rowland+Broughton answered a few questions about the building. Rowland+Broughton Architecture / Urban Design / Interior Design

Sideyard fits a narrow space in Portland's Eastside, near the Burnside Bridge and across the street from the Fair-Haired Dumbell. Skylab's design for the five-story office building... Skylab

The world-famous High Line park has spawned much development on Manhattan's West Side since it opened in 2009. Many of the new buildings abutting the elevated park incorporate terraces and roof gardens, but none more creatively or abundantly than 512 West 22nd Street, a new office building... COOKFOX

With some of its sixty buildings designed by Pietro Belluschi, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Tod Wlliams Billie Tsien Architects, and others, Bennington College has a strong tradition of modern architecture. The latest campus project renovates one of the college's oldest buildings, giving it... Christoff:Finio Architecture