Issue 11
ISSUE
STORY TYPE
AUTHOR
13
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
November 4, 2024
How a Storied Printmaker Advances the Practice of Architecture
by Diana Budds
12
PEOPLE
October 21, 2024
Sounding Out a Better Way to Build
by Jesse Dorris
12
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
October 7, 2024
What It Means—and What It’s Worth—to Be “Light”
by Julie Lasky
12
PERSPECTIVE
September 23, 2024
Redefining “Iconic” Architecture and Ideals
by Sophie Lovell
12
PERSPECTIVE
September 9, 2024
Surrendering to What Is
by Marianne Krogh
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
August 26, 2024
Sometimes, Democratic Design Doesn’t “Look” Like Anything
by Zach Mortice
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
August 19, 2024
What Does Your Home Say About You?
by Shane Reiner-Roth
11
BOOK REVIEW
August 12, 2024
Is Building Better Cities a Dream Within Reach?
by Michael Webb
11
PEOPLE
August 5, 2024
The Value of Unbuilt Buildings
by George Kafka
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
July 29, 2024
Future-Proofing a Home Where Water Is a Focus and a Thread
by Alexandra Lange
11
BOOK REVIEW
July 22, 2024
Modernist Town, U.S.A.
by Ian Volner
11
PEOPLE
July 15, 2024
Buildings That Grow from a Place
by Anthony Paletta
10
URBANISM
June 24, 2024
What We Lose When a Historic Building Is Demolished
by Owen Hatherley
10
PERSPECTIVE
June 17, 2024
We Need More Than Fewer, Better Things
by Deb Chachra
10
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
June 3, 2024
An Ode to Garages
by Charlie Weak
10
PERSPECTIVE
May 28, 2024
In Search of Domestic Kintsugi
by Edwin Heathcote
10
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
May 13, 2024
The Perils of the Landscapes We Make
by Karrie Jacobs
10
PERSPECTIVE
May 6, 2024
Using Simple Tools as a Radical Act of Independence
by Jarrett Fuller
9
PERSPECTIVE
April 29, 2024
Why Can’t I Just Go Home?
by Eva Hagberg
9
PEOPLE
April 22, 2024
Why Did Our Homes Stop Evolving?
by George Kafka
9
ROUNDTABLE
April 8, 2024
Spaces Where the Body Is a Vital Force
by Tiffany Jow
9
BOOK REVIEW
April 1, 2024
Tracing the Agency of Women as Users and Experts of Architecture
by Mimi Zeiger
9
PERSPECTIVE
March 25, 2024
Are You Sitting in a Non-Place?
by Mzwakhe Ndlovu
9
ROUNDTABLE
March 11, 2024
At Home, Connecting in Place
by Marianela D’Aprile
9
PEOPLE
March 4, 2024
VALIE EXPORT’s Tactical Urbanism
by Alissa Walker
8
PERSPECTIVE
February 26, 2024
What the “Whole Earth Catalog” Taught Me About Building Utopias
by Anjulie Rao
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 19, 2024
How a Run-Down District in London Became a Model for Neighborhood Revitalization
by Ellen Peirson
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 12, 2024
In Brooklyn, Housing That Defies the Status Quo
by Gideon Fink Shapiro
8
PERSPECTIVE
February 5, 2024
That “Net-Zero” Home Is Probably Living a Lie
by Fred A. Bernstein
8
PERSPECTIVE
January 22, 2024
The Virtue of Corporate Architecture Firms
by Kate Wagner
8
PERSPECTIVE
January 16, 2024
How Infrastructure Shapes Us
by Deb Chachra
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
January 8, 2024
The Defiance of Desire Lines
by Jim Stephenson
7
PEOPLE
December 18, 2023
This House Is Related to You and to Your Nonhuman Relatives
by Sebastián López Cardozo
7
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
December 11, 2023
What’s the Point of the Plus Pool?
by Ian Volner
7
BOOK REVIEW
December 4, 2023
The Extraordinary Link Between Aerobics and Architecture
by Jarrett Fuller
7
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
November 27, 2023
Architecture That Promotes Healing and Fortifies Us for Action
by Kathryn O’Rourke
7
PEOPLE
November 6, 2023
How to Design for Experience
by Diana Budds
7
PEOPLE
October 30, 2023
The Meaty Objects at Marta
by Jonathan Griffin
6
OBJECTS
October 23, 2023
How Oliver Grabes Led Braun Back to Its Roots
by Marianela D’Aprile
6
URBANISM
October 16, 2023
Can Adaptive Reuse Fuel Equitable Revitalization?
by Clayton Page Aldern
6
PERSPECTIVE
October 9, 2023
What’s the Point of a Tiny Home?
by Mimi Zeiger
6
OBJECTS
October 2, 2023
A Book Where Torn-Paper Blobs Convey Big Ideas
by Julie Lasky
6
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
September 24, 2023
The Architecture of Doing Nothing
by Edwin Heathcote
6
BOOK REVIEW
September 18, 2023
What the “Liebes Look” Says About Dorothy Liebes
by Debika Ray
6
PEOPLE
September 11, 2023
Roy McMakin’s Overpowering Simplicity
by Eva Hagberg
6
OBJECTS
September 5, 2023
Minimalism’s Specific Objecthood, Interpreted by Designers of Today
by Glenn Adamson
5
ROUNDTABLE
August 28, 2023
How Joan Jonas and Eiko Otake Navigate Transition
by Siobhan Burke
5
OBJECTS
August 21, 2023
The Future-Proofing Work of Design-Brand Archivists
by Adrian Madlener
5
URBANISM
August 14, 2023
Can a Church Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis?
by Alex Bozikovic
5
PEOPLE
August 7, 2023
In Search of Healing, Helen Cammock Confronts the Past
by Jesse Dorris
5
URBANISM
July 31, 2023
What Dead Malls, Office Parks, and Big-Box Stores Can Do for Housing
by Ian Volner
5
PERSPECTIVE
July 24, 2023
A Righteous Way to Solve “Wicked” Problems
by Susan Yelavich
5
OBJECTS
July 17, 2023
Making a Mess, with a Higher Purpose
by Andrew Russeth
5
ROUNDTABLE
July 10, 2023
How to Emerge from a Starchitect’s Shadow
by Cynthia Rosenfeld
4
PEOPLE
June 26, 2023
There Is No One-Size-Fits-All in Architecture
by Marianela D’Aprile
4
PEOPLE
June 19, 2023
How Time Shapes Amin Taha’s Unconventionally Handsome Buildings
by George Kafka
4
PEOPLE
June 12, 2023
Seeing and Being Seen in JEB’s Radical Archive of Lesbian Photography
by Svetlana Kitto
4
PERSPECTIVE
June 5, 2023
In Built Environments, Planting Where It Matters Most
by Karrie Jacobs
3
PERSPECTIVE
May 30, 2023
On the Home Front, a Latine Aesthetic’s Ordinary Exuberance
by Anjulie Rao
3
PERSPECTIVE
May 21, 2023
For a Selfie (and Enlightenment), Make a Pilgrimage to Bridge No. 3
by Alexandra Lange
3
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
May 8, 2023
The Building Materials of the Future Might Be Growing in Your Backyard
by Marianna Janowicz
3
BOOK REVIEW
May 1, 2023
Moving Beyond the “Fetishisation of the Forest”
by Edwin Heathcote
2
ROUNDTABLE
April 24, 2023
Is Craft Still Synonymous with the Hand?
by Tiffany Jow
2
PEOPLE
April 17, 2023
A Historian Debunks Myths About Lacemaking, On LaceTok and IRL
by Julie Lasky
2
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
April 10, 2023
How AI Helps Architects Design, and Refine, Their Buildings
by Ian Volner
2
PEOPLE
April 3, 2023
Merging Computer and Loom, a Septuagenarian Artist Weaves Her View of the World
by Francesca Perry
1
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
March 27, 2023
Words That Impede Architecture, According to Reinier de Graaf
by Osman Can Yerebakan
1
PEOPLE
March 20, 2023
Painting With Plaster, Monica Curiel Finds a Release
by Andrew Russeth
1
PERSPECTIVE
March 13, 2023
Rules and Roles in Life, Love, and Architecture
by Eva Hagberg
1
Roundtable
March 6, 2023
A Design Movement That Pushes Beyond Architecture’s Limitations
by Tiffany Jow
0
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 7, 2023
To Improve the Future of Public Housing, This Architecture Firm Looks to the Past
by Ian Volner
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
The Radical Potential of “Prime Objects”
by Glenn Adamson
0
PEOPLE
February 20, 2023
Xiyadie’s Queer Cosmos
by Xin Wang
0
PEOPLE
February 13, 2023
How Michael J. Love’s Subversive Tap Dancing Steps Forward
by Jesse Dorris
0
SHOW AND TELL
February 7, 2023
Finding Healing and Transformation Through Good Black Art
by Folasade Ologundudu
0
BOOK REVIEW
February 13, 2023
How Stephen Burks “Future-Proofs” Craft
by Francesca Perry
0
ROUNDTABLE
February 27, 2023
Making Use of End Users’ Indispensable Wisdom
by Tiffany Jow
0
PEOPLE
February 7, 2023
The New Lessons Architect Steven Harris Learns from Driving Old Porsches
by Jonathan Schultz
0
PERSPECTIVE
February 7, 2023
The Day Architecture Stopped
by Kate Wagner
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
The Overlooked Potential of Everyday Objects
by Adrian Madlener
0
ROUNDTABLE
February 7, 2023
A Conversation About Generalists, Velocity, and the Source of Innovation
by Tiffany Jow
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
Using a Fungi-Infused Paste, Blast Studio Turns Trash Into Treasure
by Natalia Rachlin
Untapped is published by the design company Henrybuilt.
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
06.03.2024
An Ode to Garages

These shape-shifting spaces show how our homes might help us better connect to ourselves, and to one another.

Childhood photograph of writer Charlie Weak with his maternal grandfather in his workshop garage in Juniata, Nebraska.
The author, center, with his maternal grandfather in his workshop garage in Juniata, Nebraska. (Photo: Emily Weak)


One of my earliest memories is of my grandpa Jim, my mom’s dad, helping me build a pinewood derby racer in his garage in Juniata, Nebraska. I vaguely remember him showing me how he used an old band saw and belt sander to shape the racer’s aerodynamic body, whittling down compartments under the nose to fit weights so that the car would accelerate more rapidly.

Grandpa Jim’s enthusiasm for wind drag and optimal weight distribution was lost on my preteen self and, even as an adult, I don’t quite share his fervor for engineering balsa. But how he kept his garage has stuck with me: filled with projects in different states of completion, littered with tools (you’d swear it was disorganized, but he knew where everything was), and always frosted with a fine coat of sawdust.

He wasn’t the only elder family member with a passion for tinkering. My dad’s dad, Lannie, had multiple garages, the largest of which was bigger than any apartment I’ve ever rented. It housed a full woodshop, his 4x4 ATV, the classic car he was working on at the time, and, notably, a full bathroom, complete with a shower. His wife, Sharon, forbade any of us from entering her “nice, clean house” without washing off whatever mess we had gotten ourselves into that day.

Growing up in garages has forever cemented my appreciation for them as dirty, non-precious spaces set aside for residents to transform into a stage for activities not accommodated elsewhere in the home. Grandma Sharon’s “nice, clean house” rule always felt like an acknowledgment of the garage’s consequential role in our lives as the space where we prepared ourselves for the rarefied domestic interior. For people like us, garages are the front door to a vital part of the house. For others, garages can be an entryway to thinking about how we might harness our living spaces to better suit our needs, and how our homes might better connect us to one another.

My grandpas used their garages as de facto workshops, but a workshop is just one thing a garage can be. In their 2017 publication Rebel Garages, Ann Lui and Craig Reschke of the architectural practice Future Firm documented a series of retrofitted garages from around their headquarters in Chicago that had come to do more than store cars—and instead host things like artists’ studios, a music venue, and an agricultural pickup spot—showing how these shape-shifting spaces offer places for community and culture. The authors go on to describe alleys, those urban cousins of garages that do everything from store trash to host block parties, as the connective tissue that stitches together experiments in DIY placemaking with a city’s built environment.

Unprogrammed space, like unprogrammed time, allows for creative freedom. For Alessandro Orsini and Nick Roseboro of the studio Architensions, that freedom is born when we shelve modern sensibilities around the separation of work and play. “The creation of spaces and programs for free time—such as the park and the stadium—speak about the artificial institution of division in the urban context,” they wrote in a 2022 essay called “Log-in Labor, Log-in Leisure.” The pair proposes reorganizing our homes and cities based on Dutch cultural theorist Johan Huizinga’s principles of play in his 1938 book Homo Ludens, which posits that play should be organized but free, and not done solely to create something physical and of value.

It’s not a bad idea. My parents wouldn’t like to hear that I grew up around power tools—but in my grandpa’s workshops, those tools were their medium for play. Did they ever produce things of “value” in their garages? Maybe, but that certainly wasn’t the point. Classic cars, refurbished table legs, and a semi-functional trebuchet came into existence in those entropic spaces. The end result was always second in importance to figuring out how to make it.

In garages, ephemerality often accompanies entropy. Flexible architecture invites people to mold their spaces to fit their lifestyles—which may not adhere to a floor plan, furniture layout, or traditional definitions of domestic space. Andrés Jacque’s architectural performance series “Ikea Disobedients” (2011–12) underscores this reality. Carried out on a set of a residential interior built with objects from Ikea—whose advertisements have historically depicted the home as sunny, apolitical spaces for primarily young, blond, healthy families who either have children or are about to—the project, first performed in Madrid, hosted live, public conversations and activities by local community members that were typically done in private. In showing how the normative behaviors associated with living spaces aren’t necessarily followed by everyone, the performances celebrate alternative models of domesticity and the areas that allow for it.

Our homes ought to allow for more subtle forms of self-expression, too. My dad’s garage isn’t augmented to the degree that my grandpas’ were, but there are still things about it that speak to me about who he is. Inside, band and concert posters cover nearly every inch of drywall, a blank slate for his own embellishing. They’re the first thing that greets me as I arrive home (and enter through the garage, of course), and they help me understand my dad’s relationship with a community of music junkies.

Among the posters is a set of old nylon fold-out camping chairs. While unassuming, these seats are crucial to many midwestern households. When thunderstorms come through in spring and early summer (provided that there aren’t any sirens, and that the beloved Nebraska weatherman Bill Randby isn’t on TV), the garage momentarily transforms into a storm-viewing deck for watching the rain and wind roll through. Once the storm passes, the garage goes back to being unprogrammed until it needs to be something else: a movie theater, a practice space, a workshop, or whatever we want it to be.