Issue 13
ISSUE
STORY TYPE
AUTHOR
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.
PERSPECTIVE
09.09.2024
Surrendering to What Is

How do we get to a place of wanting to preserve buildings that we find ugly, boring, or outdated?

Wide shot of the side of art historian and curator Marianne Krogh's house in a green field with sliding glass doors on the first level.
The author’s home in Copenhagen. (Photo: Hampus Berndtson)


Not long ago, I worked closely with the architect Søren Pihlmann when he was transforming a villa just north of Copenhagen. I was the client, he was the architect, and, because architecture is also my field—I am an art historian, writer, and curator—we decided to frame our collaboration as a project where we both would contribute to the processes essential for its artistic development.

The building was a rather bourgeois residence from the 1950s, a time characterized by the tradition-leaning postwar environment, a limited palette of materials, and very conservative family norms. In other words, it was not a particularly interesting piece of architecture. But that is precisely why the aforementioned processes were so important: because preserving and transforming the existing is not only about “beautifying” based on current preferences, but also about looking with new eyes, changing one’s mindset, and seeking potential in what is already there.

The work proceeded over three phases. First, we spent a long time investigating the building: its current materials, construction, site, and location. We discussed and explored the values at stake, which are crucial as they establish a philosophical foundation. Our focus wasn’t on demands and desires for layout and comfort—and we made no renderings, as they tend to lock in the process—but rather on the underlying principles that, during the construction process, served as a compass we could always return to when making important decisions.

In the second phase, the architect came up with a comprehensive approach for the transformation itself based on three towers running through the entire building, from basement to attic, constructed from discarded bricks. This method dictated the home’s layout, with basic functions such as water and storage hidden inside the walls, and with the rooms as the “leftover material” those functions create.

The last phase was crucial. We were on-site as much as possible, alongside the craftspeople, for more than a year. The construction site became our studio where we could, at scale, explore and experiment with what worked. It is impossible to imagine everything through computer drawings, and craftspeople often encounter unforeseen situations in these planning stages. We would ask them to try something, and often, they had to redo it several times until the vision was achieved.

All together, the project was about tactility, palettes, hierarchies, readability, ethics, and degrees of processing. And it was about understanding that in the future, we need to let go of the notion that we can control and pre-plan everything down to the smallest detail, and to instead surrender to what is, and listen with much greater sensitivity to the materials that already exist. One could also call this developing a sense of place that acknowledges all voices—those of the materials, nature, and history—and the rights that every physical thing has by virtue of its existence.

Interior shot of a brick bookcase and a white fire place in art historian and curator Marianne Krogh's living room.
Inside the author’s home. (Photo: Hampus Berndtson)


Today, in Denmark and beyond, there is a strong focus on preserving existing building stock, as demolition and new production are a huge burden on the environment. This conservation is a legal, economic, and political issue. When done in the truest sense of the word, it is also very much a cultural-aesthetic issue.

How do we reach a point where we want to preserve what we find ugly, boring, and outdated? It is not enough just to know that it is the best for the planet’s future, because knowledge alone does not always change our behavior. We need to be emotionally awakened and engaged, and we must feel a desire for the new opportunities and images presented to us. We need to change our mindsets to start seeing the value in repair, in showing care, and in feeling attachment. And we need to recognize the significance of being able to carry stories forward.

Therefore, we must use our climate awareness not only to see catastrophes, but also new opportunities: Less comfort does not necessarily mean less well-being. Restrictions can be heartening challenges. “Making do” can inspire us to look at other forms of quality of life such as more time, more presence, and a reduction in many years of overconsumption. The point is that we do not need to see this as a reduction in the ease of our everyday; it is a shift in the values and elements long associated with our perceptions of the good life.

The top of a brick stairway in art historian and curator Marianne Krogh's Copenhagen home.
Detail of the author’s home. (Photo: Hampus Berndtson)


That house north of Copenhagen can help illustrate some of these shifts. For instance: New is not the same as best. In the past 50 to 70 years—during what we call “Modernism,” which is closely linked to a significant increase in welfare in the Global North—we have equated the “new” with the “best.” New is better than old, and when something breaks, it is easier to throw it away and buy something new than to repair it. Things that look like they just came from the factory are a mark of quality.

A shift could be that we start to see the enrichment in objects having traces of previous use, because it shows how one generation takes over from the next and offers a visible trace of life, in which different destinies and stories intertwine.

Maintenance is also a form of care. For a long time, we have valued the label of “maintenance-free”: It gave us a sense of security that our homes and belongings could last forever, and that we were thus saved from trouble. The shift here is that we now know this was an illusion. Nothing is maintenance-free. Everything breaks down, even if very slowly. And the maintenance-free often cannot be repaired, promoting a throwaway culture. To have a lasting relationship with our homes, they must be reparable, and this leads to much greater presence—because we are now forced to engage in processes that require us to consider how to provide care.

In Scandinavia, we have among the largest number of square meters per inhabitant. In just a few decades, the ratio has increased by about 30 percent. The shift is about moving from quantity to quality: appreciating good craftsmanship, valuing the time and care that architects and craftspeople put into their work, and experiencing, for example, the smell and feel of a beautiful piece of wood that is so pleasant, it can easily compensate for the space you previously longed for.

Quality of life is more than comfort. Think of temperature: Many people have long aimed for a comfortable 70 degrees in every room. In colder regions, they turned up the heat, and in warmer areas, air conditioning became indispensable. Changing this does not mean these individuals should suffer from rooms that are too cold or hot, but rather, that they should embrace the climatic variability they are naturally embedded in, but have almost forgotten after spending many decades as indoor people. For we are living beings who breathe in coexistence with the planet’s other species. We are atmospheric beings who relate to the changing seasons and weather, and we have sensory systems that enable us to experience them.

If we make an effort to discuss, exemplify, decode, and illustrate such shifts in our experiences of quality of life, we can more easily define and make the necessary transitions. We need to explore what we value. We know enough about planetary boundaries, tipping points, and emissions. Now we need to be emotionally awakened to desire a new and different way of existing. Architecture can do that—as affect, as physics, as body, and as space.