Issue 2
ISSUE
STORY TYPE
AUTHOR
13
BOOK REVIEW
November 25, 2024
A Mind-Body Experience of Architecture, Delivered in a Photo
by Marianela D’Aprile
13
PERSPECTIVE
November 18, 2024
Seeing Chinatown as a Readymade
by Philip Poon
13
PEOPLE
November 11, 2024
The Place of the Handmade Artifact in a Tech-Obsessed Era
by Anne Quito
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.
PERSPECTIVE
03.13.2023
Rules and Roles in Life, Love, and Architecture

Architect Eero Saarinen and his wife and publicist, Aline B. Saarinen, developed a protocol for separating personal and professional discussions. In my relationships, here are some rules that work for me.

An undated photograph of Aline and Eero Saarinen.
An undated photograph of Aline and Eero Saarinen. (Aline and Eero Saarinen Papers, 1906–1977. Courtesy Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)


I have this rule for myself, or maybe it’s a rule that someone else made for me, to never bring anything up after 9 p.m. I was given this rule, or maybe I gave myself this rule, because of a tendency towards the occasionally dramatic, or maybe an occasional tendency towards the dramatic, which I think comes from my other rule of never saying anything about anything to anyone until I feel like I’m really completely ready: until I really know what I want to say and what I’m asking for, which sometimes means that I just suppress, and suppress, and suppress, until it all comes out, usually after 9 p.m., because that seems to be the dividing line between when I can control what I say and when I can’t. It’s a good rule. I like it. 

A few years ago, my boyfriend, the designer Paul Loebach, and I decided to work together for a living. He’s an industrial designer and I’m a writer/editorial consultant/PR-person-for-hire/emailer for a living. We decided to do this partially because it made sense—I love his work; he respects mine—and partially because I’d been influenced to think that working with the person you love is a really superb idea (unless, of course, it goes wrong). I’d been influenced to think that because of the 10 years I spent living with the words and letters of the midcentury Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen and his wife/publicist, the architecture and art critic Aline B. Saarinen. I wrote a book about their relationship, and while writing the book I was in relationships with three different people, the most recent one the last one (we always hope), and in writing that book, I saw how they had rules about love, and life, and work, and it made me want to make some (more) rules of my own. 

In 1953, Aline B. Louchheim, a spectacularly sharp journalist, was on assignment for The New York Times and was sent to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to write about an up-and-coming architect, the son of the renowned architect Eliel Saarinen, who had recently won a competition for the St. Louis Arch and was doing some very interesting formalist work. At first, as seen in letters she wrote to him shortly after returning home, she put on her professional hat, performing as an interested journalist on the job, asking for clarification about his chapel for MIT and his thinking about what kinds of architects he might like to be considered next to. But almost immediately, and in the same letters, she put on a personal hat, switching roles to that of personal supplicant, referencing their spectacular personal interactions and the fact that they could, clearly, be so much more to each other. 

Over the next year, as a trove of letters now held by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art show, she convinced Eero to divorce his wife, leave his family, move her to Bloomfield Hills permanently, and hire her as his Head of Information Services, a title she came up with and that offered maximum disavowal of just how controlling she would be of that information. For the next eight years, until Eero’s fast and early death, she worked for him, representing his interests to the media, managing the exclusive publications of some of his projects, and translating his work into narrative form. It seemed like a great gig. It was one that, 70 years later, I wanted. 

Sometimes, Paul and I talk about work when we’re on vacation. We actually mostly talk about work when we’re on vacation. When we’re home, we have all the usual trappings of domestic life to discuss: what groceries to order, where to go to dinner, whether we feel like brunch. We had a baby recently, and now we talk about the baby: how well she slept, how cute she is, whether she’s hungry or tired or needs to be changed. We marvel at her, how lovely she is. We trade her back and forth and we try to set up rules around who gets her when, who’s responsible for what. Sometimes, neither and both of us are responsible, and then while we’re talking about whether she’s tired or not tired, or while we’re dressing her for a night out, we’ll talk about work, about a recent sale, a collaboration gone sideways, or the 85 holiday cards I wrote on our behalf, reaching our work into the world, creating connections. It might seem, to some, like we don’t have rules, but I think we do. They’re similar to the rules Aline and Eero had for themselves—something they codified as a game they called “brackets.” 

It went like this: “If we may take the brackets off,” Aline wrote to Eero early in their courtship. It was her way of signifying that now she would be communicating freely about their future, unbounded by the fact that he was married and she lived in New York. With “brackets on,” they limited their conversations about the future and remained sensitive to their various realities. With “brackets off,” they went for it. 

It reminded me of a relationship I was in many years ago, with someone who was married when we met but not once we got together, who was nervous, justifiably, about a commitment with me, and yet we were in love, and so we wanted to commit, but also didn’t want to. So every week, on Wednesdays, we had a meeting about re-upping our relationship for another week, and sometimes we slipped under my covers and held them over our heads, just the two of us together on my mattress in the East Village that stood for a bed (I was 22; I had no real furniture).

Within that we were in what we started to call the “Yurt of Silence,” and within the Yurt of Silence, which worked for us the way brackets worked for Aline and Eero, we talked about a longer future. A future with houses that we would own and children that we would have. We had “outside the yurt,” where we pretended to be free, and “inside the yurt,” where we knew what we wanted from each other. Two years later, we broke up. “You know what the real problem was?” he said to me. “We stopped having Wednesdays.” 

I wanted to learn from that relationship, as I’ve tried to learn from all of mine, and so now, with what I hope is my last, I want to not ever stop doing the things that work. I want to not have difficult conversations after 9 p.m., and I want to schedule the ones that are going to be difficult.

I think of the different roles that we play, and I borrow heavily from Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, in which the sociologist argues that all behavior is a rule-bound performance. Sometimes, we need to schedule a work meeting, where I advise Paul on the kinds of things I advise my other clients on—what kind of a card we should send from the studio, which journalists we should be befriending, what parties to go to—and there, I am not his girlfriend, the mother of our baby. There I am the hired gun. I am direct, I am forceful, and I say where I think I’m right, which is what I do with all my clients, and sometimes it works for them and sometimes it doesn’t, but I am the same. I am consistent. Here is where the rules I have set for myself help me.

Just now, writing an earlier draft of this essay, I hit a thousand words and stopped. I texted my friend Marianela. “No one should ever go above a thousand words in one sitting,” I wrote to her. That’s another rule I have. And yet another rule I have is that if I decide to use myself and my own experiences in a piece to help make an argument or advance an idea, I can’t be precious about it. I have to disregard how I want you to see me, in service of something greater. This has its benefits, and its costs. I wish I hadn’t had to tell you that story about the yurt. 

One rule I have is that if I decide to use myself and my own experiences in a piece to help make an argument or advance an idea, I can’t be precious about it. I have to disregard how I want you to see me, in service of something greater. This has its benefits, and its costs.


The first time I ran a PR consulting business, I didn’t have any rules. That’s part of what I thought I had to sell people. “You can text me anytime, about anything,” I said to my clients. “I’ll take care of it.” But then I found myself writing wedding speeches, reassuring them about their relationships, fielding concerns that I myself didn’t share. But once I’d let everyone do whatever they wanted, there was no way to change the dynamic. You can’t change boundaries halfway into a relationship. That’s another rule. Aline tried to change her dynamic halfway into her relationship with Eero. Toward the end of his life, though of course they didn’t know it, she was asked by a publisher to write a book about him. She refused. “I would like to confine my life to interests outside the office,” she responded. I’ve thought hard about her use of the word “confine” when it seems to me what she’s reaching for is freedom. She wanted to carve out space for herself, and confine herself to that space, which may have been limitless. But then he died, and she did write that book about him, called Eero Saarinen on His Work

The thing about collaborating is that there’s always going to be another person, and other people are the one thing that is completely uncontrollable. That’s where rules and roles are helpful, where we can say, “I am speaking to you now as your PR consultant,” or “I am speaking to you now as your boss,” or “I am speaking to you now as your girlfriend,” or “I am speaking to you now as the mother of our shared child.” Each sentence will have a different tack and a different tone. It makes me grateful for what language, which I’ve learned to see as another medium, can do, and for the particular grammar that comes from time, and more time, and more time. Language is the ultimate place for rules. Those I try to never break.