Observations
This platform features articles, essays, interviews, reviews, and photo essays about the built environment and the people and conditions that shape it. Since 2022, Observations has also included a monthly column by architectural historian Elizabeth Blasius.
Interview
Last Stop: An Exploration of the Neighborhoods at the Ends of the Subway Lines in New York City
Iker Gil interviews Brian Rose
Monthly Column
Chicagoland on Wheels: Roller Skating from the 1880s to the Present
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
Project
A look at five finalist projects selected for the 2025 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize
Interview
Interview with Laurens Bekemans, Ben Loescher, Meredith Miller, and Virginia San Fratello by the Material Acts team (Kate Yeh Chiu and Jia Yi Gu)
Monthly Column
Florence Scala: The Joan of Arc of Chicago’s Near West Side
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
Monthly Column
Permastone and Formstone: Modern Marvels or the Margarine of Architecture
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
Interview
Exploring the Specificities of Place, from Panama to Oxford
David Schalliol interviews Arturo Soto
Essay
Departures and Arrivals: From the City of Malleable Concrete to the City of Steel Frame
Essay by Alexander Eisenschmidt
Photo Essay
Atlas des Régions Naturelles: Documenting and Categorizing the French Landscape
Text and photographs by Eric Tabuchi and Nelly Monnier
Monthly Column
The 1900 Galveston Storm: United States’ First Modern Natural Disaster
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
Interview
Building Culture: An Interview with Denise Scott Brown
Julian Rose interviews Denise Scott Brown
Monthly Column
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
Photo Essay
The Culture of Shellfish Harvesters
Texts by Miguel Losada and Pedro G. Losada, with photography by Pedro G. Losada
Monthly Column
The Return of Michigan Central Station: Interrogating Nostalgia
Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius
