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.

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Photo Essay

Atlas des Régions Naturelles: Documenting and Categorizing the French Landscape

Text and photographs by Eric Tabuchi and Nelly Monnier

Mas observations 2024 1900 galveston storm cover

Monthly Column

The 1900 Galveston Storm: United States’ First Modern Natural Disaster

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius

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Interview

A Cor-Ten Steel Landmark Hiding in Plain Sight

A Conversation with Jack Bowman

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Monthly Column

A History of Preservation in Chicago

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius

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Interview

Building Culture: An Interview with Denise Scott Brown

Julian Rose interviews Denise Scott Brown

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Essay

Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern

Essay by Marin R. Sullivan

Mas observations 2024 the culture of shellfish harvesters 01

Photo Essay

The Culture of Shellfish Harvesters

Texts by Miguel Losada and Pedro G. Losada, with photography by Pedro G. Losada

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Monthly Column

The Return of Michigan Central Station: Interrogating Nostalgia

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius

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Remembrance

Paul Chemetov (1928–2024)

Odile Compagnon remembers Paul Chemetov

Mas observations 2024 a career in five projects carol ross barney glendale heights post office 01

Essay

A Career in Five Projects: Carol Ross Barney

Iker Gil interviews Carol Ross Barney

Mas observations 2024 restoring the sears roebuck companys sunken garden 01

Monthly Column

Restoring the Sears, Roebuck & Company’s Sunken Garden

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius

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Essay

Mid-Continent Modern

Introduction by Jeffery S. Poss with text and photographs by Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

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Essay

The Japanese House Inside and Out

Essay by Naomi Pollock

Mas observations 2024 theres a place called kokomo opalescent glass 01

Monthly Column

There’s A Place Called Kokomo (Opalescent Glass)

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius

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Essay

The Birds, the Couple, and My Doppelgänger in Reverse

Text by Umi the Cat and project by Imu Chan Architecture

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Project

Sentinels: Iron Portals of Chicagoland

Project by Cédric Van Parys

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Interview

Unnamed Spaces

Marta Bogéa, Mônica Junqueira de Camargo, and Pedro Kok in conversation with Alvaro Puntoni and João Sodré of GRUPOSP

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Essay

Drawing the Ring of Steel: A Counter-Monument for Belfast

Essay and project by Kate Catterall

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Essay

Five Bay Landscapes: Saginaw Bay

Essay by Sean Burkholder and Karen Lutsky

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Monthly Column

Urban Exploration as Creative Practice

Monthly column by Elizabeth Blasius