John Hejduk's work is mystical. That aspect of his architecture became stronger toward the end of his career along with his projects' narrative power. (Hejduk, the dean of the architecture program at Cooper Union for more than two decades, died in 2000.) The exhibit, "Sanctuaries: The Last Works of John Hejduk," recently at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, was a compact show that explored the mystical side of his work.
OMD'S PORTABLE ARCHITECTURE
"Nearly every American house I've lived in has long ago been demolished to make room for some other building. There is a delicious (though painful) paradox here: Americans long for stability, but all they get is stationary impermanence. No wonder then many of us long to become permanent nomads, snails with houses on our backs, Touareg tribesmen, and Gypsies." — Poet Andrei Codrescu, from his introduction to Mobile: The Art of Portable Architecture by Jennifer Siegal
AVAILING FASHION
Designed by architect Jun Aoki, the new flagship store of the French fashion house Louis Vuitton on Tokyo's Omotesando Boulevard resembles a pile of trunks of different sizes and patterns, honoring Vuitton's origin as a trunk manufacturer. Examine the facade more closely, though, and you'll see an industrial-looking system of wire mesh curtains that create the fashionable effect.