CELEBRATING THE SOLSTICE

All of us at ArchitectureWeek extend our best wishes to everyone enjoying the northern hemisphere's summer solstice, the southern hemisphere's winter solstice, and/or Independence Day in the United States. In observance of these dates, we give you ArchitectureWeek No. 198 as a two-week issue. Our next issue will be ArchitectureWeek No. 199, including the articles previewed here, scheduled for release on July 7, 2004.

THE ARCHITECTURAL SCREENS OF ERWIN HAUER

In the 1950s, Austrian-born sculptor Erwin Hauer designed and built architectural screens and walls whose complex and intriguing geometry attracted much admiration at the time. But they have been largely forgotten, and some even have been destroyed. We'll see one example of this extraordinary work and the artist's ideas behind it.

ENDANGERED PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced in May its 2004 "List of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." One of these is 2 Columbus Circle, located on the southwest corner of New York's Central Park. The historic structure by architect Edward Durell Stone may soon be stripped of its architectural integrity. Other listed places include the 1913 Cook County Hospital in Chicago, wood-frame tobacco barns in Southern Maryland, and the entire state of Vermont. We'll see why these buildings and places are in danger and why we should care.