STARI MOST — MOSTAR RECONNECTION

When a beloved and highly symbolic historic bridge was destroyed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the early 1990s, the whole world grieved. The single-arched Stari Most ("Old Bridge") in Mostar was erected in 1566 by architect Mimar Hajruddin at the height of the Ottoman Empire. It not only connected the city physically but, by the 20th century, had come to symbolize the coming together of many nationalities and ethnicities.

BRIDGING BRASILIA

The growing city of Brasilia needed a third bridge over a lake that separated half its inhabitants from their places of work. In response to a competition, architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mario Vila Verde, both from Rio de Janeiro, produced the winning concept: a daring, dancing variation on an ancient structural form.

HEAVY THINGS SEEM TO FLOAT IN AIR

Somewhere between the nostalgic musings of I. M. Pei and the flickering of an independent-minded slideshow, noted Marcel Breuer expert Barry Bergdoll expressed perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Breuer's architecture: "by the end of his career, even heavy things seem to float in air." Bergdoll illustrated his point with a series of striking images in which massive concrete structures balance as if on tiptoe.

PUBLIC SPACE IN LA?

Public urban open space. In the course of one L.A. day, those four little words inspired comparisons to a dining room table, descriptions of a "third revolution," arguments for spatial justice, historical tales of the search for an R-1 residential paradise, and an examination of what being "green" means in a desert.

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