ESSEX STREET HOUSE Australian architect Andrew Maynard is bursting with theories. He develops concepts such as "malleable space" into architectural "products" such as a mobile bedroom unit, with the ultimate goal being to transform it into architecture. The process sounds simple enough, but Maynard is the first to acknowledge that such conversions are rarely smooth. "Reality is always getting our floaty idealized concepts dirty, and that is half of the fun." — Published 2007.0221
	BEAUTIFUL PARKING Once upon a time the parking garage was created as a dark place filled with sinister shadows and exhaust fumes. But it doesn't have to be that way. Over the past few years some of the best parking garages have been designed and constructed to be more like parking palaces, as architects focus their design creativity on making the inner-city garage an aesthetic contributor to our urban experience. — Published 2006.1115
	REJUVENATING BOOMERS An article in the New York Times late in 2005 reported on the escalating demise of brutalist buildings designed and constructed during the post-war years — the hard-edged, unforgiving, sterile, and often-humorless creations of modernism's aging gurus and, especially, their uninspired copyists. — Published 2006.1108
	BUST A PIPE One of the wonderful things about a big city is how you can turn a corner in an old neighborhood to find a fresh idea has moved in. That's the impression you get from a new store in the gallery haven of SoHo, in lower Manhattan, New York City. — Published 2006.1011
	DOWN UNDER LOUVERS While architects in the Northern Hemisphere have been appropriately fixated on manipulating southern orientations of buildings in pursuit of climate-responsive architecture, those "Down Under" have been giving the same attention to north-facing facades. In the new Business School for Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand, the architecture firm JASMAX has designed a northwest facade that puts on a visual show in response to the daily sun path. — Published 2006.0920
	NOUVEL'S TORRE AGBAR The Torre Agbar, a new tall building from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, in collaboration with b720 Arquitectura, Garcia-Ventosa Arquitectura, and Leopoldo Rodes Arquitecto, thrusts into Barcelona's skyline from the Placa de las Glories, a gritty district that Barcelona's planners have designated "the next big thing," a new center of commercial activity. — Published 2006.0823
	Y INSIDE In this suburb of the nation's capital, the Fort Washington, Maryland YMCA project is overshadowed by all the surrounding built history. Yet this rehabilitation of a former supermarket should not be underestimated. The firm of GTM Architects has successfully transformed the nondescript building into a "Y" that is at once visually poetic, pragmatically functional, and admirably committed to its community. — Published 2006.0719
	SONG OF FOUR SEASONS The newly opened Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc., combines the best features of traditional European grand opera houses within a thoroughly modern envelope. With a world-class opera company in each of Canada's three largest cities, it may come as a surprise that none claims a purpose-built modern opera house. Until now. — Published 2006.0621
	GRANDE BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU QUÉBEC A grand pedestrian promenade behind the front facade of the new Grande Bibliothèque of the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ) links directly with the Metro, creating a 24-hour public thoroughfare tied into the fabric of the local community. The new library, in Montréal's Latin Quarter, houses two major collections: a large national reference library and an extensive lending library. But the 355,000-square-foot (33,000-square-meter), five-story glazed structure serves more than books. — Published 2006.0614
	PATAGONIAN LUXURIES An exotic location like Chilean Patagonia demands an exotic hotel. Hotel Remota's design draws from the dazzling explosion of islands, glaciers, icebergs, and mountains on this southern tip of South America. Inspired by Patagonian sheep farm buildings, Hotel Remota offers warm interiors to shield visitors from the wind and cold. A central courtyard introduces visitors to the Patagonian wilderness: except for a few large boulders, the plaza is empty, but full of suggestion. — Published 2006.0405

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