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Abstract .1 2. Introduction. .. .................... 2 3. Alexandra Lange. ... ... 3

This document contains an article about architecture critic Alexandra Lange. It begins with an introduction to Lange's work and impact as a critic. The article then analyzes one of her pieces titled "How to Be an Architecture Critic" where she takes the reader behind the process of crafting architectural criticism. Lange uses Ada Louise Huxtable's work as an example to anatomize how critics observe and discuss various elements of built structures like height, style, and sustainability. The summary urges readers to more closely observe their surroundings and highlights Lange's ability to provide nuanced analysis of architecture through her writing.

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Taha M. M. Swelm
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45 views6 pages

Abstract .1 2. Introduction. .. .................... 2 3. Alexandra Lange. ... ... 3

This document contains an article about architecture critic Alexandra Lange. It begins with an introduction to Lange's work and impact as a critic. The article then analyzes one of her pieces titled "How to Be an Architecture Critic" where she takes the reader behind the process of crafting architectural criticism. Lange uses Ada Louise Huxtable's work as an example to anatomize how critics observe and discuss various elements of built structures like height, style, and sustainability. The summary urges readers to more closely observe their surroundings and highlights Lange's ability to provide nuanced analysis of architecture through her writing.

Uploaded by

Taha M. M. Swelm
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract……………………………………………………………….1

2. Introduction.…………………………………………..…....................2

3. Alexandra Lange.………………………………………………...…...3
Abstract

Associated with words not drawings or buildings, and the writer not the

designer, architectural criticism is widely known and understood. But it is

assumed that few architects are critical. This assumption is itself open to

criticism, however. First, because it relies on a limited understanding of

what is architectural Second, because it caricatures who and what is critical?

To consider both issues, the history of the architect is a useful point of

departure.
Introduction

Buildings are everywhere, large and small, ugly and beautiful, ambitious and

dumb. We walk among them and live inside them, largely passive dwellers

in cities of towers, houses, open spaces and shops we had no hand in

creating. But we are their best audience. Owners, clients and residents come

and go, but architecture lives on, acting a role in the life of the city and its

citizens long after the original players are gone. We talk (in person, on

blogs) about homes as investments, building sites as opportunities, unsold

condominiums as an economic disaster, but all of that real-estate chatter

sidesteps the physical reality of projects built and unbuilt. Rather than just

talking about money, we should also be talking about height and bulk, style

and sustainability, openness of architecture and of process. Design is not the

icing on the cake but what makes architecture out of buildings, what turns

them into places we want to live and eat and shop rather than avoid.

Architecture critics can praise and pick on new designs, but their readership

has lately been too limited. We need more critics — citizen critics —

equipped with the desire and the vocabulary to remake the city.
Central Park, New York

Alexandra Lange

“The critic is an editor: to make a visual argument, you have to cut out much
of what you see.”
Alexandra Lange is a celebrated architecture critic. One would think that the
heft of her words would be carried on by her facial features, instead, we see
a grounded fragility in her face. The kind which is sure of itself, and warns
readers about the impact that Lange’s words would have on them. In her
article “How to Be an Architecture Critic”, she takes us on a journey behind
the making of a piece of architectural criticism, revealing nested narratives
for every point she makes. It is evident that yours truly, having the
navigational skills of a single pebble, gets lost soon. But the piece is as
engaging as it is meandering—and it leaves the reader wanting for more.
Lange initiates the article with an anatomization of “Sometimes We Get It
Right” by iconic architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable. She starts by
calling out a popular perception that built forms and spaces are merely
investments, opportunities, and economic benefits. She urges people to look
at the physical reality of a structure—about height and bulk, style and
sustainability, the openness of architecture and process.

It is a slight nudge to all the non-architect readers to try and observe their
surroundings more astutely. Having been acquainted with Huxtable’s work
in the past, I am not surprised she chose her piece to study, but I wish Lange
opted for a more diverse palette of critics.

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