A sobering look at how designing a building to meet Passive House standards affects its overall energy use.
Published in Architectural Record, October 10, 2022Ignoring embodied carbon lets architects, developers and even architecture schools call wasteful buildings "green"
Published in Speeches / talks, November 11, 2021Ignoring embodied carbon lets architects, developers and even architecture schools call wasteful buildings "green"
Published in Speeches / talks, November 11, 2021Can a house alone on a mountainside in British Columbia possibly be “climate positive,” as its architects and developer claim?
Published Dezeen, June 18, 2021Architecturally ambitous, it's also a model of international cooperation
Published in Architectural Record, September 12, 2017A temple to honor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs damages perhaps the greatest modernist campus in the world. And it's by the campus's original architect, SOM
Published in Architectural Record, January 8, 2016Making buildings resilient does not slow climate change. Usually, the opposite is true.
Published ARCHDAILY, January 10, 2021
My assessment of Ground Zero, in 2018
Published in Log, October 1, 2018Not as green as we might hope -- or as Apple might suggest
Published in The Architect's Newspaper, September 2007Diller Scofidio + Renfro leads an international team of designers, working in the shadow of the Kremlin
Published in Blueprint, October 13, 2017For Daniel Toole, a major commission while still in architecture school
Published in Architectural Digest, January 8, 2018The project marks the nonagenarian architect's latest pro bono gig
Published in Architectural Digest, August 11, 2021The Empire State Building risks being obscured by lesser towers
Published in The Huffington Post, November 28, 2014(all that in 2,500 words)
Published in A+U (Japan), November 6, 2017Aboard the fireboat John J. Harvey
Published in The New York Times, July 26, 2002A very expensive experiment in creating an energy-efficient dwelling overlooks the impact of embodied energy
Published in Architectural Record, July 1, 2021On the street where I lived . . .
Published in The New York Times, October 22, 2002A country of candy-colored architecture. Who knew? (Oliver Wainwright did.)
Published in Introspective (1stdibs), July 28, 2018One after another, architects who grew up in New York in the sixties recall how the fair inspired them
Published in Architectural Record, May 30, 2014Fourteen years after founding their experimental practice, the architects of SO–IL hit their stride
Published in Architectural Digest, February 14, 2022A history of New York City architecture: the last 150 years in 4,500 words
Published in Books, April 16, 2008The U.S. "ambassador" makes her presence known
Published in The New York Times, July 4, 2002His subtractive approach has countless applications
Published in Architectural Digest, November 25, 2017And What's Next for These Hometown Heroes?
Published in Architectural Digest, December 10, 2019Should the great landscape architect be recognized for more than his astounding parks and gardens?
Published Architect, April 10, 2016The saddest of American crimes evokes the best in American architetcture
Published in Architectural Digest, April 22, 2018OMA's design seems to hit all its marks
Published in Architectural Digest, June 27, 2019Uber and Tinder are just the app-etizers
Published in Metropolitan Home, May 31, 2016Following the lead of Tadao Ando, architects raise pouring concrete to an art form
Published in Interior Design, November 7, 2014By performing "constituent services," senators and representatives short-circuit the democratic process, weakening separation of powers, equal protection, and other constitutional safeguards
Published in The New York Times, September 9, 2012Too many glass buildings, and the city becomes just another banal office park
Published in Architectural Record, May 9, 2013A "national shrine" now hovers over the World Trade Center site
Published in Architectural Record, December 10, 2022The zany artistic duo of Kahn & Selesnick spin fantastical worlds that captivate collectors and critics alike
Published in Introspective (1stdibs), November 2021Only one of them can be "the greenest office building in the world"
Published in Architectural Digest, November 27, 2017A new book gives Mrs. Saarinen too much credit, and its author, Eva Hagberg, too much space
Published in The Architect's Newspaper, September 12, 2022America's housing disparity grows worse
Published in The Huffington Post, December 2, 2011Architect Manuel Herz taps into a long history of kinetic architecture
Published in T Magazine (The New York Times), August 14, 2018A Gossamer Serpent in New Canaan
Published in Blueprint, June 20, 2018The gentle architecture of Phase Three
Published in Architectural Record, September 10, 2014Can Frank Gehry's firm outlive its founder? Norman Foster's? Zaha Hadid's?
Published in Architectural Record, December 28, 2014A few minutes with Jill Soloway
Published in Blackbook, August 16, 2014A review of the World Trade Center "Transit Hub"
Published in Blueprint, July 17, 2016Lessons on leadership from the Torah
Published in Synagogue, June 16, 2018Technologies that are changing how architects practice
Published in Architectural Record, May 31, 2018Internal competition is one of several successul methods
Published in Interior Design, January 29, 2014This one's a gallery; that one's a publicly accessible private home
Published in Interior Design, May 1, 2014Some buildings just couldn't be saved
Published in The New York Times, October 31, 2004Ando, Meier, Scott Brown, Decq, and others talk about their inspirations
Published in Architectural Record, April 13, 2016Do you have to be male or female to be married?
Published in The Huffington Post, June 16, 2015"He's a beautiful poet. But I don't think he was ever the greatest singer."
Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 23, 1990The Holocaust survivor who birthed a rock star
Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 23, 1990"Is Harvey gay? I don't know. I don't sleep with him."
Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, November 21, 1990It will be great for the city's economy, its infrastructure, and its reputation
Published in Design Observer, November 13, 2011Without the old brick house, it's glass-on-glass
Published in Design Observer, October 13, 2011Arthur Cotton Moore designs a curvy metal house to test his theories
Published in The New York Times, September 24, 2000"I can't stand art. I never could," the former artist (now designer) claims
Published in Art Basel Magazine, November 2, 2012Their new Columbia Medical School study center caps decades of experimentation
Published in Blueprint, November 9, 2016Two great artists as lovers
Published in Out, February 16, 2010Events of the summer of 1969
Published at fredbernstein.com, October 14, 2016The importance of New York to architects' careers
Published in Interior Design, October 5, 2016What does it mean to be "inscribed in the book of life?" My interpretation.
Published in Speeches / talks, October 4, 2016Perhaps Japan's most innovative architect, Fujimoto makes buildings that resemble clouds and forests.
Published in The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2014Toshiko Mori's architectural dialogues with the masters
Published in The New York Times, May 8, 2005A quiet alternative to Kyoto
Published in The New York Times, November 13, 2006Let's give the land a rest
Published in Speeches / talks, May 13, 2014A look at Douglas Coupland and his novel Miss Wyoming
Published in The Independent on Sunday (London), February 14, 2003Give Calatrava a chance!
Published in Architectural Record, December 10, 2013Foreword to "52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom: Effective Strategies for Raising Respectful, Happy Kids" by Meg Akabas
Published in 52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom, December 13, 2012Barbra Streisand's "barn" in Malibu
Published in FredBernstein.com, November 13, 2012An old city gets an unwelcome new neighbor
Published in Architectural Record, October 26, 2012Another embarrassing U.S. pavilion, courtesy of a shortsighted Congress
Published in Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2010While fighting over his Columbus Circle building, preservationists overlooked another Stone structure just a few blocks away
Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York AIA chapter), December 26, 2006Surviving the Holocaust with needle and thread
Published in The New York Times, August 8, 2008Around the world in 20 slides
Published in Culture + Travel, September 5, 2008A roundtable of experts on making existing houses greener
Published in Metropolitan Home, April 7, 2008Living rent-free, Cal Lane makes her mark
Published in The New York Times, January 20, 2008Many of Frank Lloyd Wright's most evocative drawings were by Marion Mahony Griffin
Published in The New York Times, January 20, 2008Merce Cunningham animates Philip Johnson's estate
Published in Interior Design, August 25, 2007Mourning Phiippe Starck's Miracle on 44th Street
Published in Interior Design, September 21, 2007A town where Vietnam draft avoiders have made a difference
Published in The New York Times, November 20, 2004My father's bad investment
Published in The New York Times, November 6, 2005The contractors are gone. So why do I feel blue?
Published in The New York Times, February 22, 2007Tired of high real estate prices? Consider the alternative
Published in The New York Times, June 25, 2006The incredible saga of the bakery founder's loft
Published in The New York Times, January 27, 2007To rebuild their lives, they need barrier-free houses
Published in The New York Times, December 4, 2005There's evidence that the size of new homes in America has peaked
Published in The New York Times, October 1, 2005The walkable community now has valet parking, and other concessions to the real world
Published in The New York Times, December 9, 2005A day trip to Troy, N.Y.
Published in The New York Times, April 7, 2006The museum-going experience of a lifetime
Published in The New York Times, June 23, 2006A dialogue with Judge Alex Kozinski, of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, about the clash between a liberal clerk (me) and a conservative judge (him).
Published in The Green Bag, October 21, 1998Was I being practical, or paranoid?
Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2002The Ottoman emperor-in-waiting lives in a walk-up, rent-controlled apartment
Published in The New York Times, March 26, 2006Amazon is now the place to sell used books -- but with unexpected consequences
Published in The New York Times, April 11, 2002Gustavo Bonevardi in the West Village
Published in The New York Times, December 3, 2006Sam Davol, the cellist for the Magnetic Fields, and his wife, Leslie, move north
Published in The New York Times, November 22, 2007Building a modernist house in the Hamptons
Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2007In Salem, Witchcraft and Old Architecture
Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2007A Paul Rudolph apartment, untouched for nearly 40 years
Published in The New York Times, October 10, 2007A son designs a Costa Rica retreat for a literary dad
Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2007Living with century-old bricks and massive wooden trusses
Published in The New York Times, September 9, 2007An interview with Leah Adler, Steven Spielberg's mother
Published in The Jewish Mothers' Hall of Fame, December 15, 1990Jennifer Luce's triumph in La Jolla
Published in The New York Times, August 23, 2007Cultivation is legal, but it isn't scenic
Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2007Life in multi-culti Brooklyn
Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2007Staying in other people's houses -- in my home city
Published in The New York Times, July 23, 2007Northeastern Pennsylvania Gets Chic
Published in The New York Times, December 22, 2006At home with the Ricky of Ricky's
Published in The New York Times, October 18, 2007Syd Kitson's big deal
Published in The New York Times, July 29, 2006David Mixner moves to Livingston Manor, New York
Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2007Rosie O'Donnell puts her stamp on Family Week
Published in The New York Times, July 23, 2007Affordable housing, near the happiest place on earth
Published in The New York Times, May 18, 2007Falling for the Infinity Razor
Published in The New York Times, April 13, 2007Visiting Paul Rudolph's Buildings in New England
Published in The New York Times, March 25, 2007Cass Calder Smith comes to New York
Published in The New York Times, May 18, 2007Gorgeous interiors, up (under) the roof
Published in The New York Times, March 29, 2007Controversy on West 15th Street
Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2007At home with Ann Brashares and Jacob Collins
Published in The New York Times, January 4, 2007Tom Killian and Francoise Bollack keep their interventions subtle
Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2007Young designers mix it up in Greenpoint
Published in The New York Times, June 22, 2007Kulapat Yantrasast's Grand Rapids Art Museum has a light footprint
Published in The New York Times, March 29, 2007Lillian Schloss bought Chinese antiquities early
Published in The New York Times, February 25, 2007Rare public space for Orange County, California
Published in The New York Times, February 4, 2007The high price of Bermuda real estate
Published in The New York Times, September 10, 2006Restoring the Yale University Art Gallery
Published in The New York Times, December 10, 2006Master Architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen used his signature vocabulary to create a unique rocky mountain retreat.
Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2006The high-flying designer lands in Miami
Published in Design Miami, December 1, 2006West Village resident Marianne Cusato designs Katrina Cottages
Published in The New York Times, November 5, 2006Especially if the church has already borrowed against the planned buildings
Published in The New York Times, October 29, 2006Why Barbara Hill is one of my favorite designers, ever
Published in The New York Times, October 12, 2006The conspicuous consumption of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Published in Dwell, October 29, 2006A new house breaks with tradition
Published in The New York Times, July 9, 2006A brilliant way to privilege underprivileged children
Published in The New York Times, September 17, 2006The apartment every celebrity needs
Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2007Marty Skrelunas polishes Philip Johnson's masterpiece
Published in The New York Times, August 13, 2006A review of the cold accommodations
Published in The New York Times, December 17, 2006Modernism arouses ire in the city's historic district
Published in The New York Times, July 13, 2006Latin American art fills one of the city's most dramatic living rooms
Published in The New York Times, December 31, 2006And it's in Newark!
Published in The New York Times, June 16, 2006Designed for isolation, it's now surrounded
Published in The New York Times, May 28, 2006Visiting the Meiji Mura Museum
Published in The New York Times, April 2, 2006Extraordinary ingenuity makes a tiny apartment seem spacious
Published in The New York Times, March 30, 2006A review of the W New Orleans
Published in The New York Times, March 12, 2006Ron Witte and Sarah Whiting live in a modest, modernist masterpiece.
Published in The New York Times, February 26, 2006How HomeVestors went national
Published in The New York Times, February 19, 2006Two hotels in Miami Beach makes waves
Published in The New York Times, February 17, 2006Related Las Vegas sold them, but never built them
Published in The New York Times, January 29, 2006Nationally, ceiling heights rise
Published in The New York Times, January 22, 2006Steven Holl's building for Pratt Institute in Brooklyn
Published in Metropolis, January 17, 2006Saving modernist houses
Published in The New York Times, January 5, 2006Visting the Rural Studio's buildings in Alabama is one of the world's great architecture pilgrimages
Published in The New York Times, December 25, 2005The Cretellas renovate
Published in The New York Times, December 18, 2005A topflight Manhattan designer expanded her father's house on Long Island and brought it forward from the 1970s.
Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2005Boston-based architect Adolfo Perez turned a mid-century starter house into a home of substance for design-wise clients.
Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2005Contemplative architect George Suyama built a house for himself and his wife that is as hospitable to the landscape as it is to the couple's guests.
Published in Metropolitan Home, December 4, 2005The avant garde, on Staten Island!
Published in The New York Times, November 27, 2005Assessing the New Orleans real estate market after Katrina
Published in The New York Times, November 13, 2005No more guessing which car to take
Published in The New York Times, November 2, 2005The fate of Rudolph's apartment buildings in the Bronx
Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York AIA chapter), October 13, 2005In Bolinas, a water meter sells for $310,000
Published in The New York Times, October 9, 2005Dealing with the yuck factor
Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2005A great base for exploring the Hudson Valley
Published in The New York Times, September 30, 2005A grand lodge near the Grand Canyon
Published in The New York Times, August 7, 2005The difficulties of saving New Canaan's modernist architecture
Published in Metropolis, August 6, 2005The Twelve Tribes in Oak Hill and Coxsackie
Published in The New York Times, July 24, 2005A review of the $2.7 billion hotel
Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2005A haven for "multiple chemical sensitivity" sufferers is threatened
Published in The New York Times, July 9, 2005Thanks to Rem Koolhaas, Porto, Portugal will never be the same
Published in The New York Times, June 19, 2005A review of the long-awaited Lower East Side hotel
Published in The New York Times, June 12, 2005Small houses buck the McMansion trend
Published in The New York Times, May 22, 2005The Freedom Tower could become a true symbol of freedom
Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2005Contaminated beaches -- and persistent respiratory problems -- hit a region that includes some of America's fast-growing cities
Published in The New York Times, April 23, 2005But there's protection for tenants or former tenants
Published in The New York Times, April 10, 2005Smashing Mies
Published in The New York Times, April 3, 2005The MFA Boston comes to the Las Vegas strip
Published in The New York Times, March 30, 2005Reviving the shores of the Anacostia
Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2005The state of Philip Johnson's buildings
Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2005Infrastrucutre gets a new look
Published in The New York Times, February 27, 2005In Santa Cruz, accessory dwelling units are encouraged
Published in The New York Times, February 8, 2005Review of Browns Hotel, Miami Beach
Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2005Protecting antiquities from war and looters
Published in The New York Times, January 23, 2005An urban pioneer's new venture
An addition to the Tilles Center soars
Published in The New York Times, January 5, 2005How Robert Hammond and Joshua David Saved the Elevated Railway
Published in Surface, December 25, 2004Vornado's billboard boondoggle at 34th and 7th
Published in Metropolis, December 24, 2004The great critic, curator and connector
Published in Architectural Record, September 5, 2014A review of the architect's 2004 Castelvecchio installation
Published in Architectural Record, December 6, 2004An apartment the world deserves to see
Published in Interior Design, December 1, 2004The Yale University Art Gallery gets an extensive, but faithful, renovation
Published in The New York Times, November 7, 2004With a little help from its sponsors . . .
Published in The New York Times, November 5, 2004Baby boomers lead the charge to tear down 60's architecture
Published in The New York Times, October 31, 200445 years after his death, three buildings by Wright are in the works
Published in The New York Times, September 6, 2004A quirky magazine's farewell
Published in The New York Times, August 17, 2004A world's fair pavilion costs less than an Apache helicopter -- and Shanghai 2010 is approaching
Published in Architecture, August 6, 2004Finally, someone's paying attention the New York State Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair
Published in The New York Times, July 17, 2004A review of the Secaucus Transfer
Published in The New York Times, July 11, 2004Endowments for the presidential libraries are coming up short
Published in The New York Times, June 10, 2004The Clinton library rises on the Arkansas River
Published in The New York Times, June 10, 2004Can art save a strip shopping center from aesthetic irrelevance?
Published in The New York Times, May 15, 2004Transgender students gain rights, and respect, in college
Published in The New York Times, March 7, 2004The fight for photos of a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece
Published in The New York Times, February 14, 2004Bernard Tschumi's New Acropolis Museum was designed to settle a score
Published in The New York Times, January 18, 2004Roger Duffy remakes the mega-firm
Published in Metropolis, December 24, 2003The lives of Steven Lofton, Roger Croteau, and their foster children
Published in The New York Times, November 19, 2003A puppeteer copes with Parkinson's disease
Published in The New York Times, November 19, 2003Cape Cod's first "gay suburb"
Published in The New York Times, November 14, 2003A profile of artist and memorial designer MAYA LIN
Published in Blueprint, November 4, 2003A proposal for improving New York's streets.
Published in The New York Daily News, November 4, 2003Pier Luigi Nervi's bus station at the George Washington Bridge deserves respect
Published in Oculus (Journal of the New York AIA chapter), November 2, 2003Santiago Calatrava's opera house at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is dominated by a winglike canopy nearly 200 feet tall.
Published in The New York Times, October 26, 2003My philosophy of writing -- and rewriting.
Published in California Lawyer, October 21, 2003How the Statue of Liberty could be recreated, after a disaster
Published in The New York Times, September 11, 2003Saving two rusting piers in the Hudson River
Published in The New York Times, September 4, 2003Pritzker Prize-winners compete.
Published in The New York Times, August 5, 2003Rem Koolhaas's relationship with New York is on the rocks
Published in The New York Times, April 24, 2003The "Ball Four" author cries "Foul Ball" in the Berkshires
Published in The New York Times, April 10, 2003Rice to riches? Or rice to ruin?
Published in The New York Times, March 27, 2003A developer recreates Sunnyside (or tries to)
Published in The New York Times, March 16, 2003Calatrava helps bring tourists to Santa Cruz
Published in Islands, February 5, 2003Princeton goes Gehry -- and Gothic -- at the same time
Published in The Princeton Alumni Weekly, January 21, 2003Profile of Reed Kroloff, an advisor to architecture competitions.
Published in The New York Times, January 11, 2003The gay backstory of New York's Irish Hunger Memorial
Published in The Advocate, October 6, 2002Returning to the block I grew up on
Published in The New York Times, September 22, 2002Tekserve lives the Apple slogan
Published in The New York Times, June 20, 2002How I became a middle aged father.
Published in The Advocate, May 28, 2002Big Architecture in a Small Town
Published in Metropolitan Home, April 1, 2002A Review of Rem Koolhaas' new store in SoHo
Published in World Architecture, March 15, 2002Architects get busy after 9/11
Published in Blueprint, February 22, 2002A review of the new American Folk Art Museum, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.
Published in World Architecture, February 22, 2002And not much else (a review of a new Ritz-Carlton)
Published in The Washington Post, February 10, 2002Blue blood meets white architecture in New England.
Published in The New York Times, February 3, 2002Trouble at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
Published in The New York Times, January 31, 2002What happened to the planetarium's glamorous gizmo?
Published in The New Yorker, November 4, 2001Thoughts on the importance of the Empire State Building after September 11
Published in The New York Times, October 11, 2001Edwad Larrabee Barnes Visits Westchester
Published in The New York Times, May 20, 2001Ikea's plans for Westchester draw ire
Published in The New York Times, January 21, 2001An endangered species at the National Parks: modernist architecture
Published in Architecture, December 15, 2000Can a website write me a new will?
Published in The New York Times, December 14, 2000A review of The Full Monty on Broadway
Published in The Independent on Sunday (London), October 29, 2000Do my neighbors need to know which candidates I support?
Published in The New York Times, October 4, 2000A magical new building in SoHo
Published in The Independent on Sunday (London), July 10, 2000My life as a juror.
Published in California Lawyer, May 1, 2000Beware of Dryvit. Artificial stucco, sometimes called EIFS, lets architects and builders add postmodern flourishes inexpensively, but at significant cost.
Published in The New York Times, July 1, 1999A portrait of the memorial designer as architect and artist
Published in The New York Times, March 1, 1999Climbing a volcano in Bali.
Published in The Washington Post, June 14, 1998My life as a sissy
Published in The Advocate, June 15, 1994Cities assess properties remotely
Published in The New York Times, August 20, 2006The badly damaged 1993 exterior of the Storefront for Art and Architecture in Lower Manhattan, by Steve Holl and Vito Acconci, will be restored
Published in The New York Times, June 19, 2008The veteran actor comes to dinner with the man who has spent decades hiding in plain sight
Published in The New York Times, July 13, 2003Moving fabled galleries to a new building, while changing almost nothing
Published in The New York Times, March 14, 2012For children of minimalists, only more is more
Published in T Magazine (The New York Times), November 7, 2009The architect was awarded a Pulitzer Prize last month for her investigative work
Published in Architectural Record, June 28, 2021David Adjaye and Moshe Safdie remember the Indian architect, who died at the age of 84
Published in Architectural Record, June 17, 2015When her partner, Arakawa, predeceased her, she declared dying "immoral"
Published in Artforum, March 2014