After the collapse of the Twin Towers I went down to ground zero with two of my closest friends to do whatever I could to help. When we arrived we saw a truck looking to drop off supplies for rescue workers. We collectively decided to commandeer a church a block from the rubble and organize the supplies into its pews like a supermarket. Suddenly we became responsible for all the donations that came down to ground zero in a non-stop flow of trucks that were bringing supplies.
During that time I met lots of people who offered their help. There were the two tiny tourist women from Spain that helped unload trucks. There was the army colonel who came and asked ME what he can do to help. There was the mom of a firefighter who made sure I ate and gave me the best plate of lasagna I've ever tasted. There was the cop who helped me break into a Duane Reade so that I could bring a shopping cart full of cigarettes to the rescue workers. And there was the iron worker from Ireland who one night took me to a bar with blown out windows on the other side of ground zero that was full of firefighters mourning their lost friends. The only light came from a few candles and a fuzzy tv that flickered in the corner that was plugged into a generator. When I asked for a glass of whisky I was given the entire bottle.
I'm not sure exactly what you're supposed to remember when people say ‘never forget’ but I'll always remember the faces of the people I encountered during that time. It's unfortunate that it takes a disaster for different people to come together like that. The world is in a weird place right now but I hope by the time my son grows up that things will be better. I'm going to try my best to make sure it is.
There was no newsletter last week because I took the week off from everything to enjoy the last week of summer with my son before he starts the first grade. During the pandemic we’ve gotten used to spending a lot of time together which I consider a silver lining to this whole thing.
Another positive result of the quarantine is this newsletter. I didn’t really think it would last this long but here we are. The constant new subscribers and emails confirm I made the right decision to start it. Thank you all for supporting. Now on to the links.
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban bought a set of 1963 drawings of the World Trade Center by the late architectural illustrator Carlos Diniz and donated them to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York
Is this the beginning of a better New York City?
Rethinking the courtyards of NYC
A brief history of the Whitney Museum of American Art (Marcel Breuer’s building was called ‘the most disliked building in New York’ when it opened in 1966)
Remembering architect Minoru Yamasaki through the afterlife of his most famous buildings
Facts you didn’t know about the original World Trade Centers
A history of the world’s tallest skyscrapers
The supertalls are coming to Brooklyn
Tadao Ando discusses time in relation to architecture, the disappearance of eternity and architectural legacy
Could architecture help you live forever?
Bjarke Ingels teams up with billionaire to plan utopian city of the future
Rethinking the role of experimental cities in combating climate change
Despite spending billions on adaptation, cities aren't keeping up with climate change
How one foil-wrapped home survived a California forest fire as everything around it burned
What happens if hempcrete catches fire? (spoiler: you don’t get high)
A solar powered retreat in rural Mallorca
An abandoned English farm building from 1810 is transformed into a contemporary home
An architectural photographer’s gabled home in Austin
A holiday home nestled in the Icelandic landscape strikes an ideal balance between Man and Nature
A Portuguese home features indoor and outdoor refuges to escape the sweltering summer heat
A brutalist-inspired, off-grid retreat rises in a remote Costa Rican cloud forest
A cluster of mirrored cabins hides in a secluded Canadian forest
An apartment-sized, transportable tiny home
A concrete and wood home designed to play on the existing terrain of Southern Norway
A concrete home emerges from the earth in the hills of Guadalajara forest
A concrete-clad farmhouse in Denmark draws from local rural vernacular
Neo-brutalist Joshua Tree retreat lists for $1.75M
Brooklyn shipping container home sells for $5M
Artist’s 200-year-old Manhattan townhouse hits the market
Minimalist Mexican retreat blurs the lines between home and jungle
A minimal home in Auckland inspired by a Sri Lankan architect
This modernized Edwardian home in Melbourne
A Victorian-era cottage in Melbourne gets renovated
A sophisticated mid-century home in the trees
This teeny tiny Sydney terrace is under 730 sq ft
A guide to creating a tranquil minimalist home
In Bangkok, an old shophouse is revived as a new boutique hotel
A new boutique hotel in Los Angeles features the warm textures of the Mediterranean
London sushi bar revives a 1960s post office
A simple home in Belgium is made from cross laminated timber
Functional Shaker-style interiors with a focus on craftsmanship
New Noguchi exhibition turns structure into useful sculpture
A brief introduction to Isamu Noguchi
An Instagram account dedicated to listing furniture design knock-offs in the design industry
The vintage furniture dealer whose aesthetic runs from Bauhaus to Beetlejuice
Christie's is organizing a large auction sale of Annie and Jean Dalsace’s collection of furniture by Pierre Chareau
Ikea pilots U.S. furniture buyback and resale program as it eyes a nationwide launch
A forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece is finally getting its due
New book details how China’s highly complex language norms have drastically changed with urban development
Spanish architect and photographer photographs abandoned buildings of Mallorca
Cheryl Dunn talks about her abandoned Manhattan building studio where she shot initial footage for her documentary on NYC artist Dash Snow, Moments Like These Never Last
The untold story of IRAK, downtown New York's most legendary graffiti crew
Teen artists are making millions on NFTs
Someone paid more than $300K for a fake Banksy NFT — and then the scammer gave it all back
Gallery intertwines real & virtual spaces to exhibit both NFTs & traditional art
How our visual culture of credibility is being manipulated
Discussing Hilma af Klint’s institutional imagination
Robert Longo discusses what drives his latest work
Pace Gallery’s upcoming Robert Longo show
80 works by Andy Warhol are now on view at the National Arts Club
Over 120 images by Andy Warhol are now on display at Fotografiska New York
Andy Warhol and the power of the Polaroid
The best books on, and by, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring
Basquiat's friends are horrified by new Tiffany campaign which features his art
How Keith Haring risked death to paint a mural on the Berlin Wall (seen above)
22 artists to discover at New York’s September art fairs
A guide to all the in-person art fairs happening in New York this week
Doctors are prescribing trips to museums to help people cope with pandemic-related stress
Companies are trying to combat burnout from working remotely by offering more time off and other perks
That does it for this week. I have a favor to ask before you go. I’d like to know what you prefer to read more about so please click on which general topic below most interests you so I can get some feedback.
Thank you all! And extra special thanks to Kit, Anna, Marco, Giles, Mark, Claire and Alyssa for sending over links. Please take care of yourself, click the heart below, share this newsletter and then come back next week.
Thomas
Just wanted to leave a thank you note, for your insightful blog. I look forward to reading about the range of topics you select and how they are from all around the world. I regularly smile when Aussie's make the list and always find inspiration in at least a couple of your finds. So thank you for taking the time to compile them.