Articles by David Sokol

152 Elizabeth Street, to be completed next November, will exemplify Ando's rigorous, serene architecture.  Tadao Ando's 152 Elizabeth Street will measure 32,000 square feet over seven stories. New York City first got a taste of Tadao Ando when the Japanese architect designed Masaharu Morimoto’s eponymous restaurant nine years ago. The Pritzker Prize laureate is poised to more completely sate local architectural appetite with 152 Elizabeth Street, a condominium rising in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood, Ando’s first freestanding building in New York. Unlike Morimoto, which was praised for its dynamic layout and dramatic combinations of materials, the forthcoming building will exemplify

A day prior to the preview of Design Miami, America learned it had endured a yearlong recession.

A day prior to the preview of Design Miami, America learned it had endured a yearlong recession.

Architects, scientists, and manufacturers look toward emerging technologies and materials to develop the next generation of glass and glazing products. Image courtesy Ubiquitous Energy Ubiquitous Energy's ClearView Power is a clear photovoltaic coating that can be applied to glass. To earn one AIA learning unit (LU), including one hour of health, safety, and welfare (HSW) credit, read each of the articles below and complete the test online. Upon passing, you will receive a certificate of completion and your credit will automatically be reported to the AIA. Find additional information regarding credit-reporting and continuing-education requirements at ce.construction.com, under “requirements.” Innovations In

Love them or hate them, design competitions elicit strong emotions from architects and design professionals. But very little hard data exists to guide the people who enter them or those who organize them. “Some designers complain about competition organizers who write vague briefs, don’t respect intellectual property, and make everyone work for free,” says Van Alen Institute (VAI) competitions director Jerome Chou, adding, “But designers also tell us competitions offer opportunities to take on interesting challenges, to experiment, and to work in new sectors.” Over the course of its 120-year history, VAI has organized hundreds of competitions and, as Chou

Design-oriented nonprofits and foundations choose their best contributions to the built environment last year. The Design Trust for Public Space erected the Boogie Down Booth as part of its Under the Elevated project. The temporary installation transformed an underused space beneath subway tracks in the South Bronx into a seated bus stop with solar-powered lighting and directional speakers playing local artists’ music. The end of one year and the start of a new one belong to the makers of lists—of most fascinating people, brightest ideas, and biggest red-carpet disasters. At RECORD, we decided to combine clickbait and goodwill, asking a

If sustainability is a three-legged stool of environmental, economic, and social performance, then LEED is a bit wobbly: historically, the rating system has not taken on community welfare with the same breadth and depth as it has climate change and resource conservation. “It’s not as if social-equity benefit was absent from LEED,” says U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) vice president of LEED Brendan Owens, citing how power-plant emissions disproportionately impact marginalized communities. “But we knew we could do more.” To begin righting the imbalance, USGBC posited social equity as one of seven system goals for LEED v4, and formed a

In July, Autodesk acquired the experimental New York design firm The Living, led by architect David Benjamin, in order to enhance its research capabilities. This union is just one effort by the software leader to engage in wide-reaching discussions about the future of design. Last year it opened Autodesk Workshop at San Francisco’s Pier 9, a 27,000-square-foot playground for employees and partners to explore advanced manufacturing resources. And, more recently, a summer-residency program charged participants with writing science fiction. “We have an extraordinary talent base that can make stuff,” says Jeff Kowalski (left), “but we also need those folks who