Architecture

Mayor de Blasio promises to close the Rikers Island jail complex in ten years. But what comes next? A look at the island’s history reveals clues — and cautions.

Frank Greene and Kenneth Ricci discuss the changing paradigms of half a century of justice architecture and what we should ask — and expect — from courts and jails.

The humble gambrel roofs of Queens’ Dutch Colonial houses cover the borough’s complex history.

For the final installment of Typecast: Row House, architects Alex Gorlin and Jeff Murphy talk about the mutability of a simple box and the challenges and delights of designing the contemporary row house.

Examining New York's overlooked infrastructures of crime and punishment.

Arrest sends New Yorkers down a complex path, away from their families, homes, and neighborhoods, oftentimes ending in jail. A drawing describes the spaces they encounter on the way.

Integration without gentrification? Self-determination without segregation? Who has the power to determine Harlem’s future?

Emily Schmidt spins the origin story of the affordable row house in the 1980s, when pastors and businessmen sowed scorched earth with rows of new homes.

Junior architect Zulmilena Then, our second featured People Mover, is on a mission to preserve East New York’s history in the face of speculation.

Vincent Meyer Madaus and Sebastian Bernardy look at the semi-public space between the sidewalk and the front door — and how residents satisfy their needs and fancies when space is scarce.